I'm on my 3rd Audi now, a '99 1.8t A4. Getting TB done in 2 weeks after being scared like hell from reading these forums. I'm not even sure if it really needs it, but I cant find any record of it in the service records.

I've never heard TB's being an issue of this magnitude in any other car... why would Audi make something that is subject to this??

I put countless miles on my 5000s and '91 100Q and never ever changed the timing belts nor did I ever worry about it. Nothing ever happened. Same thing with every other car I've ever owned... TBs just weren't an issue.

What's the deal??

the old style tensioners would fail

in the 80's and 90's the interval for timing belt changes for japanese cars was always 60k.

I've just heard so many Audi TB-break stories (seems to be later models).... I've never known anyone to break their TB and massacre the engine before.

I was reading some of the BMW forums and I saw posts with people saying they had $500 damage from broken TB's.

That's less than it costs just to change it, let alone fix your car after it breaks.

But anyway, I'm assuming it's worth it just to have it done for peace of mind. The car has 97k on it now...

it made all the suggested service intervals, had new water pumps at 60 and 80k, new V-belts during this time, and other things

It's hard to imagine they would do 2 water pumps between 60 and 80k without doing TB, but I don't see it. What would I look for on the invoices to know?

<a href="http://www.leemyles.com/articles/interference-engines-and-timing-belts.html">Interference Engines and Timing Belts</a>

There is really no guarantee they changed the tb. Even if they put a new timing belt (toothed belt) on during one of the wp changes they still may not have done the tensioner and tensioner roller which are just as critical.

I have seen cases where timing belts were changed without the other parts so nothing would surprise me and I would not assume anything.

If you want a complete parts list for a timing belt job go to http://www.dieselgeek.com/ and find the kit for your car, all the part numbers and decriptions will be listed.

they sure as **** have kept religion popular for an awful long time.

when changing the water pump.

What a horrible article. I sense a lot of bias in the authors comments. While it is true a TB break is bad news, it doesn't usually need a new engine, just a new piston head (possibly) and some new valves.