mpollan

Were you valves indeed bent or something else causing no compression in all 8?

Mark

BrianC72gt

Not my engine, friends 97 A8. I haven't heard the latest, but he fears it is so. I would still like to know the manner in which it failed...the belt is still on the engine. I'll keep you informed when I hear something more.

This is a situation that cries out for a leakdown test, after the low compression test results. The leakdown could reveal that the valves are still OK, just retarded in timing, or that they are in fact leaking and likely bent.

BrianC72gt

So the original guesstimate from the indie shop in Brooklyn, NY was somewhere in the neighborhood of $5k...pull and refurbish the heads..again still a bit of a guess at the extent of the damage. That's all the head work plus the timing belt job.

Zoinks, so I tracked down a complete set of heads for him with 80K on them for $600. He is having them shipped straight to the shop, and now the number is right about $2,900. Bad but not really ugly. I still don't have an answer on what failed. As mentioned, the timing belt is still there, and timing marks appear to line up, which had me guessing that maybe there was a loose crank cog lagging behind the crankshaft by a few degrees. More likely a tired tensioner that lets things go kafloooey while running but looks ok sitting still.

I'll update you after the surgery is done.