While we are talking about timing belts. When we were in the dealership discussing the Skoda we were considering (see the thread "Hi y'all") I got into quite a conversation with the sales manager who surprised me with his knowledge of the more technical aspects of the car. I often find salesmen have very limited technical knowledge. We were discussing the service history of my existing Ibiza - which I'm trading in to them - and I mentioned that I've got the reciept and paperwork for when a new cambelt was fitted at just over 5 years old. He said that was good and to be sure to let them have it with the car but that it wasn't something that would be a concern on the new car - which has basically the same 3 cylinder 1.0 TSI EA211 engine - as the recommended interval is now over 100,000 miles!
I remember being very interested in the EA211 when it was first introduced as it used a belt rather than the chain of the previous family of engines. It also had "interesting" features like a deliberately out of balance SOLID flywheel rather than running a balance shaft to offset the inherent out of balance characteristics of a 3 cyl engine. At it's introduction the belt was supposed to be a "fit for life" with much being made of the cam pulleys which actually aren't round but slightly triangular to reduce forces on the belt. Of course the "feardy" dealers and specialist workshops quickly adopted the 5 year change interval. Looks like they've found it's not needed after all. Makes me nervous though. If I'm still driving in 5 years time will I be "brave" enough to let it run?
Deciding on the new car has been an interesting journey. I initially decided to try to find something with port injection and no turbo for the sake of mechanical simplicity. Quickly discovered though that I like the low revs "punch" of these modern turbo engines so ended up just buying another one! Oh dear!
I remember being very interested in the EA211 when it was first introduced as it used a belt rather than the chain of the previous family of engines. It also had "interesting" features like a deliberately out of balance SOLID flywheel rather than running a balance shaft to offset the inherent out of balance characteristics of a 3 cyl engine. At it's introduction the belt was supposed to be a "fit for life" with much being made of the cam pulleys which actually aren't round but slightly triangular to reduce forces on the belt. Of course the "feardy" dealers and specialist workshops quickly adopted the 5 year change interval. Looks like they've found it's not needed after all. Makes me nervous though. If I'm still driving in 5 years time will I be "brave" enough to let it run?
Deciding on the new car has been an interesting journey. I initially decided to try to find something with port injection and no turbo for the sake of mechanical simplicity. Quickly discovered though that I like the low revs "punch" of these modern turbo engines so ended up just buying another one! Oh dear!
