The timing belt broke on my daughters A4. It's a 1.8. What kind of damage does this cause and what can I expect to pay. It's a 2003.

That is an interference engine. That means that if timing belt breaks there is a good possibility of having bent valves. If valves are bent the head will have to be removed and the valves replaced.

i tell my customers all the time to stay away from the euro cars they are the most expensive and very few shops will want to work on them. In 30 plus years all customers always ask what the best car ? I tell them you should ask whats the least cars my shop works on and we take all models you cant be selective and survive in this world. But in 30 years we have only did maybe 15 Subarus yes we are a Transmission shop but also have complete auto care even to tires. when we see a subaru its at death door with average miles of 200,00 to 400,000 miles. i am not of fan of subaru but thats the only company that makes every thing on there car and partners with no other company. Ford owns mazda,and jaguar they use chevy transmissions in there new edge line and some of there cars and use aisin warner transmissions with mazda lol chevy owns opel and has the leading stock owner of toyota and owns saab car company me i promote honda and acura but subarus hold the lowest maintenance field just avoid the euro cars. your 1.8 if it broke and died and no one tried to Whale on the starter turning it over trying to start it.you got a 50 50% change no damage occurred. a simple valve cover removal will yield your answer with out little cost most shops offer Free diagnostics if your A4 is a ultra nice clean low miles car with value then fix it.but if you have abused and not care for it then play dumb sell on craigslist it wont run and get max cash and invest in something that has great track records. now that doesn't mean i am saying buy american cars lol..get phone quotes on phone out the door we do it.and it get set in stone.if its a 1,000 or 10 bucks over quote we eat it...there are good honest shops left out there but you have to look hard. we have never advertised not even phone book. Good shop don't need to that

Her and her fiancé just bought it from a private seller a few days ago. A friend of theirs is a mechanic. He's going to fix it. Some bad valves I guess. But as far as getting any money back , I think their screwed.

While they replacing the timing belt I advice to also replace the water pump, tensioner and pulleys too. You can get a timing belt kit that will have everything you need to have it back to good as new and no worries for another 90k miles.

Now that kit won't have the valves in it. Only the timing belt and all related parts.

if it was a few days ago and if it was at a dealer they would be obligated to repair it. if it was from a single owner then yes they are screwed. Also keep in mind audi's and vw's are tricky vehicles to work on so make sure there mechanic fried does every thing to spec or they will just blow up the engine. You are lucky this was not a v6 model cause it would a run a risk of damaging pistons as well. Replace all the all the timing belts pulleys tension and hardware, as well as water pump and thermal stat. Also have them replace the serpentine tensionor and idler pulleys. while they have the head apart they will need a head-cover kit which will come with cam seals and timing seals. If your in the states order the parts threw http://www.blauparts.com/ it is the best kit place for the best price it also has step by step video instructions on the web site

how would you know if the pistons were damaged? would i be better off just replacing the whole engine instead of trying to replace the timing belt, pulleys, and water pump? i just bought the car 2 months ago and i knew from the get go that i would have to put some money into it, but i want to go the least expensive route... any advise

it all depends all audi and vw engines are interference engines which means you lose a timing belt it often breaks and bends parts that become costly. With a busted belt it all depends how fast the engine was turned off but even a split second can damage a valve and make it needed to be replaced. A single head is easier to get done but you will need the head rebuilt. This requires the head removed the pistons inspected and the valves done. A specialized shop can do the work but i guarantee it will be cheaper then a full engine replacement. what i said before will need to be done thats a give in but this step is a must. If you can pickup another car cheap i might recommend that but if the car you have now is still in decent shape i would jsut bite the bullet and have it fixed. Shop around tell them what needs to be done and ask for the cost offer cash and you can get a better deals in most places. But be sure to take it to a vw/audi specialist shop Only.