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G'day all... haven't been here for quite a while, but in cruising around good to see some familiar names still fighting the good fight. Doing a valve cover gasket job on my wife's '06 A8, 4.2. Any sage advice on getting to the rear, lower screws on the valve covers? Thanks in advance!
Poke a triangular hole in the heat shield and repair it with silver duct tape after on the wheel well side. You can get to them if you remove the wheel well liner. @maxandtara had success removing those heat shields but I did not.
G'day all... haven't been here for quite a while, but in cruising around good to see some familiar names still fighting the good fight. Doing a valve cover gasket job on my wife's '06 A8, 4.2. Any sage advice on getting to the rear, lower screws on the valve covers? Thanks in advance!
Astro Pneumatic has a Nano torx bit set I use to get to them. The set number is 94410T. You can pick them up on amazon or most parts sites that sell euro parts. I just had my driver side valve cover off and this set made it so much easier.
These tight spots, if you own an a8 I think you need to buy those ball-end torx bits. The stubby torx bits allows you to get very close. (if you don't want to remove the heat shield)
A8Silver, I did warn you, what makes them hard to remove are that those protruding screws that keep the shield in place, will easily snag that heat shield as you pull them out.
What prevented you from pulling it out ?
If you remove the fender liner and the heat shield, it gives you all the space and leverage necessary, no special tools required. The difference of removing the heat shield is like the difference of night and day.
I recall posting a pic that shows that you can comfortable put both your hands through that open space once you remove the heat shield.
Bolt is welded on the chassis. The 3 nuts are like thin washers, I think I removed them with just my fingers.
Warning ! I repeat the difficult part heat shield removal is that it easily snags on those screws. (There is an overlap of heat shields that share that one bolt closer to the firewall)
A8Silver, I did warn you, what makes them hard to remove are that those protruding screws that keep the shield in place, will easily snag that heat shield as you pull them out.
What prevented you from pulling it out ?
I was on jack stands (that were not too high) and it was just tight access in general. I gave it a shot for a bit and got a few of the fasteners off. Then got tired of messing with it and gave up, then poked the small triangular hole in it the shield and everything worked out. If the car was higher in the air it would have been probably more easy for me to do. If I saw it done once that would have helped me.
A8silver,
Well for me we all complain about the tight confines when working on the A8's. I have removed so many more things in this car to access a particular part.
For me removing this part is well worth it, the extra work considering reward ratio (extra working space) is well worth it.
By this time, from the work done through the years, these heat shield should be pretty banged up. These are just glorified thick aluminum (embossed)
Getting generic ones and just custom cut them should reasonably be affordable.
For me if you are working near them and need some extra room, just tear them out, without fear, they are not budget busters to replace.
The pain in trying to keep them in one piece is not worth it.
I didn't really think it was too hard removing the rear valve cover bolts, just used inexpensive tools like this. It is the FSI 4.2l engine, maybe it makes a difference. Just couldn't torque the driver side rear one, but it's pretty easy to estimate the tightness by hand.
Last edited by Sci-fi_Wasabi; Aug 5, 2025 at 04:00 PM.
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Valve Cover Bolt Access
