2001 change timing belt or not?

Do you guys still recommend changing the timing belt at 60K miles. My
car is a 2001 A4 with 83K miles on it, driven by a girl with care, and
serviced at very regular intervals. Should I still change the timing
belt now or let it past 100K? as it is a 2001 is it still falling
under the notorious belt breaking? what do you suggest? Please advise

"Buying a Used Audi" > wrote in message
om...
> driven by a girl with care,

"Buying a Used Audi" wrpte
> Do you guys still recommend changing the timing belt at 60K miles. My
> car is a 2001 A4 with 83K miles on it, driven by a girl with care, and
> serviced at very regular intervals.

Are you saying the TB should be in good shape because she drove the car with
care? :-)

There have been a few cases of premature TB tensioner failures on 2001s as
well, so I wouldn't take a chance. Audi of America has actually reduced the
change interval to 75K miles on the newer 1.8Ts (although you didn't say
what engine your A4 has).

So, change it NOW (and all the other items I mentioned to you in another
post)! You're way overdue.

I'm gonna change it on my '01 A4 next year, even though I won't be near 60K
miles yet (36K right now). Time is a factor as well. And the cost of
replacement is still much less than the cost of fixing the damages if it
fails.

Anyway, that's just my opinion. I'm rather risk-averse. :-)

Cheers,

Pete

"Buying a Used Audi" > wrote in message
om...
> Do you guys still recommend changing the timing belt at 60K miles. My
> car is a 2001 A4 with 83K miles on it, driven by a girl with care, and
> serviced at very regular intervals. Should I still change the timing
> belt now or let it past 100K? as it is a 2001 is it still falling
> under the notorious belt breaking? what do you suggest? Please advise

As I understand it if you are not the original owner the 10 yr/100K warranty
goes out the window. If you are buying it from a dealer then you should get
at least a year's warranty on the thing (and you could ask for the TB to be
expressly included in the paperwork). If its a private sale/purchase then
I'd get it done ASAP - in fact I'd ask the vendor to get it done and
negotiate over the price of the thing.

I.

qazimo,
Why not try for a record - see if it reaches 300K!!! The belt cares not
about the driver's gender, and if it was "serviced at _VERY_ regular
intervals" dontcha think the belt would have been replaced already?
Seriously, you're being penny-wise and pound foolish if you think you're
saving money by running a timing belt twice as long as is the common
replacement interval. Just because it ran this morning doesn't mean that it
won't break on the highway tonight - unless you've got x-ray vision you
won't be able to predict when it'll go, and belt replacement is waaaaaaay
cheaper than putting a new engine in after the belt breaks and ingests some
of the valves.
Cheers!
Steve Sears - if I wanted to save money on maintenance I wouldn't own:
1987 Audi 5kTQ
1980 Audi 5k
1962 and '64 Auto Union DKW Junior deLuxes ( - ok, DKW's are cheap to
maintain...but still....)
(SPAM Blocker NOTE: Remove SHOES to reply)

"Buying a Used Audi" > wrote in message
om...
> Do you guys still recommend changing the timing belt at 60K miles. My
> car is a 2001 A4 with 83K miles on it, driven by a girl with care, and
> serviced at very regular intervals. Should I still change the timing
> belt now or let it past 100K? as it is a 2001 is it still falling
> under the notorious belt breaking? what do you suggest? Please advise

"Buying a Used Audi" > wrote in message
om...

<snip>
>My car is a 2001 A4 with 83K miles on it, driven by a girl with care...
<snip>

Ok...BEWARE! The timingbelt in Audi´s tend to get bored, if girls are
driving them. So it might commit harakiri, instead of breaking as a result
of tear and wear. Also, you´d have to be carefull not to let the timingbelt
hear words such as "60.000 miles", "tb-tensioner" and so on! You´ll have to
whisper these words, when you are close to the engine...otherwise it might
put 2 and 2 together - and actually start making trouble, ´cause it would
know something were supposed to be wrong at its present mileage.


</end of joke>

Really...are you kidding us!? *ROFL*



--
Gio

Steve Sears wrote:
> qazimo,
> Why not try for a record - see if it reaches 300K!!! The belt cares not
> about the driver's gender, and if it was "serviced at _VERY_ regular
> intervals" dontcha think the belt would have been replaced already?

----8<---and original post was:

> "Buying a Used Audi" > wrote in message
> om...
>
>>Do you guys still recommend changing the timing belt at 60K miles. My
>>car is a 2001 A4 with 83K miles on it, driven by a girl with care, and
>>serviced at very regular intervals. Should I still change the timing
>>belt now or let it past 100K? as it is a 2001 is it still falling
>>under the notorious belt breaking? what do you suggest? Please advise

Steve, your posting begs the question about what kind of driving causes
the belt to fail, regardless of when it it should be changed:

I'm convinced that someone driving nice and easy, seldom over 3000 rpm,
never over 3500 rpm, should get much more life out of their timing belt,
compared to someone regularly running their engine over 5000 rpm, often
redlining.

I'd like to know how many of the "nice 'n easy" drivers here have broken
timing belts (assuming that their son or daughter isn't redlining it on
weekends).

/Robert

In message >
Robert > wrote:

> Steve, your posting begs the question about what kind of driving
> causes the belt to fail, regardless of when it it should be changed:

There are likely to be many factors involved in detemining the service
life of the timing belt - yes, style of driving will almost certainly
have some bearing, but I would guess that pure age and number/degree of
temperature cycles will be just as significant.

--
Peter Bell (Note Spamtrap - To reply, replace 'invalid' with 'bellfamily')

On Sat, 13 Nov 2004 16:22:06 GMT, Robert >
wrote:

>I'd like to know how many of the "nice 'n easy" drivers here have broken
>timing belts (assuming that their son or daughter isn't redlining it on
>weekends).

I'm not always a "nice 'n easy" driver, and neither is/was my sister,
from whom I bought this Audi, but for the most part we are just
regular drivers who know how to shift the gears correctly and enjoy
the power of the car. We don't/didn't race the car, but we did do
highway mileage at 75-80 MPH, well within the car's performance
capabilities and not exactly abuse. I've never broken a timing belt
(and I used to drive a Dodge Colt, which had a Mitsubishi interference
engine).

I replaced the TB/water pump/etc. on this 1998.5 A4 2.8 at 67k miles
and am now at 82k miles, with plans to inspect the serpentine belt at
90k miles for possible replacement.

I reason I am saying driven by girl with care is that I think the way
an engine is driven may have an effect over the suggested interval of
timing belt change. You see if you rev the engine most of the time, it
will make the belt do more rounds, ultimately more prone to breakage.
You see its like, if you abuse an engine it might last for 100K
while there are drivers that may run a similar engine for 200K?
Does it make any sense to you guys?