I am new to this forum. My buddy has a 2003 Audi TT quattro. It has 100100 miles and hadn't ever changed the timming belt. While driving the car stopped running. Towed it to Audi dealer and they said that it broke the timming belt and now needs new head, etc and will cost $8,000 to fix. I have been a mechanic for almost 10 years and do a lot of side jobs. However I haven't ever worked on these. I do have alldata so i feel pretty confident I can do it and save him a ton of money. I have one main question though. In alldata it says to take the head off I need to remove the front exhaust and in order to do this i need to drop the subframe? Is this correct that this is the only way to get the exhaust out of the way to take off the head?

Thanks for any help

 

You need to remove the subframe to remove the downpipe in one piece. However, you just need to unbolt the downpipe and you can then either remove the turbo and manifold with the head or take it off separately. You can pick up a used 1.8t head for a few hundred $ and a complete timing belt kit is around $300 with new water pump and thermostat.

The valves will have made contact with the pistons so any sharp edges on the pistons need to be sanded down to prevent hotspots. After that, you should be good and in for about $1k in parts (head gasket kit, timing belt, head bolts and used head). Go to wwwmmjmautohaus.com and www.ecstuning.com for find oem replacement parts and www.vwvortex.com to find a used head if you cant source one locally. All the small port heads are the same, only difference will depend if his is a AMU or BEA. The AMU needs a nonvvt cam tensioner and the BEA will need a vvt cam tensioner. You can swap in the old one or replace it as needed.

 

Thanks for the advice. Does the subframe have to be aligned? Or does it just bolt in one way? Also will car need to be re aligned?

 

You are suppose to get an alignment if you remove it, but you have no reason to remove the dp from the car, just unbolt it from the turbo.

 

Im a little confused. What is dp? Downpipe? And why would that effect getting an alignment?

 

dp = downpipe. Again, there is no reason to drop the subframe when all you have to do is remove the head and manifolds attached. You are making this way to complicated

 

to take the head off with manifold do I just undo the three bolts? I have a pic I will attach.

 

here is a pic

 

yeah. Just the tree bolts from exhaust manifold to turbo and 10 head bolts and your head with the exhaust manifold comes out.

 

I just finished up repairs from my timing belt failure. Agree, easiest way to remove head is to remove the 3 bolts from the turbo, as shown in photo. These are external Torx style and they will be TIGHT.
Also, question if a new head is really needed. I had 8 bent exhaust valves, but the head itself was OK.
I got good advice on this forum regarding parts sources and methods. Spent just over $1000, including $280 at my local machine shop for the head work.