Hi. Can anyone offer advice on the following? My local garage has replaced the head gasket for my 1993 Audi A80 cabriolet.  This of course involved removing the cylinder head. However, they also removed the camshaft and managed to snap 2 of the 4 camshaft holders in the process, which we're having massive difficulty in sourcing replacements for.  I'm left wondering - is it necessary to remove a camshaft whilst replacing a head gasket? Another engineer I spoke to suggested it wasn't.  Does anyone know who's right here?

There are two answers here, yes and no.

In theory you can change a head gasket on many engines while leaving the cam in site if all the head bolts are accessible which I believe they are on you engine (but I may be corrected here), on inspection if all looks good with the head face after a gentle clean up then it could be refitted. So in theory yes it could be left in situ. However, on a car that age I would want the face of the head skimmed by a couple of thou to try ensure a problem free future. In this case it would be good practice to have the head completely stripped, skimmed and then cleaned before reassembly. Do you know if the garage skimmed the head?

 

Belated thanks for your answer, Dan - really helpful.  Let me check with the garage about whether they've skimmed the head.  But if I get you right, they should have been able to keep the cam in place, irrespective of whether they decided to skim the head? 

Sorry didn't realise you had replied. It would be best to ask the garage if they needed to remove the cam to access the head bolts. I have quite a few manuals at home, what is your exact engine? I will check to see if I have one for that engine and I can check for you.

Sorry Dan - not sure how I missed this.  Thanks very much for offering to look this up.  My engine is the 1993 2300cc 5-cylinder version.  Grateful for any guidance here.

Also, do you know whether it is possible to purchase camshaft holders? I've attached a picture of what I presume is the camshaft as well as the aluminium holders - 4 in total, two of which have snapped. My mechanic can't find them anywhere. Maybe this first image tells you whether the bolts for the cylinder head can be accessed without first removing the cam? Thanks, Andrew