Don, I totally undstood your point before I made the decision to
do it myself. I understood completely that if I wanted the service
of a shop it would be totally appropriate to replace all those
tensioners and whatever that are commonly replaced so that nothing
would come out to bother me in the next 5 years.

One reason I decided to to do it myself was the dealer price was
a bit high. But if I went for an independent shop I am not sure about
the quality of OE parts they would use.

So I decided to bet between the original OEM parts and new OE parts.
I will know in the next 5 years if the original OEM parts will take
the beating for another 50k miles. If they do last that long they
will be replaced next time.

David

David

--- On Fri, 5/8/09, Don Hanson <dhanson928@gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Don Hanson <dhanson928@gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [NVC] Passat Timing Belt Replacement
> To: "David Kao" <dtkao0205@yahoo.com>
> Cc: vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com
> Date: Friday, May 8, 2009, 11:05 AM
> This story kinda relates to last week's discussion about
> "How come it
> costs so much to get someone to do an engine swap"
> Sure, David, you did the work yourself and saved a bundle
> of money.  You
> made some decisions that a "shop" and most
> certainly a dealer would not have
> been able to make...You made some judgment calls on what to
> re-use and what
> looked to be in acceptable (to you) condition as you
> proceeded in your
> repair/maintence.  But a dealer or an independent shop, if
> they made these
> same 'judgement calls'...They would be putting a
> lot at risk...Their shop's
> reputation, the possibility that soon them might have to
> re-do the repair if
> a small part failed or started to fail...All that...They
> have to 'make sure'
> to cover their own butts by doing everything according to
> the book...Takes
> more time, costs more money but they won't be
> responsible for taking any
> shortcuts or making a wrong judgment call..
>   You can do that, knowing you're gonna be OK...But a
> shop or a
> dealer...They might be working on a lawyers vanagon...they
> don't really
> know...so they can't afford to NOT do it exactly
> according to
> protocol..then, if something goes wrong later they can
> point out in the
> Bently or shop manual all the proceedures and say we did it
> by the
> book...Not our fault..
>   A lot of the proceedures in the books are just that...CYA
> stuff...cover
> your a**...stuff that really doesn't improve the
> quality of the
> repair/maintence proceedure but someone somewhere decided
> "It's a good idea,
> while you are in there..."
>   Don Hanson
>
> On Fri, May 8, 2009 at 10:30 AM, David Kao
> <dtkao0205@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > My 2001 Passat V6 reached 100K miles a few months ago.
> I had worried
> > that the timing belt needed replacement and needed to
> be done soon
> > as the warranty had run out.
> >
> > Dealer price was over $1.3k. Independent shop wanted
> $800 - $900. But
> > these independent shops will not use dealer parts.
> They all claim to use
> > OE parts. Called a dealer. An OEM timing belt along is
> $92.00. The reason
> > the price is as high as $1.3k is they will replace all
> tensioners, idlers,
> > and probably the water pump (driven by the timing
> belt). This is
> > understandable. If they are all replaced I most likely
> will not need
> > to touch any of them in the next 10 years.
> >
> > Well, I decided to challenge the job myself and I made
> it. I replaced only
> > the timing belt and nothing else. I was short of a
> socket. So My total
> > cost turns out to be $100. The old timing belt was
> still in good looking
> > shape. That was amazing. That led me to reconsider if
> I really want to
> > replace all tensioners, idlers and the water pump. I
> checked each of them
> > carefully. I really could not find any sign that they
> need replacement
> > any time soon. So I took the chance to reuse all of
> them. I did not feel
> > I would need to touch any of them in the next 3 - 5
> years. So that's it.
> > $100 total plus all the labor of my own time. The
> Passat has gone 500
> > miles after the timing belt job. I think it will be
> fine. The serpentine
> > belt was replaced lat year. So it is not replaced this
> time.
> >
> > I started the job on a weekend. Completed it on the
> next weekend. I used
> > no special VW tools (4 or 5 of them) mentioned in the
> Benteley. I did not
> > drain any fluid (coolant and oil). I disconnected no
> hoses nor any wiring
> > harness. The Passat is designed for very cleaning
> timing belt job. The
> > front end of Passat makes you feel it is very
> complicated. But it is
> > really not.
> >
> > The story is people really can save a lot of money for
> non repair type
> > of jobs like this. It is mostly disassembling and
> reassembling work.
> > No repair of anything. I know I am taking a chance by
> not replacing
> > those that would be all replaced if the job were done
> in a shop.
> > I know I am betting the original OEM parts against new
> non OEM but OE
> > parts. I will find out if the origianl OEM parts (not
> replaced) will
> > last another 5 years or not. I bet some new OE (not
> OEM) parts will not.
> >
> > By the way, the original timing belt was made in
> Germany. The replacement
> > OEM was made in Italy. I don't really like it. It
> might not be better
> > than an OE timing belt at half of the dealer price
> from many FLAPS.
> >
> > I am glad that Vanagons (Vanagon content) do not use a
> timing belt.
> >
> > David
> >