A6Gary

The poor engine design that Audi AG used for a camshaft girdle in the 3.2L V6 engine will eventually result in an oil leak into the spark plug wells (this problem also exists on other Audi engines). IAW the Audi official repair for this oil leak, you would need to remove the camshaft girdle, which requires an expensive/time consuming removal of the upper timing chain assembly and the camshafts to replace a low cost elastomer seal. Being a mechanical engineer and well versed in auto mechanicals, I do not understand why Audi AG engineers designed a two-piece head that has a known oil leak pathway that would requires an expensive maintenance cost for the car owner as the engine ages beyond the warranty period. For my 2006 A6 Avant, I am planning to install aluminum sleeves into the spark plug wells that was discussed on the Q5 MKI forum (https://www.audiworld.com/forums/q5-...e-fix-3053694/). This installation will be in conjunction with replacing the valve cover gaskets. Once I have these sleeves installed, I will post my experience with this non-OEM retrofit, which may be of interest to other Audi owners having this stupid cam girdle design oil leak issue.

G-Can

man,
I am definitely waiting updates on this, as mine are also spitting oil in sparkplug wells, valve cover gaskets were replaced (twice) and my mechanic wont even do the second seal due to too much labour around it.

these engines are so annoying with oil leaks, retarded as hell.

A6Gary

Update: I installed the the aluminum sleeves from Audioilleak.com today while changing the valve cover gaskets and bolts on my 2006 A6 Avant 3.2L V6. When I checked my ignition coils with the sleeves, the sleeves cleared the metallic ignition coil shafts w/o having to grind off any metal. The installation of the sleeves was straight forward utilizing the recommended Permatex sealant. On the plus side, there was no varnish on the camshafts, the cam girdle, or the head after 106K miles. So, my engine looks very clean after all of these miles. If I have any issues with these sleeves (which I doubt), I will update.

AudiAllTheWay

The S6 V10 is vulnerable to this as well and requires an engine pull to remove the cam girdles to replace the girdle to head gasket. Of course while the V10 is out then there is a whole bunch of maintenance that can be done including timing service etc.

G-Can

so you just installed them? It would be nice if you could follow up on this within couple weeks to see if it holds.

A6Gary

I will certainly do that. When I pulled my ignition coils, I didn't find any oil, in the spark plug wells. Also, the original valve cover seals were not brittle after 106K miles. However, when I changed my spark plugs last September, I found oil in one of the spark plug wells on the driver's side. So, that discovery is one of the reasons why I change the seals as well as added the sleeves to prevent any further leakage.

G-Can

mine are swimming in oil, actually cause one coil and two spark plugs to fail on me mid drive.
valve gaskets replaced, but did nothing for this.
and to replace those seals its a huge job to do.

24V6BDW

You can try this method, but I can’t guarantee it will work 100%, first of all because it’s a surgery precision job to do and second is that this type of sleeve can collapse under oil pressure, but it will cost you almost nothing.

Take a piece of aluminium sheet (printing pattern from print shop e.g.), cut it accordingly to the picture, wrap it around the 24mm wrench socket (e.g.) and shape it, apply RTV silicone on it and on the spark plug well, and precisely position it (after you cleaned up mating surfaces).

You’ll have to use corresponding socket wrench to additionally shape the sleeve around the well and to squeeze out the excess silicone. Open sleeve will stay in place, don’t worry.

The second tricky part is to wipe out the excess silicone without disturbing the position of an open sleeve. There will be no obstruction for coil pack, since it’s a very thin sleeve.

Leave it for 24h and then insert the coil packs.

Good luck!

Sallad

Why not just fix it properly?

This is a weird "band-aid" fix. For the time to cut out the little sheets and add sealant, etc. you could have just done it correctly.

Its not a hard job, just takes a little time. Nothing crazy though.

sswari

Well, in my case a proper fix would be an engine out process., which would also be true for any of the 4.2s in an A6.
Not that I am likely to go this route, but pulling the engine just for this is a bit extreme.
I am hoping that tightening the cover bolts to spec will at least help. Some of them were only finger tight.