IowAudi

I don't have the book here, but I'll guess Audi couches the timing belt with "recomended" or something similar. There's no way Audi or any car manufacturer (IMHO) could do it any other way.

It's a belt, and it's subject to the elements, and your driving. I think what needs to happen is education on our (consumer) end. If you have an A4 at say 55K miles with some cash to spend, change it. If not, know that the belt may break out of warranty, in which case have 3-4 grand handy. Heck, if I would have been on this forum sooner, I probably would have replaced mine by choice. As it was, I didn't and it broke.

Solaris

Even the dealers are known for backing what is in the book. This seems too common to be isolated, especially with so many people screaming 60K!!! Of course a belt wears and if it goes at 105k or 95k or 100,001, who knows? The point is that the scheduled replacement is nearly twice as long as what everyone recommends. If this knowledge is so common and important, why does Audi continue to use such guidelines?

IowAudi

I'm not saying their policy is right, but I'll hazard a guess Audi has done the research and testing that puts the number of breaks less than 105K miles in the minority.

Dealers may not have a choice in what they say. I'll bet Audi has a pretty spiff clause in the contract which prevents a dealer from "winging it" when it comes to recomended service.

As to Audi's guidelines, when my 98.5 was new, the book said change the belt at 75K. They revised it over time to 90 or 100K now. Again, I'd say Audi research.

Alternately, it may have been us,the consumer, that said "Why are you (Audi) making me change a 'perfectly' good belt at 75K? There's at least 20K more miles in that belt. Audi, you're just after more of my money".

FWIW, my neighbor works for Gates, and he looked at the belt right after I bought the car and said I should change it...I didn't listen to him either. Doom on me.

4kq

In America? Lol, The ave. loss to fraud from the latest stock scam was 30+K per household!

Andy_FL

If it were only that simple...

brittonj

I talked with the service manager at my local Audi Dealer in Madison,WI , he agreed when I said that it should be done around 90K. But he also mentiond that in alot of cases the Waterpump fails , which effectivly shreds the timing belt, so whenever they do a Timing belt change they change the waterpump too. Anyone ran into this before? Does that sound right that the waterpump would fail before the Timing belt?
He also quoted me around $950 to do the job.

laser1.8t

But oh yeah, they are pricey. DIY. Just replaced mine.

laser1.8t

I think they're a very good dealer. Always given me excellent service and respect.

I think the water pump thing is for the 2.8 engines. And the tensioner is for the 1.8T engines, but I could be wrong.