My Experience with Hill Side Imports - here in Portland, Oregon

[cruzanrs6]

Just thought I'd share with you the Great experience I hade on some major service I just had completed. Shopped around the area here in PDX (Matrix, Hillside and Wilsonville Audi) on getting the t-belt, control arms and valve cover/cam seals replaced. The stealer was going to want around $3k (P&L) for just the t-belt. Matrix was adamant about using only genuine Audi parts (which were going to run about $1.4 K -for the FULL t-belt kit, their labor was going to be about $1.1K). Hill side was perfectly willing to use the kit that I purchased from ECS Tuning (I spoke to them at length about the parts they were using and determined I was ok with it). So I dropped the car off Monday morning with my parts (Also bought the control arms (Meyle HD's) and valve cover gasket kit from ECS. Spent about $800 for all the parts. Hillside's total bill was $2125 (t-belt, lower control arms, and right side only valve cover/cam seals (left side showed no signs of issues/leaks) + 12k/12mth warranty. I stopped by on the second day and Luke (Tech working on the car) spend about 1/2 hour going over the underside of the car - everything else looked great. They provided me with a loaner car for the 2.5 days that they had the car and to top it off a very nice bottle of Pinot Noir - it helped to swallow the bill.
Finally I wanted to point out that I wound up going 5 years and 49.5K on this interval for the t-belt. Everything in the belt path (rollers, water pump, tensioner and belt/s) really looked and felt fine/smooth. Not sure what all the concern is on the 25 - 35 K Audi required interval for the service.

Regards

[DHall1]

I have seen a few 50k+ intervals on the belt. I would say your location helps.....cooler climate.

One of the reasons i cool down and pop the hood after long runs......i dont live in a cool climate. Doh

[lswing]

Glad that it held up, but not a game I'd play. Rather spend a few hundred extra and not have to worry about my engine detonating:)

When the car was last apart we replaced the small upper rollers, which were showing a good amount of play after 20k miles. Now would they have lasted 50k, maybe, but they were certainly getting sloppy.

[ben916]

I have seen a few 50k+ intervals on the belt. I would say your location helps.....cooler climate.

One of the reasons i cool down and pop the hood after long runs......i dont live in a cool climate. Doh

Come on up! The Kool-Aid is Kool! All the Kool Kids are doing it!

I remember you popping the hood on the Julian trip and thinking you were nuts... little did I know that you were correct.
Popping the hood helps cool the beast!

[DHall1]

Well, Iam nuts. I carry a portable generator and fan now days. Lol



I remember you popping the hood on the Julian trip and thinking you were nuts... little did I know that you were correct.
Popping the hood helps cool the beast!

[lswing]

Well, Iam nuts. I carry a portable generator and fan now days. Lol

Gonna need a pic of this "mod"...looking forward to moving back to the NE or NW, the beast was not made for southern heat.

[G2]

Just spoke to a fellow P-town (Portland, OR) RS6'er who got brake rotors from me today. Of course, was curious who he goes to for service.

With 170K+ miles asked about the Timing Belt. He stated the dealer said it was a 120K mile service item.......I about choked.

EGADS, really?? An Audi DEALER is spouting this type of non-sense. No wonder VAG went to timing chains on everything! (of course this isn't the real reason, just my cynical criticism)

Duly informed the Gent, that might be a guaranteed way of ruining his day for many days in a row.

[fukinavit]

Just spoke to a fellow P-town (Portland, OR) RS6'er who got brake rotors from me today. Of course, was curious who he goes to for service.

With 170K+ miles asked about the Timing Belt. He stated the dealer said it was a 120K mile service item.......I about choked.

EGADS, really?? An Audi DEALER is spouting this type of non-sense. No wonder VAG went to timing chains on everything! (of course this isn't the real reason, just my cynical criticism)

Duly informed the Gent, that might be a guaranteed way of ruining his day for many days in a row.

you hear so many timing belt scare stories but I wonder how many have actually failed?
I have a selection of audis with tbelts, my RS, my 2.7t and the wifes 3.0. ive done the belts on all of them and they have never had any components that were in too bad a shape that I wouldn't reuse. When I got my RS, it had full dealer history from day 1. the previous owner was v wealthy and always had what ever needed to be done, he even took it there to have screen wash and wiper blades!. When I was looking to buy the car he forwarded me on the complete itemised dealer history. I noticed that with 200k kms on the car the belt had only been changed at 50k and then 125k. I called them up and spoke to the service manager who knew the owner and car very well and asked why. He said that they treat the rs6 the same as the naturally aspirated 4.2 unless the belt shows signs of wear at inspection intervals or the owner regularly tracks the car. I did change the belt and all components at 202k, but with 77k on all the components everything still looked great and would have reused except the two upper idlers which were just starting to get a little rumbly.
I strongly believe that climate plays a huge role in engine bay component life. I live in alberta Canada, so not really many hot days and I recently pulled the engine to address issues of 200k rs6 engine. my surprise was how good everything was. oil pipe was still perfect even tho I still replaced with bufkin. slight leak at valve covers, front main crank seal and driver side cam seal. did a whole bunch of other mods and maintenance while I was there but all in all those were the only components that had actual issues.

[DHall1]

I can see the logic in this thinking. I have always said upper rollers every time and lowers every other.

And i will keep popping my hood and blowing my fans


you hear so many timing belt scare stories but I wonder how many have actually failed?
I have a selection of audis with tbelts, my RS, my 2.7t and the wifes 3.0. ive done the belts on all of them and they have never had any components that were in too bad a shape that I wouldn't reuse. When I got my RS, it had full dealer history from day 1. the previous owner was v wealthy and always had what ever needed to be done, he even took it there to have screen wash and wiper blades!. When I was looking to buy the car he forwarded me on the complete itemised dealer history. I noticed that with 200k kms on the car the belt had only been changed at 50k and then 125k. I called them up and spoke to the service manager who knew the owner and car very well and asked why. He said that they treat the rs6 the same as the naturally aspirated 4.2 unless the belt shows signs of wear at inspection intervals or the owner regularly tracks the car. I did change the belt and all components at 202k, but with 77k on all the components everything still looked great and would have reused except the two upper idlers which were just starting to get a little rumbly.
I strongly believe that climate plays a huge role in engine bay component life. I live in alberta Canada, so not really many hot days and I recently pulled the engine to address issues of 200k rs6 engine. my surprise was how good everything was. oil pipe was still perfect even tho I still replaced with bufkin. slight leak at valve covers, front main crank seal and driver side cam seal. did a whole bunch of other mods and maintenance while I was there but all in all those were the only components that had actual issues.

[kruat]

I only have about 15k on my timing belt service, but do have over three years since it was done. All work done at dealer. I'm sitting at 52k now and am getting in gear idle pulley noise. Wasn't planning on doing the belt anytime soon, but plans have changed since the noise has came about, I'm getting nervous.

I had my waterpump fail on my 2.7tt S4 at 70k, luckily I got to it before it caused the belt to fail.

Always better save then sorry, imo.

[G2]

you hear so many timing belt scare stories but I wonder how many have actually failed?
I have a selection of audis with tbelts, my RS, my 2.7t and the wifes 3.0. ive done the belts on all of them and they have never had any components that were in too bad a shape that I wouldn't reuse. When I got my RS, it had full dealer history from day 1. the previous owner was v wealthy and always had what ever needed to be done, he even took it there to have screen wash and wiper blades!. When I was looking to buy the car he forwarded me on the complete itemised dealer history. I noticed that with 200k kms on the car the belt had only been changed at 50k and then 125k. I called them up and spoke to the service manager who knew the owner and car very well and asked why. He said that they treat the rs6 the same as the naturally aspirated 4.2 unless the belt shows signs of wear at inspection intervals or the owner regularly tracks the car. I did change the belt and all components at 202k, but with 77k on all the components everything still looked great and would have reused except the two upper idlers which were just starting to get a little rumbly.
I strongly believe that climate plays a huge role in engine bay component life. I live in alberta Canada, so not really many hot days and I recently pulled the engine to address issues of 200k rs6 engine. my surprise was how good everything was. oil pipe was still perfect even tho I still replaced with bufkin. slight leak at valve covers, front main crank seal and driver side cam seal. did a whole bunch of other mods and maintenance while I was there but all in all those were the only components that had actual issues.

Just noticed this....hmmm. Well sounds like we're talking KM's and Miles? So that might be part of the difference. 200K is only 125K miles south of the border. Just checking....

I'd agree on the climate to certain extent. My car came from southern California, where it's normally hot. For these cars as most know there is a tremendous amount of heat soak effect. While the belt may survive well past the service interval, the upper guide pulleys are unlikely to be so lucky.

A failed t-stat has put me down for some time. Finally have everything apart. The upper pulleys were very dry, sticky, and rough feeling. The grease was slowly bypassing the bearing seals attracting dirt. Feeling a bit lucky the car decided for me. It's also apparent the prior service was just a belt, possibly the waterpump as it's in good shape. However all rotating components are being replaced, tensioner, seals, and even the drive belt tensioner and pulley. Just spent hours hunting down the drive belt upper pulley bearing to no avail. The bracket with bearing is available, but is rather spendy.

Glad to hear your cars are holding up well, and thanks for the input.

[hahnmgh63]

My Wifes D3 A8 (4.2 335bhp) calls for every 75K on the timing belt interval. The rollers and tensioners are all the same as the RS6, it only has one of the small tensioners on top (right side) whereas the RS6 has one on the left & on the right banks.