I have a 2000 A4 1.8 T with 91 k miles on it. I went to the dealer for my oil service. I told them that I hear a quot;clinkingnoise when I start the car and that it goes away after the car runs for 5 minutes. I told them to check this also. They diagnosed and said that the water pump has gone bad and needs to be replaced. Since it was close to 105 K miles, I might as well change the timing belt. Total charges for both is 1250. And they also see that Cam Seals starting to leak oil. Since I was doing the timing belt, I might as well change them too. Additional cost to do them is 950. So the total for all three comes down to 2200. I bought the car at 90 K and checked it at Firestone and they said it was cool. They noticed an oil leak but said it was not anything major that needs to be taken care of right away. Do you think the dealer is taking me for a ride here? I just drove 500 miles and would things go this bad all of a sudden? Or should I make the replacements? Please advise.
Do you mean US Dollars? I mean, the prices you've mentioned are just insane! Even for an A4 the parts shouldn't cost more than two or three hundred dollars in total...And there is no way that the labour should be that much. I think you're being over-quoted by 200 or 300 percent! I'd say get another quote. Hopefully one of the ace mechanics on here can give you more precise figures but you are definitely being taken for a ride... EDIT: I just did web search and there are reputable traders offering a kit with the timing belt, tensioner and so on and a new water pump for about $240 all up. The seals aren't more than fifty dollars. Actually I just found a genuine replacement water pump on OKorder for $70, so I'd recommend you do some searching...(I can't post links to dealers because I can get reported for spamming for that, but if you google (that's a verb! lol!) A4 1.8 T with 2000 and water pump you'll find several suppliers.)
these prices are correct for dealership quote. you will get a cheaper price with independent shop. your timing belt should be changed anytime after 75k miles. the timing belt and belt tensioner will break and you do not want to have replace the cyl. head, it's alot more money. the dealership lied about your water pump. that year the water pump runs off the drive belts not the timing belt. you can replace the water pump and not even touch your timing belt. your cam adjuster seal probably not leaking. what happens is the valve cover leaks oil on to the cam adjuster and is commonly mis-diagnosed. try just changing the valve cover gasket, clean up your excess oil and reinspect the seals on the back of your cylinder head after 500 miles. good luck.
change the water pump and the timing belt. the belts on any car should be changed at 100000 miles. make them show you the water pump and explain what the problem was with it.as far as the cam seals just keep an eye on them and keep the oil checked.a little oil leak is no big deal with that many miles. go to your local parts store and ask them about oil addittives that might help recondition the seals.
I used to work for a dealer, they price by the book, even if they are already in there.... so if say you want to replace your alternator and your belts, they look up what labor is on the alternator, and then look up what labor on the belts is and add them together, even though youd have to pull the belts to change the alternator anyways. So basically you get charged for labor twice under this system. A different shop should be able to do this cheaper. If your water pump is out you should be overheating...... If youre doing the timing belt though, you probably want to look into those cam seals, if they leak on your timing belt they will weaken the belt and maybe make it break, which is really bad if you have an interferance engine (meaning if the pistons are up and the valves are down they will hit, usually breaking/bending the valves). The dealer should know if its an interferance engine or not, or you could do a quick internet search. If the belt has never been replaced i would definately recommend doing it though. Whatever you end up doing though, i would get a second opinion from a non dealer. At toyota they would charge more for lexus parts than toyota parts, even though it was the same part with a different part number... you may be in the same sort of boat with the audi.
I also own an 2000 Audi A1 1.8T. I am also currently researching the same problem. It turns out that 2000 Audi (up untill 05/2000) the water pump is on the OUTSIDE and not driven by timing belt. So they can and should be changed independantly. So you should check to see if the timing belt was changed already and how many miles on it (change the timing belt about once every 60K miles to be safe). The engine codes (that has water pump on the outside) are: AEB / ATW (150HP engine). The engine code AWM (05/00 and onward) has water pump driven by timing belt and should probably always be changed together. I think these are the more powerful 170 / 180 HP engine. My Audi dealer (Beiner Audi of L.I. NYC) did NOT tell me this. They wanted to squeeze in an unnecessary additional $400 unnecessary repair for the water pump along with the over priced timing belt replacement. The Audis maybe driven by upscale market, but the dealers are still no better than the old used car salesmen. Good luck, Jong P.S. Get yourself a factory Audi service manual (I own a Bently publishing manual and Chilton VW/Audi manual). Do your own research. It's saving me tons of money. P.P.S Also, always use full synthetic motor oil if you want to avoid the engine sludge problem. Turbo engines are prone to engine sludge. Funny how model year 2000 A4 was NOT recommended synthetic oil (till recently). Could it be that back then THEY had to pay for the oil change and now all 2000 A4 are no long under bumper-to-bumper warrantee (and the more expensive synthetic oil are no longer their cost)??
