Audi tt 1.8 timing belt

hairypigeon

Guys I bought a 2001 audi tt woth 130k miles. I was thinking of doing a remap and was going over the checklist

service booked in for one
Reconned turbo yep
Timing belt -nope
Clutch recent enough.

I went back through all the receipts but no evidence of a timing belt change.

Is there anyway of checking it visually while getting its serviced or would you recommend I swallow the bill and just get it redone.

The car is running well just got its NCT and I covered 700 miles of motorway and country roads last weekend and it felt fine. It gets up to temp fine and stays there

Avns1s

hairypigeon wrote: »

Guys I bought a 2001 audi tt woth 130k miles. I was thinking of doing a remap and was going over the checklist

service booked in for one
Reconned turbo yep
Timing belt -nope
Clutch recent enough.

I went back through all the receipts but no evidence of a timing belt change.

Is there anyway of checking it visually while getting its serviced or would you recommend I swallow the bill and just get it redone.

The car is running well just got its NCT and I covered 700 miles of motorway and country roads last weekend and it felt fine. It gets up to temp fine and stays there

There is no definitive visual way of knowing a timing belt has been replaced. If in doubt, get it changed.

biko

The only way I know of to check a timing belt is to take it off and roll it in your hands inverted to inspect for cracks.
If you've come that far you might as well fit a new one.

biko

biko wrote: »

The only way I know of to check a timing belt is to take it off and roll it in your hands inverted to inspect for cracks.
If you've come that far you might as well fit a new one.

Where on Earth did you pick that "info" up from?

Belts well past the interval in both time and mileage could pass that inspection easily.

Ronnie Beck

hairypigeon wrote: »

Guys I bought a 2001 audi tt woth 130k miles. I was thinking of doing a remap and was going over the checklist

service booked in for one
Reconned turbo yep
Timing belt -nope
Clutch recent enough.

I went back through all the receipts but no evidence of a timing belt change.

Is there anyway of checking it visually while getting its serviced or would you recommend I swallow the bill and just get it redone.

The car is running well just got its NCT and I covered 700 miles of motorway and country roads last weekend and it felt fine. It gets up to temp fine and stays there

Any tipex marks in the engine bay. Something like " TB 80k".

biko

RoverJames wrote: »

Where on Earth did you pick that "info" up from?

Belts well past the interval in both time and mileage could pass that inspection easily.

The Subaru mechanic that did my Scooby TB recently showed me. Of course it's not a way to see if belt can be re-used, it's more a way to see how close you were to imminent TB failure (if cracked bad). Even then it's not sure-fire.
My belt still looked fine after 105k.

biko

biko wrote: »

..........My belt still looked fine after 105k.

Exactly.

Visual inspection of timing belt condition provides practically no info.

Ronnie Beck

Any timing belt I've seen past it's interval looked grand. Inspection of the belt is more to see if its running off the sprockets or losing tension. It's more the water pump, tensioners and idlers I worry about.

Drummerboy08

Why are you getting a reconditioned turbo? Does it need it?

bazz26

Ronnie Beck wrote: »

Any tipex marks in the engine bay. Something like " TB 80k".

A bottle of tipex is a lot cheaper than a timing belt change. I wouldn't put too much faith in anything written around the engine bay in tipex especially involving a timing belt.

OP, if there is no evidence of when it was last changed then I'd air on the side of caution and budget to have it changed as soon as possible. Probably a little late now but you could have used that as a bargaining tool on the purchase price with the seller.

cletus

Car will drive fine until the timing belt lets go and puts a con rod out through the sidewall of your engine block.

If you have no evidence of it being changed then get it done

lomb

Nice car.. The timing belt on the 1.8t has a reputation of letting go outside its change interval so if no evidence then get it done along with an oem water pump and tensioners. I think there is an additional roller thats needed also.

I was fortunate in getting my 2002 225 roadster with belt, clutch and flywheel as well as suspension bushes,new battery and slight lowering done. However Ive pumped in a few thousand into upgrading the alloys, installing a sub/speakers/amp/bluetooth usb headunit, putting rear adjustable tie bars on for correcting camber, new cross drilled brake discs and pads and 4 tires. The skys the limit on modding TTs.

Oh Make sure to get the awd haldex oil and filter changed, its around 50 for the parts and probably 80 for labour!

Avns1s

cletus wrote: »

Car will drive fine until the timing belt lets go and puts a con rod out through the sidewall of your engine block.

If you have no evidence of it being changed then get it done

That is not the outcome of a broken timing belt. I certainly have never seen and don't think I ever heard of a broken timing belt resulting in a con rod coming out the side of an engine.

Timing belt failure results in the pistons hitting the valves. The valves, which are not that substantial wouldn't cause the con rod to break.

Ronnie Beck

bazz26 wrote: »

A bottle of tipex is a lot cheaper than a timing belt change. I wouldn't put too much faith in anything written around the engine bay in tipex especially involving a timing belt.

OP, if there is no evidence of when it was last changed then I'd air on the side of caution and budget to have it changed as soon as possible. Probably a little late now but you could have used that as a bargaining tool on the purchase price with the seller.

I wouldn't take it as gospel either. I was just curious . You would expect a well maintained car to have it done roughly around the 80k interval mark. I would be surprised if it made it this far on the original but you never know.

In the OP's situation I would have it done for piece of mind. If you plan to keep the car for a number of years it will need done eventually and should last you nearly the life of the engine anyway.

George Dalton

Definitely get it done if there is no evidence of it being done. The belt change will cost around €350 which wouldn't go too far towards repairing the damage if the existing belt does break!

hairypigeon

thanks guys for all the info the resounding response. answer is get it done i guess. I really was hoping to avoid the timing belt given that the cash would pay for a remap.

but i suppose better get it done than not

@drummerboy08 the car came with a recon turbo