N_Jay

Is there a trick to getting these gaskets to seal properly?

Both sides were redone along with the cam plugs in February.

The shop is reporting the left side is leaking.

I would take it back to where it was done (well respected Audi shop, so I am told) but that was when the car lived with my dad in Delaware.

So now I am either going to have to do it myself, or pay about $100 to have the shop replace the gasket.

If they are easy, I might do it myself and most people have good luck.

But if they tend to leak, it might be best to pay the shop, and then I can take it back if it keep leaking.

Thoughts?

Prospeeder

Its because thats not whats wrong. It needs the rear cam plugs and timing chain tensioners resealed when the valve covers are off. Doing just valve covers is a total waste of time.

The covers need to have silicone in the corners, and at the bottom of the 'V', then place the gasket, then another bit of silicone on all the corners and install the cover. I also will put a small amount of silicone on the corners of the half moon on the timing chain tensioner, and on the corners where the bearing cap goes over the cam plugs. I am a 2.8/2.7T reseal master lol, no leaks come back to me.

N_Jay

So you are saying even though it just had cam plugs and cover gaskets, that side needs to be totally redone?

Prospeeder

So left cover, thats left from the driver seat right? Not left standing in front of it? Is the leak from the front or the back? Left (driver) has a rear cam seal and cam plug in the rear, and the chain tensioner on the front of the head. The Right (passenger) side has the Cam plug and chain tensioner in the back. So if he didnt reseal the chain tensioners than they are just going to keep leaking.

N_Jay

Left being drivers side.

I am guessing they were done "properly" (whatever that means).
In Feb he did valve covers, cam plugs, and the full timing belt service:
Timing belt
Tensioner
Water Pump
Thermostat
Valve cover gaskets
Cam plugs
Coolant expansion tank (Think it was cracked)


I have not pulled the engine cover myself to see what it looks like, so I am not sure where it is leaking from. If I have time I might take a look.

Prospeeder

So the timing chain tensioners were not resealed. This is going to be your leak. The little half moon just turns hard and shrinks up and starts leaking

N_Jay

Hard to say, as I am going from the short hand notes on the service receipt from my dad.

My guess is if they needed to be done, the shop would have done them.

If it was not done, is this part of a normal Cyl head gasket job, or is it a lot more work?

ajg617

I just ran into this with my 3.0L after timing belt service, again by a reputable Audi shop. Took it back, he changed the gasket and re-sealed after finding a piece of sludge trapped on bottom back corner. Same problem (passenger side) when I got it back. It takes quite awhile to burn off the oil on the exhaust so I drove it around for a week and was still getting smoke from the rear of the engine.

I pulled the surrounding stuff off and verified that the back lower corner was where the leak was. Indy sealed it on all 4 corners as recommended and mating surfaces were clean. I put a new gasket on anyway after drying both surfaces with a new shop rag. Same problem only the leak was from on top of cyl 1. Repeat, back corner again. Arrgh.

Pulled the cover for a third time and could see no crack or obvious sign of damage. Put a straight edge on the surfaces and there appeared to be a slight gap between the edge and the bottom rear corner. Picked up a used valve cover and cleaned that up. Same gap with the straightedge.

Bought another gasket from Audi (I go right by dealer to/from work) and decided to use my original cover since there was a chip in the used one at the gasket mating surface near lower back which was where I was leaking.

This time I cleaned the valve cover and head mating surface with de-greaser and then wiped them down twice with alcohol pads. Ran a bead of black RTV around the whole gasket on both the cover and head side and finally got it to seal. Frustrating because it's been off a couple of times in 200K miles without any leak problem after putting it back.

I will say that the torque specs for the cover seem very light even given that it is plastic (7ft lbs or 10NM). When I first took the cover off, the bolts were definitely tighter than that as I got a good snap each time I cracked one. I went to 15NM when I finally got it sealed doing it in two steps (10NM in sequence first and then up to 15). Still that isn't very much. Even after that, I was getting a smell for about a week before all the oil burnt off the exhaust. Dry as a bone now.

If you look at some of the other Audi forums, VC leaks seem to be problematic for others too, especially on the 3.0L.

One other thing to consider is internal pressure build up. When I looked at the PCV connector hose on the passenger side, it was almost entirely plugged for its entire length. I wound up replacing all the hoses and PCV. Keep in mind that the oil tends to pool in the lower rear corners.