smokey ael.

Newbie Joined: Oct 05, 2011 Posts: 7

hello all,
i have just subscribed to this forum.
I am the recent owner of a a6 tdi, which has 470000 km( not miles, i'm french), and the last 10000 km went like a charm. no use of oil, no use of coolant, and a car pulling like a rocket.
yesterday i was gently cruising on the motorway at 2000 rpm when suddenly the engine lost all power and a massive cloud of smoke appeared in the miror.
I managed to get of the motorway into a parking.
I cranked the engine, which restarted difficultly, delivering massive amount of stincking unburned diesel (whitish/greyish).

So here i am tonight, reading all over the internet for some good info. I have found on this forum that this happened to a few of you, with a jumped timing belt.
So first thing i did was try to see if all mark lined up.
i managed to find TDC on first cylinder, and i saw a notch on the pump flywheel lined up with a notch on the fuel pump.
i'm not sure if it's good, and i am confused: i have read in one post that in order to properly sett the fuel pump, you need to line up those 2 marks, and then turn another 10 mm the pump flywheel forward.
Is that correct?

in this case it would mean that the camshaft has backed up by a tooth.
I am going to keep on stripping the car tomorrow, but i was keen for some thoughts.
thanks for your ideas.
stef

Needs to get out more Joined: May 03, 2011 Posts: 119

Hi there.
Lucky yours with 470.000 doesn´t use any oil. That´s a great sign.

I think that what happened to your is that your timing is "out". It´s an injection problem for sure.
You can do a vag-com check to see where your timing is, but it may be too retarded.

Try investigating that lining of those 2 marks. Maybe your injection belt has jumped 1 teeth.

That´s my guess ! Good luck.

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 8:21 am

Hi, Look at my posts regarding vibration damper pulley breaking and causing the timing to slip......

As well as lining up the timing belt / Pump timing belt to TDC you Will need VAG-COM to set the timing dynamically on these engines

http://www.audifans.net/ftopict-32869-.html
http://www.audifans.net/ftopict-30017-.html

Needs to get out more Joined: May 03, 2011 Posts: 119

Hey, I don´t wanna overhaul the topic, but, my vag-com timing test is number "70". I think it is a bit over-advanced. Am I right?

But surprisingly, when doing a log, the dynamic timing is spot on with what the ECU requests. Except for Idle (3.0º read vs 1.3º requested) and very slow speed driving.

Is it worth retarting a 0,5 milimeter ? Smile

Newbie Joined: Oct 05, 2011 Posts: 7

thank you for answers.
i have just received by mail all the necessary gear to to the timing belt, so after work tonight i'll know( i hope) what has gone wrong.

Needs to get out more Joined: Dec 02, 2007 Posts: 126

I had a tensioner failure on the main belt , i got it home before it jumped , but my cambelt was loose and another few miles and it would have jumped
My tensioner was non genuine part , now replace for audi part

What condition is the spring and belt ?

Newbie Joined: Oct 05, 2011 Posts: 7

hello,
actually i didn't go anywhere yesterday, rain started to fall and i tried to work under a tarp. worked 1/2 an hour to find out how to get that bloody bumper out of the way.
main belt seems quite loose, so i'm crossing fingers that it's a faulty tensionner. cambelt seems ok.
anyway i found loads of info here, so thanks for good work.

Newbie Joined: Oct 05, 2011 Posts: 7

hello all,
well everything has an explanation!
i finaly managed to get access to the timing belt, after quite some swearing.
everything looked allright, except the tensionner, the arrow was not where it was supposed to be.
so i turned the engine to tdc again, and the white marks on the camshaft were off by one tooth.
i loosened the tensioner, and advanced the cam by one tooth. Then i discovered that the water pump had a lot of side play!
i turned the ignition key, and the engine fired at the second, idling like it used to.
why did the belt jump at cruise speed, no idea, why only one tooth, probably because i'm lucky!
The water pump seems to be quite old, as if it hasn't been changed last time.
And the car has always been serviced at VAG. think what you want!
cheers
stef

Newbie Joined: Oct 05, 2011 Posts: 7

forgot to say: i found a very funny damper. i'll do a pic tomorrow.
it hasn't any rubber anymore, and it has been welded! quite a nice job.
maybe it could be usefull to you.

Needs to get out more Joined: May 03, 2011 Posts: 119

Sure... post the picture and let us know how it was fixed, and how did you fix it ! Smile

See... the old lady is back on the road Cool

Newbie Joined: Oct 05, 2011 Posts: 7

hello,
actually i got upset on friday night, so after dinner i fitted a headlamp and went back to work.
belt and wp were done , and as i went to take a pic of the damper, flat camera!
so sorry, i didn't wait for the camera to charge and finished the car straight away.
I noticed on the pictures in this forum that dampers have a large piece of rubber in the middle.
on mine it has been removed, and the 2 flanges welded together.
the car has done almost 90000 ks since the last belt, so it seems the modified damper doesn't affect the engine.
the engine is very smooth.

next timing belt at 590000 km.