B5 S4 cambelt failure :(

[fade2grey]

Hey guys,

I was up at MRC this morning to get an EGT valve replaced & a health check, all was fine till we were on the road coming back to the workshop when without warning the cambelt snapped (probably at WOT) not good.

The belts, rollers & aux belts were done by Audi in sept 04 & the car has since covered an additional ~ 15k miles (now at 91k). Newcastle Audi were quite reasonable on the phone & seemed to indicate that the belt/parts shouldn't fail that soon. Reading Audi (where the car has been delivered to by the AA) sing from a different hymn sheet & are so far sticking to the 24 months part warranty line.

Now, as I'm looking at the possibility of a HUGE bill for this, does anyone know if I have any claim here to cover some or all of the costs involved?

Thanks,
Alex
fade2greyuk@hotmail.com

[yorkie]

If you have the receipts for the work I would be inclined to take them on, the fact that the replacement interval for the belt and rollers is 80,000 miles would hopefully convince a Small Claims Judge that failure after 15k would indicate either parts or workmanship were not fit for purpose.

I have the receipts for the work to rectify this on my car (paid for by Audi) and believe me if it cost you 500 quid to see a solicitor and won the case you will have got a bargain.

[yorkie]

Oh and a reasonable attitude rather than straight for the jugular always looks good in court.

Talk to the garage that did the work first as they are ultimately responsible, ask them what they are prepared to do, based on the mileage covered I would say that asking you to pay more than 18.75% of the total repair bill (80/15) would be unreasonable and if it sounds like they are prepared to play ball that is what you should offer to pay.

I'm not a solicitor but have dealt with many small claims and if you show you have not tried to get something for nothing just what you feel you are entitled to it helps.

Not wishing to worry you but my only concern would be that the limit for small claims is I think £5k which may not be enough.

[fade2grey]

cheers yorkie.

Another couple of questions, how much is a 98 avant (black leather, bose, carbon) with 98k miles & what was a healthy engine & turbo's worth split for parts?

And.. are there any places that do re-con engines? There's one on Ebay at the moment in Lerwick for £1500 but is it really a wise move to dump an unknown engine in there or will it cost a fortune to bring up to a known good spec?

A

[yorkie]

Unfortunately until someone strips the motor down you won't know how much it is going to cost to repair.

When Audi did mine they replaced the short engine and one head, parts alone came to over 5k but that may have been the quickest option since they were paying.

I know a company who would do the work and do a good job but they are in St.Ives nr Cambridge.

[Dippy]

Why has it come down to Reading? Unfortunately one of the worst dealers in the area (customer service - what's that?).

I would totally agree that it is worth fighting. Audi state 80,000 miles or 5 years for a cambelt change, so if it fails significantly sooner then by Audi's own defintion it is a premature failure.

[TopBear]

Definately worth persuing Audi UK CS, for some sort of goodwill payment.
The difficulty is that the parts will be covered by a 2 year warranty, however the labour and consequential damage caused by the failure of said parts, arent specifically covered by this warranty, and this is what you'll need to fight for the costs of.

Keep us posted.

[ChipHazzard]

If it's of any use I had this several years ago with my last car a vauxhal Calibre and the cambelt was due to be changed at 40k but snapped at 38k, & vauxhall replaced the complete engine FOC.
I still remember the guy's face in the service department when I said I had a cambelt problem and handed him part of the cambelt. the car was just out of warrenty as well and I'd stripped the head off ahead of some planned tuning when it was suggested I paid the stealer a visit

Good luck with the fight.

Mike

[fade2grey]

Hey Dippy yeah I notice that the service at audi reading is severely lacking. up until recently I've used Audi Newcastle but I spend most of my time down here in reading these days so it's my nearest dealer.

I did speak to Audi customer services on the 0800 number but I just ended up speaking to some call centre monkey who didn't really know about the warranty etc & just fobbed me to the local dealer - is there a better number than the one on their website?

I've spoken to consumer direct who were as helpful as they could be, but it's a grey area & it looks like it's up to me to prove that it's not fair wear & tear to be able to pursue it further

Here's hoping Audi will do some sort of gesture of good will. I need their 'report' back before I can really start the ball rolling though. As suggested earlier on this thread, I have no problem paying ~19% which is equiv to the mileage I've done versus the projected service life.

Any more helpful suggestions or contacts welcome! Sadly having to consider the possibility of splitting it for parts which is a real shame since it's an otherwise great car. After investigating a bit more, I doubt I have the skills to do the heads myself.

[yorkie]

Are you in the RAC or AA?

I think both can offer assistance in these matters.

[Dippy]

Also check your insurance. There are often legal advice benefits that get overlooked. Companies tend to react better when a lawyer phones them instead of the customer.

[ChipHazzard]

As strange as this may sound would cambelt failure not be covered by fully comp insurance or is there a get out clause ? A while back a friend of mine had his sump holed on his 7 series beemer and he made a claim on his insurance unfortunatly they wrote the car off on economic grounds but he was actually covered, I know we dont normally like making a claim on insurance unless we have to, but could this be an exception to the rule ...........

Just a thought

Mike

[fade2grey]

Righty, after a week of chasing, I've just had a call from Reading Audi with the findings of their investigation...

They found that a bolt from one of the tensioners was loose inside the cam cover. Their summary seems to point to the engineer who fitted the belts lost the bolt & replaced it with a non-VAG bolt, leaving it inside to rattle around & spend 2.5 years slowly eating the cam belt. The belt shows signs of damage on the outside as well as marks on the inside. The bolt is pretty damaged too.

Newcastle Audi (who I've always found to be pretty good) are currently disputing, photo's have been sent to them by Reading Audi.

So I wait with baited breath to see how it's all going to pan out..

Boy am I glad I've only ever let Audi touch the car till now (barring the EGT at MRC) - it should remove the element of doubt, fingers crossed.

[chunky79]

how much damage has it actually done to the engine?
it's not brilliant news knowing that a main dealer has made this mistake but it is good news for you, kind of . i would also be asking for some kind of compensation if you have had to hire another car.

[confusionhunter]

ah nice one mate.... you might stand a chance, if it was a random non audi garage then I wouldnt have fancied you chances much!