This morning i was sitting at a red light and my 99.5 a4 1.8t died and wouldnt start. the timing belt broke and i was wondering what the extent of the damage could be. the car has a manual transmission and was not in gear at the time, but i would like to know how bad it could be. i spoke to a mechanic in NJ and he said in the worst case scenario, it would cost 4K to fix header, valves...etc... how bad could this be, and would it be cheaper to just replace the engine...can anyone help me

frank

 

since you were sitting at a light at idle, the dmg "shouldn't" be that bad. the real bad dmg comes when you are cruzin down the highway and the belt snaps.

 

They will have to pull the heads and check the valves. Worst case about 2500.

How many miles since your timing belt was changed? Audi of America has sometimes been covering damage from premature timing belt failure (usually it is the tensioner that goes). Audi has been covering these, as a good will gesture.

 

i bought the car at 80K miles..its at 90 now, but i have no idea about the routine maintenance that had been done before hand

 

I have read of people's timing belts snaping at idle (not in gear) like you, and extensive valve damage occured. Hopefuly thats not the case, but be prepared to spend $2-$3k. Sorry to hear it man... You are sure it snapped though right?A lot of times with AEB engines the timing belt tensioner fails, not the belt itself.

 

i know that the audi of america covers the belt up to only i think 90 and if its not replaced before 90 and it breaks i believe its not covered, i am at 80 now and i plan on doing it soon.