Potential Oil Leak Fix for Cam Girdle Joint
06-09-2023, 01:13 PM
#11
AudiWorld Senior Member
and to to say on a 4.2, that is an engine out job.
06-10-2023, 04:35 PM
#12
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06-10-2023, 04:47 PM
#13
AudiWorld Senior Member
Now if you have a V6 or a v4, you probably can do the work in the car, but be clear, this is still a upper level job. not just replacing valve cover gaskets, or even a carbon cleaning, you are playing with the timing. Taking the upper chains off.
Not really for the faint of heart. and yes, if you do it in the car, you will be spending a fair amount of time on the project.
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AudiAllTheWay (06-10-2023)
08-07-2023, 05:46 PM
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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.
08-08-2023, 10:46 AM
#15
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After ~1.0K miles, the aluminum sleeves are working AFAIK. When I installed the sleeves while replacing the valve cover gaskets, there wasn't any oil in any of the driver's side spark plug wells that I found earlier while I was changing the spark plugs. So, the oil leak may have been very slow as well since the mileage between the spark plug maintenance and the valve cover maintenance was only ~1.0K miles. For me, it was well worth the price to install a permanent fix for the awful Audi engine head design.
08-08-2023, 11:03 AM
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After ~1.0K miles, the aluminum sleeves are working AFAIK. When I installed the sleeves while replacing the valve cover gaskets, there wasn't any oil in any of the driver's side spark plug wells that I found earlier while I was changing the spark plugs. So, the oil leak may have been very slow as well since the mileage between the spark plug maintenance and the valve cover maintenance was only ~1.0K miles. For me, it was well worth the price to install a permanent fix for the awful Audi engine head design.
08-08-2023, 02:22 PM
#17
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08-08-2023, 05:27 PM
#18
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Call it over engineering or awful head design but I think Audi assumes when you’re pulling the engine to do a V8 or V10 timing chain job then replace the cam girdle gaskets at the same time. The design intent was for a lightweight high revving valve train by having the rockers under the cams hence the girdle gasket. The unconventional fix of using aluminum tubes and sealant may buy some time, but by the time spark plug wells are filling with oil due to girdle gasket leaks then a chain job is likely due soon.
08-09-2023, 06:14 PM
#19
AudiWorld Senior Member
Call it over engineering or awful head design but I think Audi assumes when you’re pulling the engine to do a V8 or V10 timing chain job then replace the cam girdle gaskets at the same time. The design intent was for a lightweight high revving valve train by having the rockers under the cams hence the girdle gasket. The unconventional fix of using aluminum tubes and sealant may buy some time, but by the time spark plug wells are filling with oil due to girdle gasket leaks then a chain job is likely due soon.
08-13-2023, 10:38 PM
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I bought a 6 pack and installed them last night. I'll update after a while if anybody else is interested. I understand this is just a "band-aid," but it seems like a fairly long term band-aid on a fairly old car that doesn't feel worth paying for a crazy amount of labor to replace a cheap gasket.
However, I'm not exactly thrilled that I paid so much for these things... They are literally just cheap aluminum sleeves. I probably could have just measured the spark plug well and purchased some thin aluminum tubing and cut them myself. But I guess I do appreciate the convenience of pulling them out of an envelope and popping them right into the engine.
However, I'm not exactly thrilled that I paid so much for these things... They are literally just cheap aluminum sleeves. I probably could have just measured the spark plug well and purchased some thin aluminum tubing and cut them myself. But I guess I do appreciate the convenience of pulling them out of an envelope and popping them right into the engine.