60K service for VW Passat TDI (51)

A chain like Nationwide Autocentres will give you a fixed price for both jobs which will give you an indication of price difference. They maintain a lot of fleet cars and vans and therefore work on all vehicles from the very modern to bangers. I've had good experiences at their branches at Camberley and Evesham. Others may comment otherwise, probably can't hurt to get quotes.

Otherwise, you can't beat word of mouth from work colleagues/neighbours etc.

There's Wheelbase over at Hersham/Walton but it won't be a huge amount cheaper.

I.

Thanks for the response Iain.

Would you say £200 for the 60K service + £400 for the cambelt change is a reasonable price to pay?

I'd go to Wheelbase but they are a bit too far from home.

Don't know about the TDi lump, but I can't see it being any more expensive to service than a 1.8T Petrol.

I had my belts and tensioners changed for £162, plus £30 for oil and filters.

Other than that, I can't really see any other service jobs that'll need doing. Most of the schedule is to check things - you can do this at home when you have an hour to spare.

£162 for having the belts and tensioners changed? That's way below the £400 I was quoted. :-( Why such a big difference?

Maybe someone familiar with TDI vs petrol engine could tell us why?

Big difference is because my local mechanic sources OEM parts from his trade supplier (without the VAG markup) and only charges £27.50 / hour.

Cheers Steve.

Hmmm. I take it your local mechanic isn't based in east Berkshire or West London then? If anyone knows of a good VW mechanic in my area, do let me know!

Not my current one, no (I live near Caerphilly), but if you can get to Markyate (Just off J10 of the M1, ISTR), then Dale at DFS is a cracking spanner monkey who also charges £27.50 / hour.

Thanks Steve :-)

There's a VW specialist on the Stadium Way Industrial Estate in Reading. They were called Autovolks when I had a VW 15 years ago. It's still there (good sign?) but changed it's name several years ago and I'm buggered if I can remember what it is.

Their old phone number is still on the web - may not have changed....

HTH.

Its about a std dealer price. Personally I probably wouldn't pay it & I'd do it myself !

60K is a bit early for a cambelt unless its something like a 97/98/99 1.8T. Have you checked what the recommended interval is? Suspect it might be 100K in which case I'd have thought you could leave it for another 10-20K.

If you are the original owner you may have some kind of warranty that would cover failure on that.

YMMV (!)

I.

On a VW service sheet I saw, they seem to vary widely from about 40,000 to

120,000 miles. 60K is the recommendation on my AHU TDi engine.

VW used to say they last the service life of the engine. Yes, I suppose they do!

If its a non PD TDI then officially the front bumper and radiator have to come off to do the belt & Tensioners. You can do it without, but its a real knuckle scraper, and you can;t see the injector pump timing marks properly, though I have known some experienced mechanics do it with a powerful light shon through the radiator.

If it's a PD then injector pump timing is not important and you can it all bits in situ.

Tim..

Tim,

Thanks for the information.

It's a 130BHP PD engine.

J9, ITYF.

Nationwide are the ones who changed their name from Lex after a lot of bad publicity.

Our local branch used to have a good range of staff on and used to be really good, but they had a high staff turnover and the last time I took my car there it went for an MoT, they failed on copper brake lines and a CV boot which I had changed without questioning it. They also advised me that the front rubber hoses (£90??) were perished and front pads (£50?) were ready for changing. A friend offered to do the work for me so I got hold of hoses and pads [1], came to do the job and the front pads had over 50% life left and the front hoses were in perfect condition. They now for me fall into the 'none of my cars ain't ever crossing their threshold again'. God knows if the work they charged me for actually needed doing, I know they changed the brake line, needed or not is another matter.

[1] I did decide to get Goodridge hoses as for £60 I could get the full set instead of £90 for a pair of rubber hoses and put some decent pads on too

Yes I was down at my local garage (sorry nowhere near the op) and he'd just done a Skoda octavia TDI [1] and commented on what a complete and utter pig it was and how much room there wasn't, whether he did it by taking the bumper etc off I don't know

[1] So basically same animal different badge

I had the timing belt changed on my Audi A3 TDi (non-PD) by a local mechanic who had done a Passat one. He said it's not too bad to get the bumper/rad off the Passat, and that once it is off, the belt change is easier than the A3. 'Car Mechanics' magazine did a Passat a while ago, and it didn't look too bad. You're supposed to recheck the timing with VAG-COM or similar afterwards, but I don't think my mechanic had one, and the car's performance is unchanged.