Hi everyone. Two days ago I became the proud owner of my first audi. Its a 2001 Audi A4 quattro 1.8 liter 5 speed. The engine code is AWM and it has 117k miles on it. I bough it from a guy who had it for 2 years and he had reciepts for services done which included (all in the past 20k miles) new turbo, new clutch, new tires, new brakes, new water pump, and new timing belt. My question/problem is this....I've heard horror stories about the timing belt failing and pretty much destroying the motor. I have done some research and from what I understand it was the tensioner that failed, causing the timing belt to jump and mess everything up. I bought the car because he told me he had already done the timing belt and waterpump 20k ago. I come to find out that the tensioner wasn't replaced in the process because he said it wasn;t making any noise. My question is if the timing belt an waterpump were replaced, should I worry about the timing belt breaking or the tensioner failing? I don't have 5,000 dollars to buy a new motor if it goes but I want to be able to enjoy the car and not constantly be worrying about it. Will I be ok if I just leave it alone? And if its a must to change this tensioner, is it possible to replace it without removing the timing belt, or do I have to take the whole front of the car off and the timing cover and redo everything? Since this being my first audi, I don;t know how to replace the timing belt, and I;d hate to have to spend a ton of money to have to redo the tming belt just to replace the tensioner. Any info would be greatly appriciated. What are the odds of the tensioner failing? Thanks for everyones help.

 

if it were my car, i would change the tensioner for sure, and anything else that comes with the timing belt kit that he didn't bother changing. i dont think its worth the risk. also, i think its ridiculous that someone would go through all the work to change the belt and water pump and then not change the tensioner. i mean, just look at the parts that come in the kit! they are all included for a reason. some people are far too cheap...

its been 3 years since i did mine, but i dont think you can do it without pulling the front of the car apart. check out the online guides for doing the belt and see if it sheds some light on the situation. also, its not that difficult to do if you wanted to learn. just set aside a saturday to do it

 

odds of tensioner failing= 100% It is routine to change these out along with the timing belt. at 117k, you're asking for trouble by not changing it. if not changed they will go bad. if you want to have a greater peace of mind about the whole timing belt thing, change the tensioner to this Integrated Engineering 06A 1.8T Manual Timing Belt Tensioner Kit (no belt)

 

I agree 100%. It's simply not worth the risk.

 

Sounds like the previous owner was talking about the tensioner for the cam timing chain. Those get replaced when they get noisy, a timing belt tensioner has no way of making any noise, good or bad. I'd clarify with the PO, because no mechanic would replace the timing belt and waterpump but not the tensioner.

 

Hey guys. Thanks for the reply. Well I went ahead anyway and had a reputable vw/audi shop replace my timing belt along with the metal impeller waterpump, new tensioner, rollers etc all genuine parts. They also found 3 torn vacuum lines and replaced them with silicon hose, along with a new front motormount that they found needing replacement. Heres the funny part. They saved the old parts to show me that ALL of the old parts were original. They guy never replaced the timing belt, the water pump or anything else except the serpentine belt. The guy lied straight to my face and told me he changed it, even had fake receipts and everything. I called him up and told him what I found and that everything was original and asked why he lied to me, and how his reciepts were either fake or not for my car. His replay was "that was the stupidest thing Ive ever heard". I said thats fine, you didn't deny it, thats all I needed to know.
The guy who replaced my items told me I was very lucky the belt hadnt snapped since it was cracked and original along with everything else. So take it from my experiance, if someone says they did something, do a little more research because some people or crooked. Good news though is that it runs nicer, has more power with the fixed hoses and has a warranty and best of all, I have piece of mind now. Im going to install my apikol rear diff mount tomorrow of sat, i'll let you know how it goes since my mount is shot.

 

Good for you man. Glad you didn't get fucked over like other people have. Cough. Me.

 

Lets say i'm familiar with VW Audi procedures and Audi wouldn't replace the timing belt without the tensioner, most certainly lying to you.

 

Thanks. Yeah its a shame theres people in the world who need to do that. I can't afford a motor if it had broken. Its just amazing that I have the old original rusted, worn cracked parts in my hand and he still says he replaced them 17k miles ago. Either way, i'm glad its replaced, and tomorrow I'll move on the the rear diff mount. I hope it sures that clunking I have in the rear like they say it does. Ill keep you posted on what happens. Theres also one more question I've been curious about. I've been reading online looking to see what the stock boost psi is, but I hear 5-6 psi in one place, and 11psi in another. Does anyone know the true stock psi of the stock turbo on a stock motor for the 2001 audi a4 1.8t AWM motor? Its comes with 170hp from the factory. thanks again!

 

That's how they squeezed the extra HP out of the AWM, by running higher boost. Supposedly the stock boost is 11psi but my AWM ran about 9 when I bought the car. It's not 9 anymore though