Timing question, crankshaft moved slightly while camshaft were locked down

[Dodaman]

Hello,

Question on timing belt change. We were changing TB, water pump, thermostat, pulleys etc on 05 A4 3.0l engine. We locked down camshaft with locking tool, we followed all torque specs and procedures from Bentley book and blauparts instructions. To clarify, it was our first TB change on Audi. We did not lock down crankshaft bolt for two reasons. One, the area of where bolt was said to be located from the book was vague, and there were two bolts In That location. And two, we then saw and read about many change outs on Audi A4 3.0 that didn’t use that and only used the camshaft tool, and everything came out fine.

Ok, so we proceeeded that way, but once we had eveything torqued back down and while watching the camshaft bever move at all. We installed the crankshaft pulley with those two marks and the eighth bolts. The timing mark on the pulley and block were now off (back to the left) by about 1-2 mm at the most. It was ever so slight. Now it was perfectly on when we started originally and locked down the camshaft. While the locks were still in place on the camshaft, I moved the crankshaft clockwise back to the exact mark. It barely moved to get it there.

Question is, is there going to be a problem or is there any play whatsoever with this. I can’t imagine with all the TB changes on these cars and with only using the camshaft locking tool, That others haven’t experienced a ever so slight movement with the crankshaft and timing marks. The only I can think that had the torque to move it were the camshaft bolts as they called for 74 ft lbs.

Thoughts. And thanks for them.

[pablolizarraga]

I originally wasn’t going to use the crankshaft bolt for the same reasons, but the following day I noticed that crankshaft pulley had moved same amount as you noticed; which is easily at least one tooth. So I went through trying to locate the crankshaft bolt.
These links and video helped tremendously for entire job but especially with locating that crankshaft bolt.

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/21402/106553003

https://www.audiworld.com/tech/eng110.shtml

https://workshop-manuals.com/audi/a4...mbly_overview/

It’s easier to locate/access bolt by removing driver side wheel liner. You’ll also have move aside the oil cooler as well.

Since you have it all put back together, it sounds like it might be in correct timing but for peace of mind, especially if you still haven’t put valve covers back on, I would use crankshaft bolt.

Good luck!

By the way, make sure you use the camshaft adjustment tool.


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine

[john_gonzo]

Good pics here: Is-this-the-3-0-AVK-crank-lock-plug?

[SJorge3442]

Another thing you can do is is to set a ratchet on the crank while you are going through the preloading of the timing belt sequence (this is when the crank usually moves). Align the ratchet in a way in which doesnt move the crank. I had a friend hold the ratch for me while I was tensioning the belt. After the 4 cam bolts were locked I put the lower timing cover back on to confirm the crank was where it belonged. It took me a few tries to get this right, but in the end, I think this was better than unbolting a bunch of stuff to get to the crank lock location. I'm in no way saying this is the correct way, but it worked for me.

[Dodaman]

Thanks for the replies and advice. I appreciate them. Ended up being a bummer anyway. It turned out we had two new OEM parts that were defective. We had all the timing items back together, and then moved onto the Accessory belt items. After compressing the accessory belt tensioner to get the belt over the pulley, I pulled the pin and slowly released the tension back till it took up the slack on the belt. What either of us didn't know was the metal piece in the middle of the spring that keeps the tension had busted off at the shoulder on the pulley side. (don't know the technical name for that piece, and no I didn't just let it snap back or stressed it the wrong way.) It didn't actually fall out of the spring, just a small piece in the shoulder area that holds the top of that metal piece. Se we didn't hear it.

Then we went onto to flushing the coolant. I got about 1/2 gallon of distilled H2O in there when we started hearing water hitting the floor from under the engine. I thought maybe i must have missed torqueing a water pump bolt or screwed up the gasket somehow. we couldn't immediately see from where it was, so we took a bunch of things back off to be able to find it. After putting more water in to test, there it was. Water coming out through the pulley/bearing area. The mechanic from the garage next door came over and was shocked, too. Anyway, after calming down and realizing it was too late to get parts, we buttoned it up to make sure it was secure and pushed it out into a parking spot. I get to drive back to PA this weekend to finish it.

I guess the only shining part to this story is that faulty WP allowed me to find the broken tensioner. As we were taking things apart to find the leak, the tensioner just fell apart in pieces as we went to compress it to remove the belt. That wouldn't have been fun seeing what that would have done when we started the motor. I've already discussed the faulty items with supplier and got new ones on the way. I must say though, I've been in the industrial market for 25 years. I have seen and been involved in several metal fatigue failure issues. We gotten metallurgist involved to examine some of those failures. I am sure there are thousand if not tens of thousands of these types of tensioners out there, but I just don't like that design. this one wouldn't have passed the QC test. Anyway, i'll post how things go once all fixed.

Again, thanks for the advice.