DanielB

I recently bought a 2003 Audi A4 1.8t Quattro with 175k miles, and like a clown, immediately decided to replace the timing belt since it "probably needed it". I have never replaced one before but have done many other smaller projects, and armed with knowledge and an ECS timing belt kit, I gave it a go. By the end of the process I had my belt back on in what I thought was correct timing, and I barred the crank over two full revolutions, and there was some resistance and some soft noises when doing so. I reinstalled the harmonic balancer and the lower timing cover so I could see the crank timing marks (again, like a clown, I did not mark TDC on the crank before removing the original belt.....) and it turns out, the crank is way off TDC when the cam sprocket is at TDC. I included a picture below of how off it was when I barred over the engine, with the two marks circled

Picture showing how misaligned the crank was when I barred over the engine. The blue circles are highlighting the TDC marks on the harmonic balancer and the lower timing cover.
. So, my question is, did barring over my engine with the timing off so much do any damage? My uncle suggested I do a compression test to see if I damaged the valves. Thank you for reading!

lyleswk

Well, I've done 4 on 1.8ts and am in the middle of finishing up my 3rd timing belt on my 1984 300ZX, so have some experience.

I assume when you say "barred" you mean had a socket with an extension on the crank and you manually turned the engine, not turning it over with the starter? Having said that, I doubt that any damage happened unless you are really really strong and had a long extension on it and kept turning it after some resistance was felt from valve / piston clash. The "soft" popping noises are typical of the engine going through its normal cycle of compression and then release of the compression. My recommendation is to pull the balancer and get the belt on properly. There should be marks on the cam and crank sprockets although I have always put my own marks and counted teeth so can't confirm that, but the literature out there says they are. Good news is that there is a lot of resources online to help on the ubiquitous 1.8t. Here is one:

https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...er-Pump-Change

I would recommend you go down the path of trying to get the install correct before running down the path of bent metal; I don't know the answer to how far out of time it would take to have pistons and valves actually clash. Start simple! Also don't forget you may need another tensioner assuming you "pulled the pin" on the one you have.

Others?

rickybaker

Agreed. There is a very simple way to pull it back in to timing without removing the belt. This youtube guy explains it

WestoR

You need to set the Fly wheel at TDC and the OVH Cam at TDC to do this you will need a timing belt kit available on Amazon you will need to remove the timing belt again to do this there a video on u-tube which guides you through setting it up, the kit will lock the OVH cam and the Fly wheel at TDC not allowing it to move while fitting the timing belt. Take care not to apply to much force when Turing the fly wheel or the OVH cam any resistance would indicate valve and piston contact.
The locking pins and locking clamp should then retain the setting while fitting the cam belt once the belt is fitted remove the pins turn the engine over with a socket to check that the TDC is correct on the fly wheel as well as the OVH Cam if not repeat setup again. Plenty of videos available to show you how to do this.
Hope this might help.