I am just aquiring my Son's 1999 A6 Quatro Wagon (58000mi) whilst He is on 3yr Diplomatic tour for State Dept. He tells me that Audi recomends changing the serpintine belt at 60000mi and it is expensive. Are both of these statements true and if so what kind of a hit are we looking at. Thanks in advance. ritam

 

serpentine belt heheeh I think he means timing belt

 

ya sep is cheap and easy....I should know i need to do mine[]

 

Check with Audi (or your maintenance manual). Timing belt and related parts + labor is going to be relatively expensive - $1000-1600 for a 2.7T and probably similar for a 2.8l. The range is for independent shops (whoneed toknow how to work on anAudi) to a dealer. For my 2.7T it was $350 in parts and 6 hours of labor.

The serpentine belt isn't Ford Focus cheap, but it should not be a back-breaker. Normally you change these when you do the timing belt. I have not seen a separate maintenance item for this on my car and when it was removed at 96k it was in excellent shape and I have it in the trunk as a spare.

 

Well I have 70K and you can see that it needs to be changed, soon...

 

I would also like to ask about the washer bottle. It seems to have a leak. When I fill it up it leaves a piddle and goes dow about 1-2 inches when looking thru opening. Leaks out slow does not gush out. Antbody know how to remove the bottle. I can see one bolt but it looks like there is one hidden (toward front of dash) that would be accessed from underneath. ritam

 

Damn! thats freaking cheap! $350 for parts is spot on but the labor at the dealer is..... oh man.
Cheapest ive done a 2.7T timing belt job is around $1,800 up to $2,900 to do everything.

 

Auditech79 -

I know you know your stuff because I've seen your responses. Keep in mind that I don't live in the golden state. Things are a little more reasonable in the middle as opposed to the coasts. I live in a small town in west Michigan and my indies rate was $75/hr, so the timing belt was $350 parts + $450 labor. So I had the complete job done for $800. My guy works on a lot of Audis and has an S4 of his own, all tricked out. By comparison, when I had my alternator replaced in Detroit last year on an emergency basis, the dealer rate was $125/hr.

So all you Detroit guys, I'll refer you and you cansave enough for a weekend on Lake Michigan and still save money.