Brandon Barstow

Hey guys first post on here since my recent purchase of this Audi. But I have learned a great deal reading in the shadows haha so I'm hoping you guys can help me along and learn a bit more. First a little back story, I bought this A6 from a woman nearby, it was running fine for her and one day it died while she was driving and would no longer start. She didn't want the headache and sold it to me for 300$. She never told me it was the 2.7t with Quattro only found out after requesting more pics of the back. The car is loaded up with options, heated front and back seats, sun roof, climate control, it really is an impressive car so I simply couldn't let it go. At the very least I could get my 300$ back parting it out. I got the car a couple weeks ago and was eager to diagnose what's wrong thinking it was probably your typical female who knew next to nothing about cars and it would be an easy fix. I was half right lol

So to begin we hooked it up to jumpers and gave it a shot, it turns over and cranks but won't start, after laying on the starter for 20 seconds or so we hear a small backfire, still not sure where it came from. Anyway because it cranked and turned I'm assuming the engine itself is fine, timing belt or ceized engine would not allow such a smooth crank I think. So we narrowed it down to it being a fuel, spark or air problem.

Today I had time to do some more work and began the check list starting with fuel. The fuse and the relay are fine and the pump does in fact engage. So that's off the list, air filter and boxes are clear from what I can tell so it was on to spark.

We took out a spark plug from the left side and it had oil around the top of the spark plug and the bottom was drowning in oil. We took off one spark plug from the right and it was the same. Still need to check the rest tomorrow but from what I've read it's a blown valve cover gasket. I'm ready to do the work myself that's no problem but I want to know if there's anything I should know going into this or anything else I should check or if there's a serious problem I don't know about. I hope to hear from you guys soon thank a lot

tester123

Congratulations on your find! Valve cover gasket kit can be ordered from places like ECSTuning or Blauparts-which I used. There are some write-ups you can look at before you get started.

I'd suggest replacing coolant temp sensor ($10-$15 part from dealer). I had a 2.7T with hot restart issue. Long story - sensor shot, thinks car is in siberia and dumps ton of fuel for a cold start... ends up flooding the engine.

Anyway, check spark on all plugs first. Get / borrow code reader and read codes. Might give you some idea where the problem is.

clancy

Not sure I understand why leaky valve cover gaskets would create a no start. I guess if the plugs were so fouled they could not spark might do it. But kind on far out there. Too much air leakage from the bad gaskets???

Suggest reading this thread: https://www.audiworld.com/forums/a6-...nosis-2847352/ This is a long read but offers several possibilities. The CPS could be bad, but often there are several events where the car will not re-start when hot first. But I suppose your CPS could have simply failed w/o the hot no re-starts first. Important to understand you can test for this being a bad CPS if you have a VAG-COM to read the RPMs during crank. See post #27.

I would try to locate someone who has a VAG-COM they can loan you or assist in reading codes and test for the G28 failure before you tear into this vehicle. This code reader is much better than the generic ones, tells you a lot more if you know how to use it. Maybe start another thread asking for someone to loan you their VAG-COM. You will need to tell us where you are located. Since your car will not start they will have to come to you.

Brandon Barstow

The only engine code we got was p1519 camshaft sensor malfunction bank 1, we've since fixed that and cleared the code. No more check engine light. 1 of the spark plugs was covered in oil no way it could have produced a spark I imagine a few more are like this.

Brandon Barstow

But should it help I'm in North Attleboro, Massachusetts

tester123

It is possible but in general oil does not conduct electricity and should not affect the spark at the plug's gap.

I'd open each plug spark plug / ignition module and check for spark first. Also check for any blown fuses.

Since your engine is cold, that Coolant Temp Sensor issue may not apply but I suggested to do it because it is a simple and inexpensive repair.

Brandon Barstow

So quick update before I head back out there. 3 of the coil packs were pretty clogged with oil up the boot. Would this cause a no start and would this render the coilpacks useless. During the valve cover gasket replacement I found a single chuck of plastic resting in a small hole over a bolt under the valve head inside the camshaft housing, where would this have come from and is there more I haven't found maybe clogging something? Where should I check. Next basically. The new gaskets are on the new plugs are in, today I will check the coil packs and make sure they are sound, any advice would be greatly appreciated! It's back to work for another 5 days so I want to figure out at much as I can today, thanks again guys

Brandon Barstow

Oh and all fuses are good as well

tester123

Like I said, check the coil packs for spark.

That "chunk" of plastic could be from cam chain tensioner shoe... check this link:https://www.ecstuning.com/b-mtc-part...dWqxoC5h7w_wcB

It's that arc looking thing on both sides. It is a plastic "shoe" that cam chain rides on, known to break down over time.

Brandon Barstow

So I went out there before work today to see if I had spark and possibly do a compression test. If your facing the car I removed the left closest coil pack to me. Plugged it back in with the spark plug in the boot over it. (I have a spark tester coming in tomorrow but I was eager to check) my brother cranked it and I shocked myself a little cause I grounded it with a metal socket haha but after 5 or 6 seconds the bitch started, it's a little rough but no where near as rough as the blown head gasket on my old 944, it died within 10 seconds of running and when we started it again and held the accelator it also died again. so I'm pretty lost as to what I do now. Check the remainder of the coil packs? Just don't tell me it's a head gasket please hahah