MincerRay

Hello all. I"m new here, but not new to Audi ownership.

I recently replaced my timing belt, water pump, and various bits on my '02 A4Q 3.0. I followed the detailed instructions from this site:

AudiWorld Tech Articles

I bought the kit of parts and rented the tools from Blau. I used tool 40028 to set the exhaust cams to the proper torque.

I put it all back together and the car runs and idles great and has the power it always has. I am now plagued by code P0015 - Bank 1 Exhaust cam over retarded. I swapped the two cam position sensors to see if the code goes away or moves to the other bank. No change.

I need to mention one thing that happened when I was performing this belt change. I had the cam lock tools on both sets of cams, and the timing belt was still tensioned. I had loosened the bank 2 cam bolts, and as I was loosening the bank 1 exhaust cam bolt, somehow the cam slipped out of the lock tool, and managed to also slip on of the toothed belt and get some number of teeth. Of course, this also caused the intake cam to move. What I did was to remove the timing belt so that I could move the exhaust and intake cams back into position for the locking tool to slip back on. I then re-installed the timing belt (to help hold the cams in place), made sure the locking tool was tight (!), then broke the cam bolts loose. Searching around the internet, I could find no other way to set the cam timing other than to be sure the lock tool fit back on the cams (and, of course, the crankshaft still at TDC).

Before I dig back into the engine (and spend the $ renting the tools again!), any ideas if this may be related to something else? I have a sneaking suspicion that something isn't right with the bank 1 exhaust cam timing, even though the car runs and idles normally. I am hoping I can re-check or adjust this without having to pull the front of the car forward again!

Thanks in advance!

-steve

lyleswk

No other choice other than to go back in and verify position of the cams and crank. I have not seen a detailed thread on how to do that once cams have moved. On my Nissan V6, there are clearly visible dimples on the crank and cam sprockets and marks on the belt. Not sure it is that clear on the Audi 3.0 Sure am glad my S5 has a chain...

MincerRay

Yeah, it looks like I'll have to go back in and recheck. Another possible cause is the solenoid that actuates the VVT system. Where is this solenoid, and how does one check it?

Thanks!

-steve