Dayco timing belt kit. Hope it's ok

Joined
Jun 5, 2003
Messages
30,397
Location
Apple Valley, California
Crawled under the trooper to change it's oil Friday night. First thing I see is coolant running out from behind the plastic timing belt cover.

I knew that the water pump was timing belt driven.

I have a receipt from a shop that shows all that was replaced 12000 miles ago with gates parts.

I know I could have probably reused the belt and what not but is it really worth taking a chance with a 3 yr old riding around in the car?

Found a dayco kit on rock Auto for $116.
The aisin kit was 3x that unfortunately.

Fortunately I got paid last Friday so instead of me getting a new phone to replace my broken one I ordered the kit with the new water pump .


Hopefully it lasts more than 12000 miles

IMG_20250615_085837285.webp
 
Dayco belts are the best for VW ALH diesels. Not sure about the WP though as I don’t buy a complete Dayco kit as their pump comes with a plastic impeller.
 
Wowser. Only 12k is pitiful. Surely the Dayco kit will do better. So the water pump replaced by the shop was a Gates ? Or was it just the timing belt components that were replaced ?
 
Last Gates pump I used was Chinese made and it only lasted a few months before the seal failed. Will never buy another Gates water pump again.
That's the big problem. Chinese stuff is all over the place on quality. Some Chinese factories can do well, others can't and the unbranded stuff is impossible to categorize. I recently had a replacement driveshaft center bearing fail in 3 months. I figured why put a 100 dollar part on a 500 dollar car when you can get that part for 20 bucks. Now I'm doing the job over.
 
Unfortunately most AutoZone and O'Reilly's parts are Chinese junk from the same junk factories. The parts industry sucks right now. OEM is a person's best bet. Even that is no guarantee. I just hung an OEM factory Kia water outlet that had crappy dorman insignia all over it. Had to redo it a week later. Frustrating 🤦
Napa too. Same stuff but higher prices
 
Didn't seem like you had much of a choice. You need a phone when you have a 3 yr old, that's you're priority. Bad luck that the phone crapped out. If it didn't, and you had the extra money, Aisin would've been you're best bet. But, life is about making correct choices. You chose the phone & you're 3yr old over the Trooper. You did right.. Can't predict the longevity of the Dayco kit. Feel bad for all the labor you're going through. Best of luck with it. Better than it leaking now, so, worry about it later.
 
Back
Top Bottom