Hey all,

I have a pretty massive oil leak and got it checked out at Audi. They said it was the cam adjuster seals and would cost a whopping $1,665. Yeah, ridiculous.

Anyways, I've done a lot of searching and found quite a bit of information on the replacement job, but all of it was for either 1.8t or 98-01 B5 2.8L models. I have an '02 B6 with the 3.0L V6 engine, and was wondering if the procedure for the 2.8L engines is similar, or if there are other speed bumps or issues I should be aware of with the 3.0L engine. I know you need the special Audi tool that releases the CCT, but is there anything else that I should know or be aware of before I start the project?

I'm planning on doing the cam adjuster seal as well as the half-moon seals. Probably do the valve cover gaskets as well.

It's really frustrating, because about a year and three months ago, I dropped a TON of money to have Audi replace both cylinder heads on my car. It's to my knowledge that the cams would have had to come off, obviously, to get to the cylinder heads, and as they are putting everything back together, they must have put new cam adjuster seals in as opposed to using the old ones. It's just unfathomable to think that just over a year after getting new seals, they're leaking and they want me to drop almost $1,700 again to replace them.

Anyways, any input or advice would be great! I found a few different guides, but all for B5 2.8L models. I'm hoping the procedure is similar for the 3.0L engine as the guides for the 2.8L looks doable for myself and a mechanic friend.

Thanks!

 

lol, You have absolutely no idea what your getting yourself into.

The cam tensioner on the 3.0 is nothing like the half - moon seal on the 1.8, 2.8 or 2.7. Its completely different.

And quite honestly, if you don't know what your doing and what to look for... your going to screw it up and it going to be very very bad.

I've done 100 of them... but i remember the first one. An oil ring broke and i didn't see it. it tore into the tensioner assembly and dug a groove in the head. the groove was filled with JB weld and sanded down and the tensioner was replaced. the tensioner is about 600.00 by itself. Very expensive mistake for the inexperienced young tech i was

 

^^^He is correct, the 3.0L engine is a completely different beast. There are a total of 4 tensioners on the 3.0L engine, and they are built into the cam pulleys, not a chain tensioner on the other engines. Its honestly a design blooper which didn't pan out for audi very well.
If you DO plan on doing the work yourself, you will need to buy the camshaft locking tools (not the same as the cam bar like the 2.8L, 2.7 etc.) and a bentley manual. Do no attempt this job unless you have both of these tools, you may also need the special pin to hold the serpintine belt tensioner in place as its a beast on the 3.0L.

 

Crap.

I'm not terrible at getting inside and doing some work on my cars, but I'm by no means affluent in the ways of the wrench, especially when it comes to Audis. I was really hoping it would be similar to all the guides I found

Depression.

I found a local shop that would do it for $1,100, but that's still a lot of money. I don't suppose anyone knows of or has seen a write up for the DIY on the 3.0L engine for this, have they? I thought I did a pretty thorough search, but maybe I missed it somewhere? Or maybe nobody has done one because it's such a daunting repair? Haha.

For someone who doesn't yet own a Bentley manual nor has a ton of experience working on the engine for this car, would it be best to just suck it up and have someone else do it for a grand? God, I hate even thinking about dumping more money into this car.


Unless either of you two would like to fly out to the Minnesota for a weekend and help me do it! Haha.

 

I have the next best thing, this is a DIY for the entire 3.0L timing belt job. The only step you have to add is breaking loose the cam sprocket bolts to remove the pulleys to get at the seals. Since you will be tearing it down to this point you might as well buy an entire timing belt kit and tool rental kit from www.blauparts.com.

Here is a link to the T belt job. http://www.audiworld.com/tech/eng.html

 

Wow, thanks an absolute million for that write-up!

Riddle me this though: If I do decide to to attempt this DIY, am I able to reuse the the timing belt and serpentine belt after taking them off? I just had the whole timing belt procedure with tensioner and pulleys and rollers done when I had the cylinder heads replaced about 20k miles ago. I'd hate to have to spend another 400$ on the timing belt kit again so soon.

There must not be any way to the cam adjuster seals without taking off the timing belt then eh? Man, what an absolute cluster f*ck this whole event has been.

Thanks for the input guys!

 

You can reuse the belt sure, just make sure it goes on EXACTLY the way it came off. What i do is paint an arrow on belt towards the engine so i don't put it on backwards. You also can't get ANY fluids on the belt, no coolant, oil etc.
You have to remove the belt to get at the cam seals yes.

 

Hey guys,

I've decided to take on this project myself, and have gotten to the point of removing all four cam pulleys. I took off the belt, unbolted the cam sprocket bolts and this is what I'm looking at. I haven't picked up the new cam adjuster seals, which I'll be doing tonight, but I was wondering just what else I should or will be having to unbolt and take off. The timing belt write up only gets me so far as taking the timing belt off unfortunately, so I'm hoping I could get some info on what comes next.

Here are the pics of what I'm looking at after the cam pulleys have been taken off. I also took a picture of where a ton of oil seems to have accumulated right below the main crank sprocket. I know there was oil leaking from the valve cover gaskets since I found oil lining the length of the covers, and 3 coil packs were pretty well saturated with oil as well. Can the adjuster seals leak this much oil? And could it all end up in that general area below the main crank pulley?

Any help is greatly appreciated guys!