How 'interference' are the 12v engines?

[John Lagnese]

Luckily I have no experience with this. Good luck!

-----Original Message-----
From: quattro-bounces at audifans.com [mailto:quattro-bounces at audifans.com]
On Behalf Of TooManyAudis at aol.com
Sent: Monday, March 30, 2009 12:45 PM
To: quattro at audifans.com
Subject: How 'interference' are the 12v engines?

After nearly 15 years of doing my own repairs, including Timing belts on
5  
or 6 Audis, I made a stupid, rookie mistake.  I replaced the valve seals
on  my 
95 A6q 5-speed and left the socket wrench I used to manually turn the
engine  
attached to the crank bolt.
 
Well, when you hit the key with the socket wrench still attached, bad
things 
happen.  Like, the crank bolt backs out and the timing belt skips a  few
(10 
or so) teeth.  That, and your heart sinks to the bottom of your  shoes, 
followed by a string of invectives aimed squarely at oneself.
 
I'm sure that worse things have happened.  And, on the 5 cylinder
engines, 
it's no big deal.  I've even seen this method used to break the  crank
bolt 
free on an 80q.  
 
As with most disasters, time and money are the cure.  Still, I'd like
to 
escape with as little time and even less money thrown needlessly at the
car.
 
So, I got a new t-belt from Napa (a Contitech belt, nonetheless) and a  
compression tester from O'Reilly Auto Parts (part of their loaner tool
program).  
 
When I get back home tonight, I'll put the timing belt on and do a  
compression test on all 6 cylinders.  If that reads ok, it's most likely
no  harm, no 
foul.
 
Otherwise, It's probably time to loosen up the headbolts and dig into
the  
engine.
 
Any thoughts?  Similar unsavory experiences?  Spare AFC heads  (cheap)
for 
sale?
 
Also, does anybody know what tool I need to loosen the head bolts?
They 
appear to have a 6-point torx-like pattern on the top of the bolt (male
end) so 
that the correct socket would be a female torx-like apparatus.
 
Thanks,
 
Tom
 
1995 A6q  5-speed (up for interesting offers) 220k
1988 80q (sold, and still going  strong!) 250k+
1991 200q20v towed away in the middle of the night by a VW  diesel
pickup 
275k+
1985 4kq a freakin' beast of a car! 275k+ and presumably  still going
1987 4k died in a hit and run 250k+
1983 4k Very first Audi 35  to 38 mpg.  Victim of crank key failure
300k+
**************Worried about job security? Check out the 5 safest jobs in
a 
recession. 
(http://jobs.aol.com/gallery/growing-job-industries?ncid=emlcntuscare000
00003)
_______________________________________________
quattro mailing list
quattro at audifans.com
http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/quattro
---
Watch this space for ads :)