cambelt done.

[603ELO]

Well, I mangaed to do the cambelt yesterday - actually on my girlfriends golf turbo but AGU and identical to A3 1.8T so relevant here.
All went OK but a very time consuming job (thanks to HTC for his printout as helped no end - see his previous post)
Car has done 86k and to be honest belt, pulleys etc looked fine HOWEVER water pump showed signs of pink solidified coolant so I decided to remove it. Once off, the plastic impeller was breaking up and bearing was tight! glad I had a new one.
To be honest, I cannot see problem with belt surviving to 120k but something like a seized pump will be the reason for a snapped belt before this mileage (common problem on Audi V6s)

This whole job is DIYable if you have certain aptitude however a good range of tools are essential due to access and special fixings.
Would take about 4hrs+

Having now done the job, I would be very dubious about an independant garage quoting £165 etc to do the job as cannot see how they can do it propely for that price. There is also a lot to damage in the way of pipes, clips, connectors etc if you are careless.

Audi would be way to go if you cannot do yourself or a VERY trusted specialist.

Can expand further if anyone interested (in a hurry at moment!)

 

[HTC]

Good work!

Glad my write up helped you out. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beerchug.gif

 

[FrOgR]

yer as per my post i was also very dubious letting anyone but Audi do it... just listen out for a loud ticking noise from the left hand side of the engine... thats when i found out my tensioner was playing up... but didnt get it sorted in time *SNAP* /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[AndyMac]

My water pump was seizing on my 2.8Q (Audi didn't change it when they charged me £700 for the cambelt change). The car would struggle to idle, and would dip right down to 200revs before recovering (sometimes stalling). Luckily the pump was also leaking, so when I finally got it replaced at my specialist and they showed it to me, and it looked like it was just about to give up the ghost. Close call, very close call. As a result the idling problem is now sorted.
I can't believe Audi don't replace the pump as a matter of course. I phoned them up recently and asked them and they said they never do it, and seemed quite reluctant to do it even if I asked for it to be done.
It's only £40 for the pump, so seems to be a ridiculous thing to overlook when you consider the consequences when it fails, and the fact that it's a five minute job if you're changing the cam belt anyway.

 

[HTC]

Interesting really, because most VW garages suggest replacing the water pump on these engines!

Good old audi!

 

[603ELO]

Not my local VW dealer - official line is that they will only replace if there is an obvious defect!
They did add that if it was required, they would only charge a minimal labour cost as most of it is apart anyway! - they are so generous.........

 

[HTC]

I guess it just depends then. When I was phoning round for a price for my cambelt change (before I decided to do it myself) the VW garages all mentioned the water pump.