North Snohomish county Mechanic?

[cgcook]

Just got an 02 golf tdi a few weeks ago. I want to replace place the timing belt and get some other work done to it. Anyone know of a good mechanic up my way? I living in Arlington. I was quoted 1250 at one shop but that seems really high to me. Hell the timing belt on my subaru was only 850 bucks and thats a hell of a lot harder job. I was gonna just do the work myself but I dont have the tools available to do the job right. Thanks

 

[RacerTodd]

Give Matthew at Zahntech a call. They're down in Redmond, but they know their TDIs and I've heard nothing but good things about them. http://www.zahntechauto.com/

 

[ymz]

ZahnTech is excellent... User "Slamhouse" in Stanwood may be a bit cheaper... he also knows these cars... [FONT=&quot]http://forums.tdiclub.com/member.php?u=220556

[/FONT]Yuri[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

 

[Ed's TDI]

I've met Matthew at a couple of the Lake Stevens GTG and he's a good guy. From what everyone says, he's very good as far as working on our cars too. Not so sure slamhouse is gonna continue working on TDIs from his last post on someone else's thread looking for a mechanic recently, but you never know until you ask.

 

[jetta-girl]

Diesel Outfitters in North Smokey Point, just past the Longhorn Saloon in the same building as Springer Equipment. They work on TDIs - let 'em know Jetta Girl sent you.
360-386-9608

Or, if you are up for a trip, JS Performance is the other place I trust my car to. They are just over the Canadian border in Abbotsford. Let them know I sent you, too.
1-877-557-7900

 

[cgcook]

Thanks for all the reply gentlemen, and lady ;-). Looks like when it rains it pours. While going thru the car getting ready to fix a leaking vacuum pump and valve cover, i noticed the coolant may have been mixed or the wrong coolant put in. So now on top of having to do the struts, brakes, fixing the oil leak and the timing belt, i have to figure out whats up with the coolant system. Its days like this when you just wanna bang your head into a wall lol.

 

[slamhouse]

Did you find a good shop to take the car to?

 

[cgcook]

I've been calling around getting a couple quotes from various shops most all of them range from 1100 to 1200 for parts and labor to change the timing belt, pullies, tensioner, serpentine and water pump plus fluids. To me 850 to 900 in labor seems a bit much concidering a full kit from kermatdi runs round 350 and that things ill need when i wanna clean out the intake as well. Between reading thru manuals and watching some of the videos online, so long as nothing catastrophic goes wrong, does this job really take 9-10 hrs to do? Im assuming a 85 dollar labor rate.

 

[romad]

Well, there is always GURU OldPoopie down Portland, Oregon way.

 

[TDI smile]

For a good Mechanic I drive MANY miles
VW Guru - 130 km
MB Guru in Edmonton, AB 1,100 km

 

[cgcook]

With the amount of work that i keep finding the more i look at it. I decided to just leave it parked up in the garage for the time being. Ill drive my wrx for the next few weeks while i get the parts and tools together. I just; found the guy out in pa that rents the timing belt tools for 45 bucks. But while looking around more it looks like ive got some oil seaping from the charge pipe connect between the turbo and intercooler.So more and more the work list builds. I plan on keeping the car for the long run so i might as well learn everything i can about working on these and just learn to do it all myself. The biggest thing i see is the assortment of tools that i need to get in the mean time. all the triple square bits, hex bits, and the stuff for the tight spaces. Ive got a good base of tools from working on my subarus, but these vw's need a whole assortment of different tools and bits that i dont have yet. time to go tool shopping :-D

 

[kiwibru]

You will continually find the need for additional tools for your VW. Just when you think you have the bases all covered another OEM tool situation will jump up at you and off you go looking for the next tool. I don't know which is worse, the upgrade pathway or the must have tool pathway. Maybe it's a snake eating it's own tail? Have fun!

 

[cgcook]

I know all about the upgrade pathway been doing that with my wrx for a few years. once you get the bug your hooked.