cam or valve seals and VCD questions...

B6 A4
#1

There is a slight oil build up along the passenger bank valve cover, can’t tell if its on driver side because I cleaned that side awhile ago when I did coil packs, either way I’d replace both seals anyways. So after researching some I found this guy who did his cam seals and I noticed he had oil build up all on front of motor…

http://www.audiforums.com/forum/b6-models-70/cam-adjuster-seal-replacement-02-3-0l-163714/

so I checked my front, and have NO oil build up at all its perfectly clean. So is it safe to assume that its just my valve cover gasket??? This is what my passenger side looked like before I cleaned it…

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/passengerbankvalvecover.jpg

   Also I was playing around on VCDS after I put everything back together that I took apart so I could try to run readiness check. When I checked my o2's,  they are running about 1.0 lambada but would fluctuate a little, which is where its supposed to be? I don't remember what voltage they were reading but I read that you can't really check accurate voltage with VCDS anyways because it changes. Anyways here is my VCDS screen, it says the catalyist monitoring system is not even installed or it failed....

what I’m trying to figure out is that my cats aren’t dead and I put in o2’s and it doesn’t solve my problem, I just don’t have the extra cash to buy DP’s anyways otherwise I would, and my next question is…
IF my cats are dead and I buy JHM DP’s does anyone know if they mate directly to the catback without modification to the stock exhaust system? is it just bolt on??

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/VCDSpic2.jpg

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/VCDSpic1.jpg

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/VCDSpic3.jpg

Also one last important question, when i intitally received my engine vibrations I went straight to my Indy and the guy who normally works on my car wasn’t available but another guy checked it out and said my front o2’s were not even reading but as you can see in VCDS it says they passed, So was the guy lying and I need to find a new shop ?

#2

Did he use VCDS or a generic OBD-II tool/cable?

He might have gotten a wrong reading if it was generic?

#3

I bought this cable, its the one Saki reccomended in the ECU tool thread under general discussion…

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/2012-03-13_13-35-13_771.jpg

so your saying there may be a problem with my cable??

#4

No I believe he is talking about your Indy shop

#5

did you reset the codes or disconnect the battery recently? Cat readiness takes some time to set properly.

It looks like cat efficiency codes, so you could try O2 spacers/gutting the cats in lieu of buying downpipes.

What are the emissions laws/checks in your state?

#6

yes I did reset… i’ll try to go for a drive around the block i guess, i hate to drive it like this cuz I think i’m running rich? but if it needs to reset its not going to do it sitting there idle, i start it up every few days and let it warm up but other than that it hasn’t been driven.

I’m in Nevada and from what i’ve been told from every shop i try to get a quote from for DP’s under the table or anything, is a no go. Oddly enough the 1 place I found to install DP’s was the stealer and they wanted like 800$, forget that I could do it myself if I had DIY which I actually found in the video for in on here that Count made but the videos he did are not complete.

I dont want to gut my stock pipes because if I buy DP’s I want to be able to put the stock DP’s back in if I ever sell the car or need to for some reason.

#7

you’d have rich codes if it was dangerously rich (same with lean)… lambda = 1.0 is how its supposed to run as long as egts are low (it richens in response to high egt or knock)

diy shouldnt be too bad, I’d suspect it’d be similar to doing DPs on the V8s

if you cats are dead then gutting them would be a good option because they aren’t going to do any good anymore (re keeping them to swap on)

#8

I went for a drive around block, CEL came on… So I checked it and it was same 2 cat codes… but I ran readiness and everything passed… ???

So how can everything pass and my shit still vibrates like no other??

I haven’t installed my control arms yet but I cant imagine they are causing this??
Can a worn front snub cause it???

Especially on start up, On cold start my RPMS jump up to like 1400 then after about 30 seconds to a min it will slowly drop down to 800 and vibrations will decrease quite a bit but still when its warm the vibration is quite a bit, its much less at idle than driving.

#9

BUMP!

So I went for another drive around block to see if I could see, hear, feel or notice anything at all the could help, and I did notice one thing…

In reverse the car is jerky as hell! please tell me I’m not back to square one with the stupid DMFW!

#10

Have you had your TB replaced? Is it time or close to a TB replacement?

#11

timing belt was done at 80k, I bought her at 92k, and I’m now just about to hit 116… Was told I should do it again at 140-150…

#12

Are you positive the TB was done?

Not doubting you but I had friends that were told it was done but was not.

#13

Yes i know for a fact it was done. I have the paperwork too and it was done by a very reputable german shop in incline village, German Motors I think its called.

#14

Yes, I was refering to the shops tool not yours A43Go6MT .

The local shops/non VW Audi shops don’t use ROSS-TECH type OBD-II cablel/tools.

#15

I dont know what my shop uses or how he tested it. Its a pretty nice shop lots of high end cars like ferrari’s and what not, so I just kinda always trusted them. Now i"m unsure since he said my o2’s have zero voltage and I checked and they seemed to be reading fine. Thats why i thought i was running rich if my o2s were out which i thought would be cause for vibrations but I really don’t know I have bascially zero exp with VCDS, just started using it.

#16

I know it sounds silly but have you checked engine mounts

#17

Well now that i think about it, its possible they could of gone bad in the past 3 weeks since my indy told me my control arms and snub were bad… i think im just going to start with what i know is bad then go from there