Help! removed intake mani and made serious mistake.

[philosopherking]

Hey all,

This is my first post, I apologize in advance if I'm covering anything thats been covered or if my problem is blatantly obvious. Now with that out of the way, I'll explain my situation.


I own a 2000 Audi TT, 180 FWD, ATC

This whole mess started when I set out to replace a broken breather tube When I tried to remove the tube, it broke into a few pieces, leaving some stuck in the filter housing. It was going to be impossible to remove the broken tube with the intake manifold still in place.

I carefully removed the intake manifold according to the Bently instructions. First unbolting the fuel rail, the air intake and all the necessary electrical connectors. As soon as it was removed I plugged the holed with shop towels to keep debris out of them.

Now that the mani was off, I removed the broken breather tube and also looked down into the assembly to see that nothing had fallen in. (I didn't see anything) I connected the new tube. Reattached the manifold, using a new gasket, and carefully criss-cross torqued the bolts. I reattached everything and here is where my world got rocked.

I turned the key and when the engine began to crank I heard a reasonably loud metal on metal scratching sound coming from the engine. I immediately shut it off, it only ran for maybe 5-10 seconds. When I looked at my engine I saw a small wisp of smoke coming from around the timing belt. (which I never touched)

So... I know I must have screwed up badly, but I can't figure out how. I put everything back together as it was when i took it apart.. Any ideas would help so much, as I right now I feel like throwing up.

[pipe7284]

wow, the only way to know for sure if there is something in there, which it sounds like there is, is to get the head off.
Good luck!!!!

[audiFUEGO]

well in your situation nausea is pretty normal i'd say.

[philosopherking]

If there is damage in the cylinder, how much should I expect to pay a mechanic to fix it?

The worst part is, I never intended to get this involved with it. I just wanted to fix that damn breather tube. yuck.

[Stampy]

Did you asking the dudes over on Vortex? They are a little more intune with the transverse mounted 1.8t's. It def sounds like something in in there. Like mentioned before. I would get that head off.

[philosopherking]

I would like to, but I'm afraid thats getting over my head. I don't know if I should attempt that or submit and take it to the shop. I'm just not too sure, since I've never taken it off before. Can it get much worse?

And if there is something in the cylinder, how do you fix it after removing the object?

If it's something small, like dirt or rust particles will cleaning it be enough? I'm in uncharted waters now.

[philosopherking]

Ok, so I'm adding a little bit to this story. I looked at the timing belt and noticed it was severely cut into on the back side (non toothed side)... Could the sound I heard have been something grinding against the belt, maybe the cover or a seized tensioner pully? considering the wisp of smoke I saw came from under the belt cover?

Or.. is this just likely an unrelated problem that I just now found?

One more question the sound I heard was constant, not intermittent. If it were in one of the cylinders would it have been rapidly intermittent or constant like what I heard? and how would the smoke get under the TB cover, wouldn't it go out the exhaust?

[aytheory]

i am just going to make a statement about the plato reference for your SN

only way to check for cylinder damage is a compression test - if you think something happen outside the engine - mmm if anything went into the combustion chambers it would be bad times even if it was plastic - and any damage that is already done can't get worse

[philosopherking]

yeah if its not obvious by now, I went to school for film making and philosophy, I'm still a car newbie.

Looks like I'll be getting a credit card after all.

[Stampy]

Did you check all the TB covers? Maybe you dropped a socket or tool in the path of the TB? People have had things fall into the bottom Tb cover before. I would be concentrating on that. Timing belts don't usually look severely cut.

[philosopherking]

That might be it, I did drop half a bolt which I broke. I didn't see where it went, but it was right next to the tb cover and could have certainly made its way down there. I'll look soon. If thats the problem you will be my new hero.

But I guess, now that I f***ed the belt I'll still be looking at a TB replacement.

I'll look for that bolt and let you guys know.

Thanks for the help

[scoTT la rock]

if you want some tech help try posting about this over here:

http://forums.audiworld.com/tt/

some vets over there could probably help you greatly.

[audiTT]

I know it is a long shot but check and see if anyone has a bore scope so you can look into the cylinders rather doing a teardown.

[ncttrnl]

It sounds like you just got something caught on your timing belt. You might have wedged that bolt you dropped in between the block and one of the pulleys. That would make a pretty bad noise and burn up the edge of the belt pretty good.

I wouldn't worry too much. Just check that everything is clean around the belts when you replace your timing belt and you'll probably be fine.

[philosopherking]

The more I look at it, the more I think I did drop that bolt into the TB cover. I'm taking it to a local VW/audi guy and hes gonna replace the tb for me. I'll let you guys know how it goes.