Revised...$435.00 Quote for T- belt, tensioner replaced

Jim B.

Up here in Toronto, Canada, I got it done for my 1992 Jetta Turbo Diesel for CAD$280 approx. (included 2 hours labour, parts - timing belt, tensioner and water pump belt) in June last year. That $ amount is approx. US$225.

What's the break down of parts and labor? I have heard labor rates well over $100 per hour.

Paid 250 bucks for a timing belt change on my old A2 Golf (gas), and another

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (AlanH70) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mb-m24.aol.com:

On our Passat, our timing belt adventure ended up at about $800. That includes belt, seals, tension and idle pullies, all the belts, coolant, thermostat and housing and water pump.

Our independent said he could not perform the work because he did not have the special service tools. [and would not buy them for his only customer with a VW, I suppose]

Bob

(AlanH70) wrote in

Not sure if the ECOdiesel engine is different enough in the area of the timing belt, but I dug out my last receipt from my timing belt replacement on my '91 GTI 8V and it was $265.86 parts and labor at City VW in San Diego and that includes not just the timing belt, but all the V-belts too (a/c, alternator, p/s). This was back in June of '01 though so prices could have gone up some since then, but $435 still sounds a bit high.

More like $209.60.

Seems like a fair price, given the labor and time involved AND if they replace the seals. Get your water pump replaced at the same time.

SNIP SNIP

A 92 Jetta Diesel? STOP DRIVING IT AND..........CHANGE IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You have gone WAY beyond the max and you have an interference engine so engine damage WILL occur! You think the $435 is high, wait until you get a bill for engine repairs due to the T-Belt breaking! And remember you still have to pay for the T-Belt to get changed too! 8^o JMHO later, dave Reminder........ Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them, and you have their shoes. Frieda Norris

Seems very, very high.

I live in RI and have had mine done a few times for less than $150.

Were they going to replace all the tensioners and the pulleys?

I'm not aware that the T-belt needs a special tensioner tool on VWs unless the Diesel is different - I've always heard that a "half twist" is good enough.

Now you want pain and suffering, replace the T-belt on a Porsche

nate

I got quote of $375 for T-Belt replacement on 99 VW Jetta 2.0L (71,000 Miles). I am not sure if this quote only includes T-Belt replacement or some other parts as well. Being first owner and have 100,000/10 years warranty on car I am not planning to replace the T-Belt. There is nothing in manual to tell when to change the T-Belt. Came to know on internet that it needs to replace every 60,000 miles (not sure if it true or not). If it is true then VW should have mentioned some thing in manual to replace the T-Belt on 60,000 miles. There are things about TDI engines and they did mention to replace it every

There are also two types of engines 1)Free-running 2)Interference". If your car has "Free-running" engine and T-belt broke then you only need to tow the car and have the belt replaced no damage to the engine but if you have Interference engine then do not take risk as it will damage the engine if T-Belt broke(again this is all on net, never happened to me so I am not sure if it true or not)

Wow, I was quoted $800 for the radiator, all hoses, coolant, thermostat, Boge gas turbo struts, strut bearings, water pump, and belts including timing belt.

This is at an independant shop. I am lucky to have the shop near me. He is honest, does great work and is reasonable. Okay, I'll name him. It is Bob's Service in Dravosburg, PA just outside of Pittsburgh.

I haven't done the work yet. I have a pinhole leak in the rad and I am not sure it is worth replacing. The struts are still okay. I may just do the belts and hoses. 194,000 miles isn't too bad from the original hoses though. They still feel good with no soft spots. I have been quite anal about its care though and have only used distilled water in it with VW cooland.

Cheers, Phil

English prices £410 [$763] vw main agent £150 [$297] independent so I think at $435 [£233] you guys across the pond are getting it cheaper !! mark. w in the uk!

So far as I know there are several special tools for replacing the timing belt on diesels... at least on my A1's :-/ fortuneatley for me, a PO of two of my rabbits MADE the tools :-D

... now if only I knew how to use them...

I think there were only a couple of non-interference engines that VW made... and **think** ALL VW diesel engines ARE INTERFERENCE engines!

I don't think that the VW coolant has anything to do with it :-/ I just got my FIRST leak on my 87 cabriolet with 195,500+ miles on it and it was due to a corroded oil cooler... but have heard from several VW tech's (that do not work for VW obviously) that the coolant does not make that big of a difference... However, I will put in the pink stuff when I do the rebuild at

It's more like: If you have an interference engine your are definitely screwed, with a free running engine there might be a slight change things work decent afterwards. And with the higher performance and increased emission standards, I don't think there are a lot of free running engine's anymore.

The only interference engines I'm aware of are the ones with high compression ratios... a standard 1.6, 1.7, 1.8 is a non-interference engine.

Now AFAIK ALL Diesels are interference as it's just the nature of the beast. No way you can have a CR on the order of 20:1 and leave space for the valves at TDC, it just isn't possible.

nate

Hard to believe you paid this little for a VW timing belt replacement. A really well-done job requires a good four hours at least, unless two mechanics are working together.

I own a 2001 Golf TDI, so I don't know if a non-diesel belt procedure is simpler. But one vital part in doing the TDI is replacing the stretch bolts that mount the timing belt assembly to the engine block. These bolts can't be reused safely, even though a ton of VW dealer part depts. don't stock them (meaning their mechanics reuse the old bolts using Loc Tite).