Alright, I went down to Sear's and bought a handheld scanner to pull the codes. Here's what I have:

P0341 : Camshaft position sensor A circuit range/performance (bank 1 or single)

P0300 : Random misfire detected

P0301 : Cylinder 1 misfire detected

P0303 : Cylinder 3 misfire detected

P0302 : Cylinder 2 misfire detected

Does this help at all?

 

Coil packs

 

Could very well be belt skipped and now timing is off on bank 1. If the cam sensor had failed the engine would be running quite normally, not making any weird noises. The cam sensor is giving you the clue here - it isn't seeing what it wants to see. Misfires would be as a result of a timing problem. It's easy to confirm timing and a *must do* before running the engine again. It's about $4K to fix if valves hit pistons!

 

Thank you again guys for all of your help. I truley appreciate it.

@ Loach1, so I'll just follow your instructions here, but there are 2 things I am not clear of:

First, the "marks line up with the arrow" Are you refering to timing marks? What marks am I looking for to line up with the arrow.

And last, the "cam alignment plate holes". It sounds like each cam has a row of holes that are sopposed to line up in a stright line with each other once the marks and arrow line up. So by useing the yardstick as a refernce, I'll be able to tell if they are infact in a straight line right? If it is off, will it be a real noticeable difference?

Thank you again for your help man!!!!

 

The mark (just one) is a notch on the crankshaft pulley and it must line up with the arrow on a plastic cover just behind the pulley - you'll probably need a flashlight to see what I'm talking about. Only turn clockwise to keep the belt taught.

Once you have that set you can check the cam alignment. The cam pulleys don't have any marks but the camshafts do have these alignment plates with 'ears' sticking out that have holes in them. When setting the timing a bar is inserted in these holes to keep the cams steady while the pulley bolts are tightened, so if they are all in a nice horizontal line you are good to go. If they are off by a noticeable degree, your timing is off and you need to investigate why. Often it is a seized pulley or water pump bearing.

 

Hey Loach1, thank you again for your help. I'm about to try to get a look at things and see what's up. I'll post back here with the results.

It's funny that you should mention a frozen water pump or pully as I just posted this up a few days ago. I'm sure it's related.

https://www.audiforums.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=114772

 

It looks more and more like you just dodged a bullet! My A6 is a 'rescue car' - the timing belt broke on the previous owner due to the water pump failing. I have rescued VAG V6's with as little as 55K miles with broken/jumped timing belts.

Keep us posted - if you can DIY (have time, location to work and motivation), I can help you through!

 

You are the man! This is the reason I love being part of forums like this. If you ever have any questions regarding body work/paint I'll be glad to help you out (if I can still remember)!

The thing that sucks with this is it looks like I'm going to have to remove the front clip just to be able to get at the crank......

I'll keep you posted!

 

Really? I have a 2.7T and if I remove the intake duct to the airbox and disconnect the passenger side air tube at the top and the bolt that holds it to the timing cover, I can reach it with my long torque wrench. I think it can be tackled from under the car too, with the splash guard removed, but haven't tried it.

I might take you up on the bodywork help some day - that is definitely not a strength of mine!

 

Lol, thanks again Loach. You just let me know if I can return the favor. My 1/2 drive is relativly short, so maybe I'll just stop by Sear's and by a longer one.

BTW, I dropped my belly pan and there were 2 small steal ball bearings about 1/8" diameter rolling around on it. Any Idea where these baerings may have come from?