well i changed the t belt again and this time when i took it out for a spin the car started to misfire. at first i thought to change the plugs. bought the plugs made sure they were gapped at .028 and put them in. at first the idle was ok for the first 30 secs then misfire on all cyl. i then thought the timing was off by a tooth or so so i pulled the belt and went fresh on the oem marks on the car to align the cam and crank. everytime i did this and tried to start it it would run but miss all over the place. at this point i have the marks on the spot and just have the alternator belt on to keep the batt alive while i have it running all this time. at first it was the same miss and after about 1 1/2 min it would retard and idle fun. i have not tried a second cold start as i will in the AM. i do notice i am still tripping one miss and it's always on cyl 2. i have a 2000 so no amp to blame it on. i have swapped plugs and also the packs and the same cyl still misses. it doesn' affect the idle but i have not driven it yet and after about 15 min no cel's. any thoughts or things to try would be greatly appreciated. i am keeping my fingers crossed for tomorrow that the start is the same as it was when it ran fine....

thanks
andrew

 

My bet is you're out a tooth still. Check the values in block 90 & 91, see what they say the cam advance is at idle (should be right around zero). If you're a tooth out, it'll be around 20, +/-. Shouldn't hit 20 degrees until you're over 2200 rpm.

 

didn't pull the cams... but i will check the blocks to see.. thanks

 

if i am +20 would i go backwards on the cam or forwards..

thanks again.. i will still check tomorrow.... ran out of steam.

andrew

 

but if you're reading + 20 degrees, that'd put your intake cam at 20 degrees advanced, or one tooth out in the clockwise direction. YOu'd need to take off the belt, and move the cam counter clockwise one tooth.

ECU can adapt for this & run ok, ironically. Makes the car have a little less power, misfire during adaptation, & seem like it has a bad MAF. We had a customer that had the timing belt done at a dealer a couple years ago, and had his second job done here, apparently had been driving on it 1 tooth out for about 50,000 miles!

 

that makes perfect sense. i will try it later and hope it works...thanks

 

Hey man,
Did you ever find out if you were off a tooth or not?
I recently lost timing on my a4 and bend most of my valves.
I rebuilt my Head, re-installed my cams, chain (like everyone suggested), and timing marks are perfect for the belt.
Motor runs now but rough as hell, multiple cylinder misfires.

Didn't have to check compression before doing all this work and will be doing so soon.
Does anyone think that compression issues would cause multiple cylinder misfires?


Heres are some timing measurements from VCDS:

 

Set your timing at TDC and take the valve cover off and verify your cam timing marks. I bet you are off a tooth on the intake cam. 16 links between the timing marks.

 

Thanks for the reply, Cyber! ...I know this is a really old thread. Appreciate it.

Since I was only getting misfire codes, I treated the problem at hand as an ignition issue and went through the motions. Cylinder #2 was the culprit. Ended up being a leaky/open injector. After swapping spark plugs and ignition coils around and finding out those were functioning correctly; every plug that I had running in cylinder #2 came out covered in moist blackness (an indication of too much or unburnt fuel) so I left the plugs out and looked into cylinders via the openings, turned the key without starting the engine to let pressure build-up in the fuel rail and found that injector #2 was leaking like crazy; drip ...drip! I must've busted the injector; when I basically had to hammer them out from within the cylinder area prior to rebuilding/resurfacing the head.

I just replaced the injector in that cylinder. Running way better now. I'm sure I might've screwed up other injectors due to the method of initial removal but they're still working alright and I hope they last. LOL.

I put this little graphic together from the information I pulled from a few places in regard to (A4 B7 2.0t) cam timing, prior to rebuilding the head. Hope it helps others.

The timing might still be off (in terms of the VCDS readings) but leaving it that way until I find another daily driver (It's too cold out and I'm lazy atm) ...or for some reason, I have to remove the cam-chain housing and am feeling ambitious. The engine runs smoother than it did prior to letting the timing go though, so I'm happy.