Piston Slap: Belts, Chains and Fahrvergngen

by Sajeev Mehta

Published: September 15th, 2009

piston slap belts chains and fahrvergngen

Steve writes:

Hi Sajeev, I own a 2005 VW Passat with V6 that has 92000 miles on the odo. VW says I should replace the timing belt ASAP. I let my last Passat (2001.5 V6) go until 120K and my local dealer’s shop lectured me on the danger of letting it go for so long. How much am I tempting fate by waiting until I get to 120K this time? Is a timing belt change too complicated for a decent independent mechanic to tackle? Your sage advice would be most appreciated.

There are a number of people on the VW forums that are posting that VW issued some kind of revised maintenance schedule for TB’s? I bought mine used (from a VW dealer) so I may not be on the mailing list. As usual, the opinions run the gamut. I will be very interested in the comments on this issue. And, I will check with my mechanic (authorized VW repair shop, non-dealer) on Monday to see what he says.

Sajeev answers:

Let’s rant for a moment: WTF is up with a mainstream sedan running a timing belt in the current millennia? Most (perhaps all) of the Japanese carmakers stepped up to timing chains for long term cost savings, after (the chain lovers) in Detroit did their “100k between tune ups” shtick in the 1990s.

Wait, scratch that: according to Edmunds, your Passat needs a new timing belt at 105,000 miles. So get ready for a big bill, 5k miles after everyone else gets new spark plugs. Fahrvergnügen!

Now, about getting chastised: nobody wants to get stranded by a broken belt. Murphy’s Law says it’ll fail when you’re in the middle of nowhere. Far worse, Google searching says you have an interference engine, so neglecting the belt results in a game of Valve Roulette: which one stays down and gets Piston Slapped?

Yes, you deserved that lecture from the dealer. Now redeem yourself by finding an independent, non-franchise mechanic who uses Internet repair databases and runs a clean shop. Let them change the belt (with a VW-sourced replacement) and save a little cheddar in the process. And do whatever else the owner’s manual suggests too: you only dig into the motor every 105k, so save the labor costs by doing multiple things at one time.

[Send your queries to mehta@ttac.com]

Sajeev Mehta

More by Sajeev Mehta

Comments

Join the conversation

2 of 52 comments

Rpn453 on Sep 16, 2009
TireGuy : And this from a people who are willing to do an oil change every 3.000 miles as recommended by their american OEMs where in Germany the recommendation since over 10 years is that every 15.000 km is way sufficient!? I like how you switched to metric mid-sentence to make the number look bigger! Most manufacturers now recommend 5k miles even for severe service. That's on $2/quart oil. What oil meeting VW, BMW, or Mercedes specs can you buy for that price? You could buy GC, M1 0W-40, Amsoil, etc. and run it for long intervals in an American or Japanese car if you desired, but that would probably cost more anyway.

Like Reply
Sammy Hagar on Sep 16, 2009
And this from a people who are willing to do an oil change every 3.000 miles as recommended by their american OEMs where in Germany the recommendation since over 10 years is that every 15.000 km is way sufficient!? In any case: a metal chain wears out as well, is noise, needs to be lubricated. A timing belt is basically maintenance free, and has many advantages. First, kudos to rpn453 for pointing out the bait & switch on the miles to kilometers move. As for the reality of that, does any American manufacturer recommend 3K mile OCI's under "normal" conditions anymore? I doubt it...most new cars are scheduled at 5K miles (that's 8K kilometers!) for "severe" service or they'll have an OLM. I had the misfortune of owning a recent GM product and, using the OLM, my OCI's have been between 7-8K miles (on normal dino, no $$$ Mobil1 or Castrol Edge or German Castrol, etc.). As for timing chains wearing out and being noisy and "lubricated" (???), that's crap. A car will be scrapped and melted down before a typical timing belt will go. Noisy? This isn't 1960...you're not going to notice a Corolla banging away at a stop light. And lubrication? It's called motor oil and whether you have a timing belt or chain, you'll need it.

Like Reply

Recent Comments

ToolGuy First picture: I realize that opinions vary on the height of modern trucks, but that entry door on the building is 80 inches tall and hits just below the headlights. Does anyone really believe this is reasonable?Second picture: I do not believe that is a good parking spot to be able to access the bed storage. More specifically, how do you plan to unload topsoil with the truck parked like that? Maybe you kids are taller than me.
ToolGuy The other day I attempted to check the engine oil in one of my old embarrassing vehicles and I guess the red shop towel I used wasn't genuine Snap-on (lots of counterfeits floating around) plus my driveway isn't completely level and long story short, the engine seized 3 minutes later.No more used cars for me, and nothing but dealer service from here on in (the journalists were right).
Doughboy Wow, Merc knocks it out of the park with their naming convention… again. /s
Doughboy I’ve seen car bras before, but never car beards. ZZ Top would be proud.
Bkojote Allright, actual person who knows trucks here, the article gets it a bit wrong.First off, the Maverick is not at all comparable to a Tacoma just because they're both Hybrids. Or lemme be blunt, the butch-est non-hybrid Maverick Tremor is suitable for 2/10 difficulty trails, a Trailhunter is for about 5/10 or maybe 6/10, just about the upper end of any stock vehicle you're buying from the factory. Aside from a Sasquatch Bronco or Rubicon Jeep Wrangler you're looking at something you're towing back if you want more capability (or perhaps something you /wish/ you were towing back.)Now, where the real world difference should play out is on the trail, where a lot of low speed crawling usually saps efficiency, especially when loaded to the gills. Real world MPG from a 4Runner is about 12-13mpg, So if this loaded-with-overlander-catalog Trailhunter is still pulling in the 20's - or even 18-19, that's a massive improvement.