HELP, anyone??

[takingcareofbuisness]

Hi there, was just wondering if anyone could put some advice my way?

I have recently purchased an audi a4 2.5 tdi quattro sport, unfortunately within two weeks the power steering belt snapped and knocked out the cam belt by a couple of teeth. The engine still runs but on further inspection I have found the cams to be worn.

I have read a few articles and am aware it is a common problem, the wear is across and 4 camshafts and is probably around just over .5mm at the highest points on the lobes.

It has been suggested just to time it back up with new belts and replace tensioners and water pump, however I am worried that I have no idea how long the cams will last before they seriously start effecting the performance of the vehicle or if they may even fail altogether.

The dealership I bought it from are being very alkward and will not refund or repair and it will take three months to take them to court and I really just need my car back on the road asap.

Can anyone shed some light on this subject?

Thank you. Jon

 

[quattrojames]

Welcome to the forum Jon :sign_welcome:

What age is the car and how many miles have it done?

Are you sure there is no other damage to the cams or valvegear? Mine did a similar thing and jumped four teeth and it wrecked it!

 

[takingcareofbuisness]

its 2001 and has covered 160,000 mile but has full audi service history. won't be sure of any other damage until i take off the heads but don't really wanna go that route if I don't have too still runs just a bit rough so I hoping ther damage isn't to great. what did you do?

 

[quattrojames]

I sourced a replacement engine for mine in the end. The damage to the cams and fingers and valves made it more economic to do this. The problem was bits of the fingers had broken and gone down into the oil ways etc, and I was advised that no amount of oil flush could guarantee to get them all out. And then one could come free at any time and wreck the engine a second time.

I think you just need to take the heads off and see what you're up against and make a decision from there.

You're really not alone with this problem, but at that mileage I would think it's better to replace the cams anyway while the engine is apart.

 

[takingcareofbuisness]

Thanks James, will pull it into the workshop this weekend. Do you know of anywhere to get either replacement engine or cams for a reasonable price? have checked ebay but these engines seem to be quite rare unless the heads are the same as the allroad 2.5 tdi engines?
also I am struggling to find technical detail on this engine it is not in any of the off the shelf manuals (haynes etc) I can find. Is there somewhere I can download a digital copy of a workshop manual for the engine?
Many thanks Jon

 

[quattrojames]

I can't help you with the manuals as I didn't do the work myself. Have you tried VAG-cat.com? That can be quite good, or a copy of Elsawin off ebay? Or maybe even a US spec Bentley manual? I doubt that covers the diesel though .....

I imagine yours would also be the AKE engine code (is it quattro?) - engines are about if you hunt the recon suppliers, I will PM you tomorrow the details of the place I got mine from - it was a bit of a horror story which I will cover briefly (very!), I wouldn't 100% recommend them, but there are some mega cowboys out there selling engines, so it may be a case of better the devil you know!

Find out your engine code first off mate, i will PM you tomorrow :thumbsup:

 

[takingcareofbuisness]

Yeh its a quattro and in one of the service certificates it states that the engine code is AKE but I haven't checked the engine itself yet. yeh if you could that would be great. cheers.

 

[BahnStormer77]

pretty sure the AKE engine that we've got in the 2.5 TDI Quattro is the same as the Allroad...

 

[quattrojames]

Yes it is, and in the normal A6 also, as long as it's the quattro set up, as I don't know if it's just the fuel pump thats different or the injectors also.

There are lots of different codes for this engine, and I think the engine is largely the same for most applications. Any exhange engine will require you to use your fuel pump so will probably need a fine tune with Vag-COM when done anyway.

 

[quattrojames]

Any news?

I'm sorry I totally forgot to PM you today, will try and do it after work tomorrow.

 

[takingcareofbuisness]

Sorry I didnt message back, I managed to lock myself out of my account.

Ok, took the plunge yesterday and had my car trailered back to my work. After removing the front end and the mangled mess of remains from the crankshaft pulley I was able to remove the cover and see that actually my cambelt hadn't slipped a tooth as all the timing pins lined up with the holes and the noise was most probably the remains of the belts rubbing the cranshaft pulley.
So I put back on what I had too just to run the engine, and she ran fine.
Have now repace cambelt and tensioner along with various other components and I'm just waiting on dvd rom manual before doing the alternator belt then should hopefully just be able to give her a service and be on my way.

Did however notice that it was slightly noisier than before from the deisel pump but am guessing that the garage that told me it was going to cost me over 3K must have got some dirt in the fuel lines to the injectors when they inspected the "knackered cams".

Lesson learn't don't trust garages!!!!

Thanks for all your help will post up when I finish off and put up some pics. Just got to wait for this manual now unless anyone has the diagram for auxillary drivebelts? looked online but can't find them anywhere.