Timing belt

I am told Audi recommends changing the timing belt at 60000 miles. My a4 has 80000 and i cannot change right away. Is there anyone who has passed the 60 grand mark and had/didn't have problems. Also, the dealership wants a lot of money to do the work...any recommendations or experiences going with a non-dealership mechanic?

Yeah it proabbly cost around $700-1000. It sucks Audi's labor cost a lot. I don't have an audi, but you can go to some street shops that knows what they are doing. proabbly save couple hundreds

Ive always done my belts at the specifired intervals on all my cars. The thing that always strikes me is that there is barely any visible wear on the old belts. So you wondewr just how long it would have lasted. I suppose the belt could be stretched wich would affect timing :confused:
I reckon its a lot to risk though.

You can take it to a vw dealer and have it done there. The part numbers are exactly the same and the process is exactly the same..

passat 1.8t and audi a4 1.8t are the same car basically

I did that - and got a very similar quote. Ended up getting it done buy an independent audi specialist for half the price. They even let me watch!

Yeah it probably cost around $700-1000. It sucks Audi's labor cost a lot. I had the belt changed as part of the regular service at 90,000 km, which is about 56,000 miles, and the complete service cost me only €355, which is around $500. The invoice shows (roughly) parts $290, labour for changing the belt $125, other labour charges $85. This was at an Audi dealer in Spain.

Labour charges in Spain may be lower than in the US, but not that much. Also, my invoice included 16% value-added tax, which is a pleasure you don't enjoy in the US.

It looks as though somebody's ripping somebody off.

audi recommends I change the belt every 104,000 miles on my 2001. It costs so much because of labor, (probably around 90 dollars an hour), they need to take the entire front end off of the car, I just did it myself, and let me tell you it is very time consuming.

i changed my timing belt at 86000 miles first time and i run my car pretty hard

if you like tuning you should use this opportunity to put in a unorthodox racing crank pulley 184 bucks and the difference in power is impressive plus this way you wont pay installation