Hi Guys,

The independant garage I bought my car (1998 TDi 1.9 Quattro) from told me that a cambelt and tensioners had been done at 112K. However I couldn't find proof so phoned the Audi dealer I knew the car had been serviced at all it's life. They told me that the next one needed doing at 129K. I then thought that the garage I got the car from was pulling a fast one. However after managing to find the service history for the car (the service manual is devided into three sections.. strange) I see that it was indeed done at 112K. I looked in the past service stamps and it seems to have had a new cambelt roughly every 15K - 20K

I have owned many varied types of cars over the years. Some old, some brand new, some Diesel, some ptrol, some turbo, some non... you get the idea. However I have never owned a car that has needed a cambelt every 17K!!!

Is Audi pulling a fast one? At £350 (around $700) a pop they are making allot of cash each time

PS Thanks to the guy who helped me sort the digital dash out. Worked a treat!!!

 

I'm making the assumption that a cam belt is a timing belt. If so, 17k kilometers (10k miles) is a very short interval. Most on this forum change them at around 60k miles.

 

Sorry, using UK terminology. Yes I mean timing belt and it's 17K miles

I thought that too. On previous cars I have changed it every 40 - 60k. Not sure how to approach this. Obviously want to change it when it's needed or I'll kill the car. However I can't afford to fork out £350 every few months. Maybe if I ring an Audi dealer and pose the question "So, how many miles in between cambelt changes on a TDi?" and see what they say...

 

Sounds like a plan...on the 1.8t the timing belt is a piece of cake to change. You should investigate the change on a TDI. There aren't too many TDI's here in the states.

 

Is the recommended change interval in the service manual or the car manual? In the US this information comes with the car.

 

Do a search for Gates Timing Belt Replacement Guide.

 

Thanks guys..

Right, had a look in my owners manual and it says that the cambelt needs to be changed every 60K. However my service manual has the box marked next to 'timing belt replacement' in the service history every 10 - 20k.

I decided to go to my local dealer and see if they could see on the national database computer (I have moved 100 miles away from where the car had always been serviced) when the cambelt was done and when it is due, and also try and work out what the hell is going on!!! I had already phoned the dealer who had stamped service book from new and they had said it was due at 127K but another guy said 137K????

Anyway... Audi have categorically told me that the cambelt needs to be changed every 60K miles. They also have looked in my service book and got confused themselves with how it has been marked. Apparently where it has a list of tick boxes you should leave them blank if that inspection or work hasn't been done. However the very first mechanic who worked on the car when she was new put a cross in all the boxes indicating that the work HAD NOT been done. Every mechanic after that had copied this and done the same. So, where I had seen a mark I had assumed (as did Audi at first glance) all the work had been done where infact it was been marked to indicate it hadn't.. PHEW!!!

So at the end of that my car doesn't need a cambelt for another 15K miles and then again after another 60K

PS You can't move for A4 TDi's in Britain!

 

TDI isn't imported here except in VW.