Re: V-6 A100 Timing belt broken

[Jim Griffin <JGriff@pobox.com>]

At 11:36 PM 10/12/96 -0400, you wrote:

>
>On a 1992 Audi 100 with 49.300mi, one of our customers, out of town
>experienced a timing belt breakage due to (presumed) failed tensioner.  Has
>anyone experienced this and had Audi eat this repair outside 3yr 50k
>warranty???  Under 5/50 emission warranty???
>
>Comments appreciated.
>

On my '92 100S, I had mine done at 73k miles, and while they were doing it,
they said that my tensioner was binding up, and that I should replace it or
face doom eventually. So, it appears that the pretensioners do fail
prematurely, or at least, start to bind up early, although 49k miles seems
REAL early.

I'm glad I did mine when I did (in fact, I should have done it sooner!!),
and not wait until 90k miles like the dealer had suggested. Yeesh, can you
imagine if I went in there saying (after the belt snapped) "yeah, but you
guys said it would go until 90k miles!!". I would only guess that they would
say "that was just an estimate, some go sooner ....tough luck pal... now
fork over the big $$$$".

If you really push the issue, I think you may be able to get them to pay for
it. So what if it is past 3 years... it is the mileage that matters,
especially regarding this part. Within two weeks of my buying this car
(which was in 1995, so it was in its third year), which had 49k miles on it,
they replaced the auto tranny (i.e. $$$$5k!!) because it was hesitating
while shifting into 2nd gear. Rather than try to find out the problem, the
dealer was able to get Audi to just give me a new one. And I did not have to
fight for it either. They suggested this!! (I did have to insist on their
giving me a rental car for the week, though.)

Sounds to me like it would be worth fighting for.

Good luck. Hope this helps.

Morale of the story: If you are a V-6 owner, and have not changed your
timing belt yet (at 50? - 60k miles), go do it!!

Jim

                             Jim Griffin
                      JGriff@pobox.com
                        Maryland, USA
"Perception is often stronger than reality!"
                               '92 100S
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OOOO~~~~~~~~~~~~~~