Ron

My '97 1.8L with 69000 miles has stripped timing belt. Ruined the valves too. It is in with the dealer as we speak. How much should it cost?
Ron

Ron (96 A4Q 2.8 w/70,000 miles)

I guess I had better get busy and replace my timing belt before the same thing happens. It is hard for me to believe the automobile companies can get away with selling engines that self destruct when a rubber belt breaks.

DaveN

High Compression Ratio and good breathing pretty much force an interference design.

Jason F

Was it the original belt? (55k miles, getting belt changed ASAP)

Bob Petruska

I have built many small block high compression engines with valve reliefs in the pistons so the halves won't hit if the timing chain breaks!

Charlie Booher

My 97 1.8TQM has 87K on it and just yesterday I picked up the new motor to replace the original because of a broken timing belt. Let me tell you what happens. Both exhaust valves were bent, the center intake was bent, and the three bent valves splayed out and gouged the cylinder walls on all four cylinders. All four pistons were gouged and I would never trust the rod bearings again from all of that metal to metal contact. We didn't bother to disassemble the head to see what else was trashed. I found a very low milage 99 motor as a replacement. Hopefully, I will be back on the road soon. If your car is a stick shift and it happened at 60 MPH like mine, the motor is junk.

It amazes me that Audi has no replacement interval on this like they do on the V6 and V8 cars particularly since it potentially trashes the motor. Even my dealer says that Audi does not have any replacement interval for the 1.8 timing belt. You should be worried, expect the worst. If your only alternative is a new motor from Audi and you have to foot the bill like I did, I'll tell you where I found my replacement motor.

Charlie