Hi all, been a lurker for awhile, my first post is a doozy.

Yesterday, my '02 allroad lost power, engine light came on, and then died. It would not restart.

A $70 tow later to an area mechanic ( whom I do not know and 100 miles from my home) , and a $132 diagnostic bill says that the engine gave a timing error ( I don't know the code yet) and that a compression test showed no compression, indicating bent valves.

The car has 70K miles on it, well before one would start thinking the timing belt would need to be replaced.

I am having the car towed tonight back to my mechanic for a 2nd opinion, but assuming the first diagnosis is right, what are my options?

1) Repair the valves and belt. Which is a $4,000 to $6,000 job I'm sure.
2) Find a used motor, and do a engine swap
3) Sell the car for parts. (It's in great condition otherwise)

Any suggestions on how to handle, or some better cost estimates?

Thanks,

 

ouch... sorry to hear that...

when my timing belt broke i bought a new head from odessa cylinder heads... great price on ebay... and while i was in there threw on a ko4.... if you can't do the work yourself at least buy your new heads from them and save...

 

Back when I didn't know anything, I also ruined a motor with the timing belt.
Now, that I have dealt with the issue, and fix cars myself (at least try), try to find out what the potential damage could be.
If it truly only jumped (but enough to have no compression), new heads may be all you need (I don't know if it is possible that only one bank got damaged).

But it also can be that the valves kissed the piston enough so you may need new pistons also (for me, that means new motor, since I am not yet ready to go into the internals of the engine).

and 70k is not all that uncommon. some here recommend 60k for timing belt to be safe.

 

I doubt the pistons got ruined(it is a possibility)... but when my timing belt went i was on the freeway doing 80 and kept trying to jump start it back up on my way to a stop (manuel trans)which would continue to turn over the bottom end and when i took off the head the block or piston showed a few small indensions from valve damage but they were fine... i even have the block boosting more psi these days and no issues... the pistons are forged from the factory too

 

He will certainly find out when he takes the heads off. But it would be nice to know if it CAN occur, and if there is a way to diagnose. I would assume an endoscope (camera) through the spark plug hole should tell?

In his situation, he needs to determine if he looks for a new engine (which may need sell car), or new heads (which could mean DIY), etc.

As a potential buyer of 'timing belt damaged' cars, I would also like to know how to diagnose. So far, I always assume pistons damaged (=new motor).

 

What would a top end rebuild cost at a reasonable mechanic?
Are there some non-OEM parts I can purchase that would be better than buying from Audi?


I can promise you I won't be doing a DIY job on it.

 

The car will be posted for sale in the Classified section shortly.