I have a 98 1.8t and my mechanic is a german mechanic who has been working on audis, vw and porsches his whole life. He is a stickler for o.e. parts and he disagrees with a lot of what is said in this forum. He disagrees with upgrading the dv after you get the apr chip, he's against the chip, but what got me the most is, he thinks the timing belt kits, ones sold from anywhere but the dealer, are unreliable. He says the tensioner go out at about 10k. He says i need to buy one from the dealer and according to him they are about $700. Is this all fact or is he just an old timer who is full of ***t?

 

From a sheer "long term reliability" stance, sure, the chip isn't a great idea. But if he's denying that a chip will improve your performance, he's wrong. He's also wrong if he says there's no need to upgrade your DV after getting chipped....christ, I'm a 2.8 and even I know that.

Regarding the timing belts, there are plenty of folks on this forum, and other forums, that have ordered timing belt kits through ECS and other vendors, and I don't think they've reported reliability issues.

$700 from the dealer just for the kit, or does that include installation?? I think the ECS kit is $250 or something...not sure.

 

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Independent Audi Mechanics

http://1.8t.org/tuners/

http://www.audifans.com/mechanic.php

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he's saying $700 for parts and $400 for labor. But he also said that was the worst case scenario. He also said that the only reason for that stuff was for racers. That the chip and dv are crap parts and there is nothing but problems with those. I don't ever race my car. Sometimes at stop lights but that's it. MY main concern is reliability. So i'm just wondering if these parts lower the creibility of the car an cause more maintenance.

 

Uh ya hes full of ****... sorry to say.
Well, I had a super long paragraph typed out about chips.. But it would be easier to say that lots of people have been chipped for 10's of thousands of miles with no problems other than the normal routine maintnance that comes with any Audi.

 

I didn't mean to give the wrong impression about the chip....there are lots, lots of people that have had their engines chipped for a long time without problems. It's not a huge reliability issue. (Some boost junkies can jump in and correct me if I'm wrong)

And a chip is a LOT of fun with your car...it'll be a whole new world for ya. Do it!

 

I keep my car stock and am happy with its performance. You should be able to do the timing belt job: timing belt, water pump, 2 exterior belts, tensioner and damper pulley and labor for around $750.

 

I just sold my 2002 A4 avant quattro. I had it chipped about a year ago, APR stage 1+. I'm not sure what caused it but upon inspection of the wagon, the mechanic found that one of my cylinders had significantly lower compression. Not sure if it was the chip or oil pressure related or what but for my new 2002 A4 I'm thinking of leaving it stock.