I have a 2001 A6 2.7T 6speed with ~175K miles and it was misfiring recently so I brought it in to a local independent german auto shop. The owner told me the car is in good condition mechanically (I was surprised), and that we could move forward with repairs in one of two ways.

1. Fix the valve cover gaskets, camshaft caps, spark plugs and coils, chain tensioner gaskets, and air filters ~$500
2. Do the above, plus drive belt replacement (said it was brown and had a line in the middle), and also do timing belt, water pump, thermostat, change all filters ~$2800

I know that a lot of the cost is going to be labor, but does it make sense to do #2? He said I'd get at least another 50K out of it, which would be great, but the price seems a little high. Any suggestions?

 

What sort of service does he thinK the camshaft caps might need? That sounds really odd.

$2800 is a ton of money for a timing belt service. Why is the brown line an issue? Time and mileage on the current belt are the most important factors.

 

Labor costs vary widely across the country. High end spark plugs are about $6 each; OEM coil packs around $35 each so that's around $250. With the other work included option #1 isn't too far out there.
A timing belt kit which includes the belt, water pump, thermostat, and idlers can be had for about $400 parts cost. Labor on a timing belt job is about ten hours, start to finish.
All filters combined should be less than $100
$2800 seems pretty high for that job. I had a timing belt kit job done on my 4.2L at an indy shop in Tucson about 18 months ago and it was around $1600.
1) It is a simple job to change plugs and coil packs. No special tools required. Might take you an hour if you work slow! This would save quite a bit because I'm sure your shop would have a minimum labor charge for that work and parts will cost more since a shop marks up the price.
2) Drive belt I assume is the serpentine belt that runs the accessories (a/c, alternator, power steering, etc) A top of the line new belt is about $50 at the local NAPA store and maybe a 1 hour job in your garage. In some cases you have to place the car in service position to get access to the front of the motor. My '04 A6 4.2L did not require that although the dealer said it did. I was able to snake the replacement belt into position and access the idler pulley from underneath the front of the car. Dealer quoted me $500 to do that job. It cost me $50 for a belt and 45 minutes of my time.
My suggestion is that if you don't have any urgent issues like warning lights or massive leaks do what you are comfortable doing yourself. This would save you a chunk of money. I would also look into other shops if there are any available and if you don't have maintenance records on the car get the timing belt kit done soon.

 

Thanks. I live in northern NJ, and live in a small apt, so doing work isn't really easy. I'm pretty sure I had the timing belt and water pump done at ~80K. Timing belt labor was quoted as $1200.

He said the belt was brown & dry, making it prone to splitting.

 

So I'm guessing the labor rate is about $120 per hour? Are you referring to the timing belt being brown and dry, or the serpentine belt on the front of the motor? The serpentine belt isn't that tough to change as I posted earlier. Based on your mileage you are overdue for a timing belt. Replacement interval is 60-70k. Based on your estimates he will be charging $1100 for a timing belt kit + labor= $2300. That's high even for NJ, if you figure a TB kit can be had for $400. I would not wait too long to get the timing belt done but I would check a few other shops for pricing.

 

Bring your car to me (between New Paltz and Kingston) and I will do both jobs for half of his estimate. And I will be done in two days.

 

I would take george up on his offer. Send him a PM to get contact info. Even if you have to rent a Uhal and trailer to get it there you will come out ahead. He is a well respected member on here and very knowledgeable.