donromani

Mid rebuild and I've got a head-scratcher (for me anyway):

Long story short - I broke the motor down right to the crank and had it rebalanced with some new connecting rods. Now I'm in the process of reassembling it but the problem is, when I took it apart I forgot to set the crank to TDC on piston 3.

So...I have no clue what position the cams are in. Setting the crank to TDC on 3 is no problem because the pulley on the crank is marked. The heads are a different story. There are no markings on the cam shaft belt sprockets and bentley doesn't clarify what I need to do either.

What's the process to ensure that the cams are in the proper position when the crank is at tdc for piston 3? There's got to be a way to do this right?

Chris's S4

One sec, I've pulled cams out when doing my cam tensioner seals. Let me take a look at my manual. see if I can come up with something useful.

Chris's S4

Alright now... when you have the engine set at #3 TDC, the cams should show the marks on both intake and exhaust cams...(Nevermind this)> Did you see those when setting the engine at TDC prior to disassemble?


Either way, set up the engine, then you'll need another person to help you with the tensioner and the chain while you hold the cams in place. You'll see in the manual that you have to count 16 links in between the cam sprockets. It's a little off, but they tell you that. If you dont have the manual to that section let me know. I'll attach it.

Any concerns? Questions? I was scared doing it at first, cuz it not something you can mess up and fix that easily. But was fine after reading and examining everything a million times before the job.

Good luck,
Chris

Update again: I realize you probably didn't remove the valve covers, so if you didn't, you wont' see what I'm talking about.

As for the cam pulleys... there are no marks. Those pulleys can spin round and round on the cam shaft due to the concentric shape of the end shaft. Therefore you have to have the valve covers off, in order to see where the cams are in relation to timing. I'm guessing you don't have the cam lock bar. So putting them in timing that way is out of the question.

It'll be alil difficult being bank 1 side likes to snap out of timing just to screw with ya. (had it happen to me) Very strong valve springs. holy ****... Anyways, you'll need to look inside the valve cover area to see the cams. Then from there, you'll need to turn them so that the two marks on the cam shafts line up at the top of the head and.... if you look at the cam pulleys, the piece where the cam lock bar locks (the thing with two holes one larger than the other), the larger hole must be pointed to the inside of the engine, same with the left side head. It must be pointed to the inside. At that point is where you need to double check the marks on the cams to make sure they line up with the marks on the heads. If they do.... DON'T TOUCH IT ANYMORE! lol Remember I said the right side like to jump out of place. It will if it's bumped into.

Kinda long, hopefully it's helpful. A lot of explanation in there, but I hope you understand it.

If not, ask me... Been there, done that.

Chris

EuroXS4

Ok so you have the crank pulley on and set.I believe the camshaft caps aka bearign that bolt to the head and hold the cams down should have a arrow or triangle shaped mark on the cam cap and the matching indentation on the camshaft itself.I forget wether they are on the front cam caps or the rears.check you cam caps for the marks im almost positive it has them pretty much every audi/vw engine has marks on cam caps and cams to line em up.Also please consult your repair manual I know the marks are there.Just have to pull the valve covers if you havent.

donromani

Thanks guys, that helped a lot actually. I figured there had to be markings on the head somewhere - they have to set these at the factory somehow.

I have the Bentley, but It seems to skip over the cam alignment part (at least on the head install). I'll have to dig around a little until I find the correct secion, but at least now I know what I'm looking for and where to look for it.

Thanks again!

EuroXS4

No problem glad you got it sorted out!

Chris's S4

NO worries, glad to have helped.

Chris

Look in the valve train area of the engine section, it's where I found my info. Plus you'll see where on the head and the cams have the alignment marks. Thanks EuroXS4 for pointing that out, I missed that earlier.

Chris