Ok, I just purchased a '98 A6 with 120k. I'm wondering if there is a way to tell when the last time it had the timing belt changed? Would car fax show that kind of information? Would there be any other tell tale signs on the car (probably not, but I thought I'd ask).
Thanks, B
other than a FULL service history, very difficult, if not impossible.
but a good point of discussion...............how.
colour coded belts.
original - Black first change - Blue Band/stripe second change - Green Band/stripe
etc
Really or are you pulling my uninformed leg??
my thoughts on how to keep track of changes.
I'm not even sure you can tell by inspecting it, unless it was in really bad shape. And of course, if you're gonna go that far you might as well just replace it. Carfax doesn't have that level of detail - it will occasionally show some service details, but it's a garbage-in, garbage-out system. Did you buy it from a dealer or a private party? I assumed you asked them. If they don't know, I would change it out, along with the water pump.
Dan D '04 A4 1.8Tq MT-6 Central NJ USA
Small used car place, no service documentation. I asked, they didn't know. Is there a way you can look up a car's previous owner as a bit of public record?
This would only work if they've been fully serviced at a main dealer, which would then be on the dealers computerised records. If they've changed to independents, which is likely, then the only way to know is to ask who's been servicing it for the past few years, or contact the prev owner yourself. When I got my mk2 Golf the books were stamped but no receipts, so I dropped the prev owner a letter which he actually followed up and called me, though by this time I'd had the campbelt done out of precaution. This info is of more use when the previous owners have had the car a while, if they've only had it 6 months this may be more tricky to info glean.
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