Did I Screw up? Audi Eats 4 Belts in 5 Weeks 

Walden by Henry David Thoreau: www.gutenberg.org/files/205/205-h/205-h.htm Astro Nano Impact Torx Bit Set: amzn.to/3Df8rBO OTC Belt Install Tool: amzn.to/3QAM2lF

As an Audi owner that works on his own car and talked with many others that do the same, these things are a nightmare. Fun to drive, expensive to maintain and you end up questioning a lot of design decisions.

This is why I love your channel. One day it's a 70 year old relic tractor, the next a 90's USA pickup and the next a euro nightmare. Not many mechanics on the tube will tackle all comers, but Wes will.

As a Euro auto maintainer, the sight of a Üro Parts box alone can make a guy blackout into a rage induced coma. May God have mercy on your soul. And FCP Euro is by far the best place to go for OEM euro parts. And everything is warrantied for life.

Sounds to me the customer knew there was a serious problem eating belts if it came to you without belts. The customer should tell the whole story.

As a technician and a former Audi owner, I felt your frustration. "Maintenance Position" ends up having a double meaning. I loved driving the car, it was comfortable, fun and handled like a dream. When maintenance time came you understood where the term "10 pounds of S#^T in a 5 pound bag" comes from. Over-engineering at its finest! Here's hoping you and Mrs. Wes had a fun date night after all of that. I look forward to your content each week. Thanks for sharing your time.

@0:58, I had a 1989 Ford 150 Econoline with a 5 liter engine. Went through 6 fan belts in about 3,000 miles. Filed under Wisconsin lemon law. When the engine was on the drilling jig is was cockeyed and one of the items was not straight. IE not parallel with the crank pulley. All I asked for was a brand new engine and Ford said no. Cost Ford $90,000 to buy back a $28,000 van. I feel your pain.

Wes has helped a lot of independent garages: Decline this job and direct the owner to the dealer.

As a workshop owner in Germany, I have to say the same about availability of parts for american vehicles... I had a 1996 Chevy Van in the shop a couple of weeks ago. I couldnt even source the proper Oil filter from any of my suppliers. But yeah its true, Audis are a nightmare to work on. Especially the V6s and V8s. You have to have baby oranghutan arms to do any work in the engine bay :D

I spent a long period of time during my tenure as an automotive tech with VW/Audi/Porsche starting in 1973. The downward spiral really started in the 90s. Same problems over and over again. As a flat rate tech, this proved to very lucrative. It reached a point where I just got sick of these cars. The Porsche dealer I worked for also had a Subaru franchise. The most striking thing I remember was when a Subaru came in for a minor or major service, 90% of the time that was the only item on the work order. The German brands had the service and at least half a dozen more items. Always the same things. I could diagnose each item on the way out to get the car. Any time I hear the German engineering thing, I just laugh at anyone who believes it. You want to know the truth about a particular car? Talk to the guys and gals who work on them.

“Service position” may have more than one implication with this car…

I was excited to hear a Thoreau reference! "If a man get no more from his employer than pay, then he is truly cheated."

the more i watch your channel, the happier i am that i changed my career from auto tech, to carpenter 25 years ago. i still work on cars, but i choose what i work on, not simply whatever a customer brings in to me. i both salute your fortitude, and pity your situation. go team wes!

As soon as I saw the shredded belt I immediately knew you had an alignment issue with another pulley. I've run into this 2x over the years personally, once was the balancer seperating like you saw here, and the other was a power steering pump failure where the shaft had enough play in it to allow the pulley to wobble. Luckily in both my cases, there was a much easier access pathway than you experienced. Glad you finally found the problem, and here's hoping that car doesn't continue to haunt you.

Great cars to lease and give back before the problems start. Total nightmare in terms of ownership. Also… The Critical Drinker….A++. Love that channel.

This has to be my #1 favorite Intro- Honesty and Snarkiness at its finest!!

Wes is the best mechanic by far that I've found on RU-vid. As someone in the UK who has owned 2 V6 Passats (which are basically the same as the Audis with the same engine), I've found them very reliable - my first did over 200k miles with no major issues at all - but most Passats and Audis are 4 cylinder diesels and the designers were squeezing a big engine into a small space with these V6's. Even "big" European cars are smaller than a lot of US cars. I am impressed with how easy some US cars seem to be to work on, but the fit and finish also seem to be a bit poorer in comparison sometimes. You pay your money and make your choice... If this car did have a front end collision which was not repaired properly, that's hardly Wes's or Audi's responsibility.

That crank pulley separation is a very common problem on that engine. I knew what was wrong when I saw the title of the video. The separated pulley really gets out of alignment when it gets wet with the engine running (like driving in the rain). They actually make one piece pulleys so you only need to replace it once.

Experience is a hard teacher, BUT you never forget the lesson. Glad that you made the video, you have probably helped a number of people to understand the kind of problems that mechanics run into. Some design engineers should be shot on sight to prevent this kind of stupidity. The new cars with their shields and plastic nonsense should have a service person's viewpoint in mind when making products. Nice to see that an auto mechanic who makes a reference to Thoreau, you are a unique person. Love your sense of humor!

You have got to be one of the most calming channels I watch. Thank you for being very methodical, structured and level headed......the exact opposite of me, most of the time..lol

So Euro! Definitely accurate on getting Euro parts...online only and it takes days!

Subtle art of losing money, LOL nice one wes, thanks for another vid!

Many years ago I owned an Audi A4 that was in a minor accident and needed repair. I went to pick it up in my Volvo XC70. The mechanic looked at me and said get rid of that Audi, it will cause you grief as long as you own it. Also, never sell your XC70. It’s now almost 20 years later. The Audi lasted a few more years and caused me constant problems for as long as I owned it, and I happily got rid of it. The Volvo I still have and it just won’t die.

Nice video. I have a 2002 Passat that has tested my sanity numerous times. One thing to check; on the alternator - the pulley is not just a pulley. It is a one way thingy - drives the alternator in one direction, but just freewheeling in the other direction. These will cease up more or less with time and put a lot of stress on other components driven by the belt, including the belt itself. Mine ate up the bearing in the tensioner pulley before I found out the cause. Made a lot of strange noises too. I've been out with the front of the car so many times I think I can put the front of das Auto in service position in my sleep. But what really tests your patience is when you have to go inside the doors to replace locks, window elevator mechanism etc. That can be a bad bad job. And I can confirm that all plastic you touch will break - sometimes it will break by just looking hard at it. I have no idea how german engineering supposedly has such a good rep. Thats not my experience.

When I'm frustrated or tired after working on my project car (a Suzuki Samurai!) I watch your videos, and they always remind me: It could be worse.

As a former BMW owner, I sympathize with you Wes. This video brought back my PTSD.

Great videos as always Wes. Sorry to see you go through a Audi nightmare like this. Its a crying shame Audi or anyone would build a car with a 3.5hr labor to replace a simple belt.

You are my favorite channel. I am so grateful for you Wes.

"We're done bashing euro trash" quote Wes 2022 LOL!! This is a really good video and enjoyed!!

I had an Audi at one time and found out the time in ordering parts and waiting for them as well as the high and difficult maintenance of said parts like you have already mentioned, because of all the above I will never own another Audi!! I want to thank you Wes for doing all that you do to make these interesting videos!! I thank you and your wife very much!!

Hey Wes, when I owned my 02 TT and did all my own work, I quickly learned that any repair required lots of planning. And it’s one of the few vehicles where “while you’re in there” isn’t just an excuse to spend money. If you can replace it, you need to!

0:33 truth be told Wes even if so you’re the only channel I watch religiously! You’re a good man Wes! If I was old enough I’d buy you a case of your favorite beverage. Rock on.

I feel your pain Wes. I am not a mechanic by trade, but have done all my own work for most of my life. My wife's dad bought her a used 1987 5000cs turbo quattro when she was still in college. I can't remember specifics of the problem, but it is the only vehicle that ever actually brought me to tears working on it. I think it was some kind of fuel issue that I could not figure out. A junkyard headlight was $300.00 in the mid 90's. I gave it away after it caught fire in the driveway.

At least you found something wrong. It's really bad when a comeback returns and you cant find nothing. Regardless we have a "can not work on" list and Audi is one of them due to many things beyond our control.

I feel your pain and love the sarcasm when your working on everybody's crap! Keep on trucking!

This intro is your best one yet! I've watched it at least a dozen times, and laugh just as hard every time!! You're the best, Wes!

Poor Wes. You are the man though. Scotty Kilmer could have had that whole thing done in 3 hours I'm sure. Lol. I'm kidding. He would have screwed it up so much and probably told the customer the engine was blown or something.

This video brought back memories of when I brought a brand new 1971 Audi 100LS back from Germany with me. In 30 K miles, I replaced 4 alternators because of burned out diodes. I also had bent valves twice after dealer visits and when I showed my German language repair manual to the shop forman, we realized that the lash settings in the English manual were too tight. And the timing chain liked to jump a tooth. Never a good buy to own an Audi.

Worked on one Audi, an A8. Never again. Hard pass. From one Wes to another thanks as always for the videos. Cheers

All I can say is, "God Bless you, Wes", for hanging tough on this one. That model Audi is the 10 pounds in the 5 pound sack engine bay.

My VW was made in 1981 very little plastic has 200,000 miles on it and runs like a champ 🙂

i had a volvo that shredded a belt, I was lucky, I caught it when the belt was still 1/4" wide, put on a new belt, and next time i checked a few days later it had gone down by 1 rib in width, careful observation finally led me to the cause, the crankshaft pulley (damper pulley) was moving side to side the same as the one you showed, the issue was it only did it when it had warmed up, when cold, the rubber part stuck back together, only breaking free when it warmed up, so as soon as I saw the issue I thought crankshaft pulley, once its got you once, its something you will check as its the most likely cause (another cause can be a seized alternator clutch pulley (dont ask))

Ahhhh a Four Ring Circus car...Wes I feel your pain.

Well, after this kind of job, what a blessing to be greeted by a beautiful smile from your wife. The rest is just forgettable. Thanks for your continued posts.

"If you own an Audi or VW car, the plastic parts WILL break" Ain't that the truth! Same problems here in the UK. Best wishes from England.

I wonder how much of this work was caused by the vehicle not being repaired properly following whatever caused the front end damage in the first place.

You just saved me from trading in my '93 Chevy S10 on a 2009 Audi...or anything Audi, for that matter. Thanks for the videos!

There is a company whose name I cant recall right now, that makes a grapple for a crane. This tool will snatch the motor right out of the engine compartment and make it much easier to throw the junk away. It takes lots of patience to work on some of that foreign stuff. My hats off to you. Keep up the great videos and stay safe my friend.

I really love the insect noises in the background, they add some spice to your theatrical segments Wes 😂

I don't know how different it is for this Audi, but I know that, for my old Passat, if I'm going as far as to put the core support into service mode, I'm two hoses, three wire connections, and a couple of AC condenser mounting bolts away from removing the nose of the car entirely. I just laid the AC condenser to the side and slid the radiator out with the front assembly. Then I didn't have to fight with everything in a four inch gap.

great display of patience, Wes.

When you say everything plastic you touch is going to break, you aren't lying. That is absolutely true.

You have, without a doubt, a drop dead beautiful partner. Just an old kiwi living the dream. Love your show.

I can relate to this, it’s like when I initially got my old Allis Chalmers garden tractor going. Went through 4 deck belts and one drive belt for the mower deck before I made new idler pulley brackets and belt guides, lol.

Great point about everyone losing with comebacks. Doesn’t seem it could be avoided based on the unforeseen failures.

I love that you referred to the critical drinker! It makes me feel good about my you tube subscriptions

Congratulations on over 200 k subscribers 🎉. And really hope you and the Lady got too see the movie and just chill together.👍

As an owner of an older VW and Audi, they seem to really eat the parts after 150k. Great for providing content for your channel and headaches for you!

Thats got to be frustrating as heck! Good job getting it resolved!

We will not work on any Euro crap anymore. Stopped years ago. Just is not worth it. You are the Man Wes. I as a viewer, Love your Honesty. Keep up the fantastic work.

In my 20's, I worked as a millwright for a lumber company. Walking belts...that was my first massive nightmare to deal with. A more experienced man taught me one of the best and oldest tricks of the trade... Cheap orange spray paint. Put a thin coat on all surfaces that the belt must contact. Run the machine for a bit, then remove the belt. Check all of the surfaces for uneven paint removal...you'll find at least one pulley which is ever-so-slightly out of alignment with the rest of the train.

my sister had an audi, it needed it's own mechanic, thank goodness my brother in law was good at fixing it.

Great vid Wes. I love the real world struggles that you have. Makes me feel better when I’m struggling with some of my repairs. Thanks for sharing.

As the owner of a VW: the first thing you do when performing service is to slam your hand in the hood 3 times. That is just to get yourself in the mood to work on it.

You taking care of the customer like that will make you more money because you will have a word of mouth that your a good honest mechanic :-)

The "later model" (probaby 15 years old), I worked on, they had gotten wiser and ran all the lines on RH side to coolers/condenser. Found could disconnect the fans and all the stuff on LH side of radiator support, then swing whole thing around to the right. Set it all on a jack stand or something. Room to walk right up to it assuming vehicle was raised off the floor some. Could do it all standing up, no bending over. It was worth the extra disassembly for me. Old back.

And just think, a few years ago you could take the engine out of a Volkswagen Beatle by removing the throttle linkage, about 3 wires, and the 4 nuts that connected the engine to the transaxle. 30 mins of work easily. The enginerds in Deutschland are no better than the ones in the US.

After watching you when I say my prayers at night I thank God he did not make me a mechanic. I was a soldier for 40 years with Vietnam service and all. In Germany, I watched just the feet of a mechanic waving in the air as he was deep into the engine. The temperature was minus 26 degrees. As a civilian, I sold Audi and Porshe vehicles and in the mechanic bay, I heard cursing like I never heard in the Army. Now I know why. We had one mechanic that worked on Porsche only. No one messed with him.

Wow. Technician caught in a nightmare failure but you stayed at it until you could find the problem part and get the correct parts. Good job. Hate to see anyone lose money like that.

I like my Audi A2, I might even somewhat enjoy working on it if I had a proper workshop for it. I like the all aluminum rust proof body and the low fuel consumption. But my experience with local mechanics is such that I might be better off driving a "new" thirty year old rust bucket every other year and doing the bare minimum repairs myself since the older cars don't have everything mashed into a handbasket sized space requiring nearly total dissassembly of the vehicle to change one small thing.

I remember the time when Audi were good simple and reliable cars in the 80s and 90s. Now it is a plastic scam. You are pretty courageous and determined to work on such a crappy auto. Thanks for the share.

that's an accurate assessment of the plastic quality. broken wire connector tabs are a fact of life with VWs and Audis - just slide them together and hope for the best

I had an Audi towed in like 20 years ago,don't even remember the model,but it needed an alternator. Customer supplied the part. My son and I looked at it for over an hour before I called the Customer and told him to take it to the dealer. The alternator was mounted front lower Center of the engine bay. Never took in another Audi. They to me are the worst design of an engine. It would probably be easier to take the engine out to fix anything. You sir are a beast. Great job on your part. Again,you made Chicken salad out of Chicken shit...lol Hope the movie was good. Thanks again for another great Video.

When I lived in England I owned mercs bmw and Audi and all the other European crap then changed to American cars and Eastern European cars with no problems, living in Bulgaria now,I own a Jeep and a UAZ van fantastic motors never let me down.

Brave to try and repair Euro car. Thought most mechanics simply avoided.

I thought about this as I was replacing the fan belt on the Marquis. It took about 3 1/2 minutes. I read "My House at Walden Pond" in American Literature years ago. Great video!

Feel your pain. Gave up the automotive repair business after 30 years and work on old golf course equipment now. Kind of fun the way working on cars used to be. No flat rate.

One of the best channels on you tube thank you sir

Wes thanks for being honest. Hope date night went well. I have heard that most of the European cars are really hard to work on.

Thanks for reminding me why I don't own any VW/Audi products. My last one was a New Beetle I bought for my wife. Wes is right. If it is plastic and you touch it, it breaks. And if it can be made of plastic instead of metal it will be, including hose clamps and water pumps. And everything is designed with no thought for ease of repair or maintenance.

I once owned a Porsche 944. I complained to the dealer about the cost of parts. His response was "be glad it's not an Audi". I made sure to never buy any German car again. This was in the early 90's...

Wes, it might be time for that customer to invest in a bicycle.😁

Actually I've seen a very distinctive decline in quality considering Continental belts. I know a lot of people who's complete engine had to be scrapped because a conti timing belt just shredded on its own after 5000km, with no alignment problems or anything. Even had an issue where a conti accessory belt blew up, and got eaten by the timing belt, so same issue engine scrapped... I don't know where continental belts are manufactured that we europeans get, but I hope its not the same as for you in the US. (I clearly see this is not the case here, just sharing info) Hope it will work fine now, nice job as always, keep it up!

May the repair gods bless you Wes!

Walden Pond is not all it's cranked up to be. Been there. Keep fighting the good fight in IL.

This shows me just how easy I had it when I was working on my 93 SC T-bird. And I thought changing the plugs was challenging. That work for a belt is crazy.

The headlight washer is a European Union thing. The regulation for it actually gives you the recipe for the proper dirt to certify it. And to be fair, a dirty high power light will be even more blinding to oncoming traffic that it normally is.

Sorry you are dealing with this crap. I wish I had a mechanic/ technician as good as you. I have seen you take on jobs 99% of shops would not touch. Stay Strong. Your a master mechanic!

Dang. One more video why I like old vehicles rather than new ones. I prefer nothing newer than the mid 60's. I learned on the 1939 Chevy which is still one of my favorite cars. Man you did a fantastic job of repairing, repairing, repairing and repairing this car. You might consider moving and or changing your phone number so you never see this car again. Enjoy the movie and snacks. Thanks for the videos.

That die hard hat is awesome.

Thank you Wes. Too bad Audi didn't have an indicator line/groove/dimple, on the outer pulley, something to help visually identify if it ever slips from position. Have a blessed week to you and your family.

That's crazy. But you did a great job fixing it ✌️🙏

Wes, I love watching you all the time, you do great viedos!!! I used to work at an Audi dealership, and you must remember, that is a Fine, German, Luxury car. It's not a cheap ass Buick!!!

As Dirty Harry said "A man has got to know his limitations". I will work on practically anything from a car, to a weed wacker, to a washing machine. I draw the line with some cars and jobs. Audi starts my list. Ivan from PHD puts it aptly: Eurotrash.

What's worse than a 13 y/o Audi? Very few things.

Hope you and Madame enjoy the movie… thanks for posting this one!

My wife asked, "what are you watching?" I said a soothing video, she said "crickets chirping?" I said no, Wes whining. makes me feel like I am not alone. 100% this issue is not on you, I think you are honest and should have a very satisfied customer.

As a guy that works exclusively on Volkswagens, you learn to quote every possible component related to the failed part. If the customer is a seasoned euro car owner they won’t even blink at the cost. The learning curve is to just accept that it’s quicker and easier to just pull the front end, subframe, dash, etc, whatever is in the way. It’s how these cars are designed to be repaired.

Yay! Been waiting 😃

In 2003 Volkswagen released a very nifty family sedan on the south African Market. The VW POLO 1.4 TDi. It was turbo charged with only three cylinders. The ride was smooth and it took the open road very well. Then, one day, I had to replace a headlight lamp. On the left front of the engine bay, you had to remove the battery and the battery box to do this. On the right front, you had to unmount and move out of the way the Diesel filter! Apart from that, a nice little car!