Audi S3 Snapped Cam Belt advice?

[Rich_W]

mcford said:

DS197 said:

Don't you get a warranty with the manufacturer of the cambelt? I know there was a one year warranty with cambelt kits for the Clio RS

The purchaser of the belt will, in this case it'll be the car dealer.

A above. Purchaser of belt gets the warranty.

HOWEVER, I will be sadly unsurprised if the manufacturer of the belt says "fitted incorrectly, not down to us" which just makes it all a bit more complicated. Not for the OP. But for the garage he bought from, and then they'll (potentially) start trying to put the blame on the OP. for "overrevving" or something.

[Leptons]

Adamb19 said:

Well i had it in manual but was sat in traffic, as I went into 3rd gear at about 4k rpm it just cut out. I pressed the accelerator a couple times and the revs just kept dropping and exhaust was popping. It then rolled to a hault and wouldn't restart. I'm pretty sure I have a receipt for the replacement of cam belt but it's in my book which is in the car so I can't check right now. I do have emails from them saying they have changed the belt.

If they refuse to cover costs who am I best speaking to? Would it be trading standards? The car itself is only out of warranty by 2 weeks but surely the replacement part had a seperate warranty?

What makes you think it's the cam belt? Wouldn't be my first suggestion given the information so far. It actually sounds almost indentical to when I had crankshaft sensor fail.

[Adamb19]

RAC said it was most likely cam belt. Fingers crossed it is only a sensor, I'll find out tomorrow when it's been looked at by the garage.

Thanks for all the comments guys

[Momentofmadness]

Adamb19 said:

RAC said it was most likely cam belt. Fingers crossed it is only a sensor, I'll find out tomorrow when it's been looked at by the garage.

Thanks for all the comments guys

Fingers crossed, give the garage a chance to fix it and if not then I'd be off to court (but play nice to start with - if they are a decent garage then they should look after you, after all things go wrong but it's how they deal with it that matters)

Let us know how you get on!

[Blanchimont]

Adamb19 said:

RAC said it was most likely cam belt. Fingers crossed it is only a sensor, I'll find out tomorrow when it's been looked at by the garage.

Thanks for all the comments guys

Out of interest, can you see the cambelt, or where it's meant to be? In all of my belt equipped cars, you can see where the belt is and it spinning around when running.

If you can see it, get a torch and have a look at it. See if it's cracked, or frayed, or whether it's still complete. If it's mega loose, then it may not have snapped, just slipped, which wouldn't have been helped by the heavy load put under it whilst accelerating hard (if that's what you were doing prior)

It could be anything, although I can't imagine it being a sensor, other than perhaps the crank position sensor or something vital like that. Get it to a garage, and get them to look at it. Don't try to start it though, just in case!

[Adamb19]

So small update. The garage has rang me and said that it is not the cam belt but I have no compression in the engine, they said it is a timing chain which is also fitted on the engine which would have the same effect as the belt snapping.

Will get an approximate figure tomorrow. No news off the garage I bought it off yet

[sgtbash]

Adamb19 said:

So small update. The garage has rang me and said that it is not the cam belt but I have no compression in the engine, they said it is a timing chain which is also fitted on the engine which would have the same effect as the belt snapping.

Will get an approximate figure tomorrow. No news off the garage I bought it off yet

So they never have changed the belt as there isn't one? And the chains don't normally get replaced as they are supposed to last a life time arn't they?

I thought they had belts not chains to be honest.

Edited by sgtbash on Monday 21st November 15:38

[SteBrown91]

sgtbash said:

So they never have changed the belt as there isn't one? And the chains don't normally get replaced as they are supposed to last a life time arn't they?

The EA113 engines have a cambelt and a smaller chain.

[Adamb19]

No apparently the S3 has a chain and a belt. Not sure how or why

[JakeT]

The belt drives one sprocket that is connected to both camshafts via a chain. Makes timing belt replacement easier and means both camshafts stay in time when the belt is replaced.

[chryslerben]

Adamb19 said:

No apparently the S3 has a chain and a belt. Not sure how or why

Belt drives one of the cam shafts from the crank then that cam shaft drives the other camshaft via a chain.

It's so you can control valve timing by applying pressure to on side of the chain or the other to advance or retard valve opening.

[Dave Hedgehog]

guy at work bought a 3.5 year old TT with 27k miles a few weeks ago and his chain just snapped

quality stuff these audi performance cars lol

[SuperchargedVR6]

If it's the EA888 engine, which it should be in an 11 plate, it doesn't have a belt. It's chain only.

[SuperchargedVR6]

Dave Hedgehog said:

guy at work bought a 3.5 year old TT with 27k miles a few weeks ago and his chain just snapped

quality stuff these audi performance cars lol

Useful contribution. Even the established members are spreading the same old muck these days it seems.

Audi don't make chains. Chains have snapped or worn out on all sorts of cars that use them. BMWs, Jaguars, Mercedes to name but a few. They are like bike chains, they wear out.

[Adamb19]

Agreed but they shouldn't be snapped at 30k miles with no warning. I'm pretty much accepting now that I have spent £18.5k on a car and it's just gone down the drain. I can't afford another few thousand to fix it. Fml.

[Dave Hedgehog]

SuperchargedVR6 said:

Dave Hedgehog said:

guy at work bought a 3.5 year old TT with 27k miles a few weeks ago and his chain just snapped

quality stuff these audi performance cars lol

Useful contribution. Even the established members are spreading the same old muck these days it seems.

Audi don't make chains. Chains have snapped or worn out on all sorts of cars that use them. BMWs, Jaguars, Mercedes to name but a few. They are like bike chains, they wear out.

chains / belts whatever, who cares, he's stuffed with a large bill on a relatively new and lightly used car

[Gav147]

Have you tried contacting Audi? See what they say or maybe even offer to do

[Adamb19]

I haven't yet, I bought it from a high end dealership called Parkway Specialists in Mansfield. Waiting to see if they will be kind enough to resolve for me before I go any further.

[SuperchargedVR6]

Dave Hedgehog said:

SuperchargedVR6 said:

Dave Hedgehog said:

guy at work bought a 3.5 year old TT with 27k miles a few weeks ago and his chain just snapped

quality stuff these audi performance cars lol

Useful contribution. Even the established members are spreading the same old muck these days it seems.

Audi don't make chains. Chains have snapped or worn out on all sorts of cars that use them. BMWs, Jaguars, Mercedes to name but a few. They are like bike chains, they wear out.

chains / belts whatever, who cares, he's stuffed with a large bill on a relatively new and lightly used car

The OP does, and it's all the more reason to kerb useless comments like "My mate's broke a chain too, audi crap ha ha" isn't it.

[dvs_dave]

The cam timing link chain usually gives a few obvious warning signs before failure, and it's usually the plastic tensioners that go.

On cold start they will rattle until oil pressure gets up, and when it gets bad, you'll often get a engine MIL on as the timing goes out of whack with what the ecu is expecting to see.

But this is a rare fault at such low mileage.