Hey Guys,

It has been a while since my last post! Hope everyone is doing well.

I just had a question regarding replacement of my water pump due to failure and coolant leakage and so here is the story in a nutshell:

Vehicle Details
Polo 1.6 TDI Comfortline (2012)
75 000km mileage.

I was losing water on my water bottle over the course of about a week to below minimum levels and had the vehicle serviced last week with NTT VW, and they have come back saying that the water pump is failing and leaking over the cam belt and recommend replacement of the cam belt, tensioners, and water pump. They have recommended all to be replaced as the coolant can have damaging/weakening effects on the cam belt over time, and can cause the belt to snap, bringing much higher repair cost!

Now they have quoted almost R10500 for the job which is quite high and have sourced other quotes as low as only R7500. Now my question is, what in totality (parts) is needed for this replacement job? VW have only quoted on Cam Belt, Tensioners, and Water Pump which is fine and well, but the alternative quotes came back with a 'Timing Belt Kit' which supposedly includes cam belt, tensioners, idlers etc. (a few additional parts). Now the cost of this kit is over double VW's quoted cam belt and tensioner quote and the alternative have said that VW normally only quote on these two items and when working on the vehicle will phone and say that additional parts are needed and will add to the total bill!? Now I am unsure of the truth in this as I am unsure of what all is needed in this kind of replacement.

Has anyone been through this process before and what is recommended when doing this sort of replacement looking at possible problems to be avoided down the line?

When I changed the cambelt on my Audi A4 I made sure to replace the waterpump, belt, tensioners, idlers, rollers, etc. I missed one idler or tensioner, I forget but it should be in my rides thread, and the cambelt was **** within 15k km...

You should deff do the idlers. Try to go to a Goldwagen. Maby delarey. They are helpfull and see what the cambelt kit includes. Vw did not qoute for the idlers and its deff not included in the tensioner or cambelt price. So if there is idlers. You will have to pay extra. Thats why I sugest you go to goldwagen and see what the kit includes. I am not clued up with the 1.6 tdi. But did a quick google and there is deff about 3idlers. Deff change everything. Try getting hold of panic(stefan) on thr forum. He can do the work for you and is highly recommended.

Bosch timming kit is well priced ill have a look.

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Part number: 1​ 987​ 946​ 452/943 just confirm engine model

Timing/Water pump kit

Includes timing belt replacement kit
And pump

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On a side note, did my mothers 2l tdi touran, for the complete kit at Goldwagen R4500 including water pump. But got the kit without water pump(SKF) for R1900 and got the water pump separately for R900.

Buy the parts from vw and get a bosch centre or a reputable mechanic (cause most of the time they have the timing tools etc) to qoute you on labour