Greetings,

Black 05 Allroad with just under 200k. ​​​​​​My first Audi. Yes, probably not the best experience, but the price was right since the previous owner was a "dealer service for every problem" type of person, and wanted to get rid of it. Already swapped in new air compressor, PCV system and most of the valve cover/cam/tensioner seals. Also had a timing belt done. Recently stripped a parts car for bodywork, interior trim, COILOVERS!, and some other stuff.
Hoping to put in K04s one day, and do a 6speed swap.
Currently battling my cam chain tensioner. (Tensioner tool snapped off in the tensioner, and then the top pad broke when I was wrestling it to put in gasket). Now engine records bank 1 cams as overly retarded. New tensioner on the way. Learning a lot haha.
Fight on.
-Ash

 

greetings Ash... still nursing my 2001 Allroad 2.7 C5, but only 140k miles. Preparing to do my own work as a new DIY'r, and might like to go to school on some of your experience. Have read several warnings about how the timing tool breaks off during gasket seal change, and wondering how to interpret the warning I've read to "push the tensioner down by hand first before screwing the tool down".. Have no idea how to do that, but apparently this procedure produces failures often if not done carefully.

and what exactly were you referring to when you wrote "...then the top pad broke when... " what has a pad?

Willem_

 

Hi there. Good luck with the future DIY.
The "pad" is what the cam chain runs on. The tensioner sits between the cams and the has an upper, and lower "pad". Its just a curved plastic piece that goes up and down, with hydraulic pressure, to control chain tension.
Get a tensioner tool in your hand, it will make sense. The tool is just a bolt with a sliding plastic part on top, that sits beside the chain, on the top tensioner pad. You screw the bolt into a hole/bracket on the bottom of the tensioner and it pulls the top pad down, thus releasing chain tension.
Don't rely on the tool to do all the work though. They are cheap crap. (Get the 034 tensioner tool if you can) Press the tensioner down being careful not to press on the unsupported ends of the "pad". (They can crack/break off) Then the tool can be screwed in and just HOLD the tensioner down. My tensioner was also damaged, causing the bolt to cross thread and snap off.
Take your time, it's pretty easy if you don't break anything. A huge pita if you do.
CheersAsh

 

bsheers2003 <bsheers2003@gmail.com>

2:31 PM (1 hour ago)

to S4,

thxs for the reply. maybe I'll be able to understand it when the cover is off. I already have the tool, and just
got the gasket set yesterday.... have some other refurbish projects ahead of it. don't understand yet how I 'll be
able to press down by hand by other means than the tool. but I'll probably understand when that comes...

related: everything I read says that valve head gasket leaks are a symptom of a greater cause: that of crankcase
excess heat/air. the breather hoses not doing their job for instance. so intend to attack some of that first, and see if
I can determine if there's a clog in that spider hose, and / or the 'pancake' PVC valve. ...as they say that if these problems
aren't solved, the gasket leaks come right back...


last item: forgot what model you have, but does it have DaytimeRunningLights as stock? ....or are you considering
a fog light conversion to 'acquire' them....?

 

Yeah, excessive crankcase pressure can cause the leaks. They can just leak on their own as well, with time. The PCV system has the main spider hose as well as some vacuum lines and green/black one way check valves. Also the system originates under the intake manifold, in the vee. There are a couple check valves and a crankcase outlet that can become clogged. Also be changing the cam caps, and any cam seals that aren't behind the timing belt sprockets.

I have an Allroad with foglights for DRLs.

 

then your allroad was made for the Canadian market. Mine for the US market, and
fog lights were not set up as DRL's. Am trying to figure out the Canadian wiring
difference, so I can mimic it... but reading electrical diagrams leads me nowhere.

It might be a bit late in your current project process, but I've made contact with
a good used parts distributor down in Arizona. He runs a shop that does a lot
of Manual Transmission conversions, and ends up tearing a lot of audi's down
for their parts. You can check him out at audis4parts.com.

keep in touch.. and thxs for the chat...