I brought home a 2004 A4 1.8T, 6 speed last week. The only maintenance/repair that, I can say for sure, has been done to this car is the clutch was replaced in the last month as well as the valve cover gasket. The mechanic who did this work said the timing belt was fine.

I am skeptical of his visual inspection of the TB so I am planning to order a timing belt kit from ECS Tuning and change it. My question is; while it's torn apart for the TB change, what else should I change?

I see ECS has the coolant system refresh kits, which make sense since I will be draining the coolant, but is this really necessary? I don't have any coolant leaks currently, but if it's best to take care of it with the TB then I'm game.

I also see an option for a kevlar timing belt. Is this more for racing applications? Or will it extend the time between changes?

Thanks in advance.

 

Most likely do the water pump with the TB, unless you were already thinking that. Also the tensioner.

I'll let someone else chime in about the kevlar timing belt, im also curious about that.

 

The kit from ECS comes with all that. It's $50 to upgrade to a kevlar belt. If this would extend the interval from 70K to say 100K, it would be money well spent IMHO. But if it's just for guys with 400HP, I really don't need it. I read that RAI claims their kevlar belt is 400% stronger and can go at least a 100K, but see no such claim from ECS, even though both belts are made by Gates.

I also have to wonder if the OEM hydraulic tensioner would tension the kevlar belt properly since it is a much stiffer belt. Would a manual tensioner be the way to go with the kevlar belt?

I should say that my car is stock. A week ago, I would have said that I plan to keep it that way. But I can see where a little more HP/torque could be a good thing. Nothing crazy of course.