B6 A4 1.8t Motor Issues -no compression-Help Please

[EUROTEK//S4]

So my friend bought a 02' A4 1.TQ TIP with 80k miles about 3 months ago...which I told him not to.



The car has broken down almost every other week...and he's sick of it. The 1st time it broke down he was told by the dealer that cam seals were leaking and also had a boost leak. He had the fixed for a fraction of the price at a audi performance shop. The 2nd time the car kept misfiring (i think) and he had the spark plugs replaced and a coil pack for cylinder 3 by a independent euro shop.

This past week, he was driving and and out of no where the car died, I drove over to help him..we thought it might be the battery, so we tried to jump start it and it would crank but it wouldn't start. So we knew for sure it wasn't the battery.He had it towed to to the independent euro shop, the guy said the car had no compression, and he think one of two things might be wrong with the car.

1.) the timing belt slipped off and just need to be replaced

2.) timing belt slipped off and caused a miss fire and bent all the exhaust valves....which to fix would be a $4000-$6000 job.


so we tried to replace the timing belt, and still no compression.


So he's not sure what to do, get a 2nd opinion ?
Do you guys have any suggestions ? thoughts ? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[yung turbo]

too bad your not in the US because the lemon law would come into effect.

[brewmastr]

lemon law would not be in effect jeez, this is not a manufacture lemon, in fact this is pretty typical, if you buy a used car off a lot never assume its routine maintenance has been performed unless you have documented proof of it, probably the impeller broke on the water pump and locked up the pump even if just for a moment causing the timing belt to jump teeth, this is why so many of us on the forum are religious on that timing belt being done at 60k. unfortunately i do not know the laws over there or any recourse the dealer may owe to you, but this is all pretty typical audi stuff here, boost leak, coil pack and most likely a failed water pump. unfortunately its going to be expensive, may be cheaper to find a used head and slap that on. this is why you dont buy a car without verifiable service records. i would buy an b6 1.8t with 100k miles no problem..... but you betta have them records.

[aaaudiprotein]

He is from USA LOL

[brewmastr]

no matter where he is from, im pretty sure he is screwed.

[PRY4SNO]

Take out a home equity loan, and rebuild the engine top and bottom... then go BAT.

Or buy a newer one with a stick, and he's got a parts car...

He's screwed.

I'd auction it, myself. The time comes occasionally in everyone's life when you must cut your losses and run.

[dougyfresh]

How did you reset the timing with the new timing belt? Did you start from scratch: Find TDC for piston #1 (fwd most piston... via a welding rod or eqv in the spark plug hole. Look for it to stop moving at TDC..) and then find TDC on the exhaust cam (via taking off the valve cover and looking at the rear-most cam bearing cap... You line up the keyway in the cam with the arrow on the bearing cap.) I don't trust any markings on the crank pulley or valve cover so that is why I pull the valve cover off.

Not to sound ignorant, but is the shop/individual performing the compression test performing it correctly?

Take all the spark plugs out... Does the engine turn over freely via a socket on the crank bolt or through the starter? You should be getting some form of a reading, albeit very low to nonexistent if all the valves are bent significantly.

[dirtybrd]

If the belt slipped more then 3-4 teeth, then he most likely has some bent valves. I'd just source a used head. You don't want to get into swapping valves in these heads...trust me!

[dougyfresh]

If the belt slipped more then 3-4 teeth, then he most likely has some bent valves. I'd just source a used head. You don't want to get into swapping valves in these heads...trust me!

Yes. But we have to confirm that valves are bent (if they indeed are). The first thing to do is to verify the timing is set properly. Then do a compression test to verify compression in cylinders. If compression is very low its time to pull the head and inspect the valves (or you can boroscope first prior to pulling the head).

[mike-2ptzero]

You need to do a leak down test to see if the valves are leaking causing no compression. If that is the case hit me up and I could always get that rebuilt for you at a fraction of the cost that you stated, hell I sell fully built long blocks for less then $6k.

[dirtybrd]

With bent valves, you'll have not low, but no compression.

[brewmastr]

well considering they said they replaced the timing belt, i would think the front carrier was off and timing marks aligned, a leak down is a good test yes, but maybe a bit much for the average to figure out how to do exactly right, i know when i have told people how to do it they always have problems with the pistons moving, but basically you have to make sure you got the piston at tdc on the compression stroke, and it has be exactly TDC the rod has to be exactly vertical in the wall or as soon as you apply compressed air down the piston moves and opens up a valve, easiest to do it with valve cover off so you can see that the camshafts are not pushing down on any valves. but if you have the TB on correctly and 0 compression you got bent valves, i mean myself i would put it at bent valves automatically if the belt slipped and came off while driving, you dont get lucky in that department with 1.8t's

[AudiA4_20T]

Ygpm

[EUROTEK//S4]

He is from USA LOL

yup, Chicago IL


Thanks for all the great info guys.

[EUROTEK//S4]

I went by the shop today, and Tony showed me the bent valves.

He said who ever replaced the cam seals (Renn-Art) did not properly install a bolt that was holding the timing belt and some other stuff on.which ended up falling out and causing all this damage.

Anybody know where I can find a used 1.8T head ?

or anybody that does cheap Audi work in the Chicagoland area?

My brother just wants if fixed enough to drive it to a dealership to trade it in for a 08' Golf GTI ....

[A4Avant02]

Good luck with the trade in!

[mike-2ptzero]

I went by the shop today, and Tony showed me the bent valves.

He said who ever replaced the cam seals (Renn-Art) did not properly install a bolt that was holding the timing belt and some other stuff on.which ended up falling out and causing all this damage.

Anybody know where I can find a used 1.8T head ?

or anybody that does cheap Audi work in the Chicagoland area?

My brother just wants if fixed enough to drive it to a dealership to trade it in for a 08' Golf GTI ....

Best thing is to just find someone that will throw in some OEM valves if the head itself is still good.

[brewmastr]

dougy fresh has a longblock for sale for 600, might wanna ask him about the head, since it was running before his 2.0 swap i would say that would be a good candidate to get your donor head.

[aLeXliu911]

you can ask your friend to buy my whole engine with APR stage 3. after my spare engine build done.straight swap for him. btw, the timing belt was just changed from matrix 4 months ago. and the mileage is 10,700 KM. 66875 miles.

[04QuattroTurbo]

I went by the shop today, and Tony showed me the bent valves.

He said who ever replaced the cam seals (Renn-Art) did not properly install a bolt that was holding the timing belt and some other stuff on.which ended up falling out and causing all this damage.

Anybody know where I can find a used 1.8T head ?

or anybody that does cheap Audi work in the Chicagoland area?

My brother just wants if fixed enough to drive it to a dealership to trade it in for a 08' Golf GTI ....

If the bad Cam seal job is what caused the timing belt to slip and damage the valves\heads, I say you have your friend go after the guys who did not do the job correctly. Have the other shop write up the work with their opinion on the cause of the timing belt premature failure and bring it to the shop that fixed the cam seals. See what they are willing to do about it. IF nothing, you may want to talk to an attorney and see if you have a case to get them to float the bill for the repairs. If it broke due to somebody's negligence, why would he try to pay for fixing it, himself?

[dougyfresh]

dougy fresh has a longblock for sale for 600, might wanna ask him about the head, since it was running before his 2.0 swap i would say that would be a good candidate to get your donor head.

Thanks.

Yes, if you want my AMB head you are welcome to it. All it needs is cams and the VVT cam tensioner which can come out of the existing head. The valves and lifters are intact. PM me if you are interested. Best of luck!

[bananas]

If the belt slipped more then 3-4 teeth, then he most likely has some bent valves. I'd just source a used head. You don't want to get into swapping valves in these heads...trust me!

FWIW, my cam timing was retarded by about 45 degrees (:o!!!) and I have no bent valves. True, I am not running stock pistons... but my pistons do not have valve reliefs.

Curious about your valve swapping comments... why do you say that? I haven't ever heard this before about the 1.8t head.

[dirtybrd]

^^What pistons?

[dougyfresh]

FWIW, my cam timing was retarded by about 45 degrees (:o!!!) and I have no bent valves. True, I am not running stock pistons... but my pistons do not have valve reliefs.

Curious about your valve swapping comments... why do you say that? I haven't ever heard this before about the 1.8t head.

He's just saying there is very little room in the head to work with once the spring compressor is installed. It is very time consuming and difficult to replace valves.





FWIW... I did a timing belt job the other week and the timing was off maybe 90+deg on the exhaust cam gear. No bent valves there. We did a compression check after re-timing the engine and the numbers were great.

[bananas]

^^What pistons?

I wish I knew :P I asked Mark@ASP to choose my internals so he'd have to dig through his records to find out. I was told at one time, but it didn't stick in my brain.

[mike-2ptzero]

If the bad Cam seal job is what caused the timing belt to slip and damage the valves\heads, I say you have your friend go after the guys who did not do the job correctly. Have the other shop write up the work with their opinion on the cause of the timing belt premature failure and bring it to the shop that fixed the cam seals. See what they are willing to do about it. IF nothing, you may want to talk to an attorney and see if you have a case to get them to float the bill for the repairs. If it broke due to somebody's negligence, why would he try to pay for fixing it, himself?

Huge waste of time.