JohnB

23 minutes ago, cliffcoggin said:

I would not trust dealers to say anything that did not line their pockets.

Yeah, I'm getting that feeling, and once I've got past this nightmare, I'll post the details on the forum. Appreciate reading all the posts and the knowledge here from you guys. Thanks

On 7/30/2023 at 9:57 AM, Magnet said:

This is illogical to me, and I believe it is engineeringly unsafe, and wouldn’t be for me.

While noting David’s - Itspointless- comments, I’m afraid I would have to counter the view that …’so age isn’t an issue’. It can, and is indeed an issue. 
The ongoing serviceability of a completely unstressed belt stored in a box for say 5 years, cannot be compared with a fitted belt which has been subjected to hundreds of highly stressed stop/ starts every week, sometimes in sub zero temperatures. If (in caps) Audi U.K. and I then guess Audi Global  ( rather than a dealer) are saying there is now only a mileage limit, then how many of us doing short but regular low mileage trips around town etc. would be prepared to chance our engines ,when running on a 20 + year vehicle? 
Darren’s dealer’s phone call is interesting, and I’m not sure whether it was an out-of-the-blue call, or it was as a result of Darren having made a prior enquiry -? 
Audi economics??
Profit is made by the Audi dealer when fitting new belts and VAG make a profit on resale of the belt kits manufactured for them. However, if a belt fails, the potential for revenue is considerably higher where the vehicle is declared beyond economical repair and has to be replaced, or a very expensive engine replacement arranged - potential for far more profit! Now   the Audi Economics makes logical sense - to Audi!! Sorry folks but it still doesn’t to my pocket. 
Additional point to consider - renewing the auxiliary belt -? 
I can see this timing belt scenario becoming an ‘inherited issue’ for buyers in the future, as the baby is passed on as the purchaser’s responsibility. 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 

Your prediction of inherited issue for buyers may unfortunately be true for me, time will tell, and I will keep the forum posted on my situation. Appreciate the insights I've gained from the audiownersclub.com forum, thanks to the staff for replies I've had so far.

i didn’t ask the obvious question, does timing belt issue ever show up on diagnostics, or is it a case of an experienced mechanic (not just a technician) a real mechanic listening to the engine to know it’s not right. It seems like this one particular part is the hidden achilles heal of the engine?

Thank Cliff, makes sense, and agree with you on your point about the water pump at same time, would you expect dealership to make this point as you have.

Thanks Gareth, yes, just navigating using your forum, putting this here as it relates to this vehicle and not Mollies in the other post,

Hi Gareth, yeah, you're probably right, unlikely the dealership would schedule preventative maintenance to inspect timing belt and assembly, despite the risk of not doing it. Interested in your last statement though, that belt and assembly replaced at 5 years or c75k miles, whichever comes first, because this car is 7.5 years old, 66k miles on the clock, still under an Audi Smart service plan, contract still active, and none of the service records show either a timing belt and assemble replaced, or inspected, or advised to do either of these on the service documents.

2 minutes ago, JohnB said:

Hi Gareth, yeah, you're probably right, unlikely the dealership would schedule preventative maintenance to inspect timing belt and assembly, despite the risk of not doing it. Interested in your last statement though, that belt and assembly replaced at 5 years or c75k miles, whichever comes first, because this car is 7.5 years old, 66k miles on the clock, still under an Audi Smart service plan, contract still active, and none of the service records show either a timing belt and assemble replaced, or inspected, or advised to do either of these on the service documents.

Gareth, sorry, this is related to my post I started, didn't realize I was in a different thread here.  

Hi Gareth, yeah, you're probably right, unlikely the dealership would schedule preventative maintenance to inspect timing belt and assembly, despite the risk of not doing it. Interested in your last statement though, that belt and assembly replaced at 5 years or c75k miles, whichever comes first, because this car is 7.5 years old, 66k miles on the clock, still under an Audi Smart service plan, contract still active, and none of the service records show either a timing belt and assemble replaced, or inspected, or advised to do either of these on the service documents.

Thanks Gareth, done some searching in the forums and didn't realize how common cambelt (timing belt) issues were, and how difficult it is to be specific about when belt should be inspected and replaced. Will carry on searching but not sure the forums will have the exact info I'm looking for. Most forum posts on this topic are talking about time and mileage in relation to replacement. That's important info to know but I'm also looking for preventative maintenance as in, when should a rubber timing belt be inspected, and depending on wear, replaced, like it mentions in other forum posts, wear is different when it's motorway vs stop start, urban activity, especially taxis and local deliveries like for Amazon, Next etc. So I'm trying to find something stated by Audi when they inspect the belt, otherwise how would someone know to replace the belt until it's too late?

On 11/9/2025 at 2:39 PM, cliffcoggin said:

If it was mine I wouldn't worry about it for another 50000 miles or three more years unless it makes unusual noises. Those limits are not hard and fast because belt life is dependent on the way an engine is used, but given the consequences of belt failure it would be wise to to err on the side of caution.

Hi, I get what you're saying, not to worry about it for another 50,000, but would you want dealership to inspect the belt for wear during whichever is the right scheduled service, before it reaches 75,000 miles total, otherwise how will you know it's time to replace the belt? Not be provocative, just trying to understand how the cost of preventative maintenance pays off to avoid corrective maintenance, especially if this car is on an Audi service plan?

Magnet, now I understand why the forum has the rules about post and run. 🙂

I've read the new members post from Magnet about using the forums, so hopefully this post is ok. This information doesn't seem to be in the owner's manual or easily available on any official Audi websites.

Ref the timing belt for an Audi A3 TDI 8V 1.6 Diesel, 2018 model, is the first inspection of the timing belt at 40,000 miles and after that, every 40,000 miles and should the timing belt be replaced every 60,000 miles or every 5 years which ever comes first,

Thanks in advance,