Re: Timing belt interval for V6?

["Chris Newbold" <cnewbold@earthlink.net>]

From: Gene Caldwell <optic@halcyon.com>

> After many years of VW ownership I have become accustomed to 60k mile
> timing belt replacement intervals.  I took my 94 90/V6 in to a dealer
> for what I thought would be a 60k service and belt change.  Upon
> retrieving the car I learned that no belt had been changed and was
> informed that it was a 90k mile service item.  That seems a little risky
> to go that long.  Suggestions?   TIA.

That is the factory-recommended interval, but from personal experience
and from seeing stories on the q-list, it seems like suicide to wait
that long.

The belt itself may well last that long, but many of the things it
drives won't. In particular the water pump typically gives up around
60k, and so do the tension and idle rollers which guide the belt.
I've seen at least two accounts of seized water pumps shredding the
timing belt. (The V6 is an interference motor.)

A failing water pump typically sounds like a cricket on cold start up,
which likely goes away once the engine warms.

Cheap insurance, IMHO, to replace all of this stuff around 60k miles.

-Chris
1993 90CS 5spd 81k miles