I've done many interference timing jobs, from Japanese to European vehicles. I've also been working on cars since I was five, trying to "help" my father. When I say "help" I mean I was beating a hammer on a rotor face. Eventually, I started tearing down and rebuilding cars as a hobby and it turned into a passion. This should have been a simple job, and I guess I took it a little too lightly.
The car was bought with 80k miles on it, and didn't have maintenance records, so I assumed the timing was never completed, but I knew I would tackle the job sooner than later. As time passed and the years went by I realized that I still didn't do the timing job. I knew I was really playing Russian roulette with this car.
Finally, as fall was coming to an end last year, the expected finally came; coolant everywhere and overheating.
I towed the vehicle home dreading what I would find when I tore it apart. A few days went by as it sat in my garage and every time I walked passed it I would kick myself in the ass for not doing it sooner, swearing at the car daily, only to try and make myself feel better for neglecting it.
After work one night I decided to break the car down and see the carnage of the heads. Now, for those who have never worked on an Audi, especially this series (2003), there is very little room between the engine and the fans. Roughly 2" where you can squeeze your hands in there if they are dainty enough. In order to do this, you first have to put the front clip in what Audi calls the "service" position. To do this you pretty much have to remove what seems like 30 misc. bolts from here and there. Once you do this you can pull the clip out roughly another 4" or so. You can completely remove the clip if you wish, but you would have to drain and fill the A/C. With work occupying my days and this project consuming from 8pm until whenever every night, I did not want to add to my workload.
Now the car is prepped and ready to be torn down.
All parts that should be required are on order and the specialty cam lock tools are in transit. By this time, it is December already and getting colder by the day. All of the parts are sitting on my work bench slowly collecting dust waiting for this magical tool that I believe the pony express would be delivering to me. Christmas came and went and still no tool, finally on the 6th of January 2014 this mystical tool showed on my doorstep. Now, by this time, after seeing a dead car in your garage for a while you have some mixed feelings.
At first some joy that you can finally get the pile running again, and then the hatred of having to work in a cold garage for hours on end. So, I grab a beer and this tool and head on out to the garage for a long night. I kick on the space heater, throw on some music and start tearing into it. By midnight I had all the old components off and found that it was just the water pump bearing that had gone south on me. Timing stayed intact so that was a huge sigh of relief. Figured that was enough for the night and headed inside with a little bit more confidence that this car would soon see the open road again.
Two days go by, work comes first and sleep second. I head back out there on my day off and start putting the awesome shiny parts back in. Now, there isn’t much to this except move the power steering pump ever so slightly out of the way. To do this you have to maneuver a 7mm hex down under the intake manifold to remove the pump. Took a few tries but I nailed it, went to loosen it and, yep, it strips. I sit on my mechanics chair mumbling like Popeye under my breath. I take a short walk inside and pull out some liquid courage (whiskey). I ponder how I am going to remove this little bastard of a bolt. I said I didn't want to make any extra work for myself, so, I grab a torx bit and a hammer. With this new-found courage, I go to town on this bolt so I wouldn’t have to remove the intake Manifold and fortunately for me, it worked.
As you can tell, I was rather pissed at this point. First off, because I was cold. Secondly, it was about 12:30AM after working a full day. I move the pesky pump out of the way and continue my job. After another hour or so, everything is complete. Now for the moment of truth, let’s start it up! As I sit in the driver seat cringing at the thought of something going wrong, I turn the key and she starts and runs perfectly. All of a sudden, I hear what sounds like a group of whales during mating season coming from under the hood. Quickly I shut off the car thinking something terrible went wrong. As I scour under the hood everything looks to be fine. Look at the power steering reservoir and it is bubbling from the cap. That damn power steering pump will be the death of me.
The next day I go through all the lines changing all the clamps and looking for leaks. I try to bleed the system and nothing, no power steering. So, for a few days I sit there trying to bleed the system, turning the wheel full lock left and right going per Audi specs and nothing. I decided that I should start replacing hoses. Of course, since this car is an 03' there will be some brittle hoses somewhere. I quickly find the culprit. The little 6" hose directly off of the pump. I cracked this hose on the back side and could not see it. This little guy was sucking in air so much, this was making the power steering inoperable. So, I buy this hose and slapped it on. Desperate for this car to come off jack stands and back on the road I try to prime the system, but it wasn’t having it. The pump was toast!
As I waste away a weekend with this pump on order I patiently await its arrival on Monday. I get home Monday night around 9:15 and quickly try to heat up the garage and slap this shiny new pump on in hopes it will cure my issues. 20 min. later the new pump is on. I try to prime and bleed the system yet again. Now keep in mind, I have probably done this about 25 times already. No dice, damn thing still will not prime and run! Again, the adult beverages come out as I throw a temper tantrum like a 4 year old. After I calmed down, I start the car in one last ditch effort with the wheel at full lock. At this point I had no other options. To my surprise, doing this made the air pocket go away and the pump was doing its thing! Now it was time to actually grab a cold one and enjoy it.
This was one of the worst vehicles I have worked on work on. Not that the parts are inadequate, or the engineering behind it was flawed, it was simply over designing in the engine bay. Putting items like that damn hose next to the manifold so it will get brittle over time. With all this being said, make sure you actually look at the small details. In my personal experience, it's usually the 1 thing you overlook that will cause you the most grief and aggravation, possibly driving you to drink.
