For those who havent been helping me along here's the story. I recently bought-financed a 99 A4 with 88969 miles, before i bought it they already replaced the cat and a ignition coil at a shop i not yet sure of. I returned the car about 2 weeks later to have it detailed, a new fuel sender put in, and fix a seat at the dealer shop. In the process of this it set of the SRS-air bag light and took it to another shop to have it turned off. The other shop turned the light out and fixed some vaccum leaks and as i drove it home it quit 3 blocks away from the shop. I towed it back and the mechanic instantly said the timing belt broke from just turning it over. Now back just before i bought i specificly asked if the timing belt had been replaced or checked and the sales manager said it has been. I bought the car as is with no extended warranty. Even though it has no warranty isnt it the dealers fault? i did a little research and the 1.8T TB is supossed to inspected at 40k and 80k, the dealer said the belt was good and it failed with in not even 200-300 miles. Im going to be talking with the sales manager tomorrow morning, so any responses with in the night are greatly appreciated.

 

oh that really sucks man. I don't know if you have an recourse or not but they definitely mislead you on the status of the timing belt. good luck

 

Yeah sounds like a scum bag dealer to me, but unfortunately i'm not sure there's anything you can do about it, unless for some reason you had it in writing that the timing belt was fine or had been changed before you bought the car. otherwise its just your word against his.

I had a similar thing happen to me with my first car, timing belt went and the guy who replaced it did a shitty job, about a week after he did the work i floated a valve, trashed the motor.

good luck man!

 

If the dealer wants to charge you more than
$800 for the timing belt job, find an independent
shop. The job should include 2 external belts, the
tensioner, pulley and water pump.

 

What is the damage? Sounds like they mislead you and I would check the Lemon Law in your area, if this were private party you would have no case. Don't take no for an answer! I would think that even if it is your word against theirs I would think they have a legal obligation to not sell you something that would break so extensively in such a short amount of time. Keep pushing them and act fast because there are time lines. Best thing to do is talk to a lawyer ASAP.

Two years ago I had purchased a Nissan 240SX, I test drove the car and it worked great. After driving the car about a 100 miles the transmission slipped after shifting from 1st to 2nd. I brought the car back 2 days later and the guy did not want to take it back. I had him speak to my friend who is a lawyer and she gave him some stuff about legal obligation and Lemon Law. He tried to put me into another car and even said he would fix the transmission but I did not fall for his persuasive BS. He than gave me a refund. I normally never go to the dealership but this car seemed to be pristine.

I'm not sure if he was scared bc I had a lawyer or that he knew he was actually violating the law, however I did get my money back. I felt like an idiot and had to do a lot of arguing and research but again I got my money back.

Moral of the story is don't give up. Let us know how you do and don't let them push you around. I'm sorry this happened to you. PM me if you need any help on this.

 

well the dealer is willing to pay for 3/4 of the bill. the other shop quoted about $2500. does this sound right for a timing belts failure?

 

If the belt broke and you have the extensive engine damage associated with it 2500- sounds like the right neighborhood.
It sucks this happened to you - but unless you see in the maintenance records that the belt was done (and you asked so you knew this was critical) then all bets are off.
Although it sucks you will have to put down another 650- I think you are lucky they are offering to pay at all, especially more than half. They could pay nothing and unless they buckle to your threat of litigation - it wouldn't be worthwhile financially if you had to hire an attorney.
650- might be less than you would pay for the t-belt job. See if you can get a pulley and h20 pump out of it too^^^^^^.
Good luck and post outcome.

 

Sounds like you did a great job! You need to do the timing belt anyway so it seems like you got off easy. Doesn't seem like the damage was that extensive which is another good thing. I'm new to Audis but I think a shop would charge 4K if the damage was as bad as it could be. Luckily it didn't happen when driving. Definitely have them change the water pump, pulley, and other belts which should be included. I think the stock pulleys had problems. Also, when I changed my water pump it came out in pieces which goes to show how cheap the originals were. Also make sure you get a H20 pump with a metal impeller and not a plastic one, I don't even know if they make aftermarkets with a plastic impeller. This is what Blau lists as there basic timing belt kit minus the other 2 belts. I didn't use this kit with my car but it gives you an idea of what the job should include.

# 1 Timing Belt
# 2 Updated Timing Belt Tensioner/ Idler
# 1 Updated Hydraulic Tensioner Damper
# 1 Front Crank Seal
# 1 Camshaft Seal
# 1 Intermediate Shaft Seal

 

the next thing me and the dealer are waiting for is a itemized list of parts. then i was going to see if the shop is going to warranty his work, i dont want something thats been slapped back together and neither would the dealer since there paying for most of it. thing is trying to get a hold of this shop, half the time he wont answer his phone and all that ive seen he hasnt touched my car yet. all i know is i best have it back by new years!

 

Doesn't this fall under the 1.8t recall or something? I mean they said it was inspected and good and it broke so if anything you can contact Audi's recall service and they will force the dealer to do it and you will get a few apology's too probly lol.