Owner or Dealer.....timing belt replacement Q?

soxxbox

Background: I bought 2008 VW passat for a car dealer approximately 14months ago, <100k on the clock,
Last weekend, car draws to a halt in the middle of a trip home from a match 20 mins into a 40min trip. I couldnt get the car to restart, lift the hood but might aswell be looking into a horses ass got it towed to a local garage, whom I've used before and they've informed me the timing belt is gone, so it needs replacing and possibly more...Which seems to go hand in hand timing belt issues..
So i spoke with the dealer, they claim the timing belt was done by them before i bought it and actually wrote it on the engine...
I've asked them if they were willing to stand by their work and assist with the breakdown, after several phone calls they've said they are not required to help as the 12month warranty is up...
Now i think they should assist/contribute something, whether it is a faulty part or the part replacement was not completed correctly.
My understanding is that after replacement you should get 60,000 miles after replacement.. not sure if this is correct....but sounds about right...


Any idea as to where i stand, or who might be able to assist with getting them to act responsibly???
Thanks..

YbFocus

After 14 months you probably have no leg to stand on with them.

Likelyhood is that they did indeed do it and a failure of the tensioner etc has killed it short of the mileage that it should reach.
It may have never been done but to prove that is impossible at this stage.

Chalk it to experience I think sadly!

Timing belt should always be kept an eye on, you know this for the future now

Stheno

I'd say it's a bit unreasonable after 14 months tbh. Have you had it serviced since you bought it?

What mileage have you put on the car since you bought it @ 100K? And do you know if it's a chain or a belt? I'd have thought a car of that year would have a chain?

Is it petrol or diesel?

bazz26

If it's a TDi then it will have a belt. On the 1.9 TDi PD the timing belt interval is 60k miles or 5 years afaik, on the newer 2.0 TDi CR engines the timing belt interval is 100k miles or 5 years to my knowledge. 1.4 TSi petrol engine has a timing chain.

Was it a main dealer who changed the timing belt?

MuppetCheck

Thought VAG belts had a 2 year warranty on them, no?

Truckermal

MuppetCheck wrote: »

Thought VAG belts had a 2 year warranty on them, no?

Indeed they do..

What mileage was on the car when you bought it and whats on it now, also what engine is it.

Henry Ford III

Did you get a copy of the documentation for the timing belt change before purchase?

If you did you're covered I reckon.

Bigus

MuppetCheck wrote: »

Thought VAG belts had a 2 year warranty on them, no?

Mightn't be a vag belt, also they may have scrimped on tension ers or pumps, or the mechanic may have brought the parts home for a nixer.

soxxbox

So it's a 1.9TDi, diesel ,belt.... and in the 14 months since i bought it i put less than 17,000 miles on it. That's really why i've been back to the dealer to say....look if i drove it into the ground for the year and put up ~50 k then that would be acceptable..

Truckermal

soxxbox wrote: »

So it's a 1.9TDi, diesel ,belt.... and in the 14 months since i bought it i put less than 17,000 miles on it. That's really why i've been back to the dealer to say....look if i drove it into the ground for the year and put up ~50 k then that would be acceptable..

Was it a VW dealer?

George Dalton

All of the main timing belt kit suppliers offer a similar warranty to the genuine VW parts.

So if the dealer had carried out the belt change correctly and were confident of their own work then they should have no problem making a claim.

The fact that they are trying to fob you off doesn't sound good.

Bigus wrote: »

also they may have scrimped on tension ers or pumps, or the mechanic may have brought the parts home for a nixer.

This is what I would be afraid of.

dantastic

Bigus wrote: »

they may have scrimped on tension ers or pumps, or the mechanic may have brought the parts home for a nixer.

... this!

Even a bargain bin quality belt will last more than 14months/17k miles.

But as soon as a tensioner is on the way out it will take a high quality belt out with it pretty quickly.

JohnBoy26

YbFocus wrote: »

After 14 months you probably have no leg to stand on with them.

Likelyhood is that they did indeed do it and a failure of the tensioner etc has killed it short of the mileage that it should reach.
It may have never been done but to prove that is impossible at this stage.

Chalk it to experience I think sadly!

Timing belt should always be kept an eye on, you know this for the future now

But how was the op suppose to keep an eye on the belt?

The op was led to believe the belt was done. they were only 17k miles/14 months into a 60k miles/5year interval.

YbFocus

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

But how was the op suppose to keep an eye on the belt?

The op was led to believe the belt was done. they were only 17k miles/14 months into a 60k miles/5year interval.

I know he was only that far into it, I have a habit of checking the belt with all of my services for slack or any fraying etc.
If that had been done there's a chance it could have been prevented, I was just giving my two cents.
I never trust anything when buying a car and check everything myself.
If the belt was "just done" when bought then the markings would be brand new and the belt wouldn't have that shiny look it takes on after a while.

dnme

YbFocus wrote: »

I know he was only that far into it, I have a habit of checking the belt with all of my services for slack or any fraying etc.
If that had been done there's a chance it could have been prevented, I was just giving my two cents.
I never trust anything when buying a car and check everything myself.
If the belt was "just done" when bought then the markings would be brand new and the belt wouldn't have that shiny look it takes on after a while.

But for the average Joe or Joanna, it's pretty impossible to check or keep an eye on your timing belt. All you can do is ask your garage to check it during service. Oh and yeah, you can rest assured they'll do that for you :cool:

soxxbox

No

JohnBoy26

dnme wrote: »

But for the average Joe or Joanna, it's pretty impossible to check or keep an eye on your timing belt. All you can do is ask your garage to check it during service. Oh and yeah, you can rest assured they'll do that for you :cool:

Even if the garage was to check the belt, there would be no way for them to tell the condition of the belt if no damage is visible.

A perfectly good looking belt can in some instances be on the brink of snapping.

YbFocus

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Even if the garage was to check the belt, there would be no way for them to tell the condition of the belt if no damage is visible.

A perfectly good looking belt can in some instances be on the brink of snapping.

Very true, but it may allow you to see a failing belt. Having a look may let you see something that may save you.
On the other hand it may not, but it's worth a shot.
Better than nothing as they say.

djimi

Most people wouldnt even know where to find a timing belt, let alone know how to spot if its failing. Nice idea in theory but its hardly the same as checking your oil when it comes to DIY car maintenance!

YbFocus

djimi wrote: »

Most people wouldnt even know where to find a timing belt, let alone know how to spot if its failing. Nice idea in theory but its hardly the same as checking your oil when it comes to DIY car maintenance!

In fairness though, it's just about as easy on most cars.

I realise where you're coming from though!

soxxbox

Just as an update..
As i said before the dealer was very little help in this situation, so i went looking for their parts supplier. And was pleasantly surprised with his reaction, he agreed with me about the faulty part and went to follow up with their suppliers, i'll call them PTA

After a couple of phone calls with PTA they wanted to test the faulty parts and any other components that were replaced as a result of the fault. This took a little longer than expected but eventually they agreed with covering the costs of the of all the faulty parts but would only cover a % of the some of the other parts they deemed did not need replacing.

All in all i got 75% of the total costs returned....

jochenstacker

YbFocus wrote: »

I know he was only that far into it, I have a habit of checking the belt with all of my services for slack or any fraying etc.
If that had been done there's a chance it could have been prevented, I was just giving my two cents.
I never trust anything when buying a car and check everything myself.
If the belt was "just done" when bought then the markings would be brand new and the belt wouldn't have that shiny look it takes on after a while.

It's not that easy to get at a timing belt in most cars without some major disassembly, do you put in about 2 hours work a week to take off covers, check the belt and tensioner and put everything back together, or do you run the engine with some major covers removed?
Maybe you refer to a fanbelt? Other than that I can't see how one can regularly keep an eye on a timing belt. I've done a few timing belts in a few cars and it's not something I can do 5 minutes before setting off on my Sunday drive.