Hey Folks,
Long-time reader, first time poster, so please forgive any netiquette failures. Recently my 2007 A4 3.2L 6MT developed some engine timing issues and I’m hoping for the most honest feedback I can get about what might be wrong with the car. After reading a number of postings on this forum and others, I’m pretty afraid of how expensive this one might get, so any insight as to how best to approach this one is helpful.
Car has 115k miles on it and I’m practically the only one who’s ever driven it.

A few days ago the CEL came on as I accelerated out of a rolling-stop. Car was running really well with no sluggishness or vibration so I kept driving the remaining 15 miles to my destination (i.e. work) though it idled slightly rougher at stoplights. Went out at lunch to start it and drive it to get the code read and she shook noticeably more at idle, more than I’ve ever felt (cold start firmware issues were the worst I’ve felt previously), but not enough to scare me and at higher rpm, engine felt okay. I honestly thought I’d dropped a coil-pack (months before I had a random Cyl 6 misfire) and I wrongly assumed that the coil had finally died) so I drove it gently at varying speeds about 8 miles to my mechanic. At first, it would idle rough at traffic lights, but about half-way there, that went away. It felt a little sluggish, but definitely not majorly compromised. CEL didn’t blink and I saw no other warning lights.

My mechanic, who is by no means a German car specialist, threw it on the code reader and gave me the grim news:
-Misfires on Cyls 4,5, and 6 (P0304, P0305, P0306)
-Cam Position sensor (G301)
-Bank 2: Camshaft B (exhaust) (P0024)
(I apologize for the partial codes, he sent me a cell phone pic of the screen and not a full screen shot)

He was pretty convinced (note, I’m not) that it’s a cam phaser (cam adjuster) failure and that he would need to pull the engine to get at that side of the block. They also told me they don’t want the business and they aren’t set-up for major Audi repairs, so their interest died pretty quickly. He doesn’t think it’s a chain issue given the intermittent vibration and lack of obvious catastrophic engine failure, though for free diagnostics, I couldn’t get him to do a compression check. His opinion is you’d notice in how it runs if there were major internal damage.

The car gives no audible rattle at idle, just the usual engine tapping sound and the vibration is yet to return, which gives me hope that it’s not a tensioner.

CEL comes back on quickly once cleared

Timing solenoids pass shop check, couldn’t convince him to spend time swapping components beyond that
I’m dreading the idea of some kind of chain/tensioner failure, since I have a pretty good idea of what 30 hours labor will cost, but I’m not convinced that’s what’s going on here. I think I’m going to find a local independent experienced with Audi to do a proper diagnosis (I know VAG-COM will tell me if it’s a timing chain issue pretty quickly, my mechanic uses a generic system), but I want to make sure I understand everything that could cause this before I have the car towed there and spend a few hundred bucks on diagnostics and solenoid/sensors to try to remedy this.

Is this likely still something simple like a solenoid failure or a cam sensor failure? Do you think it might be an upper tensioner? If so, are there professional mechanics who will fix that without insisting on dropping the engine/drivetrain? I called my local dealer and they told me even to do a cam adjuster/upper tensioner would require them to drop the engine, despite what a number of folks on this site have described.
I live in central NJ, can you suggest someone within an hour of there who would do this work correctly? I spoke with one shop which does German imports and they were pretty convinced this was timing chain related, though at the same time, the guy told me if I wanted to scrap the car for salvage value to call him first. His exact words were ‘sounds like you’re off a click.’ To me, that sounds like my engine should have destroyed itself, so I have trouble believing it.

The repair history on my car has been pretty lucky overall. Most repairs are wear-and-tear related (brakes, tires, bent rims, had a valve cover gasket done on the driver side), only 3 times ever have I received any kind of drive-train failure prior to this. Once was the classic cold-start shake which was fixed with multiple firmware upgrades. I’ve had that one random misfire which tripped the traction control but never came back after the code was cleared, and it had one long-start once which never repeated. It’s been dealer serviced for everything but tired and body work up until the most recent oil-change (3 days before this failure) and I’ve hit the 10k mi interval like clockwork, yes, I know, it should be every 5k. Dipstick shows no sign of engine sludge and I drive aggressively enough that I don’t feel like there’s significant carbon build-up in the cylinders. I don’t see a loss in performance relative to when I bought it. Plugs were done at 55k and 75k because the dealer is stupid (at least I only paid at 55), coil packs were replaced at 50k under recall.

Honestly, it’s been a fantastic ride and I need an objective take on what might be wrong with it before I go chasing this any further. So I’ll take whatever suggestions you have, just note that I have no time (2 kids under 2), no space (yay street parking), and not enough tools (no code reader either) to troubleshoot this myself. If I decide to chase this, I’ll be paying someone to do it.

Thanks for the advice.

 

Did you ever fix your issue? I have the exact same issue as you. The problem is a lot worse when the coolant temperature is between 60C and 80C...

 

Yes. It ended up being the valve timing solenoid and was a pretty affordable fix by a VW/Audi specialist in Central NJ. I drove the car another 40k miles before it threw another CEL (in that case it was likely carbon build-up in the intake valves or in the throttle body). I got rid of it last year since it needed like $4k in deferred maintenance and I wanted something new. Currently sporting a 2018 GTI.

 

Hi, i know this is 4 years late, but i would like to say that this also resolved my issue albeit that i dont own the car anymore.

For everyone of you 3.2 owners out there that have tried taking these solenoids out and cleaning them - dont bother, just replace them. I drove way too long trying to figure out what the issue was instead of just trying to change these parts.