Hi-I have a 99 2.5 A4 with 145K miles on it-been a great car without any problems. I had the timing belt replacement 3,000 miles ago and the repair shop over tightened a bolt, which caused the tensioner to fail and the timing belt to break. Needless to say, the right and left cylinder heads are going to have to be replaced.

My question is, how reliable can i expect the car to be after such a major repair? I wanted to keep the car to at least 200K, but i am wondering if its going to be lots of problems here on out? Anyone else have the work done with any experiences? Thanks!

 

Assuming everything is fixed properly and there isn't any left un-fixed it should be fine or better since everything will be new. They will have to rebuild the whole top end most likely and if any of the pistons are damaged that will be replaced also. Hopefully nothing happened to the cylinder walls. I'd hate to be the shop that has to pay for that or the mechanic that messed up. It's expensie on a 1.8t and i bet the 2.8 cost a ton to get fixed.

 

Yhea, big question is will they do it right-but the stealership was going to charge $6800 to do the repairs, the shop who screwed it up is doing it for free, but i'm concerned about the quality. So, what kinds of questions should I be asking-ie. OEM parts? Making sure the replace the cylinders with new, not manufactured? Thanks again! I'm a girl that knows nothingabout carsbut learning TONS on this website:-)

 

you have a 2.5 liter? where do you live or do you mean to say 2.8? if the rebuild goes correctly, you should be able to go past 200k. and definitely oem parts. you'll probably need valves, new spark plugs, possibly new piston if there are marks on it that look like the valves. have them show you everything when they take it apart and have them show you the new parts they order then make them show you everything before they put the heads on. you have to show them that your not a girl to be messed with. shops usually pinch money off girl's because those people are sexist. do lots of searching and reading and be ready to tell those dumb mechanic to do things right this time or they'll owe you a new audi. bet you would like that haha. good luck

 

Thanks! Great idea on making them show me the parts~ And i meant 2.8 liter. It really has been a great car-just the normal maintenance until now. I hope it will last until 200K!

 

Oh thats nice.... Don't worry about the bottom end, the pistons will be fine. The 2.8L doesn't make enough power to mess up the pistons LOL! Cough...... no really if you can find a shop to put in new valves it will be just fine, way past 200k i would say.

 

Are valves and cylinders the same thing? They said "replace right and left cylinder"

 

Cylinder heads is what they are replacing. The cylinder is what the piston sits in which is the bottom end of the engine. The cylinder heads sit on top.

 

Should be fine, just don't take it back to the jack tard who created the problems 4 u ha!