Hey everyone, just str8 to the point...just wondering if there is anything else I should also do to extend the life of the motor while I'm replacing the valve cover gaskets? It's the 2007 Quattro 3.2 with 141,000 miles. Thank you in advance! And looking forward to becoming an active user here on the forum!

 

I have the same model year car but with the 4.2l engine.
For the 4.2l engine there are (4) variable timing solenoid o-rings that I replaced at 141K miles. When they leaked it looked like it was the valve cover gasket.

At the year and milage of your Audi, I suggest that you keep a close eye on the fluid levels and fluid leaks as well as regular fluid and filter changes.

 

You might also consider installing these aluminum sleeves (www.audioilleak.com) to eliminate oil leakage from the stupid Audi-design cam girdle seal. I installed these sleeves when I replaced my valve cover gaskets in my '06 A6 Avant.

 

Clicked on your profile and noticed you're from good old lake tapps! Which is crazy just cause at this moment I'm just like 10 minutes from there, just leaving Muckleshoot haha...I reside in SeaTac tho. But on another post of yours mentioning those aluminum sleeves, I saw you mentioned the Bentley Manual. You wouldn't happen to have a digital version of that for the c6 would ya? I've never, ever have had such Time finding a damn manual for a car! It's crazy!

 

On another recent thread someone mentioned that Rockauto was selling, what appears to be the Bentley manual, on DVD or flash. For less than $25 dollars it's probably worth a look. It claims to be from "Dave Graham". The other thread also mentioned that these manuals will work on something other than Windows XP.

 

Thanks for the heads up, ordered mine today.
My previous car was a Mercedes, their repair manuals are unabtainable for a reasonable price so I "learned" to do my own repairs/maintenance through forums/youtube videos.

 

If you have an oil leak it might not just be from the valve gasket covers. I had mine replaced 3-4 times and still the leak continued from that area.
Turned out the leak was due to o-rings becoming dry and brittle. Was a simple fix.

https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...olenoids-Fixed

 

If you have any leaks in the rear drivers side area, good chance it's the Oil Filter Housing to block gasket.

 

3.2 oil leaks that *appear* to be coming from the valve cover area at this mileage are almost always due to the cam girdle seals. Cam girdles will also leak oil into the spark plug holes - Have you checked?
At this mileage my standard maintenance list for the 3.2L is:
-Replace both upper chain tensioner/guides with INA brand (might as well while you have the cam girdles off)
-Reseal cam girdles with OEM seals and the proper anaerobic sealant (if you use silicone like many independent mechanics do, be prepared to take it apart again a year later)
-Replace oil filter housing gasket (I would be surprised if it's not at least seeping a bit)
-Check vacuum pump for leaks and if leaking reseal it with the RKX(RXK?) brand seal kit, waaay cheaper than a new pump
-Clean the intake valves and flaps
-Inspect the HPFP cam follower (they usually look fine on the 3.2L unless it's had crap oil run in it)
-!!!Reseal or replace the oil separator!!! - Very important! Almost always leaking! Older engines have aluminum separator, replace all the seals, make sure you get both the seal and Oring for the spider hose coming off top of the separator, that oring part number is hard to find in some parts listings
-Clean the throttle body and run adaptation
-Put new orings on all the cam sensors if they look suspect at all
-Replace the thermostat and plastic housing (might as well... You're down in there and it's cheap)
-Replace the water pump if it is at all suspect (use motorad brand)
-Replace the front coolant crossover pipe (the most expensive part... If it's original, it's going to break somewhere when you remove it)
-Replace spark plugs if original (NGK Iridium)

I think this about covers it? All off the top of my head, don't think I forgot anything... The biggest pain of the job is getting the crank lock pin in (I drop the sway bar to make this easier) and torquing the bolts on the cam phasers. Always use new bolts on the cam girdle... You can probably get away with reusing on the chain tensioners, they are only like 9nm. Also recommended to always replace the cam phaser bolts, they are torque to yield as well.

This list written assuming that you are at 141k with everything original and want to drive the thing to 250k+. The tensioners *will* give you a problem on the 3.2 with little warning (one day you'll just start it up and it will sound like a diesel) and I would be very surprised if the cam girdles weren't leaking unless they've already been done and were properly resealed. I've seen so many where some independent mechanic put silicone under them and they were leaking again within months to a year.

Also be aware of the common HPFP failure around your mileage/age - The quantity adjusting valve in the HPFP fails and will throw a code. You can't get the valve separately. The chinesium pumps are 100% trash and half of them will be malfunctioning within days... Hitachi is the only way to go. Rock Auto had the best price by far last I checked. For seals and bolts, I always check Deutshe auto parts first (ShopDAP dot com), for seals usually DAP or FCP Euro have the best price on OEM seals. Rock Auto or FCP usually have best price on the INA tensioners. Somewhere, either on this forum or audizine is a good writeup with pictures and part numbers for the cam girdle job, excellent thread for someone that is doing the job the first time.