rather a lot of conjecture here so far. clear to see the aux belt is damaged, this will have got around the crank pulley and inbetween the pulley and cambelt. may have skipped a tooth and no damage caused but most likely severe damage has been done especially with confirmation from VW that the cambelt is damaged.
I carry a spare..
I carry a spare set of tights.
Only yoking. I have actually done that. Many years ago when cars were far more simple and fan belts did drive a fan and no air con, it was considered a good fix. The lady was not amused.
However as night was approaching, it was a question of how far do you get before the battery runs down. So I just whipped them off 
Brand new and without a ladder. So how do you climb out of that one. I had one at home but how good was that so from then on I too carried belts around but they appeared to become practically indestructible and so I suppose did not see the need. In my driving time I think that I have only ever replaced one on the road and that is a lot of miles. Perhaps manufacturers drive to keep down prices and profits up, that belts and plenty of other stuff are being found from the very cheapest of suppliers and no questions asked.Is there a consensus from the the more knowledgable gurus, what may be a more acceptable replacement time or mileage? Is it the fact that the bottom pulley is so exposed, that the belt may take a hammering from everything that the road throws up? Accepting that there is a disposable plastic under sheet
that ought to give shelter. Perhaps if these under trays are so poor week and deformable could they be part of the problem.Perhaps we should all be buying after market steel or Aluminium under-trays or maybe some supplier might make a guard for the auxiliary belt and a more robust cover for the timing belt.
So it turns out the AA chap had it right from the outset.
The auxiliary belt snapped and a piece managed to get into the timing belt mechanism, resulting in massive internal damage to the engine.
A new engine has now been fitted under warranty, which is currently going through the final bit of testing.
They've also replaced the entire auxiliary belt mechanism as they couldn't work out what caused the belt to snap. At least that's what they're telling me.
Expecting to pick it up on Monday. I'll send an update on how it drives in the week.
I'm going to try and get a copy of the report that I assume was done as part of any investigation.
The auxiliary belt snapped and a piece managed to get into the timing belt mechanism, resulting in massive internal damage to the engine.
A new engine has now been fitted under warranty, which is currently going through the final bit of testing.
They've also replaced the entire auxiliary belt mechanism as they couldn't work out what caused the belt to snap. At least that's what they're telling me.
Expecting to pick it up on Monday. I'll send an update on how it drives in the week.
I'm going to try and get a copy of the report that I assume was done as part of any investigation.
Good to hear it’s back up and running but a terrible design if allows the two belts to foul.
I`m pleased you got a good outcome. It must have been a nightmare to hear the engine was damaged! Auxiliary belts as I`m sure a lot of us are aware last a long time both in mileage and years terms. My last Audi specified a Supercharger belt at 50K but not an Auxiliary belt. Sold at 76K and still had the same Aux. belt on. Its one of those things nobody can explain.
This could well be the way to go....any engineering gurus looking for a sideline?!!
From what I remember the aux belt is exposed to an opening in the off side wheel arch. I might make a clear polycarbonate guard next time I have the wheel off.
That said the air passing through the front grill over the radiators has to exit somewhere.
My experience of ribbed belts is that they can last longer than the tensioner / idler bearings on certain engines.
An stainless steel lower cambelt cover would be the way to go.
That said the air passing through the front grill over the radiators has to exit somewhere.
My experience of ribbed belts is that they can last longer than the tensioner / idler bearings on certain engines.
An stainless steel lower cambelt cover would be the way to go.
I am so sorry that you had a traumatic time waiting for what was to happen, it could easily been many £K I am glad and relieved for you that it has been covered by warrantee I was thinking about you regularly hoping and thank you for letting us all know.
Deltablues
New Member
Have recently suffered almost identical incident, albeit older 2017 van with 47k on clock. cam belt, aux and water pump done at 40k. At 47k Aux belt shredded, drawn into cam belt housing and disrupted same resulting in cam and rocker damage. Garage state damage resulted from water pump failure and are covering repair under warranty. Don't know if failure was a result of faulty water pump or poor tensioning of belts when changed. All the same it would appear a design issue that Aux belt shredded is often resulting an cambelt disruption.
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