When I bought my Car from this Rich Goofball a while back, he told me that the Timing Belt was replaced. He showed me a Reciept for around $3000, The Car has 169K Miles on it now. So I had a side problem and I had to rip the front of the Car apart and while I was at it, I said that I will change the Timing belt and everything else that went With it.

So, I ran into 2 Serious problems that baffled me a little. One of the Hex Bolts on the Crankshaft pulley was stripped. The head that is and the Lower Timing cover also had a Big Hex bolt stripped. Just the Head. They also looked rusted and not touched for a long time.

My thing is that to me, the Timing belt was never changed from the condition of these 2 Bolts. Could it be that they only changed the Tensioner and left the belt the way it was since they could not take the bolts out. and Made quick money.

 

The belt would never in a million years have lasted that long.

 

Is the belt original Audi? The tensioner doesn't look OEM. The bolts were probably zapped back on with an impact, stripping them out.

 

Either that ^ or they used the wrog size tool to remove/reinstall them.

 

Can someone send me a link to what a worn out Timing Belt looks like.

 

Youd be missing "teeth" on the belt, the ribbed belt will be cracked and some ribs will be missing. they dont really "wear down" the tensioner is usually the need to do the timing job.

 

If you're in doubt about the belt, get a new one. Trust me on this.

 

To get to the water pump, there is one pulley that I have to pull out. Part of the timing network. Do I have to worry about this one moving on me or it is stiff. I will do my best marking it but I am not sure about the position after/

 

Set your timing with everything on, then pop the belt off. Replace the pulley/tensioner water pump and belt, easy. You've already done the hardest part, the timing belt itself is cake.