A7 V-Belt Failure

[AK88]

Hi All,

My 2012 A7 was making a whining noise for a few weeks, louder under cold start and then quietens down after being driven and the engine hot, I had a look in the engine bay whilst the engine was running and felt it was around the belt area and had the car booked in at my local service centre.

The belt looked in good condition so continued to use the car, unfortunately last week whilst driving I had a few warning lights appear firstly Battery not charging, then alternator fault and finally no coolant – Stop car.

I was looking for a place to stop as soon as the first warning on battery came up as I knew the best must have let go. I didn’t continue driving long until I got into a layby.

The belt had disintegrated and snapped, a coolant pipe knocked and no coolant in the bottle – car recovered back to garage.

My question is – is this belt a serviceable item? I’ve always booked the car in for servicing at the main dealer and they have never raised this as needing changing? I appreciate I have a duty to look into these things independently but not being up to speed with maintenance requirements I’m not sure whats required. also unsure how much this is going to cost - should the water pump be changed whilst this work is being done?

The car has done 110000miles now so any advice on what else needs to be done and what enhanced servicing would be good practice for a car of this mileage?

Any advice welcomed,

[Crasher]

There is no interval, it is purely visual and audible observation when servicing, I have known a failing front pulley on the V6 TDI to cause this.