4yrs of ownership

california kid · Oct 13, 2022

Hi all.

Having owned our California now for 4yrs, it was time for its Service and Cambelt and Water Pump change, As always we use Breeze Vw at Totton. Once again all arrangements where made with Derek from the service dept, All I can say what a pleasure it is to deal with Breeze Vw , and especially Derek who not only keeps in contact with you and a reminder phone call the day before.
All work carried out satisfactory, nothing nasty to report other than Advisory windscreen wipers slightly smearing. One job under warranty lower California light in the drivers footwell.I would highly recommend using Breeze Vw for all your California needs.
Derek is a credit to Breeze Vw with his politeness and courtesy .

Alan.

Meoncoast · Oct 13, 2022

california kid said:
I would highly recommend using Breeze Vw for all your California needs.
Derek is a credit to Breeze Vw with his politeness and courtesy .

I concur with your review.

JimP1992 · Oct 14, 2022

Good stuff. I’m pretty pleased with my VW dealer in Sheffield. They’ve resolved any issues, where possible, under warranty (which has recently expired) and the work to-date, having had 2 Calis so far, has been top.

clarinetbcn · Oct 14, 2022

california kid said:
Hi all.

Having owned our California now for 4yrs, it was time for its Service and Cambelt and Water Pump change, As always we use Breeze Vw at Totton. Once again all arrangements where made with Derek from the service dept, All I can say what a pleasure it is to deal with Breeze Vw , and especially Derek who not only keeps in contact with you and a reminder phone call the day before.
All work carried out satisfactory, nothing nasty to report other than Advisory windscreen wipers slightly smearing. One job under warranty lower California light in the drivers footwell.I would highly recommend using Breeze Vw for all your California needs.
Derek is a credit to Breeze Vw with his politeness and courtesy .

Alan.

Too bad they didn't share with you that Volkswagen, the manufacturer, recommends checking the belt at every service, which is skipped in the UK, and changing it at 210,000km, with no time limit, and Gates, the belt manufacturer, says the belt is designed to have a service life of 10 years. @Loz did the homework publishing VW service schedules and wrote to Gates directly. This is a cash cow for the private UK importer. When asked by members of this forum to explain why VWCV UK doesn't follow the manufacturer's recommendation, which is respected everywhere except the UK, the UK importer answered that that information "is not available to be shared."

Routine cam belt replacement interval?

Sorry to resurrect this dull subject but could someone direct me to where the recommended intervals are stated for the toothed belt replacement? I can’t find it in either the manual or on the VW website. My 2017 beach has done nearly 40k miles and I’d rather not shell out yet, but it has a year...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

Azteccamper · Oct 14, 2022

clarinetbcn said:
Too bad they didn't share with you that Volkswagen, the manufacturer, recommends checking the belt at every service, which is skipped in the UK, and changing it at 210,000km, with no time limit, and Gates, the belt manufacturer, says the belt is designed to have a service life of 10 years. @Loz did the homework publishing VW service schedules and wrote to Gates directly. This is a cash cow for the private UK importer. When asked by members of this forum to explain why VWCV UK doesn't follow the manufacturer's recommendation, which is respected everywhere except the UK, the UK importer answered that that information "is not available to be shared."

Routine cam belt replacement interval?

Sorry to resurrect this dull subject but could someone direct me to where the recommended intervals are stated for the toothed belt replacement? I can’t find it in either the manual or on the VW website. My 2017 beach has done nearly 40k miles and I’d rather not shell out yet, but it has a year...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

So tell me @clarinetbcn if the situation was the other way around and VW Espana (or equivalent) recommend changing every 4 years - what would you do? Ignore and leave it 10 years?

clarinetbcn · Oct 14, 2022

Azteccamper said:
what would you do? Ignore and leave it 10 years?

I’m actually impressed that even with bold face and italics you still didn’t read my post.

Of course I would follow the manufacture’s recommendation, as all except the UK currently do. I would be even more scrupulous about following the manufacturer’s recommendation if the local private importer refused to say why they don’t, as is the case in the UK.

DevillBelgium · Oct 14, 2022

clarinetbcn said:
Too bad they didn't share with you that Volkswagen, the manufacturer, recommends checking the belt at every service, which is skipped in the UK, and changing it at 210,000km, with no time limit, and Gates, the belt manufacturer, says the belt is designed to have a service life of 10 years. @Loz did the homework publishing VW service schedules and wrote to Gates directly. This is a cash cow for the private UK importer. When asked by members of this forum to explain why VWCV UK doesn't follow the manufacturer's recommendation, which is respected everywhere except the UK, the UK importer answered that that information "is not available to be shared."

Routine cam belt replacement interval?

Sorry to resurrect this dull subject but could someone direct me to where the recommended intervals are stated for the toothed belt replacement? I can’t find it in either the manual or on the VW website. My 2017 beach has done nearly 40k miles and I’d rather not shell out yet, but it has a year...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

Trust me. Not only in the UK is this the case but Eutope to. And not only VW. I drive a vespa new model wich is also low service. But hat is not the case when I need serviceing.

california kid · Oct 14, 2022

Regarding the cambelt and water pump replacement, as we are all aware in the UK VW use this as a cash cow.
For us personally although a number of Mechanics we have discussed this with say the belt could easily last 6yrs or 80 thousand miles, we intend to keep our California for a number of years.
So although we may not agree with VW we decided to have the work carried out, so in the event of any problems we are fully covered.
Also the work carried out does have the 2yrs warranty cover.
We also have the extended warranty. So we are fully covered .

Alan

wilde1 · Oct 15, 2022

My Cali is now 5 years and is booked in next week for mot timing belt and water pump, I was informed last year (4 years old) vw had changed the service intervals of cambelts and it is now every 5 years not 4, are they just making things up as they go along

BeagleMum · Oct 15, 2022

california kid said:
Regarding the cambelt and water pump replacement, as we are all aware in the UK VW use this as a cash cow.
For us personally although a number of Mechanics we have discussed this with say the belt could easily last 6yrs or 80 thousand miles, we intend to keep our California for a number of years.
So although we may not agree with VW we decided to have the work carried out, so in the event of any problems we are fully covered.
Also the work carried out does have the 2yrs warranty cover.
We also have the extended warranty. So we are fully covered .

Alan

Likewise, that’s why we had ours done this week, Van is 4 on 1st November.

clarinetbcn · Oct 15, 2022

wilde1 said:
My Cali is now 5 years and is booked in next week for mot timing belt and water pump, I was informed last year (4 years old) vw had changed the service intervals of cambelts and it is now every 5 years not 4, are they just making things up as they go along

The private UK importer is not making it up as they go, they have taken a conscious decision to rip off UK owners.

The manufacturer (VW) says that as long as the belt is inspected at every service (UK owners are excluded from this control by the private UK importer), the belt should be replaced at 210,000km. The current situation in the UK is equivalent to UK owners being told to replace the clutch every 4 years, even though a VW manufacturer’s recommended inspection would recommend that a perfectly functioning clutch with no wear on the plates would never be replaced. UK owners get fleeced, while the rest of the world receives information based on the physical examination of the clutch.

After years of posting about this specific topic, I have to ask, is there a cultural reason why UK owners are pre-disposed to being abused instead of defending themselves?

BeeBee · Oct 17, 2022

Glad you did resurrect this subject as our Cali will be 4 years old in April 2023 and I wasn’t aware of this requirement. I would assume at the service time I would have been informed however given the variable customer service and quality of work carried out I read on this forum, I’m better forewarned.
I would like to think that the 4 year recommendation is one of ‘conservatism’ and not ‘rip off’. I’ve always seen ‘over engineering’ as a positive.

Hawthorn37 · Oct 17, 2022

JimP1992 said:
Good stuff. I’m pretty pleased with my VW dealer in Sheffield. They’ve resolved any issues, where possible, under warranty (which has recently expired) and the work to-date, having had 2 Calis so far, has been top.

Good to know :thumb

WelshGas · Oct 18, 2022

My vehicle is now 8 yrs old. I had the belt and waterpump changed at 4 yrs and 80,000 miles. So due a second change this year, but Dealership Service manager said No, now 5 yrs or 80,000 miles since last change so will be done as Covid has cramped my style a little so less miles since last change.

Azteccamper · Oct 18, 2022

WelshGas said:
My vehicle is now 8 yrs old. I had the belt and waterpump changed at 4 yrs and 80,000 miles. So due a second change this year, but Dealership Service manager said No, now 5 yrs or 80,000 miles since last change so will be done as Covid has cramped my style a little so less miles since last change.

Similarly had mine done after 4 years and just had it done again on its 10th birthday - get it checked over at annual service. Mechanic said it was fine but increasing my mileage in retirement so got it done.