nyrobbie77

I've had a pretty good oil leak from the right front of my '97 a8. it only leaks when the engines running. when i replaced my windshield washer pump, i had removed the air box and took a better look at the source of the oil leak. it looks like the oil is coming from behind the timing belt cover near the top on the passenger side. the valve covers have a slight leak, as well as the rear cam seal covers. so i'm figuring that i'll remove the valve covers and timing belt at the same time.

i thought i read somewhere that if the valve covers are off the cam locking tools aren't necessary. can't find the article where i read that, and i don't remember if it was the 32v or 40v engine that they were refering too. there are a lot of threads which some say all the tools are needed, some say not...

cars got 160k on it, not sure when the TB was last done. can't find a sticker anywhere on the engine saying when it was done.

any advice is welcomed.

silverd2

On the oil leak:
Could be the cam bearing seal, at the belt pulley...or VERY notorious on 32V engines, the oil pump bearing seal (lower down on that side).

As for cam lock tools:
On both 32V and 40V engines, with valve covers off you can see the TDC timing marks on the cam chain sprocket ends...BUT this really won't make getting the belt/cam belt pulleys off and on any easier...probably much tougher...maybe near impossible...the lock helps keep em from turning while turning bolt out and in.

On the 32V engines, having the valve covers off is a good idea anyway, to assure proper indexing of the cams' chain sprockets at the timing marks.

On the 40v, the exhaust cams are kinda "keyed" on the outside..at least the "key" that the cam lock attaches to is (directly to exhaust cam, which in turn runs the intake cam by the chain), so less need to see the timing marks on the cams (40V).