gary1005

2002 Audi A6 Quattro 3.0
85,000 miles

Will greatly appreciate any input regarding the following:

Car went in for a cam sensor - $31 out of pocket after extended warranty coverage – which then turned into catastrophic failure $7,000 est repairs with warranty company denying claim.

Audi says the timing belt broke in their service bay when they started engine to test after repairing the cam sensor. This caused the valves to bend, but apparently just the exhaust valves.

Wynn’s Extended Care warranty will not cover stating the car was misused or abused and that the engine was over rev’d causing the failure. Per Wynn’s all symptoms point to this. Timing belt checked okay – no signs of cracks or dry rot and timing belt is not recommended to be replaced until 105,000 miles - no verifiable problem with belt tensioner, and apparently a key fact is that the exhaust valves are bent and not the intake valves and the “teeth” on the timing belt were stripped.

Audi believes, but apparently cannot prove, that the belt tensioner failed. Presumably if this were the case, the intake valves would also be bent per Wynn’s. Audi says that it is not uncommon for intake values not to bend on an Audi car when this happens.

So, I guess the questions I have are: Is it reasonable that a catastrophic failure as described could occur simply by starting an engine in a service bay with an Audi technician present? Does Audi have any responsibility here as I am at a deadend with Wynn's?

The sequence of events here seem very unusual, although this has been a troublesome car. The above all happened within 30 days of having it to the same dealer for new coil packs, 02 sensor and cat.

Thanks for your time.

cyberlaz

Sorry to hear about all this but something isn't adding up right.

I find it unlikely that the timing belt would break at the dealership. What are the odds that the belt would break at that moment.

I wonder if you have to remove the timing belt to get to the cam sensors on the 3.0L engine? Maybe someone on the board would know the answer to that question because if you do I would guess that the audi tech didn't put it back together correctly.

Try to find out if the timing belt needs to be removed for the cam sensors to be replaced on that engine. If it does I would go to the dealer and tell them that they screwed something up when they did the service and they must fix it. It is really strange that it broke when they started up right after the service.

gary1005

Thanks for the reply. I do not believe the timing belt needs to be removed to replace the cam sensor, but I do not know for sure. I too am curious, however, if there is anything involved with the replacement of the cam sensor that could cause timing to be off if not done properly. Also, is it possible that the fault code was incorrect and that something else was wrong in the first place.

Airbag

my two centa ( and that is about all it is worth ) was you had a failing timing belt to start with and the sensor was telling you this as the timing was drifting. The cam sensor tried to warn you .
BTW my 16V porsche snapped a timing belt and bent only the exhaust vales also . Did it while I was starting it in the driveway.

Just Me

this is an interesting point - the timing variability was the actual problem. Hmmmm.

Anyway, i dont get Wynn's claims. Timing belts fail all over the map. Some go 60k miles, others go 200k miles. That is why audi has officially recommended that the belts be changed at 60k. it is priunted in black and white int he Bentley paper manual, over-riding the maintenance table.

On the other hand, this is very coincidental. I would guess that they took the timing belt shrouds off (i'm guessing since i have never owned a 3.0), and either put somethign together wrong, or dropped something, like a stand-off bolt, down into the works. Then the belt snapped. Don't ask how i know about that scenario. Suffice it to say this would not be the first time.

Bottom line to me is that you handed them a working car, and they handed you a broken car. I think you need to explain this to them. if they dont understand, you may need to have a lawyer explain it to them.

but it seems that either: 1) it failed and is covered under warranty, or 2) someone broke it. They can duke it out on who pays. but it should not be you - at least not most of it.

i would feel more confident if the belt had been replaced earlier. Keep this in mind. They should have either recommended replacement, or. if not, it was tacit agreement that the belt was ok at that mileage and condition.

G

Just Me

the answer, if this is like other motors, is yes. If they removed the protective cover parts can drop to the toothed cam/pulley below and snap the belt.

G

2.7Lturbo

audi should pay for it. if not them the warrenty company... you shouldnt pay ANYTHING.... if car breaks in their hands its their fault. back in the day i was working at vw, kid did a timing belt change on a tdi(i think, all i remember it was a mk4 jetta) and when he was finished he started the car to drive out of the bay and SNAP! didnt have the tensioner on correctly belt slipped off and broke valves ( only exhaust valves will ever break on these cars unless your belt breaks on the highway, ask me how i know this ) anyways dealership picked up tab to make a long story short