Kris Hansen

Yeah, that's normal. At least the engine can stay in the car though.

Sugadaddy

Yeah, I had a 2007 GTI bought CPO around 100,000km. Recommended maintenance had been done, it only said to check the belt every 32,000km and change at 160,000km I think.

It broke around 120,000km on the highway, valves hit the pistons, engine needed a new head. Luckily I was still under CPO warranty and after a bit of argueing, VW paid for it. (5000$ :P)

Interference engines should have a timing chain IMO.

Kris Hansen

What caused it to break? Worn tensioner? bad pulley?

Sugadaddy

Six Quebec winters would be my guess. Tensioner and pulley were fine, I remember they put a new belt on to check if the engine was ok.

I guess the problem wasn't so much having a belt, but the stupid VW maintenance that didn't require a replacement before 160,000km. Should be 100,000km max.

Kris Hansen

Interesting. Well I replace belts every 60k miles..

raj99

I used to replace them between 60-75K miles, but then again my car hardly ever faced weather below 32F (0C) and "lived" in a garage most of it's life. As Kris mentioned, the condition of the idler/tensioners and adjacent parts also has a significant impact on the longevity of the belt.

Rob O'Neil

You silly. A chain never breaks. The tensioner might, MIGHT have to be adjusted every 100K. I'll take the chain as opposed to changing the rubber belt, tensioner etc. every 60-80K miles.
You also have to consider why Audi/VW switched over to steel chains (finally) about 6 years ago.

spijun

First post here and immediately insults

Especially since this topic is 4 years old

Audi uses a timing belt on the 2.0TDI engines, while the 2.0 TFSI / 3.0TFSI engine uses a timing chain.
So your information that Audi only uses the chain is incorrect

Kris Hansen

Not to mention is patently wrong. Timing chains may not break, but they most certainly "stretch", which is widely known to cause issues in a variety of Audi engines. Tensioners fail, guides fail, all too common. There is no way to "adjust" a tensioner, you have to pull covers off of the engine, and REPLACE the chains and tensioners, and guides.

Unlike a timing belt system, timing chains are not designed to be changed easily, to the point where on the V engines, the chains are at the REAR of the engine, requiring removal of the engine or transmission to service them. IT's a ridiculously bad design made worse by bean counters specifying the cheapest parts possible.