jlbell

Quick update to everything. I have contact Stevens Creek Audi, that performed the service. The service advisor said it was not much to worry about as he has seen other Audi engines whose timing belt runs slightly on the edge as well. He also said that the timing belt rubbing the plastic would not cause any negative changes in the belt. After speaking with him, I contacted Audi of New Orleans which has a very strange policy. They do not work on any Audis below 2008, however I left my information with a secretary who forwarded it to the service manager. I then contacted Audi USA to check Audi of New Orleans policy. Once off the phone I was called back by the service manager who is going to work with the master service tech, and the regional area manager, so Stevens Creek Audi gets charged, to check and correct anything wrong with the timing system. I also asked about a loaner which they don't give out to cars without warranties, but said he will try and make an exception. So far they are exceeding my expectations with regard to helping me solve this issue.

MP4.2+6.0

Back to my earlier ideas and OP's reply with the invoice, the part called "lever" on the invoice is what many of us short cut as the tensioner or the tensioner pulley. The part they call belt damper is the hydraulic part of the tensioner. They replaced both those parts.

The mark on the cover seems to be on the U.S. drivers side if I have my mirror imaging right, which does put the tensioner right before that as far at the timing belt loop. On the other hand, honestly the passenger side cam pulley almost looks like the belt is farther forward there than the driver's side. I also realized the water pump also has side flanges on its pulley, so it could be off too.

Net/regardless, it looks like you got "the works." That is a good thing in this case since it leaves them little room to blame anything else they didn't already replace. The cover shows the problem back and white, let alone the belt being shifted outward on the rollers which seemed obvious to me in your video. I gave you some things that could be it, but they can figure it out.

To your reply just as I was posting this, yes belts can wander some, but they should just plain not be hitting the cover, and they shouldn't be running consistently beyond critical pulleys like the cams. As I said earlier, it suggests either a defective part where a pulley is pressed on out of position, or something not square in the belt drive, which pretty much is the tensioner pulley since it is the only one with a lever arm where the geometry could get off. And having owned a 4.2 and done the belt (and on 2.8's, and 2.22's...) and seen off square tensioners and various other pulley issues or bad parts, I would take the service advisor on if need be (though it sounds like you are making progress via other channels, which is good). Cutting a cover is not normal or spec. with factory parts and factory trained technicians on a well known motor by now. Period, end of discussion. Send him (or whomever is the one to make it right) the pics and the video if things don't get resolved to your satisfaction. If that was std. 4.2, Audi would be doing a big business in motor covers sawn in two over time among other things! And no, while I recognize it, having been here for many years and on the C5 board with the 4.2 back 15 years, it is not at all the norm. A pretty unusual one actually, especially with OE parts, though many owners never ever look in there of course.

Good luck, and your latest update did sound like you were getting some attention.

05audiman

That's good to hear that they are cooperating.

05audiman

Trust me, I know. As well as the price for them. My next one will be coming from the Chicago area.

Mister Bally

My '04 came from Downers Grove

mishar

That belt was damaged by forcing it on pulleys. It can snap any moment.

MP4.2+6.0

For OP, I hadn't considered that one, but what Misha says also sounds plausible if belt was stretched toward one side. My prior ideas still fit if issue turns out to be on the tensioner or pulleys side.

Notice in your second picture that blue mark you captured. That really makes no sense either to me for a factory/dealer job. The belt of course does not come with a blue marker/paint pen mark like that AFAIK. What it suggests is someone was marking the relative belt position to some point on the motor, commonly at the cam gears. (I assume you didn't put it there...). But in turn if the proper tools are used--cam gear lock bar, crank lock, etc. and you place the belt on at the appropriate time then there is no reason to mark the belt.

In plain English, a guess is they did not pull the cam gears to do the belt and then just pried it on. That mark is a pointer to using the shade tree--aka dynamite, aka amateur, aka shortcut...--technique sometimes seen when people either don't understand the set up with the cam gears, don't have the puller tool, or don't want to be bothered with the steps involved. Gives me even less faith in Stevens Creek Audi to be honest; one of my local dealers. Where our Q5 came from (sales person was solid), but I have stuck w/ Rector for service. If it were me, I would also be starting to think about asking for a labor refund, especially if they charged you book hours but then did shortcuts like that which fail basic workmanship expectations and warranty. Read the language, but interestingly here warranty is often for both parts and "workmanship." Usually thought of as labor, but honestly here it may be competence. First things first though in trying to work through Audi resolution system to get it addressed. If you paid by credit card, also watch your window for submitting disputes given the invoice date.

TSHong

They should cover the repairs under warranty and it sounds like Audi will. I would never deal with a service facility that would tell a customer that a timing belt rubbing against the cover is ok. I would seriously have some issues with any one of my employees telling that to one of my customers.

mishar

+1

jlbell

I was also worried about them saying I caused the fault by removing the timing belt cover. As stupid as it sounds it would not surprise me. But if I did not I wouldn't have found the issue.