WTF? Saturated Timing Belt
 

Sup guys, to make a long story short... My car is covered under the Certified Pre-ownede warranty so I took it to the NYC Dealer to get my water pump replaced because it was leaking coolant... the next day they call me telling me that the pump is covered but the timing belt needs to be replaced along with other associated parts because they are completely saturated with coolant. The job is going to cost $900!!!! I mean I don't have a HUGE problem with it if its actually is legit and their not just trying to milk me. Have u guys ever heard of a timing belt needing to be replaced because of a coolant leak? and is $900 a good price?

weird, never heard of that, though i do have a tt. but i know my coolant tank is there too. hmm, 900 seems just about par, maybe a little higher. i bet if it has to get done you can find somewhere that'll go cheaper or you could always do it

Coolant i don't think will cause problems.... the timing belt is rubber and so are the hoses for the coolant so i can't see the coolant deteriorating the belt. The belt also is a toothed, or has teeth on it so it can not slip due to being wet. how many miles are on the car?

Josh

IMO it is ALWAYS a good idea to do the timing belt when you do a water pump or anything in that area. Also you have to notice that like 600 of that is them charging you for parts. The coolant may not cause a problem but when it comes to a timing belt you don't want to risk it. These cars already have belt problems to begin with so a foreign substance can be bad. Just make sure there doing the full timing belt job meaning all tensioner and idler pulley's on the belt are being replaced as well.

600 for parts? that sucks, maybe an a4 thing? i can get all that stuff for my 1.8 for ~300 i believe

V6 vs I4 is the problem

ahh touche, i guess if i read your sig i would notice the 2.8...

bummer dude

I dont see why that wouldnt also be covered under the warranty, especially if the faulty pump caused the other problems. Sounds sketchy to me.

Exactly! Your car is under bumper to bumper warranty dude... if there's a problem, it gets FIXED!
That they admitted it needs a new timing belt (prematurely) pretty much screws them out of saying it's wear and tear (a timing belt it usually not covered under warranty, as it is 'maintenance'). This issue is clearly not maintenance, so they have to pay up. They can either fix it for you (no charge) or admit that they were just scamming you for money, and it's really not going to fail prematurely.
Take it to AOA if you need to, but that shit is getting fixed for FREEEEEE!

I called customers relations and they said that the timing belt should be covered since the water pump is what caused the problems... so they called the service center and I'm waiting for a phone call from the service center and customer relations

Pwned. Those guys will hate you forever... but feck 'em. I hate it when dealerships reveal themselves to be stealerships.
My dealer is good... I've never had any issues with 'em. I'd go so far as to say their service centre is excellent... having gone above and beyond the call of duty for me in the past.

ok well I just got a call from the Audi service center and they said they are going to get as much as they can covered under the warranty. They said that they timing belt IS covered under warranty since the water pump caused the problem... but they said that the Pullys are the only thing I would have to pay for since it doesn't get damaged by the coolant. so the price went from 900 to 400.... so I called customer relations again and they said they are going to check if the pullys should be covered and get back to me

It should be like 100 bucks max if you have to pay for anything that falls under the 'preventative' or 'maintenance' thing... because the timing belt job requires like 300 in parts. That includes the tensioners, belt, water pump, and coolant. If the pullies are bad, then that is premature and should also be under your warranty. You don't replace pullies on the timing belt job, and the job is usually done at 80k miles or so. You've obviously got well under that.

The tensioners and pulleys are part of the maintenance procedure. I'd think they should be covered too. Add in that you have this warranty for a reason, and you shouldn't be paying for a single thing.

when I wake up tomorrow I'm gonna call Nicole at Customer Relations and tell her their trying to make me pay for the pullys and tensioners which are part of the timing belt replacement procedure... I just want my damn car or at least a loaner until this shit is over

see look, help when u need it......... what was your plan if the forum was an option.

Let us know how you made out with Nicole... Isn't a loaner car covered when you have Audi assured warranty? If you bought the car there, it should definitely be covered.

He has a 3.0 not a 1.8t. Parts go from 300 to 600 for a full timing belt job.

Aye, right you are.
Still though, they're quoting 400... and we know they have to pay for the belt, coolant, and waterpump.

The rest of my argument is valid...

I owned my 3.0 for all of 6 months, and sold it with like 40k miles so I never got into timing belt costs. :)

ok so here's the update, Nicole called me up while I was in my $40 cab ride to the dealership to pick up my car.... she told me she talked to the Service Manager and everything that is related to the timing belt was going to be covered under the warranty, which include pullys and tensioners. When I got to the service center I didn't say anything about the phone call I just received, I just told them I was there to pick up my loaner. They took my license and credit card and then told me I have to be 25 to get a loaner cuz its "state law"... I was like WTF! I just spent $40 to get my ass over here and DRIVE AWAY with a car... long story short I ended up going to the Enterprise a few blocks down and getting a crappy Ford Focus at a discounted rate because my car was at the Audi Service Center.... Enterprise took a $350 deposit because of my age, but I'm getting that back when I bring my car back. and all I'm getting charge is $60 for the car... Ugh I hate this place.. I shoulda just took it to the Riverside Audi Service Center, they never gave me problems... Let's hope they stick to what they told customer relations tomorrow when I pick up my car and its time to pay

Good stuff man. Glad to hear things are (sort of) working out!

And yeah, before I was 25, I had issues with rental car companies. Enterprise was always cool, though.

Man, this dealership sounds like the biggest bunch of con artists... People like them are the reason some Audi owners are dissatisfied with the company. Props to you for actually going over their heads... I would never bring my car to them again and also make a complaint with the BBB...

wow they are def trying to rob you but ya you have to be 25 to get a loaner, i've tried to convince dealerships to get me a loaner but they tell me i'm not 25+ lol. at least you got things covered though. that's weird enterprise took a deposit, they never took one for me when i rented through them. and like FasterA4 said i'd submit a complaint because that's total bullcrap that nobody needs to put up with.

Toyota tried to loan me a car after driving a customer car out of town to have them reprogram the transmission computer. The computer was fried in the process and they were about to loan me an Enterprise rental car but then they found out I wasn't 21 and that I didn't have full coverage insurance if I had met either of those I would of been alright... They ended up giving the customer a brand new $1000 transmission computer and reprogram FREE! Best part is we were trying to have them reprogram it just to find out if the computer was bad or not hahahaha.

So Toyota dealer better then Audi dealer? Now that's a problem and Audi of America should really look into that... of course my only time going to the Audi dealer for my car was once because I found out I was missing a lug bolt on my tire they gave me one free! Then another time my tire was really low out of town again and I was picking parts up at BMW well I asked the parts manager there if I could get my tire filled he was like you have to talk to service (wtf its just air haha) He said there was a gas station across the street that had a pump. Got there the pumps frozen! So I went to the Audi service and the first guy was like were really busy... the guy next to him in a slightly better mood was like I'll take care of it haha. They didn't charge me for that either.

Please post how this turns out. I agree it should be covered.

Lou

another update... well I got phone call on Friday (the day the car was supposed to be ready) from the dealership telling me that one of the bolts were stripped and they had to order a new one so the car won't be ready til Monday... So I've been driving this POS Ford Focus since Thursday. The dealership said they can only pay for the first day of the rental so the other 3 days will be out of my own pocket. I don't really have a big issue with that but I'm still going to try to get reimbursed for the entire rental. Enterprise has been really good though, I have to fly to FL on tomorrow (Monday) and drop the car off at the airport. They usually charge like $100 for a drop off fee since its at a different enterprise location but they waived it because I had no other way of dropping it off anywhere else. So far it looks like I'm not getting my car back till I come back from FL (Thursday), the warranty is covering everything, and I'm getting reimbursed for the first day of the rental. Lets hope they don't change their story when I actually go pick up my car cuz I will raise hell and call customer relations right in front of them. and as far as having them reimburse me for the entire rental... lets see if I can talk them into doing it. Wish me luck guys! I'll update u when I come back on thursday!

My experience - Timing belt and water pumps, and a couple of other parts along with it on 2001 model. Cost me $1,100 total. They gave me a free oil change. I'd say that if you don't know how to replace them yourselve, you better take a risk and get them replaced. Oh well what do I know..

ok so I got a phone call on Monday and the car is finally done... I'm picking it up today cuz I was in Florida for my National Apple Sales Meeting... and its only costing me $200 for the ENTIRE JOB! Spark Plugs, coilovers, ignition coils, water pump, timing belt, pullys, tensionars and all.... When I get there I'll find out about the rental car reimbursement....

ok so I got the car back and only paid $189! but someone from there stole my camera... so I called the manager and he said he would look into it... I brought up the rental costs and he said he will try to work that out with me since of the camera situation. so I'll prolly get reimbursed another $370... which I shouldn't have paid anyway...

WTF! someone there stole your camera? if that is true and legit i'd be whoopin' someone's @ss :)