]]Went to official audi dealer in manhatten and had a valve cover gasket .in fact both banks replaced due to oil leak Cost $420 few months later oil smell comes back go back cuz of my warranty tellls me its the cam shaft seals ..600$ to change shouldnt he have changed them when he did the valve covers ...or not ..someone please lemme know ?????

 

they won't do both at the same time unless you get a top end gasket seal replacement, which would also require a timing belt job. and if you're under warranty, then why are you having to pay for it?

on a side note, its a dealer. they're gonna scam you for everything they can. so he prolly saw it was bad last time, or starting to go bad, and didnt mention it because he could charge you for labor again the second time. are there no audi/vw specialty shops around you? where are you located?

 

I got valve cover and cam seals together done for $200 last month.... at $600 i wouldve laughed at his face and left

 

You got a hell of a deal, IF INDEED they changed all the cam seals... Front cam seals require timing belt removal. That is an 8 hour procedure.

A quality valve cover set will run about $50 minimum. Cam seals and plugs, another $20 at least... plus tax and etc. That means the guy charged you $120 for labor. Hell of a deal.


@speed2fasta6: There are a few different places where these motors are prone to leaking. They are:

- Valve covers
- Cam seals (2 front, 2 back)
- Cam plugs (2 back)
- Cam chain tensioner seals (one on each side, with gasket and seal)

If you really want to eliminate all leak, then you should probably do it all. Also while you are at it, change the crank seal as well.

What the dealer charged you for the valve cover job is not outrageous. Consider $100 on parts and 2.5 hours of dealer labor... It is not cheap, but sounds about right.

As for the $600 cam seals, make sure that they are including the front ones as well. I would seriously consider doing a timing belt job including the waterpump at this point. Yes it will run you about $1500 total, but it will save you headaches down the road.

Another option is to find a good independent mechanical who knows about the audi. It will knock down a few hundred dollars.

If you can do the work yourself, (or the money is of no concern ) then I would do the following;

- Timing belt including water pump and the tensioner.
- Cam seals and plugs.
- Cam chain tensioner gaskets and seals.
- Crank seal.
- Valve cover gaskets (automatically replaced if you do cam chain tensioners)
- Clean out the crankcase vent bypass valve.
- Get the updated venting oil cap

 

I'd start with the last two items on gaser's list as these, when they go bad, pressurize the crankcase which leads to oil being forced out of the seals.

There is a shortcut method to replacing the cam tensioner seals but the cam seal itself requires a timing belt job (or close to it). I replaced everything a year ago and guess what - oil smell again!