I just bought an '03 A4 1.8t. I have 80K miles and I am trying to figure out if the timing belt was replaced or not. Is there any indications to look at, or any signs of wear and tear to give me any indications? Any help would be great.

 

Yes the t-belt cover is at the front of the engine held on by little metal spring clips you can pull back the top of the cover enough to see the t-belt on the top pulley. If you see any cracking even miniscule cracks it has not been replaced and at 80,000 it should be (past due). Also would be a good time to do a pre-emptive replacement of the water pump(adds about 200-300 dollars to the job but it will save you a 500-1000 dollars when you need to replace it later. The labor will be shared by much of what is being done to replace t-belt.