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This is a much needed job for the 3.2L FSI V6 engine after a decade or so.
The space between the cylinder head and the camshafts guide frame is where oil finds its way through when
(1) the gasket sealing the spark plugs and the camshaft solenoid and
(2) the anaerobic sealant between the cylinder head and the camshafts guide frame
have reached their end of life.
Finding space around the engine to remove and place back parts is the biggest challenge otherwise doing this job is relatively easy. While at it, it's a good idea to replace both upper timing chain tensioners, spark plugs gaskets, valve cover gaskets and every single bolt if possible. I will come back for more details but I wanted to show you guys a few pictures I took yesterday which show clearly enough what's going on in there.
Here is a schema of the cylinder head. People usually replace the cylinder head cover gasket (or valve cover gasket) but one thing to note is that if the upper cylinder head cover gasket is dead, the other lower cylinder head cover gasket sealing the spark plugs and camshaft solenoid is dead too and it is likely the anaerobic sealant between the cylinder head and the camshafts guide frame is dead as well.
Here is the passenger's side cylinder head. Brake booster vacuum pump (lower right), timing chain cover + tensioner (left), camshafts and guide frame (middle) were removed.
I locked the camshafts onto the guide frame with the camshaft locator tool for an easier install. Showing the passenger's side.
Here are both sides camshafts guide frames with camshafts locked in them with camshaft locator tools. Driver's side is on the left, passenger's side on the right.
Here are the guide frames flipped over. Passenger's side is on the left. You can now see the spark plugs and camshaft solenoid gaskets paths. Old brittle gaskets were removed.
Driver's side guide frame with camshafts locked into them prepared and ready to install. New spark plugs + camshaft solenoid gasket (black) and fresh anaerobic sealant (green).
Passenger's side.
Passenger's side guide frame with camshafts secured onto cylinder head. 8 Nm + 90 degrees in sequential order, inner to outer.
Kelisko, Kudos! Brave man! That is the DIY I have been looking for. I have done the VC Gaskets, the solenoids, timing chain covers and oil filter housing. I am waiting on the timing chain tensioners as my bank 2 reading is only 4kw out presently. I knew after I did the VC Gaskets that the cam girdle seals were shot but logically i put that job on the docket with the timing chan tensioners.
I am looking forward to hearing about more of your experience with this repair.
Thanks guys. I finished the job yesterday. It took me three weeks but I worked only during weekends and some Fridays afternoon so the job took me about 8 days in total.
I have good news! Check the video below. I will organize all the information I saved during the job and post it later.
Description: Starting my 2005 Audi A6 after doing a major engine maintenance. The maintenance consisted of replacing the lower cylinder head cover gaskets (spark plugs and solenoid gaskets), resealing the camshafts guide frames (cam girdles) to the cylinder heads, replacing both upper timing chain tensioners, resealing the upper timing chain covers, replacing the upper cylinder head cover gaskets (valve cover gaskets), replacing spark plugs, replacing oil filter and flushing engine oil.
My engine was leaking oil since the day I purchased the car. A few year later I decided to fix the leak and from what I found online, the valve cover gaskets are what I should replace. I cleaned the oily mess, replaced the valve cover gaskets which were indeed hard and brittle. While I was doing the valve cover gaskets job, I found oil in the spark plug holes. I thought replacing the valve cover gaskets would fix that too.
After replacing the valve cover gaskets, oil obviously stopped leaking out of the valve covers sealing surfaces. But a few months later, I was surprised to see oil leaking around the camshaft solenoids. Oil was definitely finding a way out and it was not through the valve covers.
Recently, cold starts started being very rough. I could hear loud chain noise but I thought of spark plugs. I checked the spark plugs and the holes were still getting flooded with oil which made me think that oil which was finding another way to get in there was probably causing electrical issues hence the rough starts. I cleaned the oil and reinstalled the spark plugs.
Also I started smelling oil burning after driving the car and white smoke started coming out of the engine bay after driving the car a little harder. Oil was probably dropping onto the exhaust system or something. That I did not worry about too much.
Then all starts, not just cold ones started being very rough with chain noise. And then all starts started being scary as the chain noise was ongoing for a long time before the engine smoothed out a bit and the whole car started vibrating. CEL is ON at this point. Scanning for faults returned Camshaft Position Sensor (G40) Implausible Signal. Measuring block 93 stopped reporting data and was showing extreme values that would not fluctuate at all.
I decided to stop using the car. I researched the sensor location, removed, cleaned and re-installed it, ordered a replacement and replaced it but nothing changed. You can see the car in the picture below very dusty because parked for a while. I went out to test drive hoping the issue would go away after a few miles but nope. Car lost power and was shaking badly at idle. I also attached a picture of the old camshaft position sensor.
It was obvious I had chain/timing/tensioner issues and the thread below was very helpful. Thanks to the thread starter and all of those who shared their experience. DIY - A6 3.2 Upper Timing Chain Tensioner Replacement Thread: https://www.audiworld.com/forums/a6-...ement-2861500/
But how do I fix the other leaks? How does the oil get into the spark pug holes? Then I found the thread at the link below which made things a little clearer. Oil leak from what appears to be the camshaft cap: https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...ve-this-happen
I then gathered all the information I could and started preparing a job which I said to myself would either kill the car if I did something wrong or save it which I very much hoped.
After doing some research I came up with the following understanding.
Here is a picture of the passenger's side cylinder head.
Here are the potential oil leak locations.
Purple: Vacuum pump gasket. No sealant.
There is another gasket inside the vacuum pump which may also cause oil leaks if bad.
There is no vacuum pump on the driver's side. Instead there is an additional engine cap.
Blue: Upper valve cover gasket. No sealant.
Green: Lower valve cover gasket and anaerobic sealant.
You can see one engine cap on the passenger's side in the picture. There are two engine caps on the driver's side.
Red: Silicone sealant. No gasket.
Here is an exploded view with gaskets and sealant tubes
02-03-2020, 02:01 AM
Fixing oil in spark plug and other engine oil leaks on the 3.2
