My old A6 2.8L would not start. The final occasion upon which she fired up the CEL misfire, O2 Sensor errors triggered as she sputtered at idle.

I took her to the shop after doing the basics: checking for voltage, spark but not fuel.

Apparently the timing belt is toast and the engine has no compression. I had the belt replaced at 90-95K and I am currently at 120K. Is the timing belt likely the issue?

The old girl never ran the same after the replacement of the belt. I had major acceleration/performance issues that led me to join the forum. Any chance the job could have been done so poorly that I might have some recourse even though I am outside of the warranty period?

 

Sounds to me like it may have been installed with the timing off a tooth - that'd be enough to hurt acceleration but it'd take the belt jumping teeth or the tensioner/idler failing to smash the valves.

 

So it turns out the belt "slipped". No additional damage elsewhere. The shop offered no explanation as to how/why this happened. Bad news: had to pay for the labor. Good news: no major damage you'd expect with timing belt failure. Is this something that is even possible?

 

If it jumped a tooth, the tensioner would have to be weak and even so, the belt guides near the sprockets are very tight. That means it could happen again. Jumping one tooth won't break anything, but 2-3 teeth is a different story. Personally I'm way more inclined to believe that they screwed up, installed it off a tooth, didn't double check after setting tension, and are feeding you bullshit so they don't have to perform the repair gratis.

 

Just curious , Why no fuel?

Was the check engine light on after the initial timing belt replacement?

I find it hard to believe the belt just jumped. I'm smelling fish!