Lol the hardest part is way behind you. Putting the bumper on is a snap - seat the sides in the lower part of the clip and then smack it hard to pop the upper part in.

 

Maybe not...it starts allright, but idles like **** (around 500 rpm's) and if i give it any gas it wont rev past 1400 rpm's. CEL is on, but it was on and running fine before this job. Checked vacuum lines and all the obvious stuff. I'd sure hate to have to take this into someone to have it checked out. Im 100% positive the timing is correct. Wouldn't it be catastrophic if it wasnt? I would think it wouldnt even start or run. When it was the first startup it needed some throttle to actually start and stay running, but if you hold the accelerator down, it just surges from 1400 to nearly dying like its drowning in petrol.

 

Can someone please enlighten me as to whether this sounds like my timings off? Or would the car not even start if it was off? I really have to get this goin for work Monday...any advice well appreciated! The Audi shop down the street said $20 to vag-com it to check the CEL codes...

 

heh,you can buy a vag-com for half that off ebay,i paid 9 bucks for the first one i had,i traded that one away for my angel eye lights and paid 15 bucks for the one i have now,i actually liked the first one i had better as it was blue an illuminated,when plugged into my B5's OBDII port,where the one i have now is all black and doesn't illuminate at all.

 

Thanks, but I need help with my timing. Can someone tell me how to verify TDC under the valve cover on the top end? So I can put this to rest as soon as possible. I haven't been able to get to the hospital to see my newborn son in 4 days...please...

 

Anyone in my area I'm willing to pay you to align my timing...this is getting frustrating. I'll do all the labor, just need someone to set this timing. I even pulled the valve cover to verify topend TDC and still aint timed right...WTF I'll seriously kick someone some decent cash to help me out. I'll even pay via paypal if someone thinks they can get me timed right over the phone, but I doubt that'll work. Hit me up! PLEASE!

 

There are timing indicators at the rear of the cams under the valve cover - a rectangular notch right at the base of the tensioner. On the cam retaining caps closest to the tensioner (one per cam) there is an arrow. Align the cam notches with those arrows to set TDC on the compression stroke for cylinder 1 (in other words, to index the top end for timing install). Put your lower timing cover and crank pulley on so you can see the timing indexes for the bottom end and hand rotate the engine using a breaker bar on the crank pulley (oil pump bolt). That'll align the bottom end and head. Then like auditech79 said, it's a matter of carefully applying the tensioner to tie it together with the belt.

 

It sounds like your timing may actually be off - you may have had it nearly aligned and then lost cam phasing after it ran. If it was off a full tooth or more I'd be surprised to see it start. We did the cam chain tensioner on a B6 not long ago and at first it was off a tooth - with it out that far even there was no compression (at least one valve was always open) and the car just wheezed. Reset it and it ran like a champ.

 

Yea this is my fourth time putting it back together, and I'm headed for #5. The last time I took the valve cover off and the timing marks on the cams were aligned. Well the one on the right was perfect, the one on the left looked slightly further to the left, just a **** hair. Everything looked money this time, even made marks on the belt thinking it was money...once the tensioner was applied and the pin pulled, after rotating it, it's fubar. Again!
I even busted one of the tensioner damper bolts off in the black and had to drill it out...thank god I didnt damage the threads. This is just turning out to be not my project. I forgot to mark the old belt and transfer the marks to the new belt. But ****, I've done this 100 times on other cars...I'm thinking I'm putting the belt on the wrong pulley first and pulluing it over the wrong pulley last, or I've heard conflicting info on put the tensioner on last, then I've heard put the damper on last letting it swing into place. It's like I'm just not getting enough slack between the camshaft gear and the tensioner before I release tension on it. Maddening!

 

If you had an old stretched belt and you put on a new one then the new one will cause the mark to be a 1/4 or 1/2 tooth off because now it is set correctly. I didn't read all of the thread but I read a little past that part. I would have left it at a half tooth and tried it. I have never worked on an Audi but I have replaced a timing belt on many other cars and this always happens. I have never had a problem with them being off time. Usually they run much better afterward.