Anyone see what I saw today on cam caps?

1993audi90 · 04-29-2012, 10:02 PM

Replacing valve cover gaskets today, and as part of the R/R procedure, I always scotchbrite the sealing surfaces where the gasket seals on the head side.
What I found is, on both cam caps with the round (front cap passenger side, rear Cap on D.S) are stress cracked in the surface where the valve cover seals. The cracks does not appear to extend into the area of the cap where the two nuts are holding the cam cap to the head. The "V" cam cap on both sides appears to be fine.
I just snagged some cams out of a pic a part and took the cam caps. I did not see any cam bearing in the head side--do the cams not have separate bearings?
I also do not see that Audi sells the cam caps separately.
The driver side is in the rear--which I could probably switch out fairly easy.
The passenger side though will not be pleasant--the front cap also holds the seal, and this is the seal right behind the timing gear.

Lago Blue · 05-19-2012, 12:13 AM

Negative. I've not heard of this either. I'll have to look for this next time. What could the cause be? Did you take a photo you could post? Yes, I think the cams runs just in the alu. head and caps.

1993audi90 · 05-21-2012, 09:02 AM

Negative on the photo until i pull the valve covers to replace those. Unfortunately i can not find a part no. for these specific cam caps, both end caps i described have cracks. And spare cam caps have on the shelf also have cracks--albeit much smaller. The passenger side front i could blame on the wrong size cam seal, but the DS rear? Theres no seal there and it is cracked too. Im thinking this is stress related and due to poor design or not enough material on this cap. The v shaped caps are fine. Anyone putting some serious hp on the engine may have probs..

CRAZY_RUSSIAN · 06-01-2012, 01:50 PM

what you are talking about is most likely just casting marks and not cracks, oil and dirt gets in them and makes it look like cracks

05-19-2012, 12:13 AM	#2
Lago Blue AudiWorld Senior Member Garage is empty, add now Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Canada Posts: 1,466	Re: cam cap cracks... Negative. I've not heard of this either. I'll have to look for this next time. What could the cause be? Did you take a photo you could post? Yes, I think the cams runs just in the alu. head and caps.

06-01-2012, 01:50 PM	#4
CRAZY_RUSSIAN AudiWorld Super User 1993 Audi 90 My Garage Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Albuquerque,NM Posts: 2,053	what you are talking about is most likely just casting marks and not cracks, oil and dirt gets in them and makes it look like cracks __________________ 1993 Audi 90CS Quattro (loving it) new front struts, 034 control arm bushings, tie rods. mount savers. B5 sport rear springs/socks, B5 sport swaybar, B5 upper a-arms, 034street density trans mounts,17" ASA, head lights, aux gauges. blue plasma instrument cluster, A4 3 spoke steering wheel, aluminum subframe mounts) replaced a motor at the end of 2008, gasket matched heads, ARP head studs, air box velocity stack, 4 to 3 wire MAF conversion, 18.5lbs flywheel with SPEC stage 2 clutch. 1975 VW bus (gone) 1973 VW Super Beetle (what was i thinking?) 1968 VW Bug (my pride and joy) 2.5 inch front drop and disk brake conversion, 2110cc motor (in progress)new wiring harness,3 inch wider fenders all around, 195/45r15 front and 195/65r15 rear tiers 1991 GMC Sonoma RWD, manual, 4 banger (gone) 1979 Suzuki GS750EN with 31k original miles 1981 Suzuki GS750L (will be on a chopping block for a bobber) 1981 Yamaha XV920 1983 Yamaha XV750 (for g.f.) 1985 Dnepr MT10-36 (stolen) 1992 Dnepr MT11-32 (also stolen)

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05-21-2012, 09:02 AM	#3
1993audi90 AudiWorld Member Garage is empty, add now Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 200	Negative on the photo until i pull the valve covers to replace those. Unfortunately i can not find a part no. for these specific cam caps, both end caps i described have cracks. And spare cam caps have on the shelf also have cracks--albeit much smaller. The passenger side front i could blame on the wrong size cam seal, but the DS rear? Theres no seal there and it is cracked too. Im thinking this is stress related and due to poor design or not enough material on this cap. The v shaped caps are fine. Anyone putting some serious hp on the engine may have probs..