Farmjazz

Hi all,

Have an 04 A8 that was in shop last November with 70,000 miles, had preventative work of replacing timing belt and tensioner done. At 9,000 miles on maintenance, wife is stranded 500 miles from home with.............yes, diagnosed as timing belt slip due to tensioner failing. Since I doubt I'll hear anything from the dealership that did the maintenance before Monday morning, figured I'd post here and open my ears up for comments. I would sure expect the dealership that did the work would make this right, but looking forward to hearing other person's experience and comments.

Thank you,
Farmjazz

dvs_dave

That sucks. Big repair job coming up.

Was it an Audi dealership that did the work or an independent? Any ideas on the manufacturer of the timing belt kit? Presuming all rolling parts were replaced, including the water pump and the other idler pulleys, not just the belt and tensioner?

Farmjazz

Audi dealership did the work.

Jack88

The timing belt job typically includes not only the belt, but also two timing belt tensioners, water pump, and one idler. First, see if the shop you had used did the maintenance with all of the appropriate parts. Unless they didn't, you may have a hard time getting the dealer to take any responsibility without an expressed warranty on the work, even with such drastically early and catastrophic failure. I wouldn't wait to hear back from the dealership to contact Audi of America to explain what happened. If you've chucked a timing belt, the damage will be significant, and the repair bill will reflect that. Good luck.

dvs_dave

So OEM parts one has to presume. Well they should help you out as you will have paid a fortune to have a dealership do it and they should have at least a 12 month/12000 mile warranty on their parts and workmanship.

It's the consequential damage that is the worry here. You will have an engine full of bent valves and damaged Pistons. Huge repair, or new engine territory. You need to get complete clarity on what they will do here as the repair cost will likely total the car.

Farmjazz

Dealership replaced timing belt, waterpump, rollers and tensioners and T-stat. 7 1/2 hours labor. Approximately $900 parts and $800 labor. So yes, all appropriate repairs and replacement parts were done. I don't have any experience with your suggestion of contacting Audi of America, will search and pursue, thanks for the suggestion. I have part numbers for 8 items included in this preventative maintenance, will list if someone asks.

ebi718

Link for AoA Customer Service ==> ( Audi Customer Service - Contact Audi | Audi USA ) if it comes to that. As someone else mentioned, the dealership should normally honor warranty on their parts/labor. Good luck!

Farmjazz

Finally got a call back from dealership that did the work, looks like, all in all, things are okay. Since the repairs fall within the parameters of 12 months/12,000 miles, I need to get the car to an Audi dealership, and it will be made right. I specifically asked about subsequent damage caused by replaced parts failure, and he said it would be covered. So, I need to haul car 100 miles to dealership and should be taken care of.

Did a live chat with AudiUSA, person there said she couldn't do anything until I'd dealt with dealership that did repairs. She gave me audicare@audi.com as email contact, and phone of 877-615-2834 if I needed further help.

Thanks to replies.

Farmjazz

Shouldn't have trusted service guy's mapping acumen. Will be 220 miles from Casper to Ft. Collins, closest Audi dealership.

CWTech

You paid $1700 total for Audi to do the timing belt? That's sounds extremely cheap.