Addison

So my girlfriend has an Audi a4 1.8t that she will give me if I can fix it, I am not sure of the year (I can get it tomorrow).

The only reason she doesn't want it is because she says it keeps overheating and she has already spent so much money trying to repair it ($1000+ ) apparently the engine has been taken apart by a shop and they were unable to find the problem.

I have done quite a bit of research on this topic, and I'm not sure if the shop knew what they were doing (not an Audi dealer)- or knew about the plastic impillars (correct me if I'm wrong) in the water pump that are apparently prone to breaking and causing many people to replace their water pump/timing belts.

Does this make sense so far? If so is there somewhere in the greater Toronto area to buy a timing belt/pump kit for this, if not just another water pump for a reasonable price?

Is this a hard or easy thing to do?

My girlfriend has forgotten about this car and bought a g35, the audi has been sitting for awhile waiting to be fixed (possibly with very little effort or money, or at least I'd like to confirm that it can not be fixed as no one has done this)
Please help me out, maybe I can start driving an Audi soon with your help. I greatly appreciate you taking the time to read this.

whoace

What is the mileage on the vehicle?

Yes, the plastic impeller inside the factory water pumps do tend to break. When replacing, you should get the kit with the upgraded metal impeller. The reason people change their timing belts is not because the belt snaps, but more so because the tensioner fails. If you are doing the water pump, you might as well do the whole timing belt job (tensioner, belt, thermostat, NEW stretch bolts, idler pulley).

There are DIY's on sites like AZ or AW that provide step by step info for you to tackle this job.

The kits can be bought at sites like ecstuning or purems. You need to get the correct kit for your engine code. Pre 99 AEB, 2000 ATW, 2001 AWM, 2002 AMB.

The job can appear daunting as you need to remove the whole front end. It really isn't that bad, and is quite simple once the front end has been removed.

Addison

I believe the mileage is around 150 000km or more...

Can these kits be bought anywhere other than online in the toronto area?

Where can I find the engine code? What are the sites AZ and AW? Could this be done in one day in a driveway?

Removing the front end should not be thaaat much of a problem as long as I don't need any out of ordinary tools. I need to take a look at these DIY websites.

Thank you very much for replying

whoace

Try audidiy.com . It links to audizine and audiworld.

Has the timing belt been done already? If not, you are risking some serious damage. Even if it had been done, you might as well do it again while you got the front end off.

The easiest way is to buy the kits off the internet. ECStuning is a very reputable site. You can take a look at their page and try to source out the individual parts in their kit locally.

Engine Codes:

1997-1999 - AEB
2000 - ATW
2001 - AWM
2002 - AMB

If you are somewhat mechanically inclined, the job should take approximately 6 hours.