Today, I visited Audi of Mississauga to replace ignition coils for my audi a4 2001 (please find down below the recall of the ignition coils). The service people replaced all four coils for free and then gave me some recommendations after diagnosis.

Firstly, they recommended me to replace the timing belt and the water pump immediately. I bought my car last September and its mileage was 120k. Now, it goes up to 132k. Although the manual recommends me to do so at 160k, it makes sense to me to replace them before the engine was completely dead (am i correct?).

Next, they recommend me to change oil gasket (?) because of oil leakage. To my surprise, I have not seen any oil leakage so far. However, they might be correct.

Finally, while replacing ignition coils, they found that coil connectors (?) need to be replaced.

In sum, the service person said that it costs about $1450 in total to replace timing belt and water pump, oil gasket, and coil connectors. Does this make sense to you? I hope to have a chance to listen to your opinion.



p.s. I ordered a main key without a blade and it cost $85 including tax. One interesting thing I found is that there is no need to program the key when A4 was made before 2001. From 2002, the key needs to be programmed.

 

Here are pics of the newly replaced ignition coils.

 

i have a 2008 a4 3.2 & i had been repeatedly getting a CEL light due to a missfire. 1st time they replaced 1 ignition coil; the second time; they realized that it was a fuel injector problem; so they replaced the same (took 4 days; but i had a loaner) the day i got it back; it drove fine for a day but then next afternoon broke down; had a flashing cel light; and no power or traction.
had it towed to audi and they told me it was a loose wire; but in order to test it appropriately; it took 2 days.
now i got her back; and shes runnin well again....

absolute madness.
sorry for the rant; just thought i'd share my experiences. this was last week btw.

~R~

 

I spoke with Audi of Mississauga regarding the timing belt and they told me it would cost 1250 including parts and take about a day. I have researched the cost for the timing belt and there are other places that will do it for much cheaper than that... on average 400 dollars cheaper... you could always buy the kit and get a buddy or yourself to do it... also when i went in for the coils they only changed one and said that my 2003 A4 did not have the factory coils.

 

1450 is about what you would generally pay at the dealer for something like the timing belt + water pump.

The timing belt has to be done, weather you get it done at the dealer or shop around is up to you, but you should do it the sooner the better. Not life threatening urgency tho.

 

The mileage was 120k and the timing belt hadn't been replaced already? I'd do it ASAP, the recommendations now are 120 000 km replacement for the pump, tensioner, and belt.

If the gasket is leaking it should be changed....do you smell anything while driving? When you say you haven't see any oil leakage, where have you looked? Which gasket are they talking about, there are multiple ones.

I'm not sure what to say about the "coil connectors".

Seems like a decent price for all that coming from a dealer.

 

I replaced the timing belt yesterday at a local auto shop. A Mechanic showed me my old timing belt with a lot of cracks! As Marko said, I should have replaced the timing belt ASAP.
Tomorrow, I go to the dealer once again to pick up my key. I will ask them which gasket needs to be replaced.

 

If I had a 1.8 I'd replace it every 80,000km. The 2.0T has an oblong sprocket taking the load off the timing belt during the power stroke, I wouldn't be surprised if the 2.0T's can hit 160,000km...but I'm still getting mine done very 120,000km @ the most...