I am about to do my timing belt seeing as i already have my front bumper off and lock carrier out. The bigger timing belt kit from ECS seems to come with everything i need except for the dampener. Should i order this part along with my timing belt kit? or is there a possibility that mine is ok? btw i have a "96 A4 with 85K miles. thanks guys. oh and my car is apart cuz i'm replacing my starter and alternator. hopefully the sources of my electrical problems. we'll see....

 

no body? c'mon someone's gotta kno sumthing here.

 

If its cheap, why not? You already will have everything off and ready for install.

 

its $100. not cheap imo. hence the reason i want to know if it is necessary.

 

Ive read that the dampner/tensioner tends to go bad so I would suggest you replace it. If it dies your f*cked to better safe than sorry.

 

you might also want to order a snub mount while you're at it. 5 minute install, pretty cheap, and a big improvement over stock.

 

I prefer the dieselgeek.com kit. Its got everything. Then again, so does the big ecs kit. Either way, get one that includes everything rather than piecing it together yourself, you'll save money.

 

I bought mine from purems.com for $265 shipped. (Belts, water pump, tensioner, thermostat, damper)
Mine dont need any of that but I have 65k on the car and I've heard from many sources that its a GOOD idea to do it now. Manufacture recomends to do this at 100k, but they also dont recomend driving the cars the way some of us do. lol

 

Thanks for the feed back guys. I was actually replacing my alternator and had everything off so i decided to do it all at once. i bought the big timing belt kit from ECS ($220) and i bought the APR snub ($50). Turns out i dont have a dampener. when i got to the timing belt tensioner i was amazed to see that i didnt have a dampener. the holes are even there. i think '96 didnt come with it. but i could be wrong. instead you have to loosen the tensioner roller, torque it to like 10 ft.lb. and then tighten the bolt that holds it to the block and torque that to spec. if anybody has any questions about their '96 feel free to ask. i learned a lot this week. in fact i put everything together and then remembered that i have to run the car for a sec and check the tension in my timing belt. so i will be taking my car apart again. and then im going to do a radiator flush. all in all:

New this week:
Timing Belt
Serpentine Belt
Water Pump
Idle Roller
Tensioner
Thermostat
APR Snub Mount

And no STEALERSHIP involved!