cambelt on my 1.9 tdi....

[Superb681]

I have a 2006 superb1.9 tdi, it has done 106000 miles and i was told it had a cambelt change at 78000 but can't find any paperwork, is it easy to tell by looking at it by popping the top bit of the cambelt cover off?

[rotodiesel]

At that mileage, it's difficult to tell. What you can do, is with a COLD engine, release the front of the engine top cover and remove (unclip) the upper timing belt cover.

If you look under the camwheel on the LHS you will see the tensioner. Immediately behind it is a pointer and a slot. Ideally, with a cold engine and a newish belt, the pointer should lie within the slot - indicating that the belt has the correct initial tension.

When everything warms up and expands, the pointer will move to the right, as the tensioner takes up the extra tension caused by the shaft centres moving further apart with a hot engine. Conversely, as the belt wears or stretches (minutely) the pointer will move to the left of the slot.

When I changed my cambelt (after nearly 6 years in operation) the pointer was about 5 mm to the left of the LHS of the slot with a cold engine. All the bits I took off were in perfect condition and I wouldn't hesitate to let the belt run for longer.

A fairly new belt will also have visible lettering on the back. As the tensioner runs on the back of the belt, the lettering gradually rubs off. On Conti belts, this seems to take about 50k miles. If your belt has done over 100k miles, there will be no lettering visible (push the car forwards in top gear to check) and the pointer will be well to the left of the slot.

These belts are dead easy to change as long as you have the locking tools.

rotodiesel.

[Superb681]

Thankyou very much an excellent answer :thumbup: