Hi,
I have a 2003 Audi A4 3.0v6 quattro with 106,000 miles. Last weekend after filling up with crappy Arco 87octane the car died 5 minutes later while cruising on the highway; in sequence the check engine light came on then the car started sputtering, then it died. I pulled over to the side of the HW and tried restarting it multiple times, it crank over but did not start. I had it towed to a shop in the area for diagnostics. Today they told me the timing is off and they need to pull the heads to check the pistons for damage due to the following codes: P0306, P03066, P0341, P0304, P0302, P0303, P0300, P0391, P0106, P1325, P1327, P0421 and P0301. The thing is the timing belt and water pump were changed less than 20k miles ago, so I have a hard time believe that is the problem. I did a little research and I am leaning more towards the fuel pump and coil packs but would like others opinions. And since the forums is the best place for answers and guidance I decided to post here. I will greatly appreciate any help I get to figure this out before my pocket book takes a hit with redundant repairs.

 

Almost 100 looks and no replys, I figured this forum would be as helpful as others i've been to but I guess i was mistaken.

 

There is a misfire code in nearly every cylinder, a camshaft position sensor error & intake manifold error code. Who changed your timing belt for you when you did it 20K miles ago?

 

Belt was done by N&W German auto repair in L.A California at 92k miles. Is it a possibility that it can be the ECU? Today the mechanic told me the car has 55psi fuel pressure so the fuel pump is ruled out and he is pretty adamant about pulling the heads to check the timing. Is there a way to check the timing without pulling the heads off. I know on my Subaru you can check the timing my pulling the timing belt covers which I would believe should hold true in Audi's. I am trying to get this car fix without spending money I don't have so any advise will greatly be appreciated, if you can't tell I am a complete noob when it comes to Audi's.

 

is a little more complicated than the V6's. The crank shaft cover has a tic mark to line it up to TDC. Make sure that the first cylinder in the firing order is on its intake stroke & not exhaust (crank makes two rotations for the cams to move one complete movement) by pulling a plug. Under the valve cover there should be arrows (on the tensioner) that line up with small rectangles (on the round part of the gear the chain is connected to, under the chain) when all of these are lined up perfectly the timing is correct. I'm sure on the validity, but I've heard pulling a new belt after 2000 or 3000 miles and redoing the timing can work wonders as the belt may stretch 1/2 - 1 tooth worth while being broken in.

If the timing was done at a German specialist I wouldn't imagine them messing the timing up, but it may be worth checking it out since your car in an interference engine and a snapped belt/off timing could destroy all the internal components of your engine.

If the timing is 100% dead on then its got to be an electrical issue having to do with the distributor of the ECU

 

coil packs are the cheapest. Autozone has then for something along the lines of 20 a pop iirc. Red tops of course.

 

For the 3.0L the timing mark on the crank doesn't line up with cylinder 1. You need to use the Audi special tool for the cam locks. The cam locks need to slide in easily and line up with the crank. You need to remove the valve covers for this.

There is something a little fishy going on here. Your engine wouldn't drive 20k miles and then sieze all of the sudden if the timing was off. If it was that off it would have happened when the belt was first replaced. So either the tensioner or something was left loose and finally cause the belt to slip or the shop its at now isn't checking timing correctly.

You do not need to remove the heads to check timing. You don't even need to to check for bent valves if you have access to a bore scope thru the spark plug hole.

Either way its not a pretty picture and you need to get it in hands of someone who knows what they are doing

 

Well thanks for the replies. The car is in the shop and their going to check the timing and do a compression test just to be sure....I am hoping it's the ECU or something electrical because two weeks before this happened two brake lights and turn signal light when out within four days of each other. The radio and the lights in the dash also shorted out during this time period. But I don't see how a connection is possible there.

 

If the camshaft sprockets were not set-up with tool T 40028 and torqued correctly you could run into problems post t-belt job. A lot of indie shops like to lock the camshafts down with vise grip pliers and then torque and pray. Or the tensioner damper or one of the rollers came apart.

 

We will see....I am starting to doubt the credential of the shop that is working on my car because they worked on it today and still couldn't tell me if the timing was off..