1999 A4, 2.8L 30V...

 

Started ticking like a diesel one night, took valve cover off to see if I had worn the Cam Chain Tensioner guide down, but its just fine.

 

Cam Gears line up (horizontally level, left to right: small hole, big hole, big hole, small hole), and the crank shaft pully is lined up on its mark. But the #1 cylinder is not at TDC. It is halfway between the top and bottom of its stroke. Here is what I currently see:


Here are my Questions:
1) Do I need to turn the crank more since I have not got #1 piston all the way at the top?
2) When Crank pully is aligned and cylinder #1 is at the top of it's compression stroke, and the cam gears dont line up, does that mean I skipped teeth?
3) If I skipped teeth, do I need a valve job, or can I just put the timing belt on the way it should be and call it a day?

 

If it's running ok but sounds funky, it's unlikely a TB issue. You also can't really time a 30V without the proper tool. Unless you have serious misfires and vibrations indicating a cracked camshaft or crank, go by the marks and ignore the position of the piston in the bore.

 

A dieseling sound can often be caused by a bad tensioner, despite having a good guide. Are you sure the hydraulic tensioners are all good? When was your last oil change?

 

Well I cant say that its good or bad; when I had the valve cover off I did press down on the top of the tensioner, and it did go down, and sprung back up. We changed oil a week before this problem started.

 

nice diagrams dude....

 

Thanks? lol

 

Hm. Uh... change all the tensioners and see if the noise goes away...? Can you post some audio/video of the noise?

 

I can tell you that the crank in your diagram is about 100* off. The mark should be straight up and a little to the left. So your probably off by two to three teeth on the belt by your diagram. You should have a cam allocation fault in the ECM if thats the case though. Have you checked for faults?