Timing Belt Change A4

[Crp46]

Hi there I have a 2015 Audi A4 2.0tdi what sort of price can I expect to pay for belt and water pump change 

[Magnet]

Hello Col,

There is sort of good news, not so good news, and bad news. 

Good news first:- My advice with these things is to first get quotes from two different main dealers and an independent. You may already have done that, but if not, the good news is I have sort of done it for you, since we have a family member with a similar year car, and we are about to do that one. Continuing the ‘good!’ news, the main dealer quote was £595! The the ‘not so good news’ is that does not include the water pump renewal! ‘Including the water pump Sir?’ That will be £740. 

Why so high? Whole front of the car has to come off (well on this diesel one anyway) as I understand it, inc. radiator, air con., etc. 

In my book Col, there is one thing far more important in terms of getting this critical application done, than price. This isn’t a price is king job, but it is certainly a parts-quality is king job. 

If you shop around for best prices then you will certainly beat the above, but you are likely to end up with Brand X aftermarket parts being used and most certainly in terms of the water pump, you could well find yourself in significant difficulties by using an aftermarket one rather than a genuine VAG one, or even leaving your original one unchanged. 

If you are still intent on going down the most competitive price route, then there is only one aftermarket make I would use, but I would not (in caps) use their water pumps in preference to the VAG ones. 

Cost of VAG parts? If you are genuinely interested in buying the parts at discount, then I can advise you on where to try - I’m currently awaiting today’s delivery of the parts- but to be quite honest, I would not want these good folks bothered by just-as-a-matter-of-interest quotes. 

Apologies Col, if some of the main dealer quotes are known to you, but we have to assume they are not since you haven’t shared this information - and indeed quotes can vary from one dealer to another, and it’s always good to know of regional variations. 

Wherabouts are you Col? Location -England. 

Perhaps you can let us know what your experiences were which led you to ask this good question.

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

 

[Colonel Kernel]

My local VAG specialist mechanic quoted £350 for belt and water pump replacement using VAG parts on my 2016 A4 2.0 TDI (sorry I can't recall if that was VAT inclusive).

@Crp46 you posted this a few months ago. Have you had the belt/pump replaced yet?

[Magnet]

Blinking heck Conal - that’s cheap. 

Guestimafe:- VAG timing belt kit - c£140 ish. Waterpump £70 ish. So labour about £140. 

Wondered if they actually subsequently did it for you for that price ,or just give you that as a quote.

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

[Colonel Kernel]

It's a quote I got last week, I'll be getting it done along with the next service in April 2021.

They are very reliable local garage with a great reputation so I don't doubt the quote, obviously the proof will be when I get the final bill. My Dad used them for all work on his A6 Allroad during the 10 years he had it.

I thought it a great price too, the same job on my Insignia last year was £406 inc VAT (at main dealer incl water pump).

I'll post an update when it's done. 

[Colonel Kernel]

I promised to post when I got the timing belt done, here is what I paid (ex VAT)

Labour: £108

Timing Belt/water pump kit: £160 (KP15678XS - Gates)

Alternator Belt: £16.17

[Stevey Y]

1 hour ago, Colonel Kernel said:

I promised to post when I got the timing belt done, here is what I paid (ex VAT)

Labour: £108

Timing Belt/water pump kit: £160 (KP15678XS - Gates)

Alternator Belt: £16.17

Hi thats a good price and well within the ballpark, the reason for that is the aftermarket kits are a lot cheaper and they don't get any better than Gates, the other reason is that from 2014 on they redesigned it all so that worse case scenario is that you have to remove the fan pack to gain extra access, no more removing the front bumper and headlights etc. I have no doubt this came about because of complaints from the dealer technicians so if you make it more simple and still charge the same eye watering hourly labour rates.

Steve.

[Colonel Kernel]

Thanks Steve. I'm sure that he said that VAG parts would be used but maybe I misunderstood him. Thanks for the info that the gates parts are a good option.

On an unrelated but funny note, I had a towbar fitted last week and when the installer was showing it to me he accidentally triggered the auto boot open/close, I never knew the car had that 🤦‍♂️ I've had the car six months and never realised it was installed🙄

 

[Stevey Y]

17 hours ago, Colonel Kernel said:

Thanks Steve. I'm sure that he said that VAG parts would be used but maybe I misunderstood him. Thanks for the info that the gates parts are a good option.

On an unrelated but funny note, I had a towbar fitted last week and when the installer was showing it to me he accidentally triggered the auto boot open/close, I never knew the car had that 🤦‍♂️ I've had the car six months and never realised it was installed🙄

 

Hi did he activate the boot from the switch in the driver side door or was it on the key fob?, I knew about the one in the door but you have to get out and close it which is a pain but if you have the little button centre of your key fob with the little car with the boot open chances are you can activate that function as I did with VCDS, its awesome as I use my car as a cab in bad weather you can open the boot remotely as soon as I arrive at a job sling the shopping in the boot and close it again on the remote whilst making a bolt for the drivers seat. BTW I used Gates kit on my two MK4 Mondeo cabs and in 600,000 miles never suffered a failure, the only failure I ever had was on a kit I bought from GSF as the belt and tensioner were gates but they did not have the Gtes water pump so they supplied me with a brand Airtex which started leaking within twenty thousand miles, when I took it back they claimed the warranty was out as it was two years or fifteen thousand miles where at least the Gates Full Monty kit is designed to last the life of the belt.

Steve.

[Colonel Kernel]

Hi Steve,

Sorry I should have been clearer, I was talking about the auto open where you kick under the rear bumper. A kick will both open and close the boot.

The switch on the drivers side door and the key fob will only open the boot, not close it. Obviously the mechanical ability to close is there but it must be disabled for these methods, maybe because of safety?? I wasn't aware I could enable the boot closure via the key fob in VCDS so I'll have a look at enabling it. Do you remember the module and coding details by any chance?

[Stevey Y]

Hi Conal, here goes fire up the VCDS go to Select top left corner, then go to 60 trunk electrics, go to 16 security access enter code 12345 and press do it, if code is accepted go to 10 adaptations and choose the functions you want there are four options depending on how long you want to press the button, highlight the option you want and it will tell you if it is active if inactive activate by pressing the drop down to activate and press do it, you might have to do this twice to get the other option you require.

This worked on my A6 and I have no reason to believe it won't work on the A4, no coding required just adaptation there are a lot of different functions hidden away there because they were not chosen when the car was built, I know a lot of people talk about the green menu which is really only an engineers menu and if you get it wrong you can easily terminate the MMI.

Steve.