I still wouldn’t trust a kevlar belt for eternity. Timing chains aren’t bad, but they do eventually stretch/ wear out guides, blow tensioners too.
Hope they fix everything free for you Zach-- it’s a shitty situation.
i don’t mind timing belts. but most times people neglect them over the life of any car.
anytime i work on a hitler youthmobile i find myself cursing them more than anything. simple jobs should not be an ordeal in comparison to other manufacturers.
keep in mind i have worked on almost all makes and models. so my opinion is based on my observations not anyone else’s
i was completely joking
don’t lie, you loved my car.
As you know Mark, the tensioner is what fails well before the belt does!
Jeff, I appreciate your views, and I know you have experience on different brands. You’re absolutely right about timing belts being neglected, and it tends to be worse in Audis than a lot of others because they tend to cost more to do-- so people are more apt to just skip them. That’s why I always tell people to do a pre- purchase inspection before buying any used car-- but especially cars that cost more to maintain. Get written records and receipts.
I have also worked on a lot of cars including Italian, French, British, German, Japanese, Swedish, Swiss and American. Audi’s are by no means perfect and can be a pain in the ass to work on. So can the others. Tranny job on a Z34Lumina. Reading wiring diagrams for a Maserati and fixing an electrical problem? Clutch job on an NSX. Trouble codes on a Land Rover. Etc, etc.
If someone wants the cheapest most reliable car buy a base model Honda or Toyota that has been well maintained. These manufacturers aren’t perfect (sludging in Toyotas, cam troubles in Tundras, trannies in Odyssey vans, etc.), but on the whole you’re gonna be ahead of the curve on a $ per mile basis than with a German car.
I drive, fix and modify German stuff because that’s what I like to drive-- they’re by no means perfect vehicles, and you’ll never hear me claiming they are. If WELL MAINTAINED by someone who knows WTF they’re doing, the cars are solid.
Not always, but it’s always a concern. Same liability with timing chains.
Sorry-- I missed that. :bigthumb:
They said they would cover half, but only if their guy worked on it. I wanted it done at Foreign Traffic, but they won’t pay for half unless their guy does the work. They quoted me $4500, so I said Okay, write me a check for $2250. They refused. I think this is how getting screwed starts, and I’m not too happy about it.
DO NOT buy a car from Turnpike Auto Gallery.
not the first time i’ve learned that sarcasm does not transmit too well through the interweb
DO NOT buy a car from Turnpike Auto Gallery.
mental note has been made. i say just try to get the cash and have someone else do the work
Well I’d like to, but I don’t have $4500 so I don’t know when it will be fixed. If they gave me the $2250 that they said they’d pay for getting it fixed, that would help greatly because I really don’t think it is $4500 for a head or valves, and know the timing rubber band is no where near that.
Generally most shops will charge about 800-1200 for a tbelt job on those motors. You can get all the parts online for under 250. Then add to that swapping the head and fixing the valves, or replacing head. I’d call foreign traffic and get an estimate from them to see how it compares. Well actually I’d be calling around getting prices on a used head which would definitely be less than a grand. If you did the work yourself I’d think you could easilly get it back on the road for less than the 2250.
Zach, I’ll show you how to fix your car if you can wait a few weeks (I’m tied up finishing a project)-- just buy the parts. Don’t give those assholes any more of your money.
i was referring to getting the money from the stealership, not out of your pocket.
this should be a $2k-2500 range job. basing this off cost of a rebuilt head, gasket/water pump kits, and cost of labor.
book gives 7.3 hours to remove old head and install new one. this is assuming that shit is not stripped or f’d up. so if i were to quote the job, id say 8.3 hours labor, and give myself an extra hour wiggle room because you are bound to run into something being f’d up that they dont expect when they quote labor time.
so looking at 1050 to 539 for labor. this all depends on labor rate, went a high of 125 an hr, and as low as $65. i dont think any shop is less than 65 an hour, atleast i would hope not.
the new head is “ready to go” i.e.-not fucking around w/ cam to cam timing or installing valves, or fucking around w/ replacing turbo etc etc etc. just take old head off, new head in.
cost on rebuilt head–$850-$1000, used head $500 to $800. I’m not taking into account private parties because they dont warranty their items. A warranty when a problem arises is worth it’s weight in gold.
parts wise, you have timing belt components and water pump (250 ish iirc), head bolts (40 iirc), head gasket kit (forget), spark plugs ($8), oil and coolant ($76 (6 qts oil at $6 for synthetic,and 2 gallons of the pink coolant at 20 a gallon) oil filter (est $6). so being i forget headgast kit price, but lets say 500 total parts, but at a shop im saying more like 550-600 range due to they do make money on parts too!gotta make atleast 20% on it or you shouldn’t be in business. labor pays for labor, parts and extras pays your overhead.
if you bent shit badly enough that the pan needs to be dropped to clean out the debris, tack another 4 hours of labor on to it plus oil pan gasket.
Apparently it bent EVERY valve and fucked up the pistons bad. They put in an engine. I had to take out a loan for the other half that the stealership wouldn’t pay, but it’s all over but the crying now.