Ok.. I went to do my first oil change on this car and while there decided to look around the engine a bit. Besides a leaky oil pan and valve cover gaskets, and a near dead accessory belt, all looks pretty good.

However,

I bought this car fairly cheap 'cause it "needs a TB and WP service" with no service history on the car. Well, I pulled back the TB covers and found what appears to be a new(er) TB and WP already installed. I snapped some pics and want your guys opinion: Does this look new(er)?

Timing Belt (looks better in person)












(con't)

 

WP (looks new, still sticker and paint) and Cam Seal (looks new, not leaking)













This car has 133400 miles as of now. I bought it at 130K straight up. Assuming the manual calls for the service every 60k, is it safe to assume from these pics that it was done at ~120K and I have 45K of life left? All the parts on this car are Audi Original so a dealer did the work, it seems, but didnt log it.

Whatcha guys think?

 

The WP pulley would indicate that it was replaced at least once... I put in a Graf pump with the same "black" pulley. The old one (the original) had a "silver and gold accents" color.
Also, the old one had plastic impaler (and you could still hear the tightness of it when slowly turning the pulley; like a spring would hold it and making a cricket-like sound). I felt bad taking it out, but it was the original one...(153,000 miles). It took me nearly a whole hour to scrape the old gasket (which had no hints of sealant). It was like baked on.......damn...

It is hard to tell from the pics, but even the TB seems in good shape, as on the "smooth" side you can hardly see indentations/wear from the tensioner pulley. I can snap a pic of my old one (is still on the porch) which was actually in pretty good shape for 78,000 miles... I'll change it anyway - better safe than sorry.
But yeah, that thingy looks to be in a pretty decent shape.

 

Thanks chefro.. Confidence is building!

Ya, I couldnt get a clear shot of the sticker on the WP, but I think it said "Grepruft". Not sure. There was no oil inside the covers either. You really need to see it in person, it looks twice as good as in the pics. Looked much better than the other pics I've seen. I'll get a better look when I change the accessory belt sometime next week.

A pic of the old belt would be cool. Thanks

 

No records? It looks good so I would say you could drive it while your wait for your parts to arrive and replace everything anyway. I have records on mine and all work done by Audi. TB here WP there they even did the TB without the rollers and tensioner only to replace them 20K later. Better safe than sorry. What if your tensioner craps out? or a roller siezes up? If that happens, you sure won't have do to The complete TB service thats for sure.
these things always happen when you are on your way to work or 200 miles from home. The TB on my 4.2 was replaced 40,000 miles ago unless they didn't write up another one with the tensioner replacement (done by a different shop). It looks better than yours. The stamp is clear and looks new.

 

Here are a few pics of old and new...










As jakmup said (and I was pointing out related to my particular case), it is better to be on the safe side.
In retrospect, my belts didn't need replacement, but the drive belt tensioner turned out to be howling when turning freely (out of the car), as comparative with the new one, which is smooth as silk.
The drive belt was supposedly changed at 135,135 about two years back, but I would assume they charged him $ 172 for nothing... The tensioner was the original one, as in the record has not been replaced at the time.

Also, the old TB tensioner pulley has a funky noise when rotated freely, and that needed to be replaced as well. From the records, the previous owner had the TB changed at 85,617. He was charged $ 61.32 for the "special order TB Tensioner", and $ 229.95 for the water pump. However, these two items have never been replaced...
The tensioner has the "West Germany" stamp on it, and with all the replacement parts being made in Slovakia or Hungary nowadays (from what I've seen on parts I have purchased), I doubt those still exist in the part stocks of 2007... The Berlin Wall fell in 1989....

P.S. I have 153,000 miles on the clock, and my recollection was about a TB replacement at 75,000 miles, when in reality that occured at 85,617. So actually the old belt had 68,000 miles on it.

 

Thanks guys. Thanks chefro for the pics. Your drive belt looks waayy better than mine and is what scared me into ordering the parts. Looks to have at least 50k on it. See pics. Guess I'll do the change and restart the clock just to be sure. At least I'll only be doing it once.

Oh, and its 'geprüft' on the sticker which means 'tested'


Funny you should mention The Wall... I lived in W. Germany in the 70's and 80's and was there when it fell. Cool to be a part of it.

 

Hmm. And yours looks worse than mine. I'm thinking it was done, but it could have been any where from 20K to 40K ago. Damn, wish I had records. I know, I know, its not really a hard job on these cars, but still

 

I agree it isn't a hard job.
Actually the TB, WP, T-stat job is a breeze...
The camshaft sprockets locking plates are the key for someone who doesn't use the holding tools. The plates actually are keyed to the end of the shaft, and you can use'm to turn the shafts to the TDC.

Anyway... I'll hop over to my thread since I believe I ran into a problem.

 

just my opinion, the damage from the belt breaking can be so costly i would change it!