Date: Fri, 8 May 2009 11:05:14 -0700
Reply-To: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: [NVC] Passat Timing Belt Replacement
In-Reply-To: <989858.62573.qm@web82702.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
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This story kinda relates to last week's discussion about "How come it
costs so much to get someone to do an engine swap"
Sure, David, you did the work yourself and saved a bundle of money. You
made some decisions that a "shop" and most certainly a dealer would not have
been able to make...You made some judgment calls on what to re-use and what
looked to be in acceptable (to you) condition as you proceeded in your
repair/maintence. But a dealer or an independent shop, if they made these
same 'judgement calls'...They would be putting a lot at risk...Their shop's
reputation, the possibility that soon them might have to re-do the repair if
a small part failed or started to fail...All that...They have to 'make sure'
to cover their own butts by doing everything according to the book...Takes
more time, costs more money but they won't be responsible for taking any
shortcuts or making a wrong judgment call..
You can do that, knowing you're gonna be OK...But a shop or a
dealer...They might be working on a lawyers vanagon...they don't really
know...so they can't afford to NOT do it exactly according to
protocol..then, if something goes wrong later they can point out in the
Bently or shop manual all the proceedures and say we did it by the
book...Not our fault..
A lot of the proceedures in the books are just that...CYA stuff...cover
your a**...stuff that really doesn't improve the quality of the
repair/maintence proceedure but someone somewhere decided "It's a good idea,
while you are in there..."
Don Hanson
On Fri, May 8, 2009 at 10:30 AM, David Kao <dtkao0205@yahoo.com> wrote:
> My 2001 Passat V6 reached 100K miles a few months ago. I had worried
> that the timing belt needed replacement and needed to be done soon
> as the warranty had run out.
>
> Dealer price was over $1.3k. Independent shop wanted $800 - $900. But
> these independent shops will not use dealer parts. They all claim to use
> OE parts. Called a dealer. An OEM timing belt along is $92.00. The reason
> the price is as high as $1.3k is they will replace all tensioners, idlers,
> and probably the water pump (driven by the timing belt). This is
> understandable. If they are all replaced I most likely will not need
> to touch any of them in the next 10 years.
>
> Well, I decided to challenge the job myself and I made it. I replaced only
> the timing belt and nothing else. I was short of a socket. So My total
> cost turns out to be $100. The old timing belt was still in good looking
> shape. That was amazing. That led me to reconsider if I really want to
> replace all tensioners, idlers and the water pump. I checked each of them
> carefully. I really could not find any sign that they need replacement
> any time soon. So I took the chance to reuse all of them. I did not feel
> I would need to touch any of them in the next 3 - 5 years. So that's it.
> $100 total plus all the labor of my own time. The Passat has gone 500
> miles after the timing belt job. I think it will be fine. The serpentine
> belt was replaced lat year. So it is not replaced this time.
>
> I started the job on a weekend. Completed it on the next weekend. I used
> no special VW tools (4 or 5 of them) mentioned in the Benteley. I did not
> drain any fluid (coolant and oil). I disconnected no hoses nor any wiring
> harness. The Passat is designed for very cleaning timing belt job. The
> front end of Passat makes you feel it is very complicated. But it is
> really not.
>
> The story is people really can save a lot of money for non repair type
> of jobs like this. It is mostly disassembling and reassembling work.
> No repair of anything. I know I am taking a chance by not replacing
> those that would be all replaced if the job were done in a shop.
> I know I am betting the original OEM parts against new non OEM but OE
> parts. I will find out if the origianl OEM parts (not replaced) will
> last another 5 years or not. I bet some new OE (not OEM) parts will not.
>
> By the way, the original timing belt was made in Germany. The replacement
> OEM was made in Italy. I don't really like it. It might not be better
> than an OE timing belt at half of the dealer price from many FLAPS.
>
> I am glad that Vanagons (Vanagon content) do not use a timing belt.
>
> David
>
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