Hi, anyone else had timing belt issues ? I feel like this is a known fault across the VW group having done some research online.

i noted a thread from last year from a Paul. A year on reading his threads I’m having the exact same response.

Audi Uk advise this should be ok to 140,000 not that I’d wait half that time, but 39k doesn’t seem right.

Audi are being very dismissive of it all as there’s no warranty. My cars been serviced by Audi and had no other warning signs or issues with my Q2 (ex demo) 2019. 

an independent Audi specialist with 30 years experience advised the valves bent. Audi Uk advised to take it to Liverpool Audi who have informed me they would not be able to establish bent valves without first attempting a cambelt change at cost of £1k?

is this the correct procedure? 
 

Audi Liverpool also advised once they try change cambelt of it’s something bigger they’ll then be able to approach Audi Uk. Who are already washing their hands! 
 

Am I just better off going elsewhere to repair and taking the hit? I’m absolutely disgusted by Audi’s customer service and will not be buying another again. 

Edited October 9, 2025Oct 9 by Ingolstadt
Typo

Sorry to hear of your situation, it's appalling that Audi remove the time marker off the cambelt changes which used to be 5 years. 

The way I'd look at this, you pay £1k to Audi for them to fit a cambelt and then tell you it's worse than just a cambelt. Or you spend that money on having the engine stripped to confirm it's the valves. 

Audis response is disgraceful but not surprising 

Thanks Steve,

I think that’s my thought right now. Granted I’m no mechanic but I’ve done some research online on bent valves and it doesn’t look like fitting a new belt will resolve this! So why are Audi the ‘experts’ suggesting this? I’ve queried this with Audi Uk and they won’t even comment yet they’re the customer services and go between customers and dealers. 

I’ve spoken to a engineering specialist who builds the robots that JLR use to build engines.

He advised that this seems to be a common fault across VW group associated with the start stop function. These cars should have chains not belts. I’ve gone on the Vw Tiguan forum and there lots of similar complaints.

I feel the forums need to come together to hold VW accountable. My car never had a 5 year timeframe and my owners manual gives zero guidance- all that aside I had one email from Kyle in Audi Uk advising it’s 120,000k. 

I think that'd be your best bet. Putting a cambelt on it won't help in my opinion and could do further damage. They removed the 5 year rule a few years ago which I think is ridiculous. Also £1k for a cambelt is very expensive too. 

2 hours ago, Ingolstadt said:

Thanks Steve,

I think that’s my thought right now. Granted I’m no mechanic but I’ve done some research online on bent valves and it doesn’t look like fitting a new belt will resolve this! So why are Audi the ‘experts’ suggesting this? I’ve queried this with Audi Uk and they won’t even comment yet they’re the customer services and go between customers and dealers. 

I’ve spoken to a engineering specialist who builds the robots that JLR use to build engines.

He advised that this seems to be a common fault across VW group associated with the start stop function. These cars should have chains not belts. I’ve gone on the Vw Tiguan forum and there lots of similar complaints.

I feel the forums need to come together to hold VW accountable. My car never had a 5 year timeframe and my owners manual gives zero guidance- all that aside I had one email from Kyle in Audi Uk advising it’s 120,000k. 

Hi sorry to hear of your trouble, for what its worth I have been a cab driver for over twenty years and owned many vehicles and I hate to say it but they are all the same, they all quote starship milage before changing a belt which is absolute cr@p, when I had my first Mondeo one of my passengers a Ford engine development engineer was admiring it as we bowled down the road, he asked how many miles I had done and I told him 75k, he immediately said get the cam belt done at 80k, [this is an 18month old car we are talking about], he then explained that with the type of driving I do stop/start the cam belt is under most strain when starting and idling for extended periods and in his opinion should be changed every 80k or three years which ever occurs sooner, I have done just under a million miles in cambelt equipped engines and never had one fail, if you factor in stop/start systems this will drastically reduce belt life, clutch life and the starter ring gear life, you wont get a lot of change out of VAG as they are bound by E.U. rulings that say legally they have to build cars with this system and their attitude is NOT OUR PROBLEM.

Steve. 

I think Audi UK were the outlier on timing belt changes. The intervals certainly in Europe were longer and Audi UK were being asked why they were out of line with everywhere else and being accused on various forums of it being a revenue generator. All they've done is brought the intervals in line with Europe. I've not seen any evidence of timing belts in Europe going bang. 

I'm not clear from the original post but I assume the belt has snapped. Bad luck, bad batch of belts or some other engine issue causing it? Audi's response is poor but not unexpected and personally I wouldn't use them. I'd go to a specialist.

Hello Ingrid,

I too am very sorry to hear of your issue, but surprised? 
No.

It’s of no consolation, but you will find numerous threads on here on the subject of VAG’s modified dictate on cambelt change intervals - which is now limitless on a time basis. You will find that all my responses point to - do not follow their advice - in clear terms together with my reasoning. Low annual mileage vehicles ( such as yours) take a hammering in terms of stop/start ( an engineeringly adverse system), short runs and gear changes and obviously the cambelt becomes more highly stressed than a vehicle running at 70mph on the motorway. 
What to do from here? Some valves will (in caps) be bent, due to valves hitting the pistons, so just fitting a cambelt is pointless. Worse possible case is conrods may also be slightly bent. 

Stevey Y is your man here, and as pessimistic as it is, getting anything out of VAG will be a more trouble than the worth of it route. Even if they do offer any degree of  compensation - and it’s a big if - you will find that the whole job via an Audi dealer will cost you far more when they discount VAG’s compensation, than it would do at an independent. 
You need to find yourself someone who you can trust, and above all talk to, not receptionists at an Audi dealership. 
All the forum can offer you Ingrid, is all the support and advice you will need - we are on tap for you. 
Please keep in touch.

Regards,

Gareth. 

4 hours ago, Ingolstadt said:

Granted I’m no mechanic but I’ve done some research online on bent valves and it doesn’t look like fitting a new belt will resolve this! So why are Audi the ‘experts’ suggesting this? 

To answer that specific question, there is a small possibility that the timing belt has jumped a tooth on its sprocket and the engine has stopped in time to avoid damaging any valves, so the garage is hoping that a new belt plus retiming the engine will solve the problem. In reality there is a much bigger chance that either several teeth have been jumped or the belt has broken causing valves to hit the piston crowns.

As for the other comments on belt life, I too believe it was a grave mistake for Audi to change its recommendations. VAG is not alone in making this sort of mistake. Look at the problems caused by Ford and others who have changed from dry belts to wet belts in an effort to eliminate an expensive crankshaft seal.

That’s unfortunate. No point asking their service reception team as VAG are constantly revising the intervals. It seems as a loyal customer, you’ve followed their advice and you’ve been let down.

The thing is, when the timing belt is off, a mechanic can see if any pulley bearings are worn, plus the tensioner pulley is changed as a matter of course, plus water pump, etc. A visual inspection of the belt is pointless.

So you have two courses of action. As car has been serviced by Audi there is a high likelihood they’d pay some goodwill towards repair, plus you’d have their franchise labour rate to factor in, or cut your losses and go to a VAG independent. See what Audi UK come back with first and go from there.

Edited October 10, 2025Oct 10 by spartacus 68

10 hours ago, Stevey Y said:

Hi sorry to hear of your trouble, for what its worth I have been a cab driver for over twenty years and owned many vehicles and I hate to say it but they are all the same, they all quote starship milage before changing a belt which is absolute cr@p, when I had my first Mondeo one of my passengers a Ford engine development engineer was admiring it as we bowled down the road, he asked how many miles I had done and I told him 75k, he immediately said get the cam belt done at 80k, [this is an 18month old car we are talking about], he then explained that with the type of driving I do stop/start the cam belt is under most strain when starting and idling for extended periods and in his opinion should be changed every 80k or three years which ever occurs sooner, I have done just under a million miles in cambelt equipped engines and never had one fail, if you factor in stop/start systems this will drastically reduce belt life, clutch life and the starter ring gear life, you wont get a lot of change out of VAG as they are bound by E.U. rulings that say legally they have to build cars with this system and their attitude is NOT OUR PROBLEM.

Steve. 

Thanks Steve cars are getting more and more complex and therefore expensive upfront but for repairs. Gone are the days when things were built to last. 
 

currently my complaint has reached the Exec office so will see. The owner’s manual mentioned nothing about cambelts and or intervals. 

10 hours ago, kevin8661 said:

I think Audi UK were the outlier on timing belt changes. The intervals certainly in Europe were longer and Audi UK were being asked why they were out of line with everywhere else and being accused on various forums of it being a revenue generator. All they've done is brought the intervals in line with Europe. I've not seen any evidence of timing belts in Europe going bang. 

I'm not clear from the original post but I assume the belt has snapped. Bad luck, bad batch of belts or some other engine issue causing it? Audi's response is poor but not unexpected and personally I wouldn't use them. I'd go to a specialist.

I’d like to know what the intervals are because it’s not in the book and I’m trying to get a clear understanding from Audi. 
I’ve found varying info and recommendations online. If it’s recommended 5 years well the average person would be doing some mileage a year to get towards 140,000 and if it’s one or the other, then it needs to be clearly stated and consistently across dealerships. Thanks for commenting 

10 hours ago, Magnet said:

Hello Ingrid,

I too am very sorry to hear of your issue, but surprised? 
No.

It’s of no consolation, but you will find numerous threads on here on the subject of VAG’s modified dictate on cambelt change intervals - which is now limitless on a time basis. You will find that all my responses point to - do not follow their advice - in clear terms together with my reasoning. Low annual mileage vehicles ( such as yours) take a hammering in terms of stop/start ( an engineeringly adverse system), short runs and gear changes and obviously the cambelt becomes more highly stressed than a vehicle running at 70mph on the motorway. 
What to do from here? Some valves will (in caps) be bent, due to valves hitting the pistons, so just fitting a cambelt is pointless. Worse possible case is conrods may also be slightly bent. 

Stevey Y is your man here, and as pessimistic as it is, getting anything out of VAG will be a more trouble than the worth of it route. Even if they do offer any degree of  compensation - and it’s a big if - you will find that the whole job via an Audi dealer will cost you far more when they discount VAG’s compensation, than it would do at an independent. 
You need to find yourself someone who you can trust, and above all talk to, not receptionists at an Audi dealership. 
All the forum can offer you Ingrid, is all the support and advice you will need - we are on tap for you. 
Please keep in touch.

Regards,

Gareth. 

Thank you Gareth, I really do value the forum expertise. I’ve enquired a few places and we are talking 5-10k. Even if I repaired my car I’ve lost total confidence and then there is the fact it’s 6 years so what cost next?

I brought it just before lockdown so like many I wasn’t going far!

it was the service manager and another main manager I spoke to and who advised I HAD to get the cambelt changed to proceed forward- even though I argued how this would resolve the valves. Anyhow the calls are recorded so hopefully this is a call they can retrieve- all that aside it’s in writing to Audi UK too. 
 

it’s disappointing to read the threads of a lack of trust and faith in Audi UK. 

23 minutes ago, Ingolstadt said:

it’s disappointing to read the threads of a lack of trust and faith in Audi UK. 

Welcome to the real world.

1 hour ago, Ingolstadt said:

I’d like to know what the intervals are because it’s not in the book and I’m trying to get a clear understanding from Audi. 
I’ve found varying info and recommendations online. If it’s recommended 5 years well the average person would be doing some mileage a year to get towards 140,000 and if it’s one or the other, then it needs to be clearly stated and consistently across dealerships. Thanks for commenting 

My Audi app for my Q5 TDI states 140,000 miles with no age limit. I'll not be going that far but probably 80k ish if I still have the car unless my specialist tells me otherwise.

Thanks Kevin, but I think you blow your own argument out of the water. This isn’t about mileage covered, but the now lack of ‘…. x years, whichever comes first’. That interval was taken to be 5 years. 

19 hours ago, spartacus 68 said:

That’s unfortunate. No point asking their service reception team as VAG are constantly revising the intervals. It seems as a loyal customer, you’ve followed their advice and you’ve been let down.

The thing is, when the timing belt is off, a mechanic can see if any pulley bearings are worn, plus the tensioner pulley is changed as a matter of course, plus water pump, etc. A visual inspection of the belt is pointless.

So you have two courses of action. As car has been serviced by Audi there is a high likelihood they’d pay some goodwill towards repair, plus you’d have their franchise labour rate to factor in, or cut your losses and go to a VAG independent. See what Audi UK come back with first and go from there.

Thank you, just to clarify I’ve been asking Audi Uk to confirm interval for my car from the start. However the independents plus an engine specialist have checked whatever systems they do for my specific car. There is no time limit and the mileage is 140,000. So I’m really unclear as to why it takes Audi so long to clarify the information as the manufacturer. I will see what they come back with as it’s only right to give them an opportunity first.

i know an independent would be far cheaper and likely to get me back on the road. 

15 hours ago, cliffcoggin said:

Welcome to the real world.

My first job was with Audi UK. That’s what makes this worse. This isn’t how we treated customers 20 years ago and even amongst ignition coil gate we genuinely tried to work through that- so yes I’m very disappointed to see the shift in culture. 

14 hours ago, kevin8661 said:

My Audi app for my Q5 TDI states 140,000 miles with no age limit. I'll not be going that far but probably 80k ish if I still have the car unless my specialist tells me otherwise.

Exactly I’d have changed it at 70k I think that’s what the generic stance used to be across manufacturers. To be honest, I was looking to change to a new Audi within 12 months so it wouldn’t have even been for me to do. 

1 hour ago, Ingolstadt said:

Thank you, just to clarify I’ve been asking Audi Uk to confirm interval for my car from the start. 

You'll be lucky to get a straight answer. I meant more about their goodwill contribution towards repair. Timing belts will continue to snap unfortunately, but recommending 140k miles is disingenuous, considering all factors, temperature, driving style, start-stop, etc.

 

1 hour ago, Ingolstadt said:

This isn’t how we treated customers 20 years ago 

Yes it's sad but true that Audi standards in all stages of making and selling cars have dropped over the last two decades in its efforts to enlarge market share. Audi is still trading on its prestigious reputation from that time, but that can not last as more and more defects come to light.

Under the old guidance of 75K or 5 years, the all important caveat was ‘whichever comes first’. Under that dictate, the cambelt should have been changed last year.

We have members on here doing less than 7k/a, so they won’t need to change the belt until the car is 20 years old - good luck with that! The fact that this recommendation has changed since the introduction of the engineeringly-averse stop/start system just renders this totally illogical.

Has your car been operating on a working stop/start system since you have owned it Ingrid? 

7 hours ago, Magnet said:

Thanks Kevin, but I think you blow your own argument out of the water. This isn’t about mileage covered, but the now lack of ‘…. x years, whichever comes first’. That interval was taken to be 5 years. 

Don't know what you mean. I simply answered the question which was what is the interval. I quoted the Audi UK intervals which are in line with what Europe have been doing for years. If individuals decide to do it earlier than that's entirely their call. You then enter the same debate as "is flexible servicing bad for engines or is branded fuel better than supermarket?"

What I meant was if it takes you say 10 years to reach 80k miles, you would be happy not to change the belt until then -? 

Ok. To answer your question, I don't know. You may be right but why not believe the manufacturer? If you don't believe the Audi intervals are suitable then it's only opinion. I don't know what the construction of current timing belts is so I'm on the fence as to what is too long. I believe there's no natural rubber content so they don't degrade and they are a much more durable than in the past. I just don't know. I'm not cynical enough to think Audi want them to snap especially as they probably wouldn't be getting the business for older cars anyway. However there are still people who insist on changing their oil every 3 to 5K miles even if it's less than a year since the last change. Maybe this is the same. Do what you're comfortable with. Problem is the cost of breakage is so great it may be best to err on the side of caution anyway.

Again, I just don't know.

30 minutes ago, kevin8661 said:

Ok. To answer your question, I don't know. You may be right but why not believe the manufacturer? If you don't believe the Audi intervals are suitable then it's only opinion. I don't know what the construction of current timing belts is so I'm on the fence as to what is too long. I believe there's no natural rubber content so they don't degrade and they are a much more durable than in the past. I just don't know. I'm not cynical enough to think Audi want them to snap especially as they probably wouldn't be getting the business for older cars anyway. However there are still people who insist on changing their oil every 3 to 5K miles even if it's less than a year since the last change. Maybe this is the same. Do what you're comfortable with. Problem is the cost of breakage is so great it may be best to err on the side of caution anyway.

Again, I just don't know.

Hi I have lived in the world of high milage for twenty years and believe me I have never met anyone who changed a cam belt every 3-5k thats not practical, as you previously quoted you have not heard of cam belt breakages in Europe, thats because  we rarely get anyone from Germany posting about this problem, it does happen as frequently over there if you look at their car sites they tend to keep things in house as do we, a prime example when I first bought my Passat the engine of which is fitted to Audis but under a different code, I wanted to find out about the oil pump drive as its a wet belt, absolutely nothing on any British web site, but go on the German sites and we have multiple wrecking around 100k + due to the belt letting go, VAGs official line is its a belt for life, I had mine changed with the cam belt at 80k and whilst my mechanic grumbled about doing it as you have to drop the sump to get at it the first words out of his mouth when I walked in was, you were right and he then produced the old belt that had a couple of teeth missing and was pretty crispy due to being boiled in oil all its life, why not believe Audis information?, because its based on cell testing data which will never replicate real life, the reason the older engines never suffered this was because they used Gates belts which were thicker and better made, they then went over to INA probably because they were cheaper but definitely not as well built, if you look at other OE brands they have used such as Dayco which is now regarded as aftermarket Dayco would still be one of my choices as its built under a Gates patent for their Gator Grip belt which was awesome.

Steve