Ok so I have the 1998 2.8L. Now I know that the 98s came with the 30 valve. But I bought the car from a friend. The car was engine swapped for another 2.8L from another a4. But I had him ask the guy what year audi the engine was pulled from and he said a 1998. So it should be a 30v but I can only count 6 valves on each side. Is this how it's suppose to be? He said its a double overhead camshaft (DOHC)
5 valves per cylinder
30 valves in total. Is that how 30 valves are??

Where are you counting these valves? You can't count valves unless the valve cover is off.

A 30v engine has the spark plugs right on top of the valve covers. They go right through the valve covers. A 12v has the spark plugs on the side of the heads instead, on the outside of the valve covers.

Well I counted 12 of something right on the side of the cylinders. Is there a visual difference between each engine.

Head valves are not visible on the outside. I have no idea what you were counting.

Well is there any way to tell how many valves the engine is without taking off the valve covers? There's also no engine cover on it.

12 valve :


30 valve :

(notice the spark plug boots right on the valve cover)

I do see. But that's a 3.0 30 valve. I'm talking about a 2.8L

Same thing. The 3.0 is just a 2.8 with slightly more displacement. The point here is the location of the spark plug boots. Also, the 12 valve engine has much narrower heads because there's only one camshaft per head. The 30 valve engine has 2 camshafts per head, so it's MUCH wider.

You have a 30v. A 12v does not just drop into a 98. Lots of different stuff going on. And yes, the 3.0 looks damn near the same as a 2.8 30v