Cam Cover Sealant (Gasket)

[SattyA4]

Hi all,

My 2008 A4 B8 1.8t (105k on the clock) broke down over the weekend, due to a faulty Coil Pack on Cylinder 4 (Diagnosed by the AA). Before the AA replaced the Coil Pack the man checked the spark plug to find a fair amount of oil on it, he diagnosed it as the Cam Cover Gasket. After ringing Birmingham Audi they said there isn't a Gasket there, and in fact its a sealant. They've quoted me £650 to re seal the part (4 hours worth of labour).

Id rather have the work done by Audi, or a Audi Specialist, due to the amount of work which has to be done. Ive had my 3rd Audi from Birmingham Audi now over the last 3 years, and always had all my work done there on all my cars, apart from tyres. Is it worth asking for a bit of a discount? Would Audi UK offer any discount?

Also does anybody know of a good Audi Specialist in the Birmingham Area?

Thanks

[Embisix]

£650 to squirt a bit of (posh) mastic around the cam cover? I'm in the wrong business!

[mjhamilton]

That's outrageous by any standard

On my v8 I was quoted £250 by an indie including parts to replace the seals and all other parts - on the BBK engine it really is a PITA


try another dealer as it should be an hour or two tops to remove, seal and replace a 4 pot cover

[SattyA4]

Update!

Managed to get Audi to get the price down to £450! Was definitely worth asking, still going to shop around though

[mjhamilton]

Still sounds very expensive

Parts =£40 max
2 hours labour = £140

Total = £180


As I say a specialist has quoted my £250 with parts and labour to do both banks on my v8 and this is a much more complex job than a plain straight 4 top

[SattyA4]

Audi are saying 4 hours labour... The art of ripping me off

[zollaf]

just how much oil on the spark plug ? was the well actually flooded with oil or was it just a trace ?

[SattyA4]

There was a fair amount of cylinder 4 a bit less on cylinder 1. The other 2 didn't that much on at all.

[zollaf]

i think i would dry it out and keep an eye on it. twas running perfectly well wasn't it ? every few weeks just check and see if its a problem. it would have built up since the last plug change, when was that ?

[SattyA4]

Well the car had 60k on the clock when I bought it, Had them changed at around 65k by Audi. According to them they don't need changing until 125k! The car has now got 105k on the clock, and I changed them myself the other day.

[mjhamilton]

Why not change the seals yourself?? Removing the coil packs is half the job done already ;)

[SattyA4]

Haha, Im not that advanced