anyone know where i can find a good how to on changing a waterpump on a 96 2.8 a4? im wondering if this is the source of my heat issues. ive tried everything else besides this and the thermostat which i plan on doing at the same time...thanks guys

 

Chances are it's the thermostat - when they fail it's usually in an open position. If you're changing it you have to tear down the front of the engine - do the whole timing service since all that is coming off anyhow. Check out www.12v.org for a procdure. If it doesn't help let me know - I can walk you through it step by step.

 

this its my daily driver so if its going to take any longer than a day I can't do it all....some say the front bumper needs takin off....some say out doesn't..who's right

 

also...the heat is luke warm but I noticed when I sit still and rev it to 2000 rpms and hold it...the hat gets a little warmer

 

http://www.audiworld.com/tech/content_eng.shtml

IIRC I found the DIY I used on this page

Definitely look for the timing belt procedure and change all the components while you are in there. If you have the requisite experience it can be done in a day. I believe the "book" says it's an 8 hour job. Took me about 20 hours but I had to improvise quite a bit and made a few "rookie" mistakes that lead to significant backtracking.

If you have any doubt about your wrench turning skills this job is best done at an Indy shop. You can save a bundle by doing it yourself but the consequences of making a mistake are catastrophic.

 

I have a lot of mechanical experience in general and on the B5 in particular, but I can tell you that it's by far the easiest car to do a timing belt on of all the cars I've done. I suppose you could do it with the bumper on but you'd still have to pull the radiator and it'd be extremely tight. It's much easier with the front of the car opened, and since the car is designed to be opened up for this, it's a lot easier than you might think. Read the DIYs and take a look. If you're not sure from the procedures what tools you'll need, say so and I'll post a list.

 

A bad water pump won't cause (just) cold heat. It can only make your car overheat - nothing else.

 

As easy as it is to put the front end in "service position", not worth the grief to not do it. You don't need to take the whole front off (the bumper and cover, yes) just slide the lock carrier (with the radiator, condensor, etc) forward a couple three inches and you'll have enough room to work. It's best to have some guide pins or long bolts, thread one in on each side where the bumper shock bolts were to hold it from dropping.

Side note: WISH it paid 8 hours! We get paid 6 hours (Audi tech speaking here) for t-belt, tensioner, water pump replacement on even the 4 cam 2.8L (and 2.7L)............and everyone says dealerships charge too much Then again, guess we (the flat-rate tech's) usually come out about even.

 

i have looked in the DIY section on how to do this myself...but i cant find nothing on the 2.8L, just the 1.8T. i decided to just go ahead and do the timing belt, waterpump and thermostat at the same time....might as well while i have it all open right?? any help would be appreciated. i plan on doing this over christmas break as im off of work from the 23rd to the 4th.
thanks

 

Use the 1.8T procedure for the teardown of the car's front end. That'll get you all the way to the engine. From there it's pretty apparent. Remove the big but that holds the fan (22mm I think, and it's a reverse-thread), serpentine belt, the tensioner, Power steering pulley (the big French one up near the top center of the engine with three bolts), upper timing covers, cooling fan and pulley (little bit of a pain in the ***), crank pulley, lower timing cover, and then you'll have the system exposed. Put a 24mm socket on the center crank bolt and (with the car in neutral) rotate the engine by hand until the oval brackets on the exhaust cam sprockets are horizontal and the larger of the two holes in the brackets are toward the center of the engine. That'll index the engine at TDC on the compression stroke, cylinder 3 (which is what you want). At this point, fine tune the timing system alignment by lining up the tick marks in the cam sprockets with the reference marks on the backing plates.

Now you can detension the belt. By indexing the engine per the above, the cams are flat-spotted and the internals will not rotate on you when the belt comes off. Remove the tensioner, tensioner roller, idler roller, and belt. Just left of the center of the engine, extending down to the attachment point of the lower radiator hose, is a channeling plate. It's held on by a pair of 10 or 12mm bolts up near the top. Remove those and the plate to expose the thermostat. Remove the thermostat and use a razor and sandpaper to get every last little bit of the gasket material off. The last part is to remove the water pump. There are about a dozen or so 10mm bolts holding it on. Get it out, remove gasket material, clean and dry everything, and it's time to reassemble in the reverse order.

When you put the timing system back together, triple-check that the timing marks are still lined up (I usually put a scribe mark on the crank sprocket and backing to reference that as well). Bolt on the new hydraulic tensioner, tensioner roller, idler roller, and relay lever. Do NOT pull the tensioner locking pin until the belt is installed and timing marks are verified. I wrap the belt starting at the crank and moving counterclockwise. With everything on and timing verified, you can pull the pin and tension the belt. Once the tension is set, hand-rotate the engine via the crank bolt two full revolutions and listen for any valve-piston interference. With none, you're good and can continue to reassemble in the reverse order.

Last step once it's all back together is to burp the cooling system. Search will reveal multiple posts with the method to do this.

PM me with a cell number and I can text you a few pics of my engine opened up so you can see some references to look for.