A4 Avant B5 AFB Camshaft/Belt Issue / Engine Rebuild

[wobroughton]

So I have been in France for a competition and took the audi, trying to come home, running the engine for about 15 minutes, very low speed city traffic in france. accelerating very gently in 2nd from traffic lights the engine stalls out and doesn't re-start.

After initial investigation it seems as you face the engine bay from the front of the vehicle, the right hand camshaft cog is no longer attached to the camshaft. Belt has not snapped. Unknown if this has snapped or just detached. (Will remove front end of car once it arrives back in the UK with recovery)

Has this happened to anyone? I am a new owner of the vehicle, Audi recently confirmed it was a new cambelt during some other work I had done.

What potential issues may spring to life? (i.e. dropped valves (How can i check without a rebuild?))

How do I re-align the engine?

Basically HELP!

[Doctle Odd]

If the camshaft sprocket has detached you'll likely have valve damage maybe a holed piston or 2. Who fitted the belt? I think the buck might stop with them. If youre going to do it yourself you need to take the front off the car and take the heads off the engine to check valves etc. Setting it up and timing it is'nt straightforward.

[PaulF2.5TDi]

If you end up looking for another engine, PM me - I have one still on a pallet I bought a year ago after the Vege rebuilt one let go (after 4 years) before I found the gearbox had gone too!!

I sent my first one to Vege for a rebuild and although they honoured a verbal agreement without trying to wriggle out of it, the £2K odds was not worth it in the end as they didn't do the best job in the world.
Good people to deal with though - I just think the 2.5 was out of their normal set.

The cam pulley on yours may have cracked and let go. Pistons will have hit valves, you will probably have a fairly expensive repair.
What mileage was the engine before it went?

A low milage engine with good cams may be worth repairing.

PM Addamss24 (Knows the 2.5 well and is in London) and ask a rough repair cost to give you a start point.

[wobroughton]

Mileage was 160k. 1999 T reg.

Unsure yet as to the the long term plan, need to get back to the UK first and collect my thoughts! Been a bit annoyed with this purchase, seems the guy who sold it to me knew a few things were wrong in the longer term and just wanted to off load the vehicle.

I will try to find out who replaced the cambelt before I purchased the vehicle.

[PaulF2.5TDi]

Understood.

They really are good cars though, if a bit expensive sometimes!

[wobroughton]

To be honest, I'm going to break the car for parts. Started investigating the issue, and getting repair quotes etc. Its going to rocket out of control. So hopefully I can re-coup what I have spent on the car...

If anyone wants a part send me a message. All will be appearing on ebay as well.

[zollaf]

when audi recently pt a new belt on, they would have undone the cam sprockets to time it up. if they were not correctly re torqued, then they may have come undone. oh, yours have come undone, so audi did not do the job properly and they are the guilty party. how long ago was it done ?

[wobroughton]

Trying to track down who did the recent cambelt, I now have photos, and it is definitely a snap, rather than bolts being incorrectly torqued. IMG_6804.jpgIMG_6802.jpg

[zollaf]

oooof, thats not normal. never in my life have i seen that happen. i retract my previous statement , it cannot really be the responsibiity of the timing belt fitter. first thing i would check is that the cam can still turn. thats what comes to mind, the cam siezed and took out the pulley, but you would expect the belt to break.

[wobroughton]

First time for everything! Yup its not a normal issue! Audi quoted £9k for a new engine... they didnt even want to consider working on it! Cambelt didn't snap (presume as because it was new) but yes, the cam does not turn... seized or something drastically wrong!