On Friday, October 27, 2017 at 8:09:02 AM UTC-10, Casa de los peregrinos wrote:
> On 10/27/2017 11:56 AM, dsi1 wrote:
> > On Friday, October 27, 2017 at 6:20:38 AM UTC-10, Casa de los peregrinos wrote:
> >>
> >> I'm very surprised to hear this. A good timing chain should have close
> >> to double the life of a belt, or a minimum of 100,000 miles.
> >>
> >> It seems implausible that the technology would have gone backwards here
> >> that recently.
> >
> > Well, me too. That's something my mechanic told me. He's like a philosopher mechanic. It might have something to do with chains stretching and the drive parts wearing. OTOH, the chain won't break. My guess is that people with a lot of miles on their engines will just live with retarded valve timing and chain noise - because they can.
>
> I totally agree that chain stretch is the one key factor.
>
> But honestly with double the mileage service intervals it's hardly a
> critical failing.
>
> Methinks your mechanic is pulling your pinky on this one.
>
>
> >>
> >>> I don't recall changing the water pump with the timing belt but I might have. When my water pump sprung a leak on the VW, I changed out the belt too since it had to come off anyway. They should hang the water pump off to the side of the engine since they tend to leak.
> >>>
> >>
> >> 100% agree here, water pumps seem to have been placed as much for
> >> convenience as the high cost of replacement.
> >

Beats me if what he says is true, he's quite knowledgeable about what's going on in the business. It hardly matters much anyway since we'll be driving electric cars sooner than later. All I know is that he does not like to work on my VW. That hurts my feelings.