I’ve seen a few reports that say “the VAG group has changed its cambelt replacement interval across the entire VAG range to no time limit and 150,000 miles”.
Is that right, even for D2 A8s and S8s?
I certainly hope so!
Timing belt intervals
Timing belt intervals
2002 Final Edition S8. Ebony black with Silver Grey leather and myrtle wood trim.
Re: Timing belt intervals
PistonHeads also reported it https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/top ... &t=2049360 so it looks legit
2002 Final Edition S8. Ebony black with Silver Grey leather and myrtle wood trim.
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MikkiJayne
- Posts: 197
- Joined: Wed Sep 06, 2023 6:26 pm
Re: Timing belt intervals
That might be the case for new stuff. D2 timing parts do not last 150,000 miles.
The timing belt is highly robust, so that in itself wouldn't concern me but all the spinny bits have a considerably shorter lifespan. Water pumps will generally get a bit loose at <100K, as will the two small rollers on the heads. They don't fail much tbh, but they can get noisy, and if the water pump bearign gets too loose it'll start leaking coolant. The hydraulic tensioner often needs doing after 5-7 years, especially on cars that don't rack up many miles - thats the primary failure mode of the D2 timing system really. It seizes in the compressed position, then the belt gets loose. The aux belt idlers don't last anything like that either, again 5 years is about right for those. Some of these components, particularly the tensioner, will fail sooner on low mileage 'high days and holidays' cars than they would on starship-miles dailys, just because they aren't getting heat cycled and keps active.
IMO, with most D2s covering fairly small mileage these days, 5-7 years is still a sensible interval.
The timing belt is highly robust, so that in itself wouldn't concern me but all the spinny bits have a considerably shorter lifespan. Water pumps will generally get a bit loose at <100K, as will the two small rollers on the heads. They don't fail much tbh, but they can get noisy, and if the water pump bearign gets too loose it'll start leaking coolant. The hydraulic tensioner often needs doing after 5-7 years, especially on cars that don't rack up many miles - thats the primary failure mode of the D2 timing system really. It seizes in the compressed position, then the belt gets loose. The aux belt idlers don't last anything like that either, again 5 years is about right for those. Some of these components, particularly the tensioner, will fail sooner on low mileage 'high days and holidays' cars than they would on starship-miles dailys, just because they aren't getting heat cycled and keps active.
IMO, with most D2s covering fairly small mileage these days, 5-7 years is still a sensible interval.
Re: Timing belt intervals
Thanks yet again Michaela. I would always trust your experience and judgement over any other, so I’ll keep my precious S8 at the 5-6 year interval and start buying the ancillary part well ahead of the due date.
2002 Final Edition S8. Ebony black with Silver Grey leather and myrtle wood trim.