Anyone know of a way to know if the timing belt has been done on a car? I am looking at a few cars at dealerships and the ones that dont have a warranty i would like to kow if the timing belt has been done on it.

 

No real way of telling other than if it is really worn, you might be able to see tiny stress cracks in the belt, chipped belt teeth on the opposite side, in my case i marked the belt and the cam sprocket, so perhaps any marks that would indicated that it has been changed, or the safest way is to do it anyway.

 

i dont want to spend that just to see if it has been done. Although i could have a snub done at the same time.

 

You can remove the upper timing belt cover to see if any marks were scratched in near the upper gear.

I just changed my belt and it looked perfectly fine. No cracks, no chipped teeth, and no other worn areas. However, it was streched out a good bit but, you will never see that without taking it off.

 

just check the cover, ususally a good mechanic will clean everything up b4 he puts it back on, if the cover is cleaner than the rest of the engine, then it most likely has been done.

how many miles u looking at? i have found it uncommon to find a motor that HASENT had the belt changed, usually mechanics are pretty good about that kind of stuff, its like a well known fact with the 1.8t engines

 

77,000 on a s4