JeepRage II

My parents have a 1998 A8 4.2 with about 85k on it. I have only had 1.8t and 2.7tt engines before, but I know people rarely risk going over 60k miles on the timing belt.

Due to the age and mileage of the car, the A8 is going to be done soon. Which kit do you recommend? I've been looking mostly at www.ecstuning.com for options. The car does have a slight oil leak, maybe the crankshaft seals will fix it in the Plus kit.

The work will be done professionaly. Does anyone have an estimate of how much more that Plus kit will take to complete in terms of hours comparison?

Thanks,
Hall

ECS Ultimate Timing Belt Kit
Everything you need for a complete timing belt job, buy it all together & save
With the great success of our early version Timing Belt Kit ECS has decided to offer a more complete kit with everything customers usually order when replacing their timing belt. Kit comes with the following:

Timing belt
Right side idler
Left side idler (2)
Tensioner Roller
Water Pump
Thermostat
Accessory drive belt
Does <b>NOT</b> include antifreeze order separately as needed.

$379.95

Or:

ECS Ultimate PlusTiming Belt Kit
The most comprehensive timing belt kit on the market with free shipping! 19 piece kit
With the great success of our early version Timing Belt Kit ECS has decided to offer a more complete kit with everything customers usually order when replacing their timing belt. Kit comes with the following:

Timing belt
Right side idler
Left side idler (2)
Tensioner Roller
Water Pump
Thermostat
Accessory drive belt
(2) 1.5 liter bottles of G12 coolant
Camshaft seals (2)
Crankshaft seal
(4) OEM front crank pulley securing bolts
Tensioner dampner (shock)

$579.95

skiracer

with the possible exception of the crank seals. If the seals aren't leaking, don't mess with them. You absolutely want the camshaft seals and the tensioner. The additional cost of the plus kit in MH shouldn't be more than an hour or two at most. Most of these components (except crank seals) are removed anyway.

BTW, 85K on an A8 TB isn't bad- I believe the maintenance manual calls for 90K? I changed mine at ~85K and it still looked almost new.

Check out this link for the TB procedure.<ul><li><a href="http://www.audipages.com/Tech_Articles/enginemechanical/tbreplace0.html">http://www.audipages.com/Tech_Articles/enginemechanical/tbreplace0.html</a</li></ul>

JeepRage II

My biggest concern on the car is age. its already 9 years old.

brittcrowell

There is one in the back of the engine too. And dont try and put the main crank seal in any of the cam seals, its a mm bigger, dont ask how I know :-)

Britt

skiracer

When you access the back of the cams to install the cam holding tools, you remove both rear cam covers, where the seals reside. I didn't have any leaks from the front cam covers, so I left them alone. But it wouldn't hurt to have a spare cam seal in case one of the fronts is leaking.