Is the Cam Chain Tensioner something you plan on changing yourself?
Whats with the Detriot sign? Are you from the area, if so where did you go to get the car taken care of, its hard to find a quality import garage around me.
Thanks for the help.

 

i consider myself "mechanically inclined" but inexperienced...i was told not to even mess with it. they showed me what the problem was on an engine sitting in the shop and there's no way i'd even try this repair. it's a pretty big deal...

i'm from detroit, that's why i've got it in my sig. i live in denver now...sorry...

LampyB.

 

I just called a mechnic close to my house that quoted me $500 parts and labor. Should I just drop the car off and have him do it? 500 seems cheap.

 

$500 is a great deal...i'm in denver, CO and every mechanic out here is ridiculously expensive. just make sure it's a reputable body shop for european cars. a lot of people will just go ahead and work on audi's and beamer's without any experience, you'll want to avoid this.

have them clarify that this is definitely the problem on your car, you don't want to pay a lot of money and end up fixing the wrong part. from our discussion it does sound like you have the same problem though....good luck!

LampyB.

 

Well, I'm dropping off my car tonight to have it fixed in the morning. I did a search on Audi Cam chain Tensioner and found this other message board threadhttp://forums.audiworld.com/18t/msgs/1767.phtml
this is exactly what my car is doing so I'm pretty sure if they just fix the tensioner the problem should go away. Once I get the car back my next project is brakes them I'm putting it up for sale and getting a new one with a warranty.
The shop I'm taking it to had a few Audis in the lot so I'm pretty sure he knows his way around an import, it does make me nervouse though because the building is a little dump.

 

let me know how everything turns out afterward! good luck with the shop....

LampyB.

 

so whats the word Cruz...has the rattle gone away, and what was the total cost of the repair? I've gotta take mine in really soon, not looking forward to spending a hefty chunk of change...

LampyB.

 

The part didnt come in yesterday, hopefully it'll be ready tonight. The total cost should'nt be more than $500 because thats what I was quoted (parts and labor). The noise should go away beause as soon as he heard the noise and heard where it was coming from he knew exactly what it was.

Since you know exactly whats wrong with your car, now just start calling every mechanic you can find and ask how much it is to fix that specific part until you get the best deal. Thats what I did, the first place I called was not familiar with 1.8T's and quoted $600 minimum just labor and he still wasnt sure what I was talking about when I told him what partI needed fixed.
According to my mechanic that tensioner is a "ticking time bomb" and if it goes it takeseverything with it. It'll go from a $500 job to a $3500 job. So I would suggest you stop driving it and get it fixed ASAP.

Quick question though, with this tensioner replacement would I still have to replace my timing belt at around 80K miles?

 

yeah definitely change the timing belt by 80k if you can. i had mine done at 90k, and my mechanic said i had ***** for waiting so long. make sure you get all of the bells and whistles with the t-belt job too....

ie timing belt, serpentine belt, a/c belt, water pump, updated tensioner, pulleys....i think thats about it....

I paid $915 total. and just so you know be very careful if someone says you won't need to replace the water pump because half of the time it's the water pump that goes first, and it causes the timing belt to break. just tell them to do it anyway.


LampyB.

 

I am at a total loss, This ******* mechanic has my car for 3 days, I called him today to see if it was ready he says, Yes. I go to pick up my car and this ******* tells me that there is no point in changing the CAM CHAIN TENSIONER now because I'll have to change it again when I do the timing belt in 20K miles. He shows me some tubes that were ripped that he relaced and said he sprayed some lube on the CAM CHAIN to help with the noise and I should give it a few days and I'll notice the noise should go away.I payed him $45 andby the time I got home from the shop the car was making the same sound no better at all. Why is it so hard to get this thing fixed, this noise it not only annoying but embarrassing.