hi everyone im new here, hope someone would be able to help me out.
so here is the story:
my 2000 a6 2.8l quatro avant has about 161,000 miles on it
about a 1000 mile ago i had the timing belt, water pump, o2 sensors,engine oil,filters, spark plugs, valve cover gasket, cam tensioner gasket all replaced
i think thats all i had done
oh and one of the engine mounts and a coolant transfer tube behind the engine (the tube had a hole in it)
any way i drove it, it felt great, i was redlining pretty often too and it seemed flawless.
one day im driving on the highway doing about 130mph lol and i start hearing this clicking/ticking noises that seems to get faster as the rpm goes up.
i drive it to my shop, and at first they thought it could be a cam tensioner. it ended up being the camshaft it self got worn (didnt get proper lubing because of sludge??) and there is metal shavings in there but they say that we caught it early enough so there isnt any damage to other things from the metal shavings.
they quote me $2060 to replace the camshaft clean the shavings out and the sludge.
my questions are like this: i bought the car for about 5000 spent another 3,000 on all the work that was done and now to get the car running again it will be another 2000 so the car would be at $10,000 now. is it worth it to fix?
is there any other common big problems i should be aware of with this type of engine?
and do you think $2060 for the job is a good price?

 

For a Martian familiar to get Earthly vehicles with a Bentley Publishers Manual needed is (Yoda speaking is)...

Buy yourself a Bentley manual, buy a new camshaft and do the replacement yourself. You have all the information needed in there.
Assuming you have a DOHC engine, as I neither have a quattro, nor a cam chain tensioner I have a question that your fellow 30v co-forumists can surely answer to:
does resplacing the tensioner gasket entail in any shape or form fiddling with the camshaft or any bearing caps?
If that's the case, is it possible they screwed up the tightening torques which caused play in your camshaft?
They should fix it for free if that's the case, since they performed the service.
If that's not the case, then get yourself a manual and get busy. Save yourself some moeny.

 

Chefro,

He was doing 130 MPH (if you believe him) and bouncing off of redline so any damage he did is his fault, not any mechanic. You play, you pay.

The question is what can you get for the car as-is and combining that with the $2060 what kind of car can you get? I think the Audi would be your best bet. The price is fair considering the work involved.

But, if you are going to play, either get rich or learn how to work on cars yourself.

Bob

 

lmao at the yoda speaking
thanks for the comemnts
ammmm ok so is the bentley book worth 60 dollars? i wanted to buy it but i saw ppl commenting on it, saying that some of the info on it is wrong. do any one own that book and can say if its worth it?

and yea i know its not the mechanic fault lol i knew something would go wrong redlining like that just didnt expect it that soon. anyway i see what ur saying about either be rich or learn to fix the problems my self.
i guess its time to start learning...

by the way bob martin im told the car can go to 147mph if it has enough road... my goal was to see if i can really get there but i messed it up before getting there....

 

Bob, you're the "redline" know-how guy... Forgive me, as I never redlined a car... Morover, I didn't even notice that line.
These GREAT cars should be able to withstand a little beating every now and then, especially with some DEALER recently performed maintenance.
I suppose I must be an idealist though... These great cars aren't that great. Is that what you're truly saying?

 

not at all. i actually LOVE this audi. when it was snowing i was towing friends with this GREAT car (their cars could not handle what a quatro can handle). sometimes i just cant resist my self and i redline it (i might be an adrenaline junky lmao).
on the other hand i had times that i have not pass the 3000rpm mark for days just cruising and enjoying the car.

i just saw your thread (@chefro) where u tore ur engine apart lol im jealous.
did you use the bentley book? if so was it helpful?
also working on th car do you think a torque wrench would be the best choice or one of those air ratchets?

i found this:
http://www.amazon.com/Audi-A6-Servic.../dp/0837614996
im thinking if to get it or not.
im having the car towed to my house and ill start working on it.

funny thing is when i got the car i had a practically brand new after market headunit and a set of rockford speakers and kicker tweeters laying around from my older car. i told my self i wouldnt mess around with this audi ill leave it as it is (plus didnt want to make it look bad as the stock look is awesome ). and so now im about to try and take apart its engine

 

Good luck on the rebuild. Is the engine partially apart?

You will want to look carefully at the cam bearing journals for scoring (due to lack of oil). If you see scoring, you will want to replace the head or take it in and have the cam bearing bores re-bored. On this car, I would probably recommend a used head over boring the cam bores but ask your machinist (if you have that issue to repair).

And, since you have sludge in your engine, here's an old trick: replace your oil with diesel fuel and run the engine for 10 - 20 minutes. Just idle the engine, don't go do any redline runs, until it is good and hot, then drain the diesel and refill with good quality synthetic oil. Other might suggest to use cheap oil and SeaFoam to do the same thing.

The sludge is probably the root cause of your problems so you want to make sure to get rid of it.

I understand that your car (and mine) will be limited to 127 MPH unless you chip it (has to do with tire ratings). I have confirmed this on my car.

And, yes, I know a little bit about redlining cars. Mostly they should be able to take it but all of them have their limit and when you reach that limit expensive things happen! And I know more than a little about those expensive things! That's why Chefro is absolutely correct when he says learn to work on the car yourself! Besides, it is much more interesting and rewarding to tear an engine apart and put it back together successfully than it is to write a check.

Good luck,

Bob

 

You want the repair manual/dvd NOT the service manual. That service manual will be worthless for cams.

Air ractchet is not necessary but the cam cap bolts are really long so it's a lot of ratcheting. You will need a torque wrench to torque the cap bolts. I believe the spec is 7 ft-lbs so you may want a wrench that is set via in-lbs.

Other tools/parts you'll need:
Cam tensioner tool ($30 from blauparts)
Cam sprocket seals (I'd just get the entire kit with the valve cover gaskets)
Cap/seal next to tensioner
1/4" ratchet and extension
T-27 socket (I think, may be a t-30 or T-25)
24mm socket to set motor at TDC
Long handled ratchet or breaker bar to turn motor by hand
Air ratchet or impact to remove cam sprocket & seal (assuming new cam doesn't come with one)

Take your time and make reference marks so you get it put back together right.

Good luck cleaning up all of the metal, not sure how I'd approach that.

 

Also, check your PCV system for clogs. If it's never been cleaned or replaced I guarantee you this will cause sludge that can get into the head.

 

thanks for all the info guys.
im not going to touch the car until the weekend (too many tests this week). so im just reading and trying to get as much knowledge as i can. cant wait to open it up tho...
they said its going to snow tomorrow, and i drive a mercury sable until i get the audi fixed. already missing the audi, and it havent even started snowing yet... lol

@AndyTR32 thank you for warning me about that service manual. i was really about to get it and start reading until the weekend...
so i found the dvd, just wanted to make sure its the one you were referring to. this is what i found:

http://www.amazon.com/including-allr...pr_product_top

is it the one?

@bob martin
yea the valve covers should be off, and im unsure what else. as my shop took it apart to inspect it and they said they would leave it partially open to save me time and trouble, but have already started putting it back together so i dont know where they have stoped....
the diesel suggestion sounds interesting but scary... what ive been told to do by my shop is exactly what you suggest just instead of diesel they said to use synthetic oil and switch the oil filters run it for 30 minutes or so then drain and refill with new oil and new filters and repeat the process 4 times. they said they would give me some chemical similar to seafoam but that is made for desludging and that doing the oil 4 times is necessary when using that chemical.
cam bearing journals? unsure what those are but ill be researching that now...
and your right, writing a check isnt all that fun... lol and im sure once i successfully finish the job i will be the happiest person ever. plus who dosent love taking things apart, its when you have to put it back together that you run into problems