Timing Belt on a 3.0

[Mark R]

Sounds like the 3.0L spec went downward from before.  That said, in GENERIC
terms I've seen timing belts fail for a variety of reasons:

Extended oil changes, or improper oil.  Sludge causes drag and/or bearing
failure.
Incorrect coolant being used/mixed.. taking out the water pump, then the
belt.
Overheating, causing damage to the belt.
Not keeping the engine bay clean... causing debris to find it's way to a
timing belt.  Fortunately, most timing belts are well protected today.

Generally speaking, a well maintained car has less frequent failures...
maybe it's because the owner doesn't do a lot of driving which shock loads
the engine.  Hard to say.  But it seems to me that it's always the dirty
engine compartments or the owners who don't do the frequent synthetic oil
changes whose timing belts "mysteriously" fail.  Mostly it's anecdotal
because I personally don't see a lot of failures.  Bottom line- maintain all
aspects of the engine and follow the replacement spec.  If you shock load
the engine often, change it more frequently.

Mark Rosenkrantz

On Thu, Dec 18, 2008 at 7:19 AM, Dan DiBiase <d_dibiase at yahoo.com> wrote:

>  Mark, what sort of maintenance extends the life of a timing belt?
>
>  Dan D
> '04 A4 1.8Tq MT-6
> Central NJ USA
>