First performance car advice please & Thank you

[Omarinit]

Hi all,

Just brought my first decent performance car being a MK5 GTI DSG 07 plate.
It's on 120k miles, 2 previous owners no evidence of Cambelt or Chain being changed (Which does it have? I've heard both from different people). I'm thinking of getting it changed right away quoted about £450 parts and labour.

Is there anything else I should do immediately? It drives amazingly, smooth as anything.
DSG serviced at 93k

I've heard people on YouTube suggesting getting the tensioner, altinator belt, cam follower straight away?

Sorry for my lack of information, thanks

[MattC]

Welcome to the forum. Get a member's ride thread posted up with pictures if you're gonna stick around.

They do have both. The chain is on the passenger side around the camshafts and stretches over time. Complete failure, I think, is rare if not impossible. Nothing to worry about until it starts making a racket or check if it's stretched using VCDS or OBDEleven.

I changed my timing belt nearly 3 years after buying the car putting the belt at about 7 years old including water pump. Cost me £300 to do myself including engine mount stretch bolts and OEM VW water pump.

The cam follower in the high pressure fuel pump is one of the first things I changed for about £50. If these fail, they chew up the intake cam lobe and you'll end up needing a new camshaft.

Don't forget about general servicing too.

Besides that, enjoy the car.

[JoshB]

Check the cam follower isn’t worn on the HPFP and check the PCV is working properly.
The Diverter Valves are known to fail so if it feels a bit flat at the top end it could need changing.
Get ready for your DSG oil change, it’s pretty vital to keep on top of those, and listen out for a rattle from the right hand side of the engine for the cam chain rattle.
Other than that there’s not a lot goes wrong with them, keep on top of oil changes and ittl be good for a few thousand more yet.

Cambelt’s a funny one as the handbook says check it after 60’000 but don’t replace it until 120’000 or 10 years. But most seem to recommend doing it every 5 regardless of mileage.
I’ve got mine booked in for Thursday for it doing at a very reputable Indy and he’s charging me £450, said it would be about £350 initially but then when he got a quote for the parts was shocked himself at how much it gone up by. If you look on VW’s website, they’ve put their price up £100 from last year too.

Oh, and make sure it gets up to temp. Should get to 90degrees in 5-10mins and stay there. If it’s slow to warm and the temp drops to around 70ish, you need a new thermostat.

[pudding]

I would ignore the handbook regarding cambelt advice as it's completely wrong.  I remember Alfa Romeo getting into bother some years ago for putting something similar in their handbooks, but they ran into a lot belt snap damage claims as a result 

The current official guidance from VW is:

Cars registered before 2009 = every 4 years.
Cars registered after 2009 = every 5 years.

As you say, mileage stipulations appear to have been phased out, so it's more of a rubber ageing issue than use, if that makes sense!

It also poses a question - what's different about 2009 on belts vs pre 2009 belts? 

[Omarinit]

Thanks guys,

I've ordered an OBDEleven reader.
I'll go through each item you've each mentioned, replacing them if required.
Any further suggestions please let me know.
I'm officially picking up the car either later today or Thursday (in for a fresh MOT) and I'll post on my "member's ride thread" then / when I've figured out how to do it lol.

Thank You all