Why would you remove the pulleys if you are not replacing seals? You can replace the belt with pulleys on, and I don't care what the manual says, it's incorrect.

I've replaced seals, did not have the cam bar, still was able to do it fine, .. There is no way to be 'one tooth off' if you remove pulleys. Now if you just slide the old belt off, you should mark pulleys and count the teeth in between, then you'll put the new belt on exactly the same way.

And, believe me, 14 hours is not a record... I've never taken the car that much apart before, what do you expect??? Besides I brokr some stuff, and did not have proper tools =)))4 hours is when you work for someone esle,... When you are doing the job for yourself you take more time to do it properly. At my latest repair on that car I replaced the belt twice in 4 hours... It was making some weird noises, and I had to remove the belt twice to diagnose BTW I never took off the radiator or anything esle except for the distributor crank pulley and belt covers,. Here is ther skill... I've taken it apart so many times I could do it with my eyes closed %)

 

I talked to my neighbor accross the street and he has a guy who can do it for 1K.My neighbor is the service manager at a mercedes dealership and he says they're in need of some work so they'd be happy to work on my car.This guy will replace the water pump and serpentine belts while he's in there. SSN do you have any instructions on how to change the belt without moving the radiator. If its that simple hell i may give it a shot.

 

I was talking about the M20 motor on my BMW...
Removing radiator and whole front section on the audi is not difficult, it just takes time. When you remove stuff you have clear acess to the engine like on the picture above, so by taking the stuff off you make it more easy to do. You can get step-by step instructions that wil gide you all the way through the repair process.

 

I think we are talking about different pulleys. The crank, power steering, both need to come off. Not the cam pulleys. It's easier to move the cam timing, then you would think. While putting the new belt on, it's really nice to have the cam lock bar, when tensioning the belt. IMHO, it's not worth having any timing problems to save the $75 on the bar.

 

Yea... I was thinking about cam pulleys, manual says to remove them even if you aren;t doing the seals...
Well, I just had valve covers off to make sure I dont move the cams.

 

It's great to know that there are so many talented DIY mechanics out there driving Audis. I don't count myself as one. I bought the Blauparts kit for $249.95 plus another 89.95 for the damper. My local indie, who has done many of these, charged me 6 hours labor. Total tab under $1000.

That was 2000 miles ago and it runs great. And best of all: no scraped knuckles, no losing temper and tossing tools, no cussing, no broken parts, no sore back from contorting into weird positions to get at bolts, and no stress.

PS - I rebuilt a 48 Chevy motor and a Triumph TR-6 motor back in my younger days. But that was a long time ago and much simpler engines.

 

Unfortunatelly, not enough... I've encountered few auto intelligent people like 2k S4 here, but not as much as on the other boards, the bmw board for instance. These cars are too new for the serious mechanical discussion. They are also expensive so most people who owns them are 'drivers only' type. They are more interested in installing fancy stuff for super custom look and things like that... No time to care about changing the motor oil, .. Sometimes it's difficult to get serious help, there are many users on this board but very few reply on technical questions.

ppgoal, back pain? You should use your younger family members to do the job for you. My grandpa used to do that all the time, he just sat in the chair and gave instructions

 

I have a quick question, is there a way to tell if your timing belt has been done? I doubt there is without ripping the whole thing apart right? I bought my new car going into it ASSUMING it hadnt been done, so I am not going to be surprised if it isnt. Plus there is a indy mechanic here that i hear does it for like $750.

 

There is no way to tell even if you take everything apart. We talked about that in another topic already. Things always look the same, you can not tell how long the belt was used.

When belt is getting replaced, there should be a sticker under the hood or in a door way saying that it was done. If you car has less then 100k the belt was not replaced 99%.

ps/s that sig picture of yours in inapropriate

 

Check this out fellas. Me and one of my co-workers (we're both engineers and we love the challenge) are gonna take a shot at changing this thing ourselves.Currently I got 74,200 on the road, but i was wondering is it safe to go past 75k before i do this change. I had a 92 mitsubishi eclipse that i drove from the ATL to Columbia, SC ( The Metro is Petro thanks to Steve Spurrier) at speeds in excess of 120 and when i came to a stop after i exited I20 the belt popped! My stupid a$$ didnt realize what had happened but after several failed attempts at trying to start the thing again I should have known. The motor was spinning out of control and it sounded real wierd. The manufacturer recommended a change at 60k and this belt broke at 61k. I struck a deal with the stealer and traded it in. saved me 4k. I dont want this to happen to 2.7 TT