Low and behold, after owning the car that had a lowly 32,000 miles on it when I first purchased and “Full” VWSH, my car was approaching the 80,000 mile limit for timing belt replacement
Normally I go through around 1,000 miles per month and at current mileage it would be around summer next year when it needed replacement but I decided to carry out the timing belt replacement early as I’m expecting this winter to be a cold one and don’t want extra strain on the vehicle during the snow. The current mileage on the vehicle is 73,472 before the timing belt replacement. Which means my next one shouldn’t really be due until 140-150,000 miles
One of the main factors I wanted was using genuine parts (ideally) for the replacement. After market parts are generally the same as manufacturers parts just without the stamp on them, but I’d prefer knowing I’m using the genuine kit so I know what I’m getting on the vehicle when it’s repaired.
It took me a while to select someone to carry out the timing belt replacement on my Golf, because I’m fussy. Use the wrong grade of antifreeze or miss changing important parts and your engine is knackered.
Rather than take it to a dealer, I decided to have it carried out at a specialist. After a lot of searching and a LONG email trail (sorry Ben), I decided to have the work carried out at Darcys Garage a VW specialist in County Durham. Their tech worked for Audi for 10 years so has experience working with this vehicle.
The total quote I received for replacement of the following parts was around £400. For one major component on the car, I wasn’t fussed about spending more money. I don’t like “cheap” always when it comes to cars
The job was carried out after dropping the car off early in the morning and finished around 4 hrs later.
The following parts were replaced with genuine VW gear
- Water pump (the ORIGINAL has a plastic impellor, and so does the genuine one), hopefully I won’t get the common impellor issues, my original one lasted until 75,000 so fingers crossed
- Timing belt. This included the belt and all tensioners
- Antifreeze – I don’t know what, but I’m assumming it was correct grade that suits VW spec. I think mine is G80 or G80++
- Alternator belt
Total price came to £385
The car didn’t feel any different when driving it, how it stands up will only show test of time. If anything fails I’ll be certainly taking it back to the garage to be inspected as the original equipment should last me for the next 7-8 years.
At the moment I’m happy with the work received and will recommend Darcy’s garage as it was friendly, fast and great value for money. My car will stand the test of time to find out.
Only downside is the car parking, is VERY limited
I’ll be posting a more in-depth information on my website, including pictures of the equipment and part numbers used. I couldn’t keep the original water pump as it had to go to VW, but it seemed to be in very good condition, no issues with it detaching from the impellor spline. Tried to get a pic but my phone was up the duff.
