Won't Crank
 

So i recently purchased a this car from a tow company. So when i bought it i new that the engine wasn't turning over, figured it just need the engine to be replaced. But i tore into it and found out that the timing belt wasn't broke, i but a wrench on the crank and was able to rotate it back in forth like an 1/8 to 1/4 of a turn. Obviously something is wrong, anybody have any ideas what i should look for? Should i just buy a new motor and get it done?


Optional Information:
Year: 1999
Make (other): audi
Model: a6
Engine: 2.8
150,000 miles

Pull the starter out and see if you can manually turn the engine over. If you still can't its a good bet the motor is pretty jacked up.

Yeah that is what I figured, but any idea what it could be?

Is the starter even engaging? I would first make sure the starter actually works. How hard is it to turn when you are turning it by hand? You may just be getting to a compression stroke on one of the cylinder which would make it harder to turn. Usually when an engine fails it locks up solid (short of it breaking a rod or something like that).

Also check the TB tensioner. I just bought a car with supposedly a broken timing belt. Turns out the TB didnt break and at first everything looked fine except the belt was a little damaged. On closer examination I found the TB tensioner went bad causing the timing to jump a few teeth then causing the pistons to hit the valves.

If the engine won't go all the way around by hand, the starter is not the problem. However, the "timing belt skipped a couple of teeth" answer sounds like it has merit. Of course, that would lead to bent valves which would mean you need a new/used engine or a rebuild anyway so you might save yourself some time by just going with your original plan.

Bob

So i pulled out allot of stuff last night and in the manual i got (alldata) they said there where 3 bolts between the flywheel and the torque converter. If your engine is seized how do you get those out? What did you do? The other thing is alldata didn’t say anything about unbolting the engine from the trany, you got to do this right?

If your going to play with an Audi you need to get the Bently factory manual... and a VAGCom

You can't. You can pull the whole engine and tranny out together no problem though, or you can pull the heads so there isn't anything restricting you from turning it over. Gonna have to pull the heads sooner or later anyways.

So for this new motor do you guys have any recomindations for a place to buy a timming belt kit?

With a 1999 2.8L engine, automatic transmission and with the front of the car off, the engine should come off the transmission along with the torque converter, if the three torque converter bolts can not be removed. However, the engine must be moved forwards until the torque converter clears the transmission bell housing and the transmission must be supported while doing this. Also, be sure to replace the torque converter seal and rear crank seal while you have the engine out.
If you have a manual transmission, you should try removing the heads to see if that frees the engine.
It is possible that the old owner did the timing belt job wrong. How much damage is only known after taking the heads off. Also, before starting an engine, the crankshaft should be manually rotated several times to verify that the valves don't hit the pistons.