Re: 1995 A6 timing belt

[Steve Mills <smills@lineage.com>]

I recently had the timing belt done on my wife's 95 Cabriolet, which has
the same engine (12V 2.8 V6) as your A6. I got to look over the car after
it was stripped down, and got the old parts back for comparison purposes.
Some observations:

- The timing belt really didn't look too bad- even the mechanic commented
that it was in good shape for over 60K miles. (I was having trouble finding
someplace I trusted to do the work, so I pushed my luck a bit)

- The old water pump wasn't leaking, but it did have some play in the
pulley. Probably could have gone longer, but definitely worth doing while
someone's in there.

- Crankshaft seal wasn't leaking, looked OK, but was also replaced- it's
another 2 minutes, and again, very worth it while you're in there. If it
starts leaking, it not only makes a mess, it also will negatively affect
the timing belt.

- Now for the bad news- the idler pulleys were in scarily bad shape. One
was very stiff, and the other had a _lot_ of slop in it- neither are good
for the longevity of your motor.

	So, overall, I'd definitely recommend that you get the job done soon-
you're at 56K already, so you'd want to have it done pretty soon even if
there were no observed problems

	HTH-

	Steve
	93 S4
	95 Cabriolet (much more relaxing to drive _now_)

> at the dealership they "noticed" two other problems. <snip>
> The second was a loose timing belt. They said they could hear the
> belt hitting the plastic cover.