Alright i have a 1996 A4 2.8... Car goes good and runs like a champ... but last week i was driving home from work and i pulled into the drive way and noticed i could smell burning oil pretty bad. I popped the hood and there was a little white smoke from oil landing on the exhaust between the motor and the firewall on the passenger side. I have seen forums about other2.8s doing this.The valve covers are not leakin, i filled the oil again and wiped the valve covers and when i got back from a 5 min. drive the car was 2 qts lower on oil and valve covers still spotless. The question i was wondering is what exactly is it i am going to need to replace is it a seal below the valve cover that goes over that small circular hole on the passenger side, or is it some sort of a electrical adjuster of some sort that has wiring that should connect to it? Cause there is nothing over this small hole in the back of the motor below the valve covers where the oil is pouring out when the car is running.Just need to know what part i will need to get and whether i will needto find the wiring from when the old one fell off or not.Thank you for your time.

 

that would probably be your cam seal, have fun with that.

 

^ +1 on the cam seal. Dealer will charge you about $700 to fix it.I need to have mine replaced as well, and that is what they quoted me. You could do it for cheaper, obviously, if you're comfortable doing the work yourself.

 

There are 2 different seals in that area. One, is the cam tensioner seal which looks like a half moon and is really hard to see. The second is the cap which covers the end of the cam. If there's a "hole" where that goes it somehow fell out. When I changed mine, I had to loosen up the cam cap that is outside the valve cover, which was a bitch because there's zero room for the torx bit. The only way that I could do it was to take the (T-30)torx bit and put a 1/4" box end wrench over it.

 

I may be looking at the same repair. If anyone has more info on the DIY keep us posted.

 

That does NOT look like a fun repair.

 

mine is also leaking oil quite often, i put it up on a lift and looked like it was coming from the oil gasket or atleast that is what one of the mechanics thought. not exactly the easiest thing to see tho. but the problem sounds very similar maybe he was wrong and it is the cam seal.

 

My A4 has the same smell of oil. I took it to a shop and they said it was the valve cover gasket. They replaced it and washed the engine and said it was fixed. That was about a week ago and I still smell the oil smell.[:@] I do not have any warning lights right now so I have not had the time to actually oper her up and look myself.[:-] [&:] Could somebody post an engine compartment picture or something showing where to look for this leak?

Thanks! [8D]