Hi there, sorry if this is repetitive but I have searched a ton of these threads and have not found an exact answer to my question so I figured I would post it and try to get an answer.

I have a 2001 A4 b5 1.8T Quattro that has 65,000 miles on it as we speak. I bought the car last June with roughly 60,000 miles. I had to have a lot of work done on the car when I purchased it but one thing that I did not do was the timing belt. My car did not come with an instruction manual but I've heard that they say it does not need to be done until 110K. The place that fixed my car up though had suggested that I do it right away but with about 2K in repairs already I decided to wait. Now I have some extra mulah and would like to get an opinion as to when I should have the timing belt on this car replaced and approximately how much it would cost to have it replaced.

Thanks for any answers and/or advice!

 

i would say do it every 80k and do it yourself replace the water pump and thermostat while doing it. if you really dont want to do it yourself then around $700 with parts included would be good i guess

 

nooooooooooooooo every 60k it needs to get done asap read the stickes on here

 

Yes, every 60k. Do it ASAP! Find a good shop and it'll only cost you $500-600. But - trust us - you will end up paying a LOT more if you try to wait much longer.

Also, have your front outer CV joint boots changed soon.

 

Okay thanks for the input, I just read the Newbie Guide sticky for the A4 as you suggested and whoever posted that says "Post-2000- You can wait an extra couple thousand miles but i would do it around 80k", so is that the wrong info then? If it is someone should correct it and save some people some trouble and money! Thanks again though.

 

Hmm... I dunno. Maybe they improved it. If the sticky says that then it's probably safe to do it around 75-80k.

You know the saying... better to be safe than sorry. It's especially true for German cars.

 

Yeah it was saying that Pre 2000 should be done 60-70K. I do know that saying and it's really good advice especially since I don't want to end up ruining my car! As far as the boots go, I know that they replaced at least one of them when I had all that maintenance done when I first got it, I will have to check the paperwork to see if they ended up doing both. Another thing thats been bothering me is that the car idles very roughly, I told the shop this and they ran diagnostics and replaced spark plugs, engine coils, the O2 sensor, and countless other things. Any of you have an idea as to what else could be wrong? I'm almost thinking about taking it to another shop and getting a second opinion.

 

Any Rubber timing belt should be done at 60K, ther eis no reasy to go beyond that seeing that it is very expensive to replace the valves or the hole head if the timing belt does in fact snap.

You can go with a Kevlar belt which might last a bit longer.

 

Some basic tools, and a little research will save you A LOT of money when it comes to these cars. Having the mechanic replace plugs, coils, and O2 sensors is a waste. You could have easily done them yourself. Now, having a mechanic do the T-belt, just for pease of mind isn't bad, even though you'd be paying a lot more...

With that being said, just a stab in the dark here because I have a 99.5, your rough idle could be the secondary air pump. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Does it rough idle all the time, or just on cold starts?

 

The whole reason for doing the belt so early was because of failing belt tensioners. Its not because its a rubber belt, theres plenty of cars that easily go to 100k, these would have gone longer too if it wasnt for the tensioners. You can wait longer with cars in the later years. Once youve done it once at 60-70 for the early models you can wait longer for the next interval because the improved tensioners should be included with the new belt.