New Guy to the Forum.......so hello all.

Looking for some guidance. My timing belt on my 1997 A8 (~97K Miles, 4.2Quattro) went on me. Iknow, I know...it should have been replaced by now.Funds are low and I literally made an appointment to have it done the day it happened. My mechanic is telling me it's going to take $500 of labor to try to figure out if any other damage is done at this point. (Valves, etc.) His plan is to get a timing belt on it and then see if it starts. He is telling me that it won't be until then that he will know if there is damage to the valves/cylinder heads etc. Any guidance or advice in regards to this? I am not very knowledgeable nor can I do any of the work myself. Trying to figure out the best and worst case scenario in terms of cost and whether it is worth keeping it or not. (I have had it for about 7-8 yrs now.)

 

Scary thing about putting another belt on and trying it out is that you run the risk of damaging any as-yet undamaged valves, and with damage already there (which you have no idea how much there is - maybe bent valves, maybe snapped) you can damage other parts of the engine too, such as cylinder wall scoring, valve seat damage, etc. You already know the belt broke and there is damage - best bet is to autopsy the motor and see how bad it is. Don't risk further damage by trying another belt. It already won't run worth a damn anyhow, so I don't see how doing this will show you anything further.

 

What do you mean by "autopsy"? Thanks!

 

Take the heads off and inspect them (and the cylinders) for damage. Guaranteed if the timing belt broke, you have damage. The question is how much. Unfortunately this is one of those situations where, since the belt service wasn't done when it should've been, you're in deep now. You really don't have a choice other than to decide whether to a) rebuild this engine, or b) replace the engine. A teardown and full inspection by someone truly qualified to diagnose the level of damage is the only logical first step to enlighten you enough to make the rational, informed decision between these two choices.

 

tell your tech to but a borescope down in each cylinder and see which valves if any are bent. If they are the heads are gonna have to come off and the valves will obviously need to be replaced. In most cases when a belt goes only a couple of valves bend and don't really cause any other engine damage. Make sure you get a quote in writing on all parts and labor before he starts because itis a massively labor intensive job and you want to cover your *** before he starts adding on things halfway through. Good luck to you.