My water pump went up on my 2003 A6 4.2 purchased new. Went out of warranty, so I am repairing it myself. I have the Bentley Publishing CD for assisitance in repairing.

I opted not to tear the front end off, and have managed to get to the exposed toothed timing belt with-out too many brused knuckles. I am having trouble getting the two cam gears to line up when at the TDC mark. I took the right side passenger side valve cover off to confirm when the valves are closed.

I have removed the crank sealing plug and am trying to get the threaded clamping bolt 3242 to lock the crank. The clamping bolt bottoms out all the way into the block, but I can still turn the crank from the pulley center bolt. Not certain if the clamping bolt is the correct length. I know I am at TDC by checking the top piston travel trough #1 spark plug hole. I have also rotated the crank completely around while probing into the block to determine if the crank counter balance is near the sealing plug hole. I can not see into the hole directly, so I can only base this on the use of a small screw driver.

I have reviewed other 4.2 forum info, but have not found any helpful info there. Has any one replaced a timing belt on a late model 4.2 and could offfer some advice or assistance?

 

You can't just check the TDC by visual inspection. Timing is really critical you you need to set that correctly. If you are off by a tooth, it will throw a code. Once the cams get out of sync with the crank, which just happend, youneed cam lignment tool. And to locate the crank on TDC, there is a marking on the pulley which lines up with another marking on the block around 12 o'clock position. But since your front end is not out, it will be hard to locate that. Anyways, once you roughly get the TDC marks aligned, then open the sealing plug, which is located on the left rear of the block. You should be able to feel drilling inside where the locking screw screws into.

Hope this helped, and good luck. If you are uncomfortable, then I say you take it into a shop. I always think it is better to lose your pride a bit than to blow up the more.

 

I'm impressed you were able to get access to the timing belt without removing the front end. If you're successful, it would really be helpful to the rest of us if you could give detailed instructions on how to do this job. Good luck.

 

Yes, there is a white mark on the pulley which lines up with a "v" notch on one of the plastic cam covers. I can see it down through the top of the engine compartment. This mark does line up when the piston is at the top of it's travel (as measured through #1 spark plug hole). I have the sealing plug removed and have seated the locking bolt into the threaded plug opening. It is bottoming out on it's sholder as far as it will go into the block.

Problem is that it is not locking or stopping the crank from turning. I thinkI may have been shipped the wrong clamping bolt. I ordered it from ZDMAK tools along with the camshaft locking bar. The bar fits correctly across both cams. When I re-looked at the larger picture of the bolt, the one i was sent has more knurled surface than the one pictured. If someone has one in their toolbox and could measure it.

The one I was sent is 3.115 inches long, with a 0.3625 diameter pin end. From the tip of the pin to where the knurl starts is 2.0 inches (which is how much protrusion depthI get into the block). The pictured part from the ZDMAK site looks to have much less knurled length, which if the overall length is the same, it would yield more engagement into the engine block.

I am not in any hurry to get my A6 back on the road. Luckily,I have an older truck to drive whileI fix my A6.

 

I replaced my timming belt on my 2000 4.2 with a kit from blauparts and I also rented their tools.
blauparts paperworksaid to be absolutley certain that my #1 piston be at top dead centerwhen installing the new belt.
So, after making sure everything is on the mark I discover that #1 is NOT at top dead center! WHAT THE HELL!!
So now I call blauparts ( after a while I got to talk to a real human ) and ask for an explenation and he says that the #1 piston ruledoes not always apply, as in this case.
If it were me I would put a socket and breaker bar on the crank with the crank on its mark and thread the crank pin in a couple of threads at a time while gently rocking the crank shaft back and forth so as to center its location.
Curious as to why you do not want to remove front end. Its not that big a deal

 

I have done just that. Rocked the crank back and forth trying to set the lock pin into a center location. I believe my problem is that the lock pinI purchased/received is too short so as not to reach the TDC drilling in the crank. With the lock pin I have, it bottoms out 2 inches from the surface of the block. I am 100% positive I am at the top piston travel on the #1 piston (passsenger side front). I used a rod and dial caliper through the spark plug hole to read the top travel of the piston. Since the locking pinmay not be long enough to lock the crank, I can not remove the center bolt on the crank pulley (shaft rotates). In order to remove/replace the belt, the pulley has to be removed. I also have a new belt tensioner whosemounting bolt can only be acessed with the pulley off. By the way, the clearance betwen the pulley and radiator fan is just barely enough to get the pulley removal tool in there. I most probable will need to remove the electric fan to get clearance for the tool.

Not sure what you mean the #1 piston TDC does not always apply. Did the lock pin line up at a location other than #1 piston TDC? If so, how many degrees before/after TDC did it line up? I assume you were successful in replacing your timing belt? Car ran fine after replacing with same great low end torque and throttle response? Any little head-aches or lessons learned?

On the question of the front end removal. Since my engine is relatively new (2003, just coming out of factory warranty), you can not get a Haynes hard text Manual. Only one available is the Bentleyon a CD. The diagrams are just that, diagrams and not real photos. The detail is real poor. I have always used Haynes on all of my previous older Audi's and have found the Haynes manuals to be the best and very useful. With the Bentley version, and my model year having a lot of newer sensors, it seemed to be a real pain to remove. Auto leveling Xenon lamps, etc. Plus all the disconecting of the coolant, radiator, A/C hoses going to the front end. Any clue as to how differet a 2000 is vs a 2003?

 

When you are able to get that lock pin in the crank, your #1 piston will NOT BE at TDC.
you need to forget where the pistons are at and go by your marks!
I know this.
I have done this.
try putting the crank pin all the way in and then, with a socket and ratchet or breaker bar rotate the engine.
If you can rotate your engine more than 360 degrees, than you are right, the pin is to short.
If , while rotating your engine, you come to an abrupt stop, your pin is long enough, its just not in the hole.
Do not forget to pretension your timming belt.
As to he front end, rad lines,AC lines are designed with enough strech in them so they do not have to be disconnected.
hope this helps! BENG

 

Beng....Rotated the engine and hit a stop point. Rotated the other direction and hit another stop point. Good news is the lock pin is the correct length. Removed the lock pin and located to the midpoint and replaced the lock pin. Got the crank to lock. My dampener has two marks on it. A white painted line which faced down at approx 6 o'clock and a groove which is located at around the 2:30 location.

Spent the rest of the week-end brusing my arms and knuckles (front end still on the car). Good news was I was able to completely remove/replace the timing belt and water pump (also replaced thermostat and both tensioners and idler). Cams were locked in position with the camshaft securingbar tool. I set the pre-tension per Bentley directions. Torqued cam sprockets to spec and removed crank lockpin. Went to rotate engine. Hit stop points in both directions.

Clockwise after around 90 degrees clockwise (facing engine) crank rotation and around 45 degrees counterclockwise I am reaching a point of resistance/interferance. I beleive it may be the crank is not alligned properly to the cams and may be valve to piston interference.

Is it posible there are two sets of drillings in the crank and I set the lock pin into the wrong one?