How To Check Camshaft Timing?

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Sep 19, 2008 | 05:31 AM
  #1  
95 2.8L A6Q:

The bearing on my water pump went bad and caused the toothed belt to wear to almost nothing. I want to check the timing of the camshafts and crankshaft to make sure the belt didn't slip a tooth.

How do I check the timing of the camshafts? Is there a mark under the valve cover? My Bentley eBahn CD manual doesn't have any info on timing the cams.

Thanks,
Spoke
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Sep 19, 2008 | 01:10 PM
  #2  
There aren't any marks, there is a special cam lock tool. Its basically a bar that locks both cams together, see those two holes on the cam sprockets, thats where the bar sits in. When the two bigger holes face inwards they should be in time.
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Sep 19, 2008 | 01:14 PM
  #3  
I actually have a picture from when i did the timing belt on my S4 (same process)
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Sep 19, 2008 | 01:23 PM
  #4  
Thanks!

I've seen some other pictures of guys changing the timing belt and the orientation of the cam sprockets. I just wanted to confirm this is how to check cam-crank alignment.

BTW, I have the engine at TDC and it looks like the driver side cam is off by one tooth. Looking at the driver side cam from the front of the car, the left side of the sprocket is higher than the right side. The engine was running ok when last turned off but could this mis-alignment cause any problems? Don't know how long it was like this.

Thanks again,
Spoke
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Sep 19, 2008 | 03:06 PM
  #5  
You can be a couple teeth off and it would run fine, you might get a cam sensor fault though. If it were lets say more than 3 teeth off you would have a rough running concern and possible misfires.
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Sep 19, 2008 | 03:09 PM
  #6  
BTW i used to live in allentown PA, when i went to school for audi.
I used to live on North Cedar Crest right off of Tilghman i think it was.
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Sep 24, 2008 | 10:36 PM
  #7  
Thanks for all the help. I found a couple of pics on this site of the correct orientation of the cams. I was off by one tooth. All straightened out now.

I have learned a lesson to always change the water pump when changing the timing belt. I didn't do this last November when I changed the belt and the pump bearing went bad and allowed the pump pulley to wobble.

No water pump leaks but with the timing belt tension, the pulley pulled upwards and caused the timing belt to rub on the outside of the pulley deteriorating the belt to almost nothing. The width of the belt when changed was less than 1/4 inch. This was in 9000 miles of operation.
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Sep 24, 2008 | 11:37 PM
  #8  
and isnt the b5 s4 an interference head?? geez.. u just dodged a bullet bro..
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