2002 VW Cabrio Timing Belt Replacement

your timing belt has NOTHING to do with passing smog. that shop is just trying to get money out of you. What I did when I struggled to pass smog last year. change / clean my current air filter ( I had an oil based air filter ( KnN) and it finally failed me and my gas/ air ratio). The next thing I would focus on, is my MAS. The mass air sensor looks at how much air is coming in and sends a message as to how much fuel should be coming to mix for the ration 13:7:1. With 100,000 miles on it, I would definitely look into a new MAS ( parts geek). The MAS is located ( or should be located) just passed the air filter. There should be a circular device in that area and probably another device on that which is the computer for that part telling the ecu how much gas to bring up. This is where I failed my smog last year. Too much oil got passed the air filter and saturated the "eyeball" of the MAS and it couldn't read air right and so the ratio was also off. so that obviously confused the computer of how much gas to pull out and send through the line. Once I changed the MAS , the check engine light went out next to immediately. good luck

well the other guy is right timing belt has nothing to do with the smog test. The few big things to do before a smog test is, clean the maf sensor, replace your air filter and perhaps your plugs once every 60,000km. Tho I will say that at 90,000 you are supposed to replace the belt. This is usually done with the pulleys tensor, bolts, water pump and thermostat. can buy it in a package cause its all in the same place and is recommended that you do it at the same time to save money. in canada its 800$ for the 1.8 or 2.0l engines and about 1400$ for 2.8 and 3.0L engines at the dealership. If done at a specialist shop it can be done for 600 for hte small and about 900 for the roughly.