rocketman4321

The belt on the top in the photo is the original (Gates) serpentine belt from my 2001 2.7T, after 67k and about 9 years. The bottom belt is its replacement, from the Blauparts timing belt kit, after a bit more than 2 years and 15k miles. It clearly exceed the 3 crack/inch guideline in a number of places. The car is garaged at home and in an under-building garage at work so it doesn't freeze or bake much except when driving.

From this http://www.gatesprograms.com/beltwear it appears that the original was EPDM rubber and the Blau was neoprene. They claim the cracking only occurs in neoprene. Even so, this seems like a short life. Hope their timing belt is doing better than the serp belt.

jcman

.....brought to you by China, India and anyone else who can make it look like a part we need with a cheap price and substandard quality.

Johann2.7t

i had the same issue with the same belt with about the same mileage ~20k

RMsALFA

..another reason I will only use OEM parts for anything that requires service position to fix. Then, all I need to worry about are part forgeries from the same China and India outfits that make the crap

SloopJohnB@mac.com

OK, Blau often monitors various boards...what say ye Blau?

jamesm0913

That is about what my belt from Blau looked like at 25k miles. Just did a timing belt job to fix coolant leak at 40k and the serp belt was missing a small chunk out of it on the ribbed side. I figure it was about to snap any day.

Went with the ECS ultimate timing belt kit and the belts are Continental. Hope they hold up better.

MP4.2+6.0

See this cross post. The guy--quite knowledgeable on the car--was left stranded on a road trip. Not acceptable by Blau and its suppliers.

https://www.audiworld.com/forums/sho...php?p=24164744

ezveedub

A little note, when purchasing parts, try to find the OEM brand used. I've worked on cars for years and know that a lot of aftermarket parts are really just a waste of your money IMO. It sucks to have to do a job twice because the cheaper part failed early. OEM parts from the dealer can be expensive, but there is a reason and not all parts have to be purchased from them, but just be knowledgeable about what you purchase for your car. Belts and water pumps are one area I'm very wary about using aftermarket brands as replacements.

SloopJohnB@mac.com

BLAU begs to differ. Here's what they told me:

John,

Thank you for your interest in Blauparts. We had been made aware of premature cracking on some of the serpentine belts that were included in some of our timing belt kits. We have since discontinued the use of those belts.

For over 22 years we've been performing Audi timing belt replacement in our own independent service facility on customer's cars and our own test vehicles, using the same components that are included in our kits.

The serpentine belts used with our timing belt kits are made by an OEM ISO/TS 16949 Certified Manufacturer using high quality EPDM material. We test each lot of belts by running them on test benches. They've been tested for over 130,000 miles without any cracking. We're sure of their quality and offer a limited lifetime warranty on these belts.

Sincerely,

Customer Service/Returns Team
Blauparts.com
An Independent Audi, Vw Specialist
returns@blauparts.com



<John> Now, a test bench isn't Yuma, AZ!!

MP4.2+6.0

By my book, they ought to get in touch with each and every customer they sold the belt to and offer to replace it. This is a safety issue as well if the car breaks down suddenly; per the D3 post it certainly happened there, and with a very competent owner. Customer service/returns guy would be smart to escalate it to higher up.

Again, historically I'm a Blau customer across 5 generations of cars, but this leaves me very cold. They need to do better than leaving people w/ a bunch of junk parts they sold. Further, the reply that they test them, yet they discontinued use of certain belts, doesn't really square--suggests either they weren't tested at the time, or that the test is insufficient.

Sorry, but I'll be buying elsewhere thus far, whether ECS or autohausaz (but only against a known brand like Gates or Continental), or via an online dealer like audiusaparts. When and if Blau stands up better, I'll be listening.