Cam belt/fuel filter change interval

Crossthreaded

Active Member
Apr 16, 2019
536
145
Always a popular question, about cam belts that is. But with my 2016 Ibiza ST 95hp CHZB engine now out of warranty I'm getting prepared to do it's 4th year service myself. Most of it looks pretty conventionally "doable" although those two rubber holding grommets under the air filter did fool me for a while until I realized you just need to give it an almighty yank.

The Haynes manual, predictably conservative as always, recommend the cam belt change at 4 years. My " go to" local indy - AVW Autos - recommend a more believable 5 years (which I think is reasonable) but the local main dealer tells me it gets "inspected" at 5 years and then every 2 years after that, there is no recommended mileage? I asked what they are "inspecting" and was told they look for wear factors like fraying etc and would only recommend changing it if needed! My experience of cam belts is that they look great right up until a few miles before they go BANG. So it would be just good luck if you happened to catch one on an "inspection"? I do remember reading somewhere, back in 2015 when I was considering buying the car that the manufacturer considered the belt to be a "lifetime fitment". I don't think I'm brave enough for that though!

Can't find anything on fuel filter changing also. I can see it, a wee aluminium canister, 2 pipes in and one out, near the fuel tank, but noone can tell me when it needs changing? Anyone?

Regards to all.
 

everson38

Active Member
May 15, 2017
470
35
walsall
Always a popular question, about cam belts that is. But with my 2016 Ibiza ST 95hp CHZB engine now out of warranty I'm getting prepared to do it's 4th year service myself. Most of it looks pretty conventionally "doable" although those two rubber holding grommets under the air filter did fool me for a while until I realized you just need to give it an almighty yank.

The Haynes manual, predictably conservative as always, recommend the cam belt change at 4 years. My " go to" local indy - AVW Autos - recommend a more believable 5 years (which I think is reasonable) but the local main dealer tells me it gets "inspected" at 5 years and then every 2 years after that, there is no recommended mileage? I asked what they are "inspecting" and was told they look for wear factors like fraying etc and would only recommend changing it if needed! My experience of cam belts is that they look great right up until a few miles before they go BANG. So it would be just good luck if you happened to catch one on an "inspection"? I do remember reading somewhere, back in 2015 when I was considering buying the car that the manufacturer considered the belt to be a "lifetime fitment". I don't think I'm brave enough for that though!

Can't find anything on fuel filter changing also. I can see it, a wee aluminium canister, 2 pipes in and one out, near the fuel tank, but noone can tell me when it needs changing? Anyone?

Regards to all.
Hey cross,

I cant speak for exact times. But im a big believer of if uncan do it yourself take that benefit and treat ur car even better. A fuel filter due to its (normally) ease to change i would go yearly to every 2 yearly if u simply want to hold off abit. Best case ur car is benefiting to the next level, worst case uve spent £20 a year more than u needed. Again exaxt mileages and stuff always come down to how u drive etc but that os left out 10k miles can be driven totally different by 2 different drivers,

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
 
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RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
I don't think that my 2011 Audi S4 has a petrol filter, that just shows how unimportant VW Group consider petrol filters in areas of the world where the fuel is always kept and dispensed at a high standard.

Maybe I have said this already, but my wife's previous 2002 Polo 1.4 16V was kept for 13 years and 105K mikes, and while I did buy a filter/regulator, I never got round to replacing it, a bit like the newer cambelts, not a service item and replace only if causing concerns/issues I'd think.

So when do I intend to get the cambelt and any other important idlers/tensioners/relay pulleys on my wife's 2015 Polo 1.2TSI 110PS - I check the condition of the belt every year, mainly to check that the variable timing inlet pulley securing bolts have not started to slacken off (an old issue with these engines when first launched it seems), and so give the cam belt a visual check, I'd think that I'll get it replaced at 6 or 8 years, current mileage at almost 4.5 years old is 31K miles.

Finally, funny you mentioning AVW, I'm going to visit them this afternoon to see when they can carry out an MOT test on my Audi S4, hopefully they can give me a rough time slot to avoid dropping it off and going back at 17:30 to pick it up, time will tell!
 
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Crossthreaded

Active Member
Apr 16, 2019
536
145
I don't think that my 2011 Audi S4 has a petrol filter, that just shows how unimportant VW Group consider petrol filters in areas of the world where the fuel is always kept and dispensed at a high standard.

Maybe I have said this already, but my wife's previous 2002 Polo 1.4 16V was kept for 13 years and 105K mikes, and while I did buy a filter/regulator, I never got round to replacing it, a bit like the newer cambelts, not a service item and replace only if causing concerns/issues I'd think.

So when do I intend to get the cambelt and any other important idlers/tensioners/relay pulleys on my wife's 2015 Polo 1.2TSI 110PS - I check the condition of the belt every year, mainly to check that the variable timing inlet pulley securing bolts have not started to slacken off (an old issue with these engines when first launched it seems), and so give the cam belt a visual check, I'd think that I'll get it replaced at 6 or 8 years, current mileage at almost 4.5 years old is 31K miles.

Finally, funny you mentioning AVW, I'm going to visit them this afternoon to see when they can carry out an MOT test on my Audi S4, hopefully they can give me a rough time slot to avoid dropping it off and going back at 17:30 to pick it up, time will tell!
Wonder if the VVT pulley bolt issue affected my engine? Must make a point of asking about that. The lads at AVW will know.

I hold them in high regard but have to admit that one of the owners is married to the daughter of one of our oldest friends. I first bumped into them when I was trying to do a front wheel bearing on my youngest boy's absolute wreck of a Ford Escort. I just couldn't shift the big circlip that locates the bearing in the hub which was horrendously corroded. I thought a visit to the scrappie for a replacement hub was going to be the only answer. It was just after they had opened and we were all very aware of their new venture so when my wife saw how much trouble I was having - probably due to the blue colour of the air in the garage - she suggested I give them a ring. "Sure, have you got the hub off?" "Yup, it's on the floor right here in front of me." "Ok just bring it over" He got to work on it whilst I watched and supported it on the floor. It was an absolute pig but after about half an hour of hammering and levering with a wonderful selection of picks and levering tools he had it out. He then pressed the old bearing out, pressed the new one in, supporting the races in the correct way so that no loads were applied to the bearings, and snapped the new ring - which came with the bearing kit - into place. Considering to trouble he went to I was very happy with the reasonable charge he made and I had most of it back together by teatime that night. They have subsequently sorted out some of the more difficult problems on the disastrous 1.6CR engined Fabia my older boy used to run - EGR replacement, a "fun" job and DPF problems were just some of it - they also do his MOTs and I find them very fair. Definitely a good bunch of chaps to know. They will be doing the cambelt on my Ibiza next year when it's five years old.
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
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South Scotland
Ah well, I went along and booked my car in for its MOT next Thursday.

Anyway, the "variable timing inlet pulley" issue, it does seem like it was very early build engines problem, a few early instances of trashed engines quickly got VW Group to change either the supplier or the design slightly to avoid the securing bolts slackening off. Now some people and probably main dealers and maybe even some VAG Indies that have not come across this might think that its just the usual internet wild stories, but I'll keep checking my wife's car every year at service time, better doing that and catching slackening off early (signs of oil leaking from pulley) than being a statistic and trying to get money out of VW Group to help out towards a replacement engine - to be fair, maybe only 3 Skoda Fabia owners have reported either noises or a recall, none in UK, also maybe a couple VW Polo owners, one with an issue and one with a recall. I think that this issue only covered engines from the first few months of engine build by Skoda - who built all these engines in CZ.

Parking at/near AVW was as impossible as usual, probably for a quick chat with them the Aldi car park must be the correct option!
 

Crossthreaded

Active Member
Apr 16, 2019
536
145
Ah well, I went along and booked my car in for its MOT next Thursday.

Anyway, the "variable timing inlet pulley" issue, it does seem like it was very early build engines problem, a few early instances of trashed engines quickly got VW Group to change either the supplier or the design slightly to avoid the securing bolts slackening off. Now some people and probably main dealers and maybe even some VAG Indies that have not come across this might think that its just the usual internet wild stories, but I'll keep checking my wife's car every year at service time, better doing that and catching slackening off early (signs of oil leaking from pulley) than being a statistic and trying to get money out of VW Group to help out towards a replacement engine - to be fair, maybe only 3 Skoda Fabia owners have reported either noises or a recall, none in UK, also maybe a couple VW Polo owners, one with an issue and one with a recall. I think that this issue only covered engines from the first few months of engine build by Skoda - who built all these engines in CZ.

Parking at/near AVW was as impossible as usual, probably for a quick chat with them the Aldi car park must be the correct option!
I'm trying to understand about the oil leak on the pulleys. I presume we are not talking about the main pulley retaining bolt coming loose then? In that event the pulley would spin on the cam and it would be "hello sailor" between valves and piston crowns! So I'm guessing that it's the cover retaining bolts that work loose? From what you say it looks like they jumped on that pulley issue quite quickly though so my 2016 should be ok? Thanks for the "heads up" on that though.

AVW parking is a problem if you are trying to leave the car in the side road where their workshop entrance is. For those who don't know it it's narrow, double lined and buses use it. The Aldi car park has never been more than half full when I've shopped there so a "safe" option. I must say though that I just park in the main road if I'm popping into the garage. There is a cycle lane but, as long as you don't park where the double yellows are I don't think there's a problem in doing this and I notice their courtesy cars are parked like this.

Hope all goes well with your MOT. At least if something requires attention you couldn't be in a better place.
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
The variable timing inlet pulley gets fed engine oil via a solenoid valve to change its timing, the first indicator of the securing bolts that hold the variable timing inlet pulley together slackening off, is the engine oil leaking out, but as I said earlier, I'd expect that your engine is too new to be part of that problem.
 

Crossthreaded

Active Member
Apr 16, 2019
536
145
The variable timing inlet pulley gets fed engine oil via a solenoid valve to change its timing, the first indicator of the securing bolts that hold the variable timing inlet pulley together slackening off, is the engine oil leaking out, but as I said earlier, I'd expect that your engine is too new to be part of that problem.
Thanks very much for confirming that. Hopefully mine will be OK but it won't hurt to have a quick look at service time each year.

As Mrs J is feeling much better now we took a run out into Midlothian so she could have a cuddle of the new baby - must admit he is pretty cute! On the way back into town we did a quick shop at Aldi and I popped over the road to AVW to ask about fuel filter change interval on my Ibiza. Apparently there isn't any official recommendation! We are now coming up on 20,000 miles and 4 years old so I've decided, as I'm not really racking up the miles, I'll "synch" it with the cam belt and give it a new one next year. Kicking myself because I completely forgot to ask about the cam pulley.
 
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