jschick

for me I had the heads off, so setting the crank to TDC it didn't matter, just put in the crank lock and set to tdc. if the belt is still on the car then it does matter unless both cams skipped, the cam lock tools will only fit one way, if you are off 180 degrees on the crank the lock tools won't fit. so spin it 180 and they fit in place. But I played with this and found it doesn't seem to matter except you "could" damage valves if it is 180 off and you let the cam slip and spring back which can possibly cause the valves to hit. when the crank is off 180 it is really close so it is possible to retime the cams to this position, but on one bank the cams will be under pressure and if your not carefull they can spin and probably damage a valve.

the important thing here is if you remove the heads just make sure the paint marks are pointing up and put on the cam loc. if the paint mark is down you are surely screwed!!!

wolfb7

Hey jschick.thnx for all the replies..I ended up selling the car.I couldn't finish it.
But for all the ppl out there who are tryin to buy a 3.0 a4 keep in mind it's not real easy to work on them without special tools and experience.there's only one diy online for 3.0 timing belt and that's if timing didn't skip..but jschick has some good posts on the 3.0. Also if the timing skipped even a tooth on 3.0 it most likely bent the valves aaat least few of them!
Good luck!