PaulW

While at the dealer today, I asked a service writer to give me a quote for the TB change out. Included was the timing belt, serpentine belt, water pump, oil seal, thermostat and a couple other goodies.

They are really good to me there, the parts department gave me a discount on parts for the quote and the service writer stated he would give me a discount....I'm thinking great, probably about $1000-1300.....

Well, I was wrong. He told me $1800!

I would like the Audi dealer to do the work, it comes with a 12 month/12000 mile warranty, but I'll have to check around and see if they will come down on price.

Will defintely have to budget that one!

pw

skiracer

From Alldata DIY, the following costs were quoted (full retail, not warranty hours):
Timing belt: $174 and 5.9 Hours
Water Pump: $288 and an additional 2 hours (sounds high to me)
No price quoted for the serpentine belt, but is likely ~$75
I don't know what oil seal they are replacing, but they wouldn't do it if it weren't easy as part of the timing belt replace. At a shop rate of $65/hour (that's what my mechanic charges, and he is excellent), the total cost should be (5.9 + 2)*$65 + $174 + $288 + 75 = $1050.50. I don't see how an oil seal and thermostat could be worth $750! I would ask around the forum to see if anybody knows of a really good independent Audi mechanic in your area. Good luck!

PaulW

If you can believe that! I know the price is very high and am going to look around, have a good mechanic in the Chicago area that I use. But I doubt he has ever changed an A8 belt, but has done a bunch of V8 belts. I think it's just about the same.

I just ordered my new Bently CD ROM (It's out now) from Ross-Tech, got it for $70, it's $99 from Bently. But you have to be a customer for him to sell it to you at that price.

pw

SWiseman

I just had the timing belt replaced and the bill from the dealer was $1800.00. What oil seals need to be replaced in the timing belt area? I ask because I now see evidence of fresh oil on the lower front engine components where there was none before. I see no refrence on the invoice to any oil seals for the front area of the engine. They replaced 2 camshaft oil seals that were leaking at the rear of the passenger side head at the cam position sensor housing. The oil would leak overnight and drip down on the exhaust directly below. A burning oil smell would be present shortly after starting the car. I would appreciate knowing what Audi recommends to be replaced when the Timing Belt is replaced.

PaulW

I don't know specifically what oil seal it is, I think I knew more about the job than the service advisor...I asked him what else they do while in there and I said, water pump, etc. etc.

He came back with some numbers later and really didn't go over the details. However, I do know on my 91 200q, there was an oil seal around the crank output shaft that drove the idler pulley (the big belt drive) that was suppose to be replaced when the timing belt cover was off, i.e. to do the timing belt, water pump, etc. It was behind the idler pulley and was only serviceable with it removed. Removing the idler pulley was required to remove the timing belt cover. So you would replace this seal every 60K miles with the timing belt.

I'm getting the Bently on CD within a few days, I'll look at the procedure for timing belt replacement and see what else they tell you to do, and I'll look at the diagrams.

Paul

Dommi3

I just pulled the file for my Timing Belt Service. In my case using my Independent, he charged me $1532.00 out the door. I had a few things done on that service that were not directly related to the actual Timing Belt service so really the total would have been much less.

In my case I needed to have something referred to on my parts bill as a cam rollers. Parts alone for that was 189.00 plus tax. I did also, like many have recommended, replace the water pump. My mechanic charged me only a half an hour to replace the water pump because he claimed it was nothing once he's in that deep, that's the whole point of doing it now rather than later. I also had an oil change done on that service and got a leaky fuel hose fixed. The leaking fuel hose cost me $11 for parts and labor, it was fixed with a simple $1 clamp. My oil change was pricey because I do use Castrol Syntec Synthetic oil so that was another $100 that wouldn't have been on my bill. Assuming the Cam roller was only 1/2 HR of labor (that's being conservative). That's approximately $250 total for the parts and the labor for the cam rollers, the oil, oil filter and labor for the oil change $100, and total for clamp and time to fix the fuel leak $11, that means my independent replaced the timing belt, the serpentine belt and the water pump for right around $1175.

I think you're really getting screwed on the water pump deal.

Anyway, that's my Timing Belt Story. Hope it helps.

Good luck in finding a good independent mechanic near you. I'm very grateful to know mine. He knows the car much better than any dealer I've had my car into.

dommi3/Tiburon, CA
1997 A8 Silver/Gray
17" Audi Wheels
Every Possible Option
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Previous Audi
1990 V8 Quattro