Actually these tell me that the bank you thought had bad valves, doesnt, and the cam is advanced instead. The valves are closing sooner than normal causing the higher readings. You really need the tool.

 

Update:

I got the timing belt kit and tools. As Midniteoil suggested bank1 cam was advanced. I replaced everything except hydraulic tensioner damper. Everything was carefully timed and torqued. Handcranking seem to indicate thing were fine. After starting engine it still ran rough and threw off codes P0300 P0301 P0302. I took it apart and bank1 cam had advanced 1/2-3/4 tooth.

I replaced hydraulic damper and carefully pretensioned it (both times as per manual). Once again carefully timed everything. Handcranking indicated no problems Once I started the engine same as before, rough running and same codes. Bank1 cam had once again advanced 1/2-3/4 turn.

What is going on? Three times the cam has advanced while the timing belt is under tension. All the timing belt components are new. The valves seemed okay. The cam sprocket isn't wobbling. I don't think I damaged it or the cam shaft.

Back to the original problem. The intake and exhaust cam seem to be in timing. That code for cam shaft position error no longer occurs. The shoe under the cam chain seems fine. What about the cam tensioner valve? Can that or it's wire leads be bad? Wouldn't that give off a code? Could that really thow off the engine timing?

Can I time it with bank1 cam retarded 1/2 turn and hope the mysterious ailment fixes it? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

You are prolly lettng too much slack creep in from one bank to the other. After handcranking several times (like more than 5 up to 10 - you can use the starter if you know its ok). The belt usually is not uniformly tight until its gone around several times. If its off again, pop the cam gears slightly and align without loosening the belt. Repeat.

Are you tightning the belt THEN locking down the cam gears?

 

Thanks Midniteoyl,

I'll try that hopefully tomorrow. I keep having to fix new parts that I keep breaking everytime I take it apart. Since I never took the cam tensioner off, the guy from blauparts suggested I make sure the screen on the bottom was clean. Another distraction.

I definitely have been pretensioning the belt. In fact I had to order a new tensioner because I cracked the brand new one a couple of days ago. Don't ask. I'm suprised that slack keeps getting in there.

 

Need to clarify (was distracted): DO NOT crank it over with the cam gears loose. You run the risk of smacking piston to valve. You already knew this, but I needed to clarify.

Again, you are but its easy to get more tension on one leg, say between the left cam and crank, than the other side. This is what handcranking evens out.

Go easy. Tighten, handcrank, tighten, handcrank, etc, little at a time till you get it both tight enough and in time.

Second thing to think about is a slightly too large of belt?

 

Final Update:

Thanks again Midniteoyl,

It required pulling passenger cam under tension for a final adjustment. Purring again. All codes cleared. Final compression check: All cylinders 180 psi plus or minus 2 psi. Case closed.

This really is a terrific site thanks for all the help.

Next: replacing shorted subwoofer/amp

 

Glad to hear your up and running! 180psi is great compression.

So does this mean there was too much slack between the cams? What did ya do?

 

I had both cam sprocket pulled again and the tension released. I aligned the driver cam nice and horizontal. The passenger cam was the one that kept advancing. I retarded it by turning the bar about 3/4" counterclockwise above horizontal. I removed the tensioner pin and pretensioned the belt. I then handcranked it many times. I ran the starter for a few second and then reassembled. It started running fine. I double checked the timing and the passenger cam was still a little retarded, so I loosed the 17mm bolt a few turns and popped that cam sprocket while still under full tension. The cam jumped just a small amount and ended up perfectly inline with bank 2. Had I retarded it a little less I would have been perfectly timed.

Midniteoyl you called it earlier. There is a different tension on the two banks because of the different distances from the crankshaft and tensioner. I assume other people have had less problems fine tuning the timing than I had.

It is interesting to note that my car ran much better with the bank 1 cam slightly retarted that it did slightly advanced.

Once again thank for the help.

Robert

 

Your welcome.

Wierd since retarding a cam usually takes the power up the rpm range. Maybe Audi already has it advanced as far as it will go, so any more reduces power. Dunno.. If the clearences werent already so tight between piston and valve, I'd play alittle and see what happens.

EDIT: DUH! When you advanced the cam, the cylinder pressures went up. More pressure, more power. Is akin to bumping up the compression. However, this was only on one side, so vibration came into play. Also at around 200-210psi, detonation becomes an issue. Thus the reason Audi left it at ~180, and why we need to use 93 octane

Anyways, glad your up and running!