When I did my TB I was advised by the shop owner (a repair shop that only works on Audi/VW) to replace the guide as well because they have seen them fail prematurely and mine was grooved....glad I did now! Is it this piece?

 

So if any kind of bizzare incident could happen it would happen to me. I got it all off and instantly found the problem. The tensioning roller had started to back itself out from being attached to the head... once it was about halfway out the bolt sheered off leaving half of itself in the head. A lot of grinding ensued. There are metal shavings everywhere. The tensioner itself has been grinded down... It's beyond bizzare. I'm taking it up to M S Performance as this is out of my level of expertise. I even took pictures, center of the second pic is a good one of the sheered bolt:

 

All heads are interchangeable. Since you have a VVT car, you have to move the VVT cam tensioner to the new head to keep it and make the ecu happy. Also if you are in a emission state, you will have to have the head tapped for the combi valve. All this on a head that is getting hard to find (only on 97-99.5 A4 and Passat) and the cost keeps increasing. If you are planning on keeping the car relatively stock, or no more 350whp, the small port is the way to go. As for your current head, you can have the valve guides machined and replaced and smooth out the top of the pistons (replaced if need be) and you will be good. Many shops will just swap engines since it will be faster if they can get a used one cheap/fast.

 

Mine doesn't have VVT. I think the BEA engine is where they started doing that. I know this because my cam chain tensioner doesn't have the electrical connector. I've got it in the shop, were talking about a new (refurb)head and full timing belt job. I'm also going to have him look for that damn vacuum leak i've been chasing. I'll keep the thread updated.

 

I thought yours was newer, so thats good. The VVT tensioner is rediculas to replace. No reason to buy a referb head if you can do the same to yours unless you want to not have to wait a few days for the head to get done.

 

dont worry carson is the shiznats he's done just about every repair on my car

 

that pic is of a cam chain tensior....kinda pricy but the vvt ones are much more.. and to comment on what happened here that is scary and you make me wanna check mine lol rebuild it right if you had pistion valve contact

 

If for some reason you need new pistons, send me a pm, i have my stock 20mm wrist pin rods and pistons you can have for cheap. They will also increase your compression .5 also

 

How the hell did you know it's with Carson?

Anyway, he wants to go ahead and order the new head, but I think i'm going to tell him to pull the head first and then see how it is since he's going to have to do it anyway. I've heard that usually when the timing belt goes, it's crazy noisy as all the valves get bent etc.. There was no noise at all for me. Maybe I got lucky. I'm praying I did!

 

If anything happens to the belt, you will damage valves, its all part of an interferance engine.