Another timing belt picture thread.

[mxrz]

Stealership told me it needs to be replaced due to cracking, and shockingly, they weren't full of shit. Replaced it myself a week ago, at 67,800 miles:

[7speed]

I wonder how much longer you had before it would have gone

[mxrz]

The Audi tech estimated few hundred miles, a thousand at most... They may look like tiny, harmless surface cracks, but that's a sign of a dried up compound. Basically the belt would stretch, even without snapping, but that can still cause a total failure.

[Johnnada]

Is that sweet ice tea or unsweetened?

[mxrz]

It's Nestea Zero.

[collegedude10]

i have a white line going across mine in the middle. changing as soon as i get some cash

[jackyaudi]

I would not personally call that "cracks" I would refer to it as "wear on the surface of the belt". Cracks are usually deeper and more obvious. On the second picture, you had to bend it almost in half to see them the way they look. Normally they would not look too bad at all when installed.. But at that mileage you needed to do the job anyhow, so for the better

[G-Bus]

Nice job, I did mine today too! 132 000 KMs. It didn't look cracked but it was loose.

Edit; MTL represent!

[absolutegtr]

Those belts are like steel braided, arnt they?

I would say you could have kept going.

[pogi]

Just got my TB replaced and my old one looked a bit worse than that (77k). Definitely dodged a bullet there

[HIERLEVELZ]

No that belt is neoprene covered fiberglass reinforced.

Those belts are like steel braided, arnt they?

I would say you could have kept going.

[passatkid]

I tried cutting a belt once and they are pretty tough.

[jackyaudi]

to the OP: you should see the belt that my dealer called "has cracks on it". I almost thought they put me a new one for free. Yes, thats how dealers try to suck your blood, I mean money. I bet your belt would have lasted much more than you think.

[mxrz]

Audi Lauzon in Laval is a pretty decent place btw. I always go there, even though Audi Prestige is like 5 mins away from me.

[G Men 08]

lol yeah it is a good thing you changed it, but that belt was fine for now.. guy gave you a line... i work on millions of dollars worth of machinery every day that have many belts on them, that one is fine trust me.. but like weve all stated it was about due any ways!! with you pushin 70k

[orttauq]

Anyone who thinks that belt is ok is nuts. That is not considered anywhere near acceptable. That belt has extreme tension on it when installed, that's a timebomb. All the cracks are inbetween the teeth at the thinnest points. Also, a belt dried out like that is extremely susceptible to shearing the teeth off while cranking the engine which is quite common with these belts.

[Pr0n]

I guess there's no definite answer as to when is a good time to change the timing belt (other than the earlier the better) as the Bentley maintenance schedule says 75,000 miles or 115,000 kilometres (which one would assume is being conservative), but it seems as some people are getting failures or "near failures" thousands of miles before then.

[04QuattroTurbo]

Is there a way to inspect the belt without taking it all apart?

[dirtybrd]

Those cracks are minimal. That belt would have lasted for a while.

[NCAUDI]

It was my understanding that the tensioner would fail early, causing the belt to break, and not so much the belt itself.

[mxrz]

The old tensioner looked perfectly fine, the bearings rolled and sounded good. Same with the water pump.

[Papachristou]

Weird what year is your car ? Mine looked perfect at 77k

[mxrz]

weird What Year Is Your Car ? Mine Looked Perfect At 77k

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[wolfdog]

Is there a way to inspect the belt without taking it all apart?

Yea, I find myself wondering how the dealer saw the cracks without getting 80% of the way toward replacing it. I can't help but wonder if they just said it without looking.

[n7plus1]

^probably...so they can do the work and get paid for it