poontz13

99 A6 2.8. CEL was on and the dealer says that the vaccum lines and combi-valves are fine and that the secondary air ports into the cylinder are clogged with carbon. I asked if they could just clean it and they said on three separate cars when they tried that the "valves dropped" (not sure what that means). So, their solution is to replace both cylinder heads for $5,500! Any suggestions?

diagnosticator1

That you take the car to an Audi independent repair shop. The heads will need to be removed and disassembled, thoroughly cleaned, then reassembled, fitting new valve stem seals and possibly new valve guides. The valves and valve seats should be reconditioned also.
You would be getting "rebuilt" heads as a practical matter.

Or, have the indy shop replace the existing heads with remanufactured heads. that will be less that new, and a quicker repair. The reman heads come with a Audi factory warranty also.

Mrkrad

idea is you do not want carbon to get ingested. I've seen folks do this trick for some reason on other cars to prevent valves from dropping without removing the head. maybe they were changing the valve seals. spose you could use the same theory and have a shop with a big ole vacuum cleaner backflush that crap out and abort it.

poontz13

I'll see what they have to say and bring up your suggestions.

Aarononymous

from what I saw no cleaning method in the car would work, it's like stone.

Merkin

replace heads for carbon deposit... time for a new shop

poontz13

The indy shop agreed with diagnosticator1, basically rebuild the heads