Have 1998 A4 Avant w/ 2.8 30v engine. Have found the T belt w/ H20 pump kits from various sites like Blauparts, but don't really want to do the job myself- I work too many hours and have too much else to do when not working to take a day to do this job. I live in Glen Burnie, Maryland (just south of Baltimore) and am looking to take the car to someone reputable, or have someone reputable do the job in my driveway. If anyone knows of anyone or anyplace local, let me know. Would like to find out how much this would cost parts and labor for someone else to do. Or how much I might be charged just for labor with me buying the parts.

 

If you can take a road trip to NY, PM me. I'll discuss the whole thing with you.

 

Can't help you on the labor, but I'd say go with the complete blauparts kit. I was gonna order that pretty soon here. I have a friend who's a mechanic and he can do the work for me. But the kit comes with everything, and if u decide to do yourself the have rental tool kits.

 

man, you are a wrench junkie. I've seen crackheads feening less over their fix lol.

 

Lol I like it Keeps me sane and it's fun. This weekend was a perfect case in point.

 

I forget how much the labor was, but the total for parts and labor came to about $700 when I had mine done, with the parts being the belt, tensioner, and water pump I believe.

 

I think ecs has the complete kit for around $400, but as far as labor not sure. It's not too bad to do yourself, you dont even need a jack. Some basic hand tools and torx set.

 

The necessary parts are actually quite a bit less than that. If you index cylinder 3 at TDC on compression, you won't need the cam locking tool. In my experience, the cams are flat-spotted and don't tend to spin on you in that position. Just mark the belt, sprocket, and backplate with a grease pencil as a little insurance if you bump something but you shouldn't need that particular $179 piece of bent metal.