MN A6 Avant

I have a 2003 3.0 with 77K on it. I see the dealership recommends replacement at 75K. Should I do it now?

Are these interference engines?

4Driver4

I like 75k as an interval. Yes, the engines are interference.

CTA4AVANT

2nd

Uncle Buck

The factory recommended interval for an '03 is 105K miles - reduced to 75 miles in '04 (which I own).

I think it is insane that a modern engine needs a new timing belt in 75k miles. Shame on me for not catching the change prior to buying the car.

Nothing but chains for me from now on.

Does the new 3.2 use chains or do I have to go to the 4.2 V8 or worse yet, a BMW??

S4_Cinci (I S'edTFA)

interval mileage. That was due to the fact that too many were failing under CPO warranty sticking with the 105k interval - the sticker under the hood says 75k, and that is from the engineers who designed the engine, not from AoA which is a marketing arm and lengthened the interval to make the cost of ownership look artificially low as it only considers the costs over the first 100k miles (thus the expensive TB R&R is excluded from the total - neat trick, eh?). The 105k interval was changed by AoA and is a nasty trick to sell more cars, but can screw owners who blindly follow this interval, kinda like using dino oil for 10k change intervals and having a huge sludge issue with the 1.8T engines. (Nice job there, AoA!).

I'm not saying I like the TB design, but most manufacturers still use them. BTW, it isn't the belt that can't go the mileage, but if you lose a bearing in the rollers, tensioner, or if the water pump goes bad then these can take the belt out and now you need new heads at a minimum. Not a good risk/reward scenario, IMO. My serpentine belt went the 100k easily, but I still changed it out since I did TB and all associated rollers, tensioner, and WP at 100k miles since that is when my warranty ran out. I didn't want to risk 1 mile out of warranty with the OE TB!