[PassatGLS-00]

I am almost ready to the service position to replace Timing Belt Kit and Water Pump.

I see many option by different manufacturers and different items included.

Any good or bad experiences with after market kits or who to avoid?

Your input based on experiences will be greatly appreciated. I would hate to have this twice!
Mine is a Passat 2003 1.8T with 139,000 miles and they never changed timing belt or anything else, very good car. The old belt looks good! but no taking a chance.
Thanks

 

[ylwagon]

I'm going to finish my son's '99 1.8T TB job this weekend, if nothing interrupts it. This job was basically started by AndreasPassat, who laid on the garage floor to get the bumper cover screws out, while my son (who was supposed to be doing the work) casually and slowly thumbed through a Chilton manual while leaning on the car.

Anyway, there are plenty of sources for these kits, FCP Euro for one, has some kits from about $170. The early plastic impeller pumps were prone to failure, however the new "composite" plastic impellers have smoother surfaces and are lighter, so I'm installing one of those (Graf).

Now though, if you have "never changed timing belt or anything else" I would caution that this isn't really a beginner job, even with a good shop manual. There are critical steps that if done incorrectly, will cause serious damage to the cylinder head, so take plenty of time. Don't start this on Sunday afternoon with plans to drive Monday!

 

[nuclearseal]

At 139K, you can't go on looks, if they never changed it, change it. Although even going off the manufacturer recommended interval doesn't guarantee a non-failure, going well over it greatly increases the chances. A belt can look fine but again, when in doubt change it.

FCPeuro and ECS tuning a lot of guys have used on here, myself included. They both have good all in one kits and everyone has their opinion on which kit is better but the definite consensus is the water pump, metal vs plastic impellers is no question metal.

The job itselt isn't terribly complicated but does need to be double and triple checked, being off a tooth or so won't screw anything up. Advice, if you wear reading glasses, wear them when lining stuff up, lol, otherwise you might have to redo the belt 20 times because the timing marks were a smidge off. Personal opinion is that the hardest part is the CCT replacement (a must especially considering the age of the timing belt, it is just as important as the timing belt). But again, not knowing your experience level.

Agreed with ylwagon, first time doing it, trying to do it on a Sunday to drive monday morning, either start early or start on saturday lol.

 

[jjpark]

I am having the complete timing and valve cover gasket service done this weekend. 04 GLX auto with almost 190k miles.

I bought the car a little over 2 years ago and I have no clue when the timing was done. I have either been living on borrowed time before it breaking or I am doing the work prematurely.

The car had been dealer serviced since the one owner bought it so I am sure the timing had been done once. There wasn't a lot of service records and the car had sat unused for just under a year before I bought it.

The guy doing it is a WV tech at one of the local dealers and it's a side job.

I ordered these 2 kits from ESC Tuning.

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-assembl...iming-belt-kit-ultimate-plus/078198479v2gate/

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-assembled-by-ecs-parts/complete-valve-cover-gasket-kit/078996025/

This includes everything I need minus the cam caps. I forgot to order those but they will be checked to see if they are leaking and if not I won't worry about them. I wanted to do the service myself but 1. I don't have the time and 2. I was a bit hesitant and would rather spend the $ on someone who knows exactly what they are doing.

 

[AndreasPassat]

139k miles and never changed the belt? :icon_eek: You better go buy a lottery ticket like... Now! You've got to be one of the luckiest people in this forum with those kind of miles.



Anyways, here are some places to check out for buying parts or kits.
I've used them all except Blau Parts.



https://www.ecstuning.com/

https://www.fcpeuro.com/

https://www.autohausaz.com/

https://www.rockauto.com/


https://www.blauparts.com/



The ones listed below sell quality parts but have lesser of an inventory than ECS, FCP or Rock Auto, drawback is they are hit or miss on parts availability.
Sometimes they have some screaming deals on stuff though.


https://www.shopdap.com/

https://www.germanautosupply.com/

https://www.germanautoparts.com/



As far as good or bad kits? Oh I don't know, it's been a few a years ago at least, there was a rash of members posting up about getting bad stuff from Blau Parts, but I haven't heard anything lately good or bad.
The (4) places I have listed at the top of the list offer good quality parts and are the most common places to go.
I say it every time somebody does a timing belt job, don't go cheap on the rollers, water pump or the belt. These parts are mission critical as we say here in the forum. The last thing you want to worry about is cruising down the breezeway at 70-80 mph wondering if the kit you just installed is up to the task.

 

[PassatGLS-00]

I totally agree with the posts from JJpark, nuclearseal, and jlwagon (3 posts above) and thanks for the tips.
As skills, I am a retired machinist, Mechanical Engineer, done all car repairs (including rebuilding engines) all my life (Now at 79 1/2). It is impressive the amount of work and difficult level required just to get the car to the "Service Position". Now and am taking off front bumper and the 2 supports for it. Done this by constant watching YouTube videos by different people. Some very good, some mediocre. But I an in NO HURRY to get this done and off course at my age I think the last time i would do this on the car. When in doubt, I go and watch the videos again. Amazing what one can get done with the advent of the Internet and the good will of so many people that shares their knowledge and experiences.
I have look at those prices suggesed above and seem well above the after market. I know that sometimes you get just what you pay for, but many other the after arkets come up with good engineering and fabrication. At this point it seems that if I can get a metal water pump or new plastic composite would go with that. i have 100% success in my past repairs with all cars owned in my life time with good aftermarket brands. This times will probably use Dayco:

Link: https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p...chTerm=engine+timing+belt+kit+with+water+pump
Thanks to all for your input.

 

[AndreasPassat]

I am a retired machinist, Mechanical Engineer.

We should get together and share some 'war' stories. Get cchief in on this too.

 

[Emry]

I'm going to finish my son's '99 1.8T TB job this weekend, if nothing interrupts it.

I though you're going to change the leaking WP only. Now you're dragged into the TB too

while my son (who was supposed to be doing the work) casually and slowly thumbed through a Chilton manual while leaning on the car.

The same party guy from Arizona?

so I'm installing one of those (Graf).

Given the age of the car, if this plastic one is cheaper it may be a wiser choice.

this isn't really a beginner job, even with a good shop manual.

Actually this is the only major repair/maintenance that I never dared to start with. I even don't know how to put the car in service position. All that hood latch and stuff seems too scary to me.

 

[Emry]

The job itselt isn't terribly complicated

I'm interested to know which dictionary you buy your definition of "complicated" from :lol:

 

[Emry]

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-assembled-by-ecs-parts/complete-valve-cover-gasket-kit/078996025/

This seems to me overly and unnecessarily expensive. I bought a similar kit off the ebay for $35 a couple of years ago and they still last very well.

 

[ylwagon]

I though you're going to change the leaking WP only. Now you're dragged into the TB too The same party guy from Arizona?

Well, you got me. I was looking at the thing in service position (for almost two weeks now) and thought about the TB parts on the shelf, and figured it would be dumb to skip another hour or so for a TB that's due. And yes, same party guy son from Arizona.

But the story gets better. He's got my A4, while I drive the old company F150 with 302,000 miles and no instrument lights at night. So lately he said that he would buy either a used Jetta TDI, then said he could get a good year-end deal on a new Jetta 1.4 turbo. So the other night he calls and excitedly says "dad, guess what I've got here in the garage"! Expecting to hear "a Jetta", he says "a Honda 250 dirt bike"!!!

 

[Emry]

while I drive the old company F150 with 302,000 miles and no instrument lights at night.

So you have one hand on the steering and a flash light on the other? :lol:

he says "a Honda 250 dirt bike"!!!

I was vacationing in India long time ago when they stole my wallet on the street. Then I was explaining the situation to the police who was an older guy. He said" Well Sir! in India we have an old proverb that says: "When rape is inevitable then lay down and enjoy!". :lol:

Not that's your kindda situation but you're facing an act where you're powerless!

 

[AndreasPassat]

"dad, guess what I've got here in the garage"! Expecting to hear "a Jetta", he says "a Honda 250 dirt bike"!!!

:rofl:


If I didn't have such a cramped schedule right now I'd swing over and we could just blast this thing out.

 

[ylwagon]

He'd let you too. He 'facetimed' from his phone to show it off, nice looking bike. Liquid cooled 4-stroke, 'upside down' shocks, looked pretty trick to me. But my beloved 3.0 was there in the garage behind it.

To Emry, I don't exactly use a flashlight to see how much gas I have or how fast we're going (not too critical in a F150) but I do use my phone for that reason.

 

[nuclearseal]

I've learned everything I have about Passats from these forums and youtube. The service position is actually pretty easy, its more time consuming because of all the fasteners. The hood latch is just a pain to get back on, but no big deal. I think the service position gets a bad rap, I think most think "OMG I'm taking about the front of this car" when really its just cosmetic stuff you're moving out of the way and doing the TB in the service position is SSSSOOOO much easier. If only they thought of that when the put the stupid coolant flange on the back of the [email protected]*&?) cylinder head.

 

[jjpark]

This seems to me overly and unnecessarily expensive. I bought a similar kit off the ebay for $35 a couple of years ago and they still last very well.

It was but I had no idea what I needed as I knew I was loosing oil from somewhere (I could smell it burning) and wanted to have everything needed for the guy so the work wasn't delayed. He didn't replace the cam seals or use the sealant but I can use that. He said I had the cleanest B5.5 that he has ever worked on as far as the engine area.

 

[PZ]

I totally agree with the posts from JJpark, nuclearseal, and jlwagon (3 posts above) and thanks for the tips.
As skills, I am a retired machinist, Mechanical Engineer, done all car repairs (including rebuilding engines) all my life (Now at 79 1/2). It is impressive the amount of work and difficult level required just to get the car to the "Service Position". Now and am taking off front bumper and the 2 supports for it. Done this by constant watching YouTube videos by different people. Some very good, some mediocre. But I an in NO HURRY to get this done and off course at my age I think the last time i would do this on the car. When in doubt, I go and watch the videos again. Amazing what one can get done with the advent of the Internet and the good will of so many people that shares their knowledge and experiences.
I have look at those prices suggesed above and seem well above the after market. I know that sometimes you get just what you pay for, but many other the after arkets come up with good engineering and fabrication. At this point it seems that if I can get a metal water pump or new plastic composite would go with that. i have 100% success in my past repairs with all cars owned in my life time with good aftermarket brands. This times will probably use Dayco:

Link: https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p...chTerm=engine+timing+belt+kit+with+water+pump
Thanks to all for your input.

I was not impressed with the Dayco timing belt when I had to replace one with less than 60K on it. The belt itself was falling apart, the rest looked fine.

 

[RAH]

I replaced my timing belt twice on mine so far, and it is a fairly straight forward job. I would stick with the kits from ECS Tuning myself, never had an issue with any of them. At 79 years old, you Sir are quite the guy still taking on a job like that, much props to you!

 

[kutcht1]

The 1.8T timing belt job is quite straight forward. Hardest part really is just getting the hood latch back on. I went with an FCP Euro kit since it had the Graf pump, NTN bearings and Conti belt. Youtube has some VERY good videos on the whole job. Just mark the old belt at top dead center and put those marks on the new belt and line it up. Good luck and let us know if you need help along the way.
TomK

 

[hu vw]

I was not impressed with the Dayco timing belt when I had to replace one with less than 60K on it. The belt itself was falling apart, the rest looked fine.

Please heed PZ's words here and stick with a kit utilizing a VW or Continental timing belt. ECSTuning, FCPEuro or Blauparts.