Need some help on replacing the 3.0t supercharged engine.

[6cyclones6]

My girlfriend recently purchased a 2009 A6 with the 3.0t with only 71k miles. The car fax showed it was well maintained with most services performed at an audi dealership but only 300 miles after she bought it it started knocking really bad so we took it back to the dealer ship and after a lot of negotiating and searching they managed to find a used engine with 30k miles for 3500 they are willing to pay for 2500 leaving 1000 for us to pay and me to do the labor. Fast forward to today they got the engine in and were going to go pick everything up tomorrow.

All of this leads to the following questions is there a way to see the engine code without having the donor car? Ie stampings near the head or something?

2)What all should i replace since the engine will be out?

3)Does anything special need to be done like a retune, adaptations, ect.

I have vag com and am pretty mechanically inclined.


Edit 1) Forgot to state that the reason it will be receiving a new engine is because the shop the dealership sent it to diagnosed it as a thrown rod but to me, from the beginning, sounded like a timing chain slap more than anything, i could be wrong though.

[SinCityA6]

My girlfriend recently purchased a 2009 A6 with the 3.0t with only 71k miles. The car fax showed it was well maintained with most services performed at an audi dealership but only 300 miles after she bought it it started knocking really bad so we took it back to the dealer ship and after a lot of negotiating and searching they managed to find a used engine with 30k miles for 3500 they are willing to pay for 2500 leaving 1000 for us to pay and me to do the labor. Fast forward to today they got the engine in and were going to go pick everything up tomorrow.

All of this leads to the following questions is there a way to see the engine code without having the donor car? Ie stampings near the head or something?

2)What all should i replace since the engine will be out?

3)Does anything special need to be done like a retune, adaptations, ect.

I have vag com and am pretty mechanically inclined.

You, sir are the first person in this forum to go through this process so any information/findings/pictures you can post would be of a great benefit.
As for what to look for, I would inspect the timing chains, guides and tensioners before mating the motor up to the transmission. Because they are on the back side of the motor, sandwiched between the motor and trans, taking this opportunity to inspect and replace if necessary would be time well spent.
There should not be any modules that need to be reprogrammed as I would assume you are keeping the current ECU. A throttle body adaptation will be in order once the engine is in and everything is connected.
I look forward to following your progress and learning more as you go. Good luck!!

[InfamousAvant]

I'm replacing a 3.2 engine right now. Honestly its been pretty easy and straight forward. Go ahead and pull the tranny with the engine. Getting to some of the bell housing bolts with the tranny in the car would be next to impossible. I was able to unbolt the AC compressor from the engine along with all the accessories attached to the radiator and leave everything attached sitting off to the side. That way you don't have to go through the process of recharging the system. I also unbolted the trans mount from the unibody along with unbolting the bushing. That way, it had play and I could use a jack to get the tranny up and over the mount and subframe. A difficult part that took some patience was separating the drive shaft from the tranny. I was able to have a friend tap on the coupler with a rubber mallet while I turned the rear wheels (rotating the driveshaft) and it eventually freed itself. I removed the entire front of the car that way I didn't have to try and go up and over the front end.

Do yourself a favor, if you don't already have a triple square socket set, go get one. Either order it or buy one. I was able to find one at Northern Tool and Supply. I have to replace some bolts because I striped them out trying to get them out with just a standard allen.

[FL C6 Avant]

You, sir are the first person in this forum to go through this process so any information/findings/pictures you can post would be of a great benefit.
As for what to look for, I would inspect the timing chains, guides and tensioners before mating the motor up to the transmission. Because they are on the back side of the motor, sandwiched between the motor and trans, taking this opportunity to inspect and replace if necessary would be time well spent.

^^^
echo this. reseal everything post inspection--upper chain covers (can do with engine in), lower chains case. oil pan, possibly the cam to head girdle, possibly rear main oil seal.
Although many used engines come with a 3 or possibly 12000 mile 'warranty', I would first before taking delivery perform a compression/leakdown test.

what is your commitment with the bad engine? do you get to perform forensics? would love to see pics of the failure--rod bearing or whatever it is.

[c@@kieMonsta]

^^^
echo this. reseal everything post inspection--upper chain covers (can do with engine in), lower chains case. oil pan, possibly the cam to head girdle, possibly rear main oil seal.

I cannot agree with this more. Eventually something will leak because gaskets and sealant wears over time due to acid, temperature, and exterior elements. So definitely do yourself a solid and reseal everything that would otherwise be a PITA to do so later.

[AUDIous]

It should be pretty straight forward to replace the engine, I did one a few years ago for scored cylinder walls. Make sure it has the updated water pump and thermostat.

[6cyclones6]

A little update for you guys, we went up to the dealership up in Denver which is about an hour and a half drive to pick up the car and used engine all for them to have gotten a 3.5l audi engine instead of the 3.0t we need so they're going to re order it and ship it to my house. The original reason for it needing a new engine was because of a "thrown rod" according to an Audi specialized indy shop but there is defiantly no thrown rod just a knock/ slapping noise. I got it home and i did a quick diag on it by removing spark plugs and pushing on the pistons and there doesn't seem to be any slack when pushed on so i re installed everything and went to fire it up. It didn't kick on until a few seconds of cranking in the time of cranking i heard no knocks or noises so its leading me to believe its not a rod knock or anything else but more of a failed tensioner issue. To me the knock sounds nothing like a rod knock and very similar to a timing chain slapping around which i believed to be the issue since the noise all started very abruptly within like 10-25 miles. I will take the oil pan off today to see if it indeed is a rod or something else.

You, sir are the first person in this forum to go through this process so any information/findings/pictures you can post would be of a great benefit.
As for what to look for, I would inspect the timing chains, guides and tensioners before mating the motor up to the transmission. Because they are on the back side of the motor, sandwiched between the motor and trans, taking this opportunity to inspect and replace if necessary would be time well spent.
There should not be any modules that need to be reprogrammed as I would assume you are keeping the current ECU. A throttle body adaptation will be in order once the engine is in and everything is connected.
I look forward to following your progress and learning more as you go. Good luck!!

Thanks I will definitely try to keep this thread updated as much as possible when I get some time.

I'm replacing a 3.2 engine right now. Honestly its been pretty easy and straight forward. Go ahead and pull the tranny with the engine. Getting to some of the bell housing bolts with the tranny in the car would be next to impossible. I was able to unbolt the AC compressor from the engine along with all the accessories attached to the radiator and leave everything attached sitting off to the side. That way you don't have to go through the process of recharging the system. I also unbolted the trans mount from the unibody along with unbolting the bushing. That way, it had play and I could use a jack to get the tranny up and over the mount and subframe. A difficult part that took some patience was separating the drive shaft from the tranny. I was able to have a friend tap on the coupler with a rubber mallet while I turned the rear wheels (rotating the driveshaft) and it eventually freed itself. I removed the entire front of the car that way I didn't have to try and go up and over the front end.

Do yourself a favor, if you don't already have a triple square socket set, go get one. Either order it or buy one. I was able to find one at Northern Tool and Supply. I have to replace some bolts because I striped them out trying to get them out with just a standard allen.

I think Im going to go the same route as you have if it ends up being the engine needs to be pulled. When you removed the a/c compressor were you able to leave everything attached or did you have to seperate the radiator from the shroud and everything else?

^^^
echo this. reseal everything post inspection--upper chain covers (can do with engine in), lower chains case. oil pan, possibly the cam to head girdle, possibly rear main oil seal.
Although many used engines come with a 3 or possibly 12000 mile 'warranty', I would first before taking delivery perform a compression/leakdown test.

what is your commitment with the bad engine? do you get to perform forensics? would love to see pics of the failure--rod bearing or whatever it is.

The engine runs fine it just has a loud knock but at this point i will be receiving another engine for it and will be able to keep the old one and depending on whats wrong i may end up with a spare engine supercharger and all. I plan to do some diagnostics before pulling the engine since if its only a failed upper tensioner it will save me tons of time. Fingers crossed that its only a tensioner.

I cannot agree with this more. Eventually something will leak because gaskets and sealant wears over time due to acid, temperature, and exterior elements. So definitely do yourself a solid and reseal everything that would otherwise be a PITA to do so later.

What color gasket maker should i use? Ultra grey, black?

It should be pretty straight forward to replace the engine, I did one a few years ago for scored cylinder walls. Make sure it has the updated water pump and thermostat.

I plan on replacing both of them along with seals and tune up since im already there, you know?

[FL C6 Avant]

huh. yeah, please let us know the verdict.
judging by the upper chain covers, they use ultra grey (vag equivalent). Black is pretty close in consistency. one of those two. my slight preference is for the grey.

[FormulaElement]

Taking off the radiator support disconnects the AC lines to the cooler. While this might not discharge the system, i recommend a AC evac and recharge after this to get all excess moisture, etc out...

If the engine runs fine how do you know the knock isn't coming from somewhere else? Im assuming it increases with RPM right?
Would you mind posting a video of the knocking?

A VCDS scan would be nice in this situation.

I recommend Reinzosil, as its the highest temp rated gasket maker/RTV that i've found and i've had a good experience with it. Heres a link

Do yourself a favor and save the money by not replacing any of the accessories. At that mileage they should all be fine and the water pump would have been changed, so it even has less miles on it.

[6cyclones6]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ErUQlzfxUGs

The noise is almost identical to that except it speeds up when revved I will get a video of it tomorrow afternoon, it could very well be something else I just got caught up doing other things today I should be free tomorrow to at least get the oil drained and that will give me another hint to this puzzle.

Taking off the radiator support disconnects the AC lines to the cooler. While this might not discharge the system, i recommend a AC evac and recharge after this to get all excess moisture, etc out...

If the engine runs fine how do you know the knock isn't coming from somewhere else? Im assuming it increases with RPM right?
Would you mind posting a video of the knocking?

A VCDS scan would be nice in this situation.

I recommend Renzosil, as its the highest temp rated gasket maker/RTV that i've found and i've had a good experience with it. Heres a link

Do yourself a favor and save the money by not replacing any of the accessories. At that mileage they should all be fine and the water pump would have been changed, so it even has less miles on it.

[c@@kieMonsta]

What color gasket maker should i use? Ultra grey, black?

Ultra Black is what I used.

[cal3thousand]

I want to see pics !!!

I also agree wholeheartedly with resealing everything. I'd do all those things to make that motor nearly new before dropping it back in. Honestly, I'd jump at the opportunity to do that with my current car. It's getting close to 100k. Basically rebuild the thing short of pulling the head. Don't forget to clean the intakes real well. But I'm sure you'll see all that.

[6cyclones6]

Quick update on today...I removed the oil from the engine and it came out clean then moved on to remove the oil filter and found a glittery mess so I'm pretty sure it's a rod. Should receive the engine tomorrow so I'll keep this thread updated and possibly have tons of pics.