Hi folks,

1st time posting, be gentle 😂

I have a 2002 S6 Avant 4.2, now on 100k

I'm having a mechanic friend do my timing belt. I have belt kit, waterpump, thermostat, aux belt, tensioner, cam locking  bar/kit etc, etc and also the cam seals. I do most things myself but I'm definitely not keen on doing the timing belt myself.

Now, he's trying to tell me the cam seals are a massive job requiring the cam covers etc to be removed to do properly and basically refusing to change them if they're not leaking. I thought it to be good preventative maintenance?

Is it just a case of popping the cam sprockets off (I have the correct pullers) and changing the seals? To to the job correctly the sprockets need to be popped off slightly anyway do they not?

Many thanks 🙂

Edited March 12, 20242 yr by Bromchild

Hello Eric,

Welcome and thanks for joining. 
100K is not a great mileage these days, but 22 year old seals would need to be respected, and certainly inspected, before any decision is made to replace them or not. 
What wouldn’t be acceptable to me is the ‘refusal’ to change them bit. If it were mine, I would be finding another mechanic to entrust the job to. 
What make parts are you having fitted Eric, as a matter of interest? 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 

Hi Gareth,

Thanks for the reply! He's a good friend of mine but is an absolute pain in the "behind" when he thinks he's right. He'll be doing in in my workshop (I've got a ramp and most tools for most jobs). He hates swapping out factory seals etc, I'd rather they were done while we're in there. I can just do them myself as I'll be there anyway. I'll maybe get a seal puller/installer kit as I've not got one of those.

Went for INA timing kit, INA waterpump (might try get an Audi pump though), Mahle thermostat (I believe they make the original?), Contitech aux belt, Febi aux belt tensioner, the idler (think that's what it's called, its about 85mm anyway and smooth) pulley is slightly noisy so got an INA pulley for that. Also Elring cam seals

16 hours ago, Bromchild said:

Hi folks,

1st time posting, be gentle 😂

I have a 2002 S6 Avant 4.2, now on 100k

I'm having a mechanic friend do my timing belt. I have belt kit, waterpump, thermostat, aux belt, tensioner, cam locking  bar/kit etc, etc and also the cam seals. I do most things myself but I'm definitely not keen on doing the timing belt myself.

Now, he's trying to tell me the cam seals are a massive job requiring the cam covers etc to be removed to do properly and basically refusing to change them if they're not leaking. I thought it to be good preventative maintenance?

Is it just a case of popping the cam sprockets off (I have the correct pullers) and changing the seals? To to the job correctly the sprockets need to be popped off slightly anyway do they not?

Many thanks 🙂

Hi Eric, I totally agree with your guy, not done the job myself but watched it being done over about eight hours and the next day was the belt change, the rear most cam timing has to be spot on after removing the sprockets, get it wrong and you will end up with 100ks worth of scrap metal, I can see his train of thought, if it aint broke don't fix it, reading between the lines mechanic friend denotes either a favour or a very cheap labour rate, I can understand his reticence.

Steve.