A decent price to replace timing belt kit?

[tesmike]

Just got back from the AUDI Dealership in Santa Barbara, CA. I dropped off my car for checking timing belt and other miscellaneous things. The SA said probably the total comes around $2,400 including replacing tensioner, which makes a metallic noise from the front end. Frankly, I don't know the price is fair or not. If I take the car to the local shop, how much do you guys estimate to replacing timing belt kit(water pump, Thermostat, coolant...) plus replacing tensioner? By any chance, if there is someone who knows where to go for that in So Cal, plz help me out!

[illaudiill]

well the Dealership never has a fair price.....but 2400 is cheaper then most on 3.0's at the dealership...ive heard of people paying over 3000. im gonna get mine done pretty soon but my friend who works at BMW whos a tech over there is gonna do it for about 400 labor

[AudiA4Turbo22]

$2400????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????



WOOOOOOOOW!!!!!!

RIP OFFFFF!!!

u shouldn't pay half that.

[tesmike]

Well, then, Should I get this job done at the dealership or look for somewhere else for the cheaper? Do you guys think there is a slight chance to get it done for $1500?

[03 silverbullet]

2,400 ! good lord I am glad i did my own, it only cost me 287 for the full kit. Mine was just a 1.8 though

[Splattj]

I had a local euro specialty shop do my 3.0 for $1400. That included the cam seals, valve cover seals, tensioner, idler, belt, water pump, and serp. belt and tensioner. They also swapped in a new snub mount during the service.

On a 1.8t I'd do it myself but the 3.0 requires tools I just don't want to be bothered with procuring. Of course, ever since I've had a small oil leak that wasn't there before. I WISH I could do it all myself....

[doublezero30]

uhh depends on what "miscellanious things" youre doing. i got mine done at employee cost at a audi dealer my company owns and they told me if i was a regular customer it woulda been $1200. i payed 1/3 of that. on my old 02 i went to a audi/vw shop, braught my own parts, and it cost $450 in labor, $700ish total. both of these included the tensioner, roller, waterpump, timining belt, cam/crankseals, and serpentine belt.

edit: i forgot yours was a 3.0L, in that case it will be a bit more expensive.

[sergeA4]

$2400, are you serious. Dont even think of goin to the stealership. I got mine done couple days ago for $650 CANADIAN. Go to a european shop or a shot that works on audi's and see how much they will do it for

[tesmike]

Just got a call from the SA, and she offered me $2100 for that job. The miscellaneous things mean just one thing I guess, something about Tensioner. While looking for the cheaper kit in ECS, I found out the kit includes a couple of parts about Tensioner, too. Am I right?

[GTMRS4]

I bought the ECS tuning kit and had a local euro shop do mine - 700 in labor

[kwimberly]

I have a 1.8 - paid $225 for the kit from MJM and a local AZ'er installed it for $250. (Kit for the V6 is $420!!)

[Spirare]

I did the timing belt, valve cover gaskets (you must if you do the job correctly), water pump (cast impeller not plastic), all rollers, valave cover gaskets and tensioner on my 3.0L this past weekend.

I got the kit at Blauparts.com and it also came with 6 liters of Pentosin G-12. $453

I also rented the specialty tool kit form them which is... worth it for the cam lockers.

It took me about 7 hours.

I would do it for $250 labor if you supplied the parts... and airfare ;)

[monkey323i]

I did the timing belt, valve cover gaskets (you must if you do the job correctly), water pump (cast impeller not plastic), all rollers, valave cover gaskets and tensioner on my 3.0L this past weekend.

I got the kit at Blauparts.com and it also came with 6 liters of Pentosin G-12. $453

I also rented the specialty tool kit form them which is... worth it for the cam lockers.

It took me about 7 hours.

I would do it for $250 labor if you supplied the parts... and airfare ;)

got my AVK-3.0 done 2 monthes ago.

bought exact same TB kit as yours from Blauparts.com.
(bonus two free valve cover gasket + free Accessory belt)

a VW technican did it for me for $250.


by the way, the normal price for AVK-3.0 TB job is around $1300-1700 in Audi Dealerships.


There has been a thread about AVK-3.0's TB cost at dealership before.
someone said $3000 and scared people away. Unfortunately, he did NOT provide any proof nor telling which audi dealership quoted for $3000. However, a lot of people actually did it and called in for quote ended up being around $1500.

personally I called in 3 different audi dealerships to confirm the price of TB on AVK-3.0 and all of them quoted from $1300-1500. One of the audi dealership is No.1 Canada West Coast's Audi dealership.



- OEM Audi TB parts from dealership (including waterpump, all 3 idlers/tensioners/ coolant/ belt etc) are less than $700.
- Bentley Manual sugguest labour of 7 hours. ($120x7=$840)
(Audi technicans usually finish this within 5 hours.)

This $1500 range is how the AVK-3.0's TB should fall in normally.



Unless you have extra job to be done besides regular TB such as the "other miscellaneous things." as you mentioned.


for Thermostat, it is NOT necessarily required to be replaced at TB.
it usually lasts two TB interval period and is different job than TB, and audi technican told me they only replace those when it fails.



if you want to get this job done cheaper, find some reputable local euro shop. Usually craigslist has people specialzing TB on VW/Audi for a lot cheaper labour than Stealership. Most of them are half price of the stealership. $60 vs $120 hourly rate.


anwayz, good luck man.

[teg2audi]

Glad i don't have a 3.0 that job is expensive. The 1.8 only set me back 600.

[A4 Moda]

I'll do your Timing Belt and Water pump for $450. Just buy the parts and drive the car down to SoCaL and you got yourself a deal.

[18tboost]

i did mine at Minute Tune in Richmond BC, i did mine with the water pump including labour for $700

[NOCAN]

Man, that's a lot of money. I had my 1.8t TB work done for ~700 at a local Euro shop. I bought the full kit from PureMS and supplied the parts on my own.