'98 a6q aha
I'm about to replace the rear cam seals.
Judging from the amount of oil leaking out, one of them has blown out pretty far.
So, it's likely the breather hose is pretty clogged.

Blauparts has the hose kit for $165. Thats more than I'd like to spend, but if I need to then so be it.

Has anyone ever tried to clean this hose out with solvent or something?

I'm not even 100% sure it's clogged, but with 178k miles, there's a good chance.

Thanks.

 

My '01 A6Q 2.8 leaked like a sieve when I picked it up back in December, was the typical oil coke in the suction pump. I did not replace mine, rather just cleaned out the coke and flushed the hoses. It stopped all but the most minute of leaks, which are from the cam adjuster and cam seals. Those will get replaced over the summer when time allows.

I followed the basics in this tech article...

http://www.audiworld.com/tech/eng.html

To clean the pump I used carburetor cleaner and some fine wire to poke around and loosen up the coke. Be careful not to damage the silicone flappers in the pump. I would fill the valve with CC, then let it sit for a bit. After a bunch of soaking, poking and blowing it out with compressed air, it was clean as the proverbial whistle.

The hoses are reusable if they are not cracked. If you're feeling cheap, some thin heat shrink tubing can repair a slightly cracked hose.

It's also recommended that you clean the screens in the valve covers themselves, I remember a tech article somewhere on one of the forums showing the process.

 

Thanks Hemikiller.

Those are some useful pointers.