Gary Harris

Another newbie question.

First thanks for the help on the oil leak
Secondly I am wondering at what point I need to replace the timing belt. On
the old V.W. with dual over head cams I found that 60,000 was the limit. How
about the 1.8 engine

Thanks in advance
Gary

Pete

"Gary Harris" wrote
> Secondly I am wondering at what point I need to replace the timing
> belt. On the old V.W. with dual over head cams I found that 60,000 was
> the limit. How about the 1.8 engine

If you want to stay safe, 60K miles would be the time to change it
(tensioner, rollers, water pump, etc. as well). The owner's manual
suggests much higher limits, but these things are known to fail
prematurely and you really don't want to be stuck with an engine full of
bent valves, unless you have some sort of an extented warranty that'll
cover the repairs in case SHTF.

http://www.bentleypublishers.com/tec...ance.sched.pdf

Cheers,

Pete

Pete

"Gary Harris" wrote
> Secondly I am wondering at what point I need to replace the timing
> belt. On the old V.W. with dual over head cams I found that 60,000 was
> the limit. How about the 1.8 engine

If you want to stay safe, 60K miles would be the time to change it
(tensioner, rollers, water pump, etc. as well). The owner's manual
suggests much higher limits, but these things are known to fail
prematurely and you really don't want to be stuck with an engine full of
bent valves, unless you have some sort of an extented warranty that'll
cover the repairs in case SHTF.

http://www.bentleypublishers.com/tec...ance.sched.pdf

Cheers,

Pete

Pete

"Gary Harris" wrote
> Secondly I am wondering at what point I need to replace the timing
> belt. On the old V.W. with dual over head cams I found that 60,000 was
> the limit. How about the 1.8 engine

If you want to stay safe, 60K miles would be the time to change it
(tensioner, rollers, water pump, etc. as well). The owner's manual
suggests much higher limits, but these things are known to fail
prematurely and you really don't want to be stuck with an engine full of
bent valves, unless you have some sort of an extented warranty that'll
cover the repairs in case SHTF.

http://www.bentleypublishers.com/tec...ance.sched.pdf

Cheers,

Pete

Iain Miller

"Gary Harris" <garyharris1@earthlink.net> wrote in message
newsiEle.11332$w21.1701@newsread3.news.atl.earth link.net...
> Another newbie question.
>
> First thanks for the help on the oil leak
> Secondly I am wondering at what point I need to replace the timing belt.
> On the old V.W. with dual over head cams I found that 60,000 was the
> limit. How about the 1.8 engine
>

The early 1.8Ts were cursed with the "spawn of the devil" cambelt tensioner
which was the cause of a good number of premature failures and an 80K
service interval. Since about late '99 this was fixed with a new design of
tensioner & so technically the interval on yours is probably 105K miles.
Personally I wouldn't leave it much past 80K but also have the inspections
done according to the schedule - that way if anything happens you have
compied with scheduled maintenance. Speak to your dealer - you may find you
have 100K/10yr powertrain warranty now depending on whether you are the
first owner or not.

All in all its a bit of a lottery & so if you think the engine has been
worked hard then change it earlier - its a lot cheaper than getting an
engine rebuilt.

I

Iain Miller

"Gary Harris" <garyharris1@earthlink.net> wrote in message
newsiEle.11332$w21.1701@newsread3.news.atl.earth link.net...
> Another newbie question.
>
> First thanks for the help on the oil leak
> Secondly I am wondering at what point I need to replace the timing belt.
> On the old V.W. with dual over head cams I found that 60,000 was the
> limit. How about the 1.8 engine
>

The early 1.8Ts were cursed with the "spawn of the devil" cambelt tensioner
which was the cause of a good number of premature failures and an 80K
service interval. Since about late '99 this was fixed with a new design of
tensioner & so technically the interval on yours is probably 105K miles.
Personally I wouldn't leave it much past 80K but also have the inspections
done according to the schedule - that way if anything happens you have
compied with scheduled maintenance. Speak to your dealer - you may find you
have 100K/10yr powertrain warranty now depending on whether you are the
first owner or not.

All in all its a bit of a lottery & so if you think the engine has been
worked hard then change it earlier - its a lot cheaper than getting an
engine rebuilt.

I

Iain Miller

"Gary Harris" <garyharris1@earthlink.net> wrote in message
newsiEle.11332$w21.1701@newsread3.news.atl.earth link.net...
> Another newbie question.
>
> First thanks for the help on the oil leak
> Secondly I am wondering at what point I need to replace the timing belt.
> On the old V.W. with dual over head cams I found that 60,000 was the
> limit. How about the 1.8 engine
>

The early 1.8Ts were cursed with the "spawn of the devil" cambelt tensioner
which was the cause of a good number of premature failures and an 80K
service interval. Since about late '99 this was fixed with a new design of
tensioner & so technically the interval on yours is probably 105K miles.
Personally I wouldn't leave it much past 80K but also have the inspections
done according to the schedule - that way if anything happens you have
compied with scheduled maintenance. Speak to your dealer - you may find you
have 100K/10yr powertrain warranty now depending on whether you are the
first owner or not.

All in all its a bit of a lottery & so if you think the engine has been
worked hard then change it earlier - its a lot cheaper than getting an
engine rebuilt.

I

Pete

"Iain Miller" wrote
> Since about late '99 this was fixed with a new design of tensioner &
> so technically the interval on yours is probably 105K miles.

Yes, only technically. I've seen a number of premature failures on 2000
and 2001 1.8Ts on AudiWorld, so whatever they redisigned didn't fix
anything.

Starting with 2004 model year, Audi actually reduced the timing belt
change interval from 105K miles to 75K miles.

Cheers,

Pete

Pete

"Iain Miller" wrote
> Since about late '99 this was fixed with a new design of tensioner &
> so technically the interval on yours is probably 105K miles.

Yes, only technically. I've seen a number of premature failures on 2000
and 2001 1.8Ts on AudiWorld, so whatever they redisigned didn't fix
anything.

Starting with 2004 model year, Audi actually reduced the timing belt
change interval from 105K miles to 75K miles.

Cheers,

Pete

Pete

"Iain Miller" wrote
> Since about late '99 this was fixed with a new design of tensioner &
> so technically the interval on yours is probably 105K miles.

Yes, only technically. I've seen a number of premature failures on 2000
and 2001 1.8Ts on AudiWorld, so whatever they redisigned didn't fix
anything.

Starting with 2004 model year, Audi actually reduced the timing belt
change interval from 105K miles to 75K miles.

Cheers,

Pete