99 Audi A4 2.8L Heartache

[Roger0111]

Okay so... I bought a 99 Audi A4 from this guy and he straight up told me that the water pump is bad, timing belt could use a change, and the throttle body was out. I made a decent deal with him and ended up getting it towed after i drove it off the lot for awhile for fear it it would over heat/timing belt snap.

So i replaced the timing belt on it and the water pump and now the car wont start. I put my brother in-law's CEL checker on it and i got the following errors;

P1545-Exhast gas temp sensor circuit low Bank 1 Sensor
P1338-Camshaft position sensor A circuit high input
P1392-Camshaft potion sensor B bank 2 Circuit low input

I know for a fact that i got the timing belt on after about 1000 attempts i got the cams lined up and i got the crank on line. I ended up using pain on the cams and belt and the crank to the block so i knew how many teeth and all i needed to adjust my belt. I read on a different thread that the 96 that the Camshaft sensor, MAF sensor, Engine coolant sensor, and outside air sensor all run into the same wire into the computer.

Any other help or confirmation of my dug up info would be appreciated.

I've just spent too much money to throw this away... Its making for a nice project though!

[ianwpb]

Can you explain how you went about changing the belt? I'm thinking your timing is off.

This thread might be of some help...

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...38-error-codes

[Roger0111]

I lined up the cams and routes the belt through the cams and marked the cams and belt with paint. I lined the crank with the little plastic guard and then made two marks on the cam gears and engine block turned the crank back one tooth routed the belt in and then turned the crank to where the belt was right and all the paint marks lined up. After I replaced the crank pulley back on all timing marks lined back up. I turned the crank through two rotations and marks were still good.

[ianwpb]

I'm still a little unclear.. Did you mark the cam and crank gears while the old belt was still on?

[Artiemas]

Just to be clear...

I4 or V6?>

[Roger0111]

New belt and cam AFTER I lined the cams up

And v6...( did they make an i4 of a 2.8L?)

[Artiemas]

Did you take your valve covers off and time there?

Here's what I would do. The 30vs use Cylinder #3 as the TDC mark. Passenger side, all the way up.
You're not using any VAG tools, I assume? As in the bar that crosses the cams, and the pin your can stick in the crankshaft. If I were you, I'd atleast get the crankshaft lock pin. It's not terribly expensive.

Anyways, back to what I would do. Takeoff your valve covers and line up the cams from there. Passenger side atre near the windshield. Look around the CCT and you'll see some arrows and some blank etching into some rotatey parts. The cams. Line those puppies up. They are senmi-adjustable indepently. As in, you can move the cam and the intake will move more than the exhaust at first. So line up the exhaust, then line up the intake. You can tell which is which because we have 30vs. 3 intake. 3 lobes on the intake cam. Anyways, I'm sure you knew that.

Same for the other side.

Line up your crank. Then, put you belt on. If you're a tooth off on the belt, you can loosen one of the cams, which would be near impossible with the cam bar, mind you, and tap the gear into position.

But, my only concern is your CELs. I'm not too well versed in those, but it seems your cam position sensors may be faulty? I'm sure someone else whith more knowledge in that expertise will chime on.

[ianwpb]

Just to be clear...

I4 or V6?>

Lol, the title of the post is 99 Audi A4 2.8L Heartache.. Pretty sure it's a 1.8t.

Did you ever turn the car on before you bought it?

[Roger0111]

I know the timing is good. I've helped my uncle line up plenty of timing belts, though they were not import but it's the same fundamentals.

And my car is a 2.8L Quattro... Not a 1.8t, my friend, however, has the 1.8t.

[ianwpb]

I know the timing is good. I've helped my uncle line up plenty of timing belts, though they were not import but it's the same fundamentals.

And my car is a 2.8L Quattro... Not a 1.8t, my friend, however, has the 1.8t.

Lol, I know. I was being sarcastic. But like I said before, did you get a chance to start the car before buying it? Do you know if it ran?

[Roger0111]

I drove it about a mile and a half to three and decided that it'd be better to tow it home instead of driving for risk either damaging the heads, timing breaking and all... It rode and shifted nice then... Lol

[Artiemas]

I know the timing is good. I've helped my uncle line up plenty of timing belts, though they were not import but it's the same fundamentals.

And my car is a 2.8L Quattro... Not a 1.8t, my friend, however, has the 1.8t.

Dun goofed.

S'wutevz. Do whatever you want, OP. I'm telling you how to 100% make sure your timing is correct, which it must not be as your car won't star.t But even then, If you went to start it, you'd be in for a pair of heads.

[gtsingh91]

Doesnt' p1545 have to deal with the throttle body?

[Roger0111]

P1545 does have to do with the throttle body, I know it's bad

And after breaking down and getting the timing tools I reapplied the timing belt, and all codes are still there. And car still will not start

[gtsingh91]

the reason I ask is because I'm getting the same code over and over again. Mine runs fine but I feel like it's not opening all the way because when I floor the pedal, the car moves very slowly. I'm going to be swapping mine out very soon.

[bhusted]

P1545 does have to do with the throttle body, I know it's bad

And after breaking down and getting the timing tools I reapplied the timing belt, and all codes are still there. And car still will not start

So, you redid the timing with the locking bar and pin and you're still getting those codes? Did you separate the cam sprockets from the cams when you used the locking bar? This is imperative to ensure constant tension on the belt.

Have you taken a look at the cam position sensors? There is one on each intake cam on the 30v motor. I don't know if you pulled the sensors to replace the seals, but I would inspect them and their plugs.

[Roger0111]

Sprockets were in fact pulled then torqued down to spec AFTER belt was applied and tightned. And the sensors looked alright to me, what should I be looking for as defects?

[bhusted]

Sounds like the timing procedure is correct.

Mostly I would be checking that contacts are clean and that the harness didn't suffer any trauma when being unplugged/replugged.

[Roger0111]

Alright I'll make sure to check those when I get home. I'm at "work" today

[MooseWhip]

I assume the battery was disconnected?

Try this:


Press gas pedal to floor, turn ignition on.

hold for 1 minute

turn key off, release pedal

Try to start, this will recalibrate the throttle body


And you cant go by 96 wiring, different engine in a 96

[Roger0111]

The throttle body is BAD I already tried this... And if the harnesses are good what else could it be? (I have the wiring diagrams in the repair Manuel also

[Roger0111]

The sensors looked good... Any other ideas?

[bhusted]

Have you cleared the codes and tried starting again? Are there any other codes?

This is a 30v motor, correct? Did you remove the cam chain tensioners for any reason? I once reassembled one of the heads on my V8 with the intake cam off by one tooth and that caused a bunch of problems.

[Roger0111]

I cleared them before and no help.. I'll try it again and check, I have the battery charging because I was listing to music while working on the car this last time... And I have never seen the cam chain so It should be good

[MooseWhip]

Whats wrong with the throttle body? I would probably start with a good throttle body if your having issues.

[Roger0111]

I am not sure what's wrong with the throttle body...

The p1339 and p1392 are gone now and not coming back! But still not starting... I am getting the P1545 still and I am having backfires. We are checking pressure tomorrow and we are going to be pulling covers and inspecting the valves and all. What else could be wrong?

[MooseWhip]

Do you have Vag-com?

[Roger0111]

If your talking about the pressure gauge you apply on the cylinder, my uncle is bring his

[Roger0111]

Okay my uncle told me I have bent valves and and I pulling heads and all after I get the head bolt tool

[Artiemas]

Bent valves?Your car would be running like shit and you'd hear the "clackclackclack"

Or not, but the car would run pretty shitty. I'm going to laugh so hard if you bent those valves because I told you how to make sure your timing was correct before you did it. Sorry, but Itoldyouso.

What did your compression test look like?

[Roger0111]

There are a few bent valves now that I got to it but it's not too bad. We didn't end up doing the compression test when we couldn't turn the crank easily so I just tore it apart. Not TOO bad of a fix