Ok so I went to see the car for the first time. The timing belt is fine. The camshaft gear did break off, the screw that holds the gear is broken too, and on the whole of the gear where you put the screw looks like the notch or something broke too. What would cause this?

 

Does anyone know the name and model # of the screw that holds the gear? My car is a 1999 A4 1.8t fwd

 

Think theres a pin or keyway on top of the screws the hold the gear from rotating. Might be able to go to the stealership for the screws or find someone parting out a turbo head, either way, those screws are going to be the least of your problems. Gotta love the interference motors :/ pull off the head and see how bad things really are.

 

I think we need to be clear about something. Timing belt or gear, it doesn't matter which went bad. The valves are bent. The 1.8T is an interference motor and that means if the pistons are moving and the cam stops the valves will bend. Maybe not all of them but most of them. And every time you try turning the engine over you are doing more damage.

My advice is to pull the head and see the damage for yourself. You may be able to find just a head and swap just that- saves pulling a motor, which can be a lot more expensive. The other choice is to pull your existing head and rebuild it- will probably take longer than a head swap because you'll have to wait for the head work to be done. Regardless, I believe if you're paying someone to do the work it will be at least $2K to $3K.

Now you have to ask yourself, is it worth it? Is the rest of the car in prestine condition with low miles? If not then scrap the car and part it out.

 

If you open the valve cover up can you get an idea on the valves?

 

no, head needs to come off or do a compression check, but you will have to rotate the cam some way or another, lol. Pull it off and hope for some luck that all you need is a new/used head/valves.

 

Anyone know the model # of the screw?

 

Same thing happened to me, except the usual timing belt failure. Removed the head, rebuilt it, replacing all exhaust valves, and valve stems. Had to hone the new stems and all. Pistons were fine, a little ding but the connecting rods were still good and sidewalls were not scratched. Anyways all in all it cost me around $800. Thats just the parts, i had all the tools and did all the labor myself. Its doable and not that bad. If you head is destroyed then you can get used heads online, you actually can get complete head online, valves and cams. I work at an audi repair shop, and it would have cost a customer around 3k at minimum to do all the work. We did have another customer with a 2.8 and he bent all valves, actually broken the valves and they flipped around and punched a whole in the pistons, needless to say he bought a new car. If I had a say in it i would take it to an audi mechanic and have them take the head off, thats not too expensive. So they can give you an estimate.

 

So where can I find a head? I do want to keep the car, but I cant find anything for it locally. Where online can I find a hear or even a used engine?

 

Craigs and call local junkyards.