Captain Sweeney

So as some of you may know I've been working on this Audi ai 1997 for quite some time. It's got a brand new transmission, refurbished steering rack, new tires, new water pump, timing belt, new battery, new CV boots, ran beautifully.

Did the timing myself, turned it over with the starter and heard some bad sounds, I only held it down for about 2 seconds at most. So now imI fairly sure with it being a v8 interfence that something's gotta be destroyed inside.

If anyone wants the car, or has suggestions to minimize my losses or a way to fix this cheaply, or has any ideas that'd be much appreciated. Thank you guys so much for your help on this car, i cpuldnco have gotten nearly as far as I did without you.

silverd2

Don't give up yet ... they always make terrible noises after a job like that. The oil needs to get back into the lifters.

If you know the timing is correct, I'd try it again. Even if the timing is off, turning the engine with the starter is not likely to break a valve ... the impact should be absorbed by the lifters at such low rpm.

When I do a job like that, I pull the fuel pump fuse and use the starter for a minute or so, to "re-oil" the engine before I actually start it ... quiet start up then.

Cheers

Oxnardo Ring

Well, don't give up without a fight. I'd STOP using the starter... and just crank it by hand (always clockwise!) via the tool on the crank bolt. You will quickly know if there's an issue based on how it turns by hand. Pull the plugs while at it to eliminate compression...

If you are in big trouble, please PM me. I'm like "foundling puppies" with these things and have a cross country trip with my tow rig in the coming weeks so we can talk about it. I had a spare ABZ a couple of months ago, but that's gone now, so I'd have to dig around for a motor.

Captain Sweeney

​​​​​​Thank you for the reply. I will definitely try that. The crankbolt is the center, lowest gear at the front of the engine, right?

Edit: So when I am looking for top dead center on cylinder 1, I shouldn't ever turn the crank counter clockwise? Reason I ask is because the video I watched says to turn it both directions to find the number of degrees between each hit, (when you screw a bolt into the cylinder to find top dead center).

jfrahm

It's OK to turn CCW a short ways when looking for TDC and the like but if you are setting up the timing you want to avoid pulling belt slack the wrong way. Some cars want you to go CW past the mark and 2 teeth back and such but IMO for the D2 if you were actually going to set the timing and adjust the idler, etc. you want to rotate the engine around CW only.

I am a little surprised you got through a timing belt job w/o rotating the engine around a few times by hand to check/set everything. It's easy to be off a tooth if you don't, easy to have the timing shift when the slack is taken up by the tensioner.

Captain Sweeney

Thanks for the reply. I don't believe the timing is correct because

A. When I first removed the old belt the cam gears gears jumped position, and I assumed they jumped an equal amount so i thought it was ok, they were already marked so I figured just push them back.

B. Once I removed the cam gears I found that there's no keys, so my markings no longer mattered, the timing was lost completely then.

Good advice with the fuel pump fuse I would've never thought of that. Thanks again.

Oxnardo Ring

SilverD2 is correct. You can generally nudge back CCW a hair-- various valvetrain designs have differing levels of dependence on the "belt/chain is always in tension" theory-- basically, it's a "don't push on a rope" problem. I'd never crank anything backward more than a few degrees.

and, full disclosure, the cam/gears lack of a keyway or any sort of mechanical registration is a PITA. The AUDI MEs seemed to have been on a smoke break on a few things in the D2 design-- and this is one of them. When the valve spring pressure "bumps" the camshaft as you release the belt-- it's usually differing degrees, so you definitely have to bring them back into synch and alignment to the belt cogs. having said, that I'll also agree with SilverD2 on the relatively likelihood that a couple of cogs will cause no damage. You are probably "good" so far, but I'd definitely proceed cautiously until you have the cams synch'd back up.