Labour time for camshaft tensioners on 40v 4.2 ????

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11-28-2020, 10:05 AM

XBC01

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Labour time for camshaft tensioners on 40v 4.2 ????

Hello to all,

I have posted this in the D2 and C5 forums as they share the same chain setup.

I have recently got a seemingly absurd quote for a job on my 2006 D3 A8. Skip to near the end if you don't want to read the lenghty preamble.

The situation is this:

i noticed in the last few weeks there was a strange noise when i accelerated, perhaps like a heat sheild but semi consistent so i brought my car to a shop. The only thing that i was really concerned about was my timing and serpentine belts as the they would leave me stranded (the former ruining the motor).

So the shop tells me that the timing belt is extremely loose ( to the point they could spin the water pump by hand) and that it could skip timing at any time. The belt was done 70000 kms~ and 4.5 years ago according to receipts when i purchased the car. It currently has 210000. The labour time they gave me for the belt seems reasonable at 7.5 hours.

I noticed in the last 1.5 years i have owned this car it rattles for a few seconds (never more than 5) on cold start, which i presume to be the camshaft tensioners. They are silent after intial startup. I have seen many posts about the the two teflon or plastic pads wearing or even fracturing. I suspect this would be disastrous should it occur as should the chain contact the metal underneath the metal fragments and shavings would cause serious damage around the engine. I have also replaced the check valves in the valley pan for the oil lines going to the tensioners, it did not make it any better.

Now as timing belt removal and everything going along with that is required to get at the camshaft tensioners i figured i would address them at the same time.

My first issue is that the OEM tensioners are absurdly expensive the cheapest i could find are 1000$ CAD each. I have found many forums saying to stay the hell away from aftermarket tensioners as the chinese ones do not last at all.

I did find these which claim to be "OE Supplier" for 250 USD each. When i enquiried who makes the the part they said they had no information as the part was "brand neutralized". He did however state they are made in Turkey. They do at least from pictures seem to look exactly like the OEM ones. Here are the links:

https://www.europaparts.com/cam-chain-tensioner-077109087p-oem.html

https://www.europaparts.com/cam-chain-tensioner-077109088p-oem.html

Now should i use these or just replace the pads and chains? I find the OEM ones are too expensive as I could buy a spare engine for what they cost.

The other main problem is that they quoted me an additional 27 hours (!!!) to do the camshaft tensioners or 34 hours total with the belt which i find very hard to believe. I almost think they got this car mixed up with the timing chain variant of this engine in the S4, Allroad, C6 A6 or newer FSI for this part of the quote. Can anybody who has done the job, had it done or has knowledge of it comment if this is accurate?

Thank you very much in advance!