Audi A2 1.4 SE (51 Plate) Cam Belt Snapped

T

the_mothman

Member
It's done circa 32000 miles. It has a full MOT and service history.
I've owned it for less than 6 months and this happens.
No warning or anything, then yesterday the engine cuts out after seeing the EPC light come on the dashboard briefly then go off again.

It doesn't fire up or tick over. Today I got home start to come out (managed to tow the car back with some help) and they looked it over and simply pulled out a very worn and snapped cam belt.

Not sure what to do now as affording this repair is going to be tough.
What are my chances of getting Audi to accept some of the liability giving the age, condition, service history of the vehicle?
 
If it says minimum time when you should replace the belt after (e.g: 80,000 miles petrol/60,000 diesel) ? or every 5 years...*i think* if it doesn't say so many years then you can try audi but i'm pretty sure it does in the book.. if you dont have a book I can have a look in mine.

Sorry but it doesn't look like its guna be cheap to fix... i.e new engine :(
 
What sort of costs do you think this will be?
I appreciate that other factors will need to be considered such as whether or not the valves have been bent etc.

Best case scenario and worse case scenario would be appreciated.

Thanks
 
ULP thanks for the info.
Is there no way that Audi could be liable - at least half way for the rebuild costs as to be honest the vehicle has been well maintained, it's not been thrashed with a full service history and low mileage.

It's not even due for a service for another 3k miles so when it comes down to it, this is poor manufacturing quality and as such Audi (I would have thought) have some duty of care to their customers.
 
Hi mothman
You may have some chance of a goodwill claim from Audi if the car has a full dealer service history showing all servicing was carried out within the correct mileage or time intervals. If this is the case, you may be lucky and get a 50 or 60% contribution towards the cost of the repair.
Note the service checks include an inspection of the cambelt so that premature wear can be picked up early to prevent failures. If the car was serviced by an Independent there is no proof this has been done so so your chances of a claim would be very slim.
I think any Audi dealer can check the service history of your car so it should be easy to find out if the previous owner ever had the cambelt changed. If it was replaced and failed within 2 years, this would be down to a quality issue as ULP indicated.

Cheers Spike
 
Sorry to hear that :mad:

I've also had an issue with the cambelt. Found out that Audi actually dont specify when the cambelt on the 1.4 petrol should be changed. The 'normal' on most cars is around the 5 year/60k mark, but Audi just dont say for the 1.4 petrol. This caused lots of confusion when negotiating with the dealer over whether they should change my cambelt.

Just hope my belt doesn't snap when i drive it from the dealer to home, then to Audi to have the cambelt done.

Good luck with Audi, You could argue that because Audi dont specify when the cambelt should be changed you didnt know it had one? Or if you have full audi service and they didnt tell you the belt needed changing at the last service then how were you meant to know. Let us know how it goes.
 
I dropped Audi an email yesterday and they specify a 2 day response.
I will keep you informed of my progress.

If they turn a blind eye then I do have some tactics up my sleeve to make them sit up and listen. If I then manage to convince one person not to buy an Audi, it has cost them more in one sale than it would have done to fix my vehicle.

Either way, all I want is the A2 fixed. Cheers for everyones input.

:)
 
I'd drop them a line mate. I emailed them over a week ago...still waiting! Luckily it doesn't matter in my case. Sure there's a number to ring?

Hope you sort it soon.
 
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