Does anybody have a good DIY walkthrough for these? Can they be done without removing the intake manifold? Ideally i would do them when doing the carbon clean, but just incase i dont have time to do them at the same time as carbon clean.
I’m not sure… here’s one forum thread elsewhere that touches on the topic, though not exactly a how-to thread:
Yep i saw that thread too, its hard to say, ill have a look at the engine in the morning and see, it does look possible to replace them by removing coilpacks etc to gain access to the valve covers.
I just ordered some JHM spacers and gaskets so im committed to the carbon clean now! i just wanna try do as much as i can in one session, to minimize downtime! Need to find some appropriate cleaning solution i can buy locally that will help break down the carbon for easy removal.
I’ll be doing mine next week and from what i can see and tell is that you can do it without removing the im. On the 8 you’ll have to remove the driver side air box to get at some bolts.
Let me know how you get on. i was thinking, remove both airboxes and the coilpacks should give you enough clearance to remove the valve covers to get at the gaskets.
Sounds good, i plan on taking pictures as well because i couldn’t find any diy
Yes it can be done without removing the IM. I just did it a couple of months ago. Remove both air boxes. For the driver side remove the power steering reservoir, crankcase vent hose and a couple of connectors near back of valve cover, and coil packs. For pass side move the coolant reservoir, then remove crankcase vent hose and couple connectors, and coil packs. On my car, there was a bracket on the back side of the engine on the pass side that overhung the valve cover. Could not get access to remove the bolts (they were up against the firewall). I ended up just bending it out of the way. It served no purpose, so I just left it bent. Last thing to mention, the bolt at the back, bottom side of the valve covers is really, really tight. Each one took about 15 minutes to turn with a modified allen wrench, with each time removing and replacing it in the bolt, praying that I didn’t drop it.
As a few people have mentioned you can do the valve cover change without pulling the intake manifold. But… Pulling the top part of the intake with the throttle bodys will help make your life a little easier.
Your going to want to remove the air boxes and remove the coil packs and take some time to remove some of the wires. As mentioned the powersteering res is going to make getting to a few things tough. Your going to need to obviously pull off the PCV system but you dont have to pull the oil seperator out.
The coolant container on the passenger side should be swung out of the way. Just rotate is clock wise and put it vertical with the fender. When you do this make sure you look to have a brass T fitting ready as the coolant Y tends to be brittle.
The JHM intake spacers are a really good help for keeping under hood temps down while helping keep the cars performance up. When you do a carbon clean it would make sense to try and do one at a time.
Ok, So I attempted and failed at changing them out. I couldn’t get the last bolt out or even loose. It is too close to the firewall. Does anyone have any advise on this? This is on the back of the engine towards the driver.
Here are a couple pictures showing how tight. It is like this on both sides. I can get a bit in there but can’t figure out how to turn it. I tried getting it in there then using a pliers and no luck.
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q259/cstarky15/20160829_132343_zps7jzrbzux.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q259/cstarky15/20160829_132946_zps44aeeqbz.jpg
maybe you could get a low profile rachet socket wrench over the end of the bit?
Vice grips?
Or this (and use a small pipe for a handle extension if needed):
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81HMisraMNL.SL1500.jpg
That’s the one I was describing in my post. It’s a serious PIA. What c.scott sent looks viable, but just remember that it needs to clear the firewall the entire way until the threads are clear. You can only turn it with your tool the entire way out since the bolt head is recessed in the cover. I’ll take a look through my tools tonight and see if I can dig up what I used. Also, I seem to recall moving the thermal shielding, but can’t remember if that was critical to accessing the bolt head, or just being able to turn the tool.
Didn’t work. They were to big. Even my small ones were to big. I just ordered that ratchet. Will be here Wednesday and I’ll try again.
I even used needle nose pliers and taped the bit to it. I couldn’t get enough force to turn it. I doesn’t almost 2 hours looking at it, swearing at it then put the car back together.
Its the same story on the 4.2 S4 I used a similar to tool to what scott put up. Mine was red and had an angled neck. It works wonders but you want to make sure its MAGNATIZED or youll be swearing a lot. Those bits can drop out easy
I couldn’t find the actual tool I used (my kids must have absconded with it), but it definitely was a modified hex head allen wrench. It was a small one, roughly 1" by 2". It was an over-sized one that I ground down until it was snug in the torx T30 bolt heads. The torque is low on these bolts (9Nm, about 6 ft-lbs), basically hand tight, so it didn’t take much to overcome install torque. If the tool you’ve got coming doesn’t work (although all indications are that it will, and will be a lot easier than what I went through), then this might be an option to consider.
Before I forget. Dont loosen this one last loosen this one first or very eairly on. If you wait to loosen that one hard to get to bolt till last there will be tension still on that bolt and it makes it a bit harder to get out.
I tried to get a price from the local Audi dealer today and they said the drivers side is only about $30 but the passenger side is only available with the valve cover its self and is $200+!
Does anybody have any part numbers i can get them to check against for me?
If they made you give them you vin they can tell you didnt get the updated Valve cover. This same thing happens to the RS4 guys who for some reason have an updated passenger side valve cover. They claim this has to do with the PVC fix but your car clearly didnt need the valve cover for the first almost 100k miles. Chances are the dealer isnt going to give you the driver side valve cover gasket without getting you to get the valve cover as well.
so i see JHM or ECS tuning sell them, i presume they are the older version that i need so without the fancy valve cover attached!