Timing chain problems

[ulfilias]

Hi There,

Have had a bit of a rattle from the engine for a little while. Particularly on start up. It has however gotten far worse. Last night i ended up with a stuttery engine and misfires. The right bank (passengers) seemed poor. Due to lpg we could crimp the flow of fuel with pliers and the left side seemed to make things worse. the right side little difference. The noise was also from the right side and sounded chattery.

Taking the cover off showed a loose timing chain with the tensioner missing its plastic (nylon) guide - We found some small bits, but i think quite a bit has been chewed up as we also removed the left hand side to check what things looked like.

Any idea on replacing this. Any diagrams or helpful hints....A nylon wear bit must be easily replaceable ??? *HOPES*

P.s did compression checks and things appear fine.

Thanks,
Lee

[Just_Ben]

Nylon bit should be bonded to the variator mate I'm afraid. These must be replaced as a complete unit and so camshafts need tocome out. You can't quite squeze em out with the shafts in place. There's a tool to wind them in totally but even so they don't make it out.
The missfire will be due to the fact that these tensioners are solely responsible for inlet cam variable timing.
It is not nheard of for these to fail of their own accord but please check your oil pressure too. A blocked oil pump pick up pipe can starve the heads of oil and the first thing to suffer is the variators.

MAKE SURE you follow ELSA to the ltter when replacing variators as if you get the chain or timing belt timing worng (which is easier than it seems) you'll have missfires and faults with crankshaft/camshaft corrolation

[ulfilias]

Hi There,

Thanks AVP - Thought (Hoped) you would chirp in

Its a 2000 S8, AVP engine (FBG, EUU, often comes up 2001)


This is the broken one on the front, right, passenger side



And this is what it should look like - The Back, Left, Drivers side.



Having a flick through the ETK, i get it to be no. 30 on illustration 109-44
Part no. of 077 109 087E

Is that correct ???

When my mechanic was chatting to Audi yesterday they were talking about removing the engine. However that sounds bogus to me. I have details from ELSA under servicing Valve gear for "Removing and installing camshafts and camshaft adjuster" which looks about right ?

[ulfilias]

Hi There,

Thinking about last night and doing some compression runs, we were getting the variator lifting and oil was comming out and lubricating the chain, which i think is a good sign. However an oil change and checking the sump for parts is probably a sensible option i'd have thought !

And i only had that done 6 months ago !!!!

Ta,
Lee

[ulfilias]

Hi There,

Right been on to Audi Huntingdon and the code is now 077109087P As it has been superceeded from the E. Audi is quoting £308.15+v = £362.08 - I checked with Audi Peterborough and its the same price.

A net search is giving an american site with pictures if anyone is interested !
http://www.ecstuning.com/Audi-D2_A8-...ical/ES261322/

[Just_Ben]

No engine removal required - they are talking poo poo!!

[ulfilias]

Thats good....Maybe they thought it was something else.

Have just been looking at things and am i right the timing belt needs to come off ???

Is this a job i should move to the Audi dealer due to tools....The cam shaft removal mentions 3366 (£15 via ebay, dunno if Audi sells it or Halfords)

However it mentions removing the toothed belt (cam belt) which apears to be a load of special tools and probably front end removal ???

I guess i should be able to get a quote off Audi.....Although i know huntingdon are tetchy about my car due to the LPG (although i can't see why i woud affect in this case as its already part dismantled ???

Any ideas on costs ???

Thanks,
Lee

[Just_Ben]

Tming belt definately needs removing as cams need to be removed.
For a full timing belt, tensioners, poly belt and coolant pump change I charge about £450, not sure what Audi charge..... You'd then add the cost of the variator, a cam cover gasket (about £25 each) and about another 2hours labour.

The belt MUST be fitted properly using the correct tools mate!

[ulfilias]

Hi there,

Well, with the Variator at £360+450+£50+2hrs labour, you aint getting much back from a grand then !

All for a bit of bonded nylon....Which i almost question the sense of having in an engine enviroment to start with and even less with the thought that they seem to be nasty to replace.....You *WOULD* have thought that a wear surface should be reasonably easy to replace ???

*sigh*

Can see Audi being 1.5x that, maybe even 2x......Starts me questioning the sense of doing it

[Just_Ben]

Unless they break like this though they rarely fail or wear at all. I have seen these variators manage well over 300kmiles without excessive signs of wear.
It is very unfortunate that they've broken but relatively rare to be honest