Timing Belt snapped!!

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Ciaranl

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Hey all,

As the title suggests, bad news! I dont have too much info as yet but thought i would run it past the knowledgable guys on here and see what i am in for!

Last wednesday the S3 went in for its 60,000 mile service ready for a long drive to the lake district this weekend (from essex) Car was fine and running well (apart from my ESP and ABS light coming on and staying on half way through the drive, least of my worries i think!)

Anyway... pulled out of a service station after a fill up and 200 meters up the road the car dies and all feels heavy and i just about manage to get the car to the side of the road. I had to joing to AA on the spot (£120) and a guy came out and diagnosed the timing belt has gone / broken / or not working! Even i know that doesnt sound good!

Now stranded 300 miles from home i find out to tow it back to my normal dealer will cost £1100!! With that i had two choices the nearest local Audi dealer or a normal AA recommend garage. At the fear of £££$£$$ from Audi i chose 'Crooklands Mill Garage' in Cumbria. Managed to get a lift back with some mates so now i am back in essex and the car is 100's of miles away awaiting the car to be inspected by the garage.

I was only doing about 30mph when it died and pulled / rolled off the road as soon as i could. Despite this the garage reckon there is a 99% chance of bent valves ect.... They said even at tick over the car is doing 800rpm.

So.... whats the verdict, how bad is this going to hurt?? Spent £700 getting the car ready for a long trip and then this happens.

Car details:

X reg S3 - 64,000 miles with a full Audi service history but Audi specialist last week. Only had it 5 months!

:(
 
oooh thats bad news fella, id be hopeful of only a few of the valves going, one thing to be certain, your gonna be talking into the thousands unless you've been extremely lucky....
 
id have to agree with tim there mate. really bad luck hope you get it sorted.
 
The garage said at best £400 at worst £1000+

I am not sure what could be ok to let me get away with £400!

Worth considering a new engine (ebay?) or new head?
 
When was the cambelt changed? If the specialist who did the service changed it then you need to go back to them. If it hasn't been changed then unfortunately someone has seriously fcuked up as it's 8 years old so should have had 2 new belts in that time (or at least 1 with another in the near future). Surely the specialist who did the last service advised you needed a new timing belt/water pump/tensioners etc?
 
Hey Andy,

The belts were not changed last week at the 60K service. It was just the normal service, oil / brakes ect... I was under the impression that the car did not need to have any work done on the belts until 80K.

It had a full Audi service history so will have to look through the recipts but i dont think anything on the belts has been done.
 
audi upgrades
In Oz they recomend 90000km (50k miles) or 4 years, whichever comes first.

Mines getting done in a couple of months due to being at 3years and 6 months now. Cheap insurance imo
 
Yes as Id says, the belts need changing before 80k (60k is the recommendation, 90km is actually 56k miles), but, more importantly in your case, every 4-5 years (whichever comes first), as you've found to your cost I'm afraid. If it was full Audi dealer service before the last one then they will have advised this 3 years ago. If you haven't had the car that long then it'll be on the paperwork as an advisory and I'm guessing the previous owner didn't bother otherwise you wouldn't be in the mess you're in now. Either way the specialist is still at fault as they should also have advised again when you had the service (unless the belt was changed 3 years ago), in which case speak to the dealer that did the work.
 
If it was a specialist, im sure they would have advised you (knowing full well the life of belts on the VAG car range)....

As for the price quoted by the garage, lets hope that it is closer the £400 mark, rather than the other!!!

Fingers crossed for you, let us know how you get on.
 
Currently in talks to get the car back to essex so it can be worked on by VW Teckniker www.vwtec.co.uk

Prices for recovery have come down from £1100 to around £300 so far so its looking better. I just hope its a top end rebuild rather than a new engine...

No body wants a car thats had two engines :(

I will keep you all updated though
 
Feel sorry for you mate.

I would work on getting the car back to you first, I wouldn't want a garage 300 miles away doing work on it, plus any comebacks and there not exactly local are they.

Good luck !
 
OUCH!, Hope you get it sorted soon, I hate reading about snapped Cambelts, it's always expensive to repair whichever way you look at it, especially with Chrimbo coming up. :(
 
Sorry but what is a timing belt. same as cam belt?
 
If you are looking for transport, pop it into ebay - I needed transport recently and found there are tons of companies and agents advertising on there. I can't speak for the service as I found alternative arrangements.
 
If you joined the AA then they should tow it home or your garage of choice no?
 
Hi
So sorry to hear of this
But as you have found sometimes full Audi service does not mean it has been serviced up to scratch
I am inclined to disagree about the specialist that is at fault though
If you have a car with supposed FULL Audi service , you would expect that it has had just that
I am sorry , but may be worth looking at the service book
I have had a few people come in with full dealers service on all the VAG dealers and I have seen so much of this
All we can do is advise for the owner to have the work done , some have it done some dont , all we can do is advise , if it is not known to have this done , but Audi surly know about service intervals on the cam belts as they are the ones who change their minds and give out service advice on it
Sarah
 
benr said:
If you joined the AA then they should tow it home or your garage of choice no?
Click to expand...

They'll tow you home or garage, whichever is nearest. If the blokes alright when he turns up he may take you a little further to a garage, but not 300 miles....

Sorry to hear about the car too, never a nice situation to be in....
 
Wouldn't it be cheaper to get a mate to tow you home with a fixed towing pole? It won't be much fun but for £30, a tank of fuel and few drinks for the poor sod doing the towing has to be better than a few hundred on a flatbed.
Or upgrade your AA cover to Roadside/Relay and they will take you to wherever you want within the UK, which is only £72.
 
AndyMac said:
Wouldn't it be cheaper to get a mate to tow you home with a fixed towing pole? It won't be much fun but for £30, a tank of fuel and few drinks for the poor sod doing the towing has to be better than a few hundred on a flatbed.
Or upgrade your AA cover to Roadside/Relay and they will take you to wherever you want within the UK, which is only £72.
Click to expand...

Thats what i thought you would have... im sure on mine i get a courtsey car too
 
AwesomeSarah said:
Hi
So sorry to hear of this
But as you have found sometimes full Audi service does not mean it has been serviced up to scratch
I am inclined to disagree about the specialist that is at fault though
If you have a car with supposed FULL Audi service , you would expect that it has had just that
I am sorry , but may be worth looking at the service book
I have had a few people come in with full dealers service on all the VAG dealers and I have seen so much of this
All we can do is advise for the owner to have the work done , some have it done some dont , all we can do is advise , if it is not known to have this done , but Audi surly know about service intervals on the cam belts as they are the ones who change their minds and give out service advice on it
Sarah
Click to expand...

Key point is you advise to have the work done, his specialist didnt even bother. I'm so sick of people who cant do the job properly, time to realise there are ramifications if you are **** at your job. If I blow up a server at work and its through my neglect, I'm justifibly expected to fix it without pay (never happened though) news flash - if you **** up, there is going to be lost profit. When you go for a service it is the job of the garage to inform you of any work due or soon to be undertaken, otherwise those who arent informed about cars will never get vital components replaced and end up with cars that blow up. :banghead:
 
when I took the sump off my A3 they offered to tow me anywhere I wanted, and when I got there they paid for a hire car for 3 days whilst I got mine fixed!

I've been towed several hundred miles by then before.....
 
the cheapest i was quoted when my cam belt went was £1000 or £700 with a second hand head sorry to tell you this but i think you are looking at more than 400 quid
 
The thing is the specialist isnt nessesarily to blame. AFAIK a visual check of the cambelt will not tell the specialist that it needs replacing.

Therefore unless the full history of the car was given and even then i wouldnt nessesarily expect them to go through and work out if it needs doing/ or when it was last done. But i do think these motors should have a secondary service reminder for things like this.
 
If it snapped less than, it appears, 100 miles after its service... I'm guessing it would have been showing signs of wear and tear, as far as I'm aware its rubber and rubber does show signs of perishing, as was pointed out to me when I took my car in to Hatfield Audi. Besides at a 60,000 Mile service (which I assumed was now the recommended Audi cambelt change) they should have said, a cambelt is necessary at this mileage - do you have any documentation to suggest this might have been done?
 
The debate on schedules has been ongoing in the TT forum as well with the history 5 years or 60k miles is the max recommended.....
This month alone 2-3 TT owners cars have had failures in 60-70k range.

If the car has Audi history and 80k or 115k mentioned in the service book then a call to Audi customer services may yield something for you.

the US has a class action case against VW going on about the recommendations and premature failures.

Most belts dont actually snap, the teeth strip and when more have stripped passed the amount to wrap around the smallest pulley the belt will stop!

Stripped%20Belt.JPG

Sorry to hear this but all you can do is warn your friends and other forum members from your experiences.. 5 years or 60k even 60k is beginning to sound risky but we'll stick to that for the moment.

One of the real tragedy's is that owners know an expensive job is coming get rid of the car.... the people suffering failures are those who have aspired to own one be it an S3 or TT and they are also unaware of the risks of buying a 60-70k car that the service book says doesnt need a belt change!

Some have spent every penny to buy one and the worst story had driven 600miles and had a 3.5k bill to fix his car!
 
Don't think anyone has mentioned it yet but when you get the car fixed make sure you replace your water pump. If the cambelt was never changed assume this hasn't and for the sake of an extra £40 you should have it done.
 
and stick to the OEM pump.... another confusion is that the oem pump is plastic, its been metal for about 2 years.
 
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