170 TDI cambelt price!!!

[red or dead]

Hi all,

I know the answer to my question will be somewhere on the forum but the search won't work for me properly.

Roughly what price am i looking at for a cambelt change on my '07 a3 2.0 TDI 170?

Audi have just given me a price of £681.96, which I'm thinking is a bit on the steep side!

 

[Ads]

That's ridiculous. As long as your car is over 3 years old then cambelts are part of their fixed price servicing and should be £429. (See here ---> Affordable servicing < Servicing with Audi < Owners area < Audi UK)
Mention that to them and they'll soon change their tune.

Add in a waterpump and you should be looking at about £500.

 

[Dannykn9]

Audi Chingford charged me for my 2006 "56" 170, £525 and that included water pump and alternator belt. this was only about 2 months ago.

 

[audicruiser]

Had mine done in at Audi in February, Cambelt, water pump and tensioner £469... You have to haggle!

 

[red or dead]

Hmmm...thanks, so really they're just trying to have my pants down, maybe because they just put £600 worth of parts on for free, it's just been in for the injector recall.
All together they want £1122 for new front discs and pads and rear pads plus the cam belt change. I'll probably get the brakes done elsewhere but would like to keep the cam belt with Audi.

 

[Dannykn9]

You could go to an Audi Indy who use only genuine parts as they will still be much cheaper.

 

[markm3006]

Is the 170 tdi cambelt change a milage thing or age related ?

 

[Ads]

Is the 170 tdi cambelt change a milage thing or age related ?

Both. Can't remember the exact figures but its something like 60k miles or 4 years, which ever one comes first.

 

[Dannykn9]

Supposedly 70,000 or 5 years. So I was told by the dealer!

 

[MTRL]

I paid £325 to get cambelt and waterpump changed. HOWEVER, my car is back with them now because the engine mount/bolts failed and the engine fell through the bottom of the car.
They are looking at it tomorrow to decide weather it is their fault or not.
No doubt they will try to say it isn't and will try and charge me for picking up the car and inspecting it.
Very stressed out.

I was told 50K or every 5 years

 

[Ads]

Supposedly 70,000 or 5 years. So I was told by the dealer!

Yep, its something like that.

In fact, thinking about it, it is 5 years cos my car is a 2006 and I had it done in 2011.

Although I could've been a year late!?

 

[red or dead]

You could go to an Audi Indy who use only genuine parts as they will still be much cheaper.

I really wanted to keep it Audi as I bought the car Audi Approved and have kept all work at Audi over the last 2 years but this is just a bit too much.
I've already rung a couple of specialists and they are getting back to me tomorrow.

 

[red or dead]

Yep, its something like that.

In fact, thinking about it, it is 5 years cos my car is a 2006 and I had it done in 2011.

Although I could've been a year late!?

Yeah it's 5 years or 65k, or so they said and told me it needed "urgent attention" even though the car still has 3-4 months until it's 5 years old!

 

[Ads]

I paid £325 to get cambelt and waterpump changed. HOWEVER, my car is back with them now because the engine mount/bolts failed and the engine fell through the bottom of the car.
They are looking at it tomorrow to decide weather it is their fault or not.
No doubt they will try to say it isn't and will try and charge me for picking up the car and inspecting it.
Very stressed out.

Same thing happened to me... minus the engine falling out. Its pretty common that mounts fail when being disturbed during a cambelt change. Although usually they'll just knock a bit, as mine did.
Audi replaced mine at the cost of just the parts, but if yours were so bad that your engine fell out then I think you've got a good question to ask them about why they didn't notice something when they re-secured your engine after doing the cambelt.

Good luck.

 

[Ads]

Yeah it's 5 years or 65k, or so they said and told me it needed "urgent attention" even though the car still has 3-4 months until it's 5 years old!

How many miles has yours done?

 

[red or dead]

How many miles has yours done?

58k

 

[red or dead]

I paid £325 to get cambelt and waterpump changed. HOWEVER, my car is back with them now because the engine mount/bolts failed and the engine fell through the bottom of the car.
They are looking at it tomorrow to decide weather it is their fault or not.
No doubt they will try to say it isn't and will try and charge me for picking up the car and inspecting it.
Very stressed out.

I was told 50K or every 5 years

Was this at a main dealer? Now this is making me want to get it done at Audi in case something like this happens and the "specialists" turn out to be cowboys!

 

[Ads]

58k

I wouldn't bother waiting when you're this close tbh. But quote the audi website price to them though.

 

[Dannykn9]

In all fairness mate, just because they are main dealers, it does not make them experts as you will find a lot of dealers of whatever brand have a lot of apprentices.
A lot of the time, indies are known to be better with more experience.

 

[MTRL]

Same thing happened to me... minus the engine falling out. Its pretty common that mounts fail when being disturbed during a cambelt change. Although usually they'll just knock a bit, as mine did.
Audi replaced mine at the cost of just the parts, but if yours were so bad that your engine fell out then I think you've got a good question to ask them about why they didn't notice something when they re-secured your engine after doing the cambelt.

Good luck.

Cheers, I get the feeling im going to have to fight this the whole way. They wern't supprised when I rang up and told them what happened. Must have happened a few times. Shouldn't happen without someone messing with the mount. They were the only ones to touch it when changing the cambelt.
We will see what tomorrow brings. Hope I dont have to tow it back again!

 

[red or dead]

I wouldn't bother waiting when you're this close tbh. But quote the audi website price to them though.

Will do, cheers

 

[MTRL]

Was this at a main dealer? Now this is making me want to get it done at Audi in case something like this happens and the "specialists" turn out to be cowboys!

No it was a "specialist", dont want to slag them off just yet. Will reserve judgement untill I have seen how they behave tomorrow.

 

[RapidAssistant]

I thought Audi charged £399 fixed for a cambelt change?? I went to my local specialist who did it for £310 on my old B7 A4, but that also included the water pump which I am not sure you get at the Audi dealer - I was strongly recommended to change the water pump on the 2.0TDI engine based on past experiences.

 

[daddycool]

£425 for cambelt, water pump & dsg oil change. Wouldn't bother with main stealer unless your cars still in warranty or you've got more money than sense!

 

[murran]

Cheers, I get the feeling im going to have to fight this the whole way. They wern't supprised when I rang up and told them what happened. Must have happened a few times. Shouldn't happen without someone messing with the mount. They were the only ones to touch it when changing the cambelt.
We will see what tomorrow brings. Hope I dont have to tow it back again!

is it the bolts that hold the side mounting to the block that have snapped? if so then theyve eith massively over tightened them or left one loose (the lower one).
or have the two m12 18mm headed ones come out of the side bracket?

 

[red or dead]

Well I got a quote from a friend of a friend today, he say's he'll do;
cam belt
water pump
fan belt
coolant
front discs and pads
rear pads
service, including oil and filter changes
full diagnostic

All for the grand total of £465
Seems a bit too cheap TBH but I'm not complaining, Audi wanted £1122 for cam belt and brakes only!

 

[The Governor]

I'm pretty sure my manual for my 2011 A3 TDI says 57k for the cambelt change...

 

[Beans]

The labour for a cambelt on that car should be 2.3hours.

 

[red or dead]

The labour for a cambelt on that car should be 2.3hours.

Audi quoted 4.10 hours labour for the cambelt at £115 per hour!

 

[Beans]

Audi quoted 4.10 hours labour for the cambelt at £115 per hour!

That 2.3hrs is just for the cambelt and tensioner, that figure is from Autodata. Unless it includes something else, that is a rip off.

 

[MTRL]

is it the bolts that hold the side mounting to the block that have snapped? if so then theyve eith massively over tightened them or left one loose (the lower one).
or have the two m12 18mm headed ones come out of the side bracket?

The report back from the garage said that two of the bolts had sheared in half. I think they were the bolts that hold the side mount to the block. I think you are right, one may have been left loose and had come out over the next month or so and sheared the remaining bolt.
The garage fixed everything under parts warranty and my car was waiting for me when I got home yesterday all fixed.

They have put in a whole new mount and repaired everything that had ripped out of place or that had been squashed/bent.

Honestlly I thought I would have a massive ballache on my hands, that they woud deny they did anything wrong, bill me for recovery and inspection and leave me up **** creek.
But they were really impressive, after everything I would go back there.

Lesson for all I hope, check the bolts after a cambelt change.
They are stretch bolts for single use only. Make sure they are re-newed.

 

[The Governor]

Was it a main dealer or an Indy?

 

[MTRL]

Was it a main dealer or an Indy?

Independant, VAG specialist.
Looking on the net after it happened I found quite a few threads (not just audi) where this had happened to other people. Could happen with the dealers too.
All down to human error I suppose. Mechanics dont have Audi part numbers stamped on them so you just have to trust they wont make a mistake.

 

[The Governor]

Sounds like they did you proud and are a decent Indy, care to name them?

 

[MTRL]

Just have to say, this is not a plug for a mates business or anything, reading it back the thread sounds a bit like one of those annoying radio adverts!

VW Servicing Coventry | Audi Servicing Coventry | SEAT Servicing Coventry | Skoda Servicing Coventry | The VW Audi Specialists

 

[Djwoody]

I have just had my 2008 170 TDI cambelt changed this week, along with tensioners and water pump.
Also had an Oil change as well when it was in the garage.
It was done by a local mechanic that has been a family friend for years and he charged me £350 which I thought was really good.
Think the cambelt kit itself is about £140 for the CR170 engine.

Chris

 

[max69vk]

Everyone ready for a laugh? This is based on the 'fixed pricing' apparently....

 

[BlueSpark]

LOL that cant be right..they are definitely trying to pull one over on you! i think i paid somewhere in the region of £469 for mine last year which included water pump change.

 

[Ads]

In a nut shell, they are talking crap.

 

[max69vk]

Just mailed them this....

Hi *******,

Just wanted to check the pricing on the cambelt quote I had from you earlier today. After looking at this:- Affordable servicing < Servicing with Audi < Owners area < Audi UK it shows the cambelt service price at only £429 inclusive of parts, labour & oils etc, & Audi UK have confirmed that my car falls into the correct category for this work to be done at this price. Having spoken to a couple of other dealers in the area they have quoted me £480-£500 to have this work done including the water pump, against the quote of £835 received earlier.

I’m sure there has only been a simple mistake but could you please have a look into your quote (1266089) & get back to me as if the car is going to be in for a few days, it is probably worth doing at the same time.

The reply...

Hi Max,

£609inc VAT is our deal price on cambelt & waterpump.

I couldn't be ***** to argue so i just told them I'm going elsewhere!