Cam chain tensioner and chain change

[BasicA6]

I am planning to change both can chains and tensioners tonight. Can someone help me out and post the link for the how to please? I know this is a horse that has been beaten multiple times but I'm on my phone and honestly too lazy to look.

[BasicA6]

no one to help a brother out? lol

[landfill]

For the chain driven V8 there should
be a DIY in the b6 s4 section. Google
search it. Also I think JHM makes a
DIY dvd but am not %100 sure.

[AvantHater]

I found a bunch of youtube vids on this

[rollerton]

Passenger side just do it exactly the way it looks; get stuff out of the way and remove all spark plugs and valve covers. I mark the cam positions to the head, mark the chain position to the cam also. Mark these spots very clearly and thoroughly and you dont need to count links between cams, just line everything up [i]exactly]/i] the way it was.
Be VERY very careful with the torx bolts for the cam caps. Mark those and make sure each goes back exactly where you removed it.

Drivers side is the same, but it's pretty impossible without removing timing belt.

[BasicA6]

Passenger side just do it exactly the way it looks; get stuff out of the way and remove all spark plugs and valve covers. I mark the cam positions to the head, mark the chain position to the cam also. Mark these spots very clearly and thoroughly and you dont need to count links between cams, just line everything up [i]exactly]/i] the way it was.
Be VERY very careful with the torx bolts for the cam caps. Mark those and make sure each goes back exactly where you removed it.

Drivers side is the same, but it's pretty impossible without removing timing belt.

thanks bud i am out there now taking everything apart the drivers side is not bad but i bout everything tensioners and chains for both side so i am just gonna go ahead and do both.

[BasicA6]

took this out tonight it was toasted thank goodness i order a new chain as well
the driver side looks like it was replaced recently before the car was purchased

[Arsenal2012]

WTF, did u have a lot of rattle?

[BasicA6]

i just started the car one morning and there was an abundant amount of rattle, before that there was no rattle at all. the car ran for about 3-6 mins then i parked it until the parts came in.

[BasicA6]

the bottom was the worse idk looks like it was rubbing for a while but i did not hear any rattle at all. looks like when the top plastic broke thats when it made the noise

[AvantHater]

were you able to fish out any of the broken plastic bits from the guides? That damage is exactly what I was afraid of on mine, my guides look OK now, but another member told me that they'll look OK up until the moment the break and crumble, then your tensioners are eff'd, like yours. gonna replace mine just for good measure.

[rollerton]

Hey!! We're matchers!! Can I be in the club!?

[BasicA6]

were you able to fish out any of the broken plastic bits from the guides? That damage is exactly what I was afraid of on mine, my guides look OK now, but another member told me that they'll look OK up until the moment the break and crumble, then your tensioners are eff'd, like yours. gonna replace mine just for good measure.

yes i was able to fish out all the broken plastic pieces last night I'm putting all back together tonight and hopefully start her up tomorrow after i change the oil

- - - Updated - - -

Hey!! We're matchers!! Can I be in the club!?

yes we should start a club lol

[V1nny]

How did you do both sides without removing timing belt? Is it really possible?

[rollerton]

How did you do both sides without removing timing belt? Is it really possible?

No! I mean, I don't think it's technically impossible but I don't think he did it. The pic I posted is from passenger side also.

[JBX]

Basic/Rolleton,

What was your approximate mileages on your engines at the bad tensioner replacement? The reason I ask is that I am at 106K and would really like to put this tensioner replacement off until the TB job at 150+K (which is probably 6 years for me).

Thanks.

--jb

[rollerton]

Basic/Rolleton,

What was your approximate mileages on your engines at the bad tensioner replacement? The reason I ask is that I am at 106K and would really like to put this tensioner replacement off until the TB job at 150+K (which is probably 6 years for me).

Thanks.

--jb

Both the ones I did were 4.2's. And I did one a couple weeks ago which is at 165k and the tensioner was NOISY on cold startup but removed with just some wear on the pads, no other damage.
That one from yesterday is at 209,000 miles! and was MOAR noisy for slightly longer at startup most of the time but ran quiet. And..came out looking like that. Both are from Bank1. I always do that side first in the hopes that bank2 (drivers side) has no issues.
Personally, since I can't find an issue with the chinese parts so far and they're pretty affordable- I'm probably going to just start replacing the tensioners when I do a service on engines w/ more than 150k- at the very least the drivers side since the TB has to be removed for that one. The ENTIRE tensioner kit with all gaskets is under $300. Can't really argue against it and risk a problem in 20k miles.
I think these issues are pretty rare at less than 150k. But if you're doing the timing belt you might check the pads out.

[BasicA6]

can someone post how to set the timing for the crank please i didnt insert the crank locking pin before i started to take the shit apart silly me.

[rollerton]

Dude....no. No no no. Did you make any marks of any kind during reassembly? Mark everything, take pictures, count chain links. If anything moved at all you're in a heap o trouble.
There are crank timing marks way down on the large crank pulley to-timing cover; personally I never look at them for this. I mark everything and make sure it stays put and reassemble. If anything moves at all while a cam is out you can run into puzzles.
Hopefully the exhaust cam little slot still lines up with the mark on the bearing cap?
If SO then good. Reassemble, line up intake cam to match it's mark and don't worry about the crank.

[BasicA6]

I got it all back together but now I have a miss fire in 1-3-5-7 cylinder I don't know what I did wrong and I certainly do not want to tear it all apart again

[simonpoulton]

You might have to - I have just done the same job on my RS6 and you really need the cam lock bar and the crank locking pin. The TDC mark on the front pulley does't really line up accurately enough

This is the tool: http://www.ebay.com/itm/BAUMTOOLS-VW...315455&vxp=mtr

That tool goes over the two exhaust cams - it should go on easily. Did they line up like this (bigger hole of the two pointing in)? : Sorry image is here

If that's OK, then the inlet camshaft may have become de-timed from the exhaust one. There are marks on each cam that should align with the marks on the bearing caps. Each side has a different amount of chain linkages between the tops of the cam when putting eveything back together.

Hope that helps.

[rollerton]

Man, that sucks. But honestly don't referencing crank timing doesn't help you on this job. You can do the cam-to-cam timing no matter where the crank is. As long as the cams are lined up to each other properly you can time the exhaust cam to the crank almost anytime.
I also say do one side at a time, Passenger side/ bank1 first, since it has nothing to do with the timing belt. Once bank1 is done if you still have trouble or want to, do bank2. But either way.
I just did 3 of these and didn't look at the crank timing a single time. Remove valve cover and get the cams lined up with the notches on the ends, the when you're ready to remove them MARK THE CAM (both of them) position relative to the cam caps. You can see how I marked it in this pic:


If you do this and reassemble with your marks lined up you can have no issues. Without the marks I made I would have been totally screwed on the last one; since I had to turn the engine over a few times with the intake cam removed. With no original reference I would have a headache.

Also, ...you know that the tensioners are specific to each side? They can be swapped and the engine will run but you'll have misfires. The one that ends in 088 is Passenger side.

[BasicA6]

I didn't mess with anything on the drivers side at all it was previously replaced but it threw a miss fire code on that side as well. I'm at a total loss I'm trying to figure out this miss fire issue now I will tear it back apart this weekend and try to fix it correctly

[rollerton]

is your ONLY error code for misfires? You may want to check for vacuum leaks and anything else first. I've gotten cam / crank timing incorrect correlation errors when the timing was off.

[bpark1210]

Also, ...you know that the tensioners are specific to each side? They can be swapped and the engine will run but you'll have misfires. The one that ends in 088 is Passenger side.

Check on this. That's what it sounds like to me. If it's all timed up w/ zero interference and you're having misfires you prob got the tensioners mixed up.

[BasicA6]

I will look at it when I get home

[BasicA6]

Man, that sucks. But honestly don't referencing crank timing doesn't help you on this job. You can do the cam-to-cam timing no matter where the crank is. As long as the cams are lined up to each other properly you can time the exhaust cam to the crank almost anytime.
I also say do one side at a time, Passenger side/ bank1 first, since it has nothing to do with the timing belt. Once bank1 is done if you still have trouble or want to, do bank2. But either way.
I just did 3 of these and didn't look at the crank timing a single time. Remove valve cover and get the cams lined up with the notches on the ends, the when you're ready to remove them MARK THE CAM (both of them) position relative to the cam caps. You can see how I marked it in this pic:


If you do this and reassemble with your marks lined up you can have no issues. Without the marks I made I would have been totally screwed on the last one; since I had to turn the engine over a few times with the intake cam removed. With no original reference I would have a headache.

Also, ...you know that the tensioners are specific to each side? They can be swapped and the engine will run but you'll have misfires. The one that ends in 088 is Passenger side.

first of let me say thank you to roller ton i had the wrong tensioner in there 087 and it caused it to misfire, swapped it out in about an hour considering i just removed the valve cover marked the cams and removed the intake cams didnt have to redo timing or anything. put it back together and BOOM it worked.

roller ton send me your paypal I'm going to send you $50 to buy a couple cases of beers!

[rollerton]

Awesome!

But I ain't takin your money. You're not that far away...maybe a beer someday!

[BasicA6]

Just glad I got this worked out