hisport

I cleaned my engine off with soap and water the other day; now it seems to be leaking oil at the rear of the RH cylinder head.

The Bently CD is pretty vague (I can't find the seal in any of their assembly breakdowns)

I have already replaced the valve cover gaskets.

Found a thread that Clint and PaulW did on the head rear cover seals. Please confirm:

- Seal 077103487 A (O Ring?) needs repacing on two RH head and one LH head rear blanking plugs/cam angle sensor covers? All three covers take the same seal?

- These can be replaced with the engine in the car by pulling the throttle body intake bellows and using a 5mm allen driver?

Clint - seems you were just about to dive into it. Did it work out OK and stop the leak?

My A8 has been oil tight (and odor free) since replacing the VC gaskets and rear final drive seal shortly after buying it late last year. PaulW later helped me write up and illustrate the two procedures for the Forum.

Otherwise, the A8 is an excellent car all around; I just bought the VAG-COM package and look forward to changing the trans codes as mentioned by Skiracer.

Guess the moral is: don't clean off your engine

Never fol.

You have to replace the head gasket, usually the passenger side leaks more at back of the engine. Too much heat.

clint

I bought the seal, and wiped the area with a rag back there, but it seems maybe to have stopped?
I haven't put the round seal paul was talking about in yet, because the dealer only had one in stock, so I was going to order two more seals, but haven't gotten around to it yet.


The day I posted my whining about my leak- I removed the right valve cover and re-checked the head cover gasket- especially back in that area. As a precaution, I used a more liberal application of black permatex silicone in the area near the cams, back where I thought the cover was leaking.
The old gaskets I took off a couple of months ago had some silicone back there, on the ribbed areas on the gasket- near the end of the head. I think when I was struggling to get the cover back on back then, I may have wiped off the silicone by accidently scraping against something.
This time I was more careful, and also used more of the glue.



So for the last couple of weeks, I haven't noticed the oil smell and smoke- so maybe my new glue did the trick, and it took a while to burn off the previously leaked oil.

I have to change the oil in the next day or so, I'll check the head zone again when I'm grimy from doing that.

If and when I deal with the ring seal things back there, I'll take some pictures..

PaulW

<center><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/22012/tb9.jpg"></center><p>See the picture, this is the cover that is taken off the back of the head to get the cam locking tool on duirng the timing belt change out. It is in line with the cam. The picture shows the inside of the cover (part that is exposed to the inside of the head).

Note the "D" ring on it.

It appeared that Skiracer's was leaking when we did his timing belt.

You'll have to take off the intake air piping and the black electrical connector attached to it (that's the third bolt in the pic) and then unbolt it and change the gasket. There are two of them on the right (passenger) head. Only one is required for removal when locking the cams, didn't take the other one off.

pw

hisport

I can see this cover at the rear of thye RH head.

Does just this one cover need to be repaired? Somehow, I picked up the idea that there are three covers.

LH head seems dry.

hisport

Yes; I did my VC gaskets too about 10 months ago(both were seeping).

Since then, I got the Bently CD, which shows that indeed silicone is needed in those areas.

I will replace the cover(s) O ring as soon as I can find 'em.

hisport

Are you quite sure you're not referring to the valve cover gasket?

Head gasket would be a nasty job on one of these cars, though I have heard that it is a leaker on early A6 2.8 motors.

Did you have yours replaced? Bill would be $2,000+, I would guess

PaulW

The one that is most accessable (lower part with black electrical connector on it) has to be done first, but once you get it off, the other one appears to be relatively easy to get off.

Don't know why the right hand side has two covers, the left hand side is more difficult because it has the hall sensor for cam positioning in it.

I would do both on the right hand side if I was going to do one.