[s-cars] Lesson of the day

[Fred Munro]

Mark;

To the uninitiated it appears that removing the four bolts might be an
easier way to remove the timing belt than pulling the crank pulley. Someone
at the shop may have tried that and not re-torqued the bolts properly.

Fred Munro
'94 S4


-----Original Message-----
From: s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com
[mailto:s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com]On Behalf Of Mtgadbois at aol.com
Sent: July 5, 2004 9:26 PM
To: s-car-list at audifans.com
Subject: [s-cars] Lesson of the day


OK Boys,

Lesson of the day.

While cruising to work last week my S6 with 101K miles quietly shutdown.  I
coasted to the side of the road and had it towed home.  I originally thought
it
was an electrical problem but further investigation showed that the timing
belt was quite loose.  I tore the front off and found that the crankshaft
gear
had self destructed breaking the timing belt and causing all sorts of fun
that
I have yet to uncover.  The cause was not apparent.  The serpentine belt was
fine, its tensioner as well as the tensioner for the timing belt looked
fine.
However, after some thought and more evidence it looks like the four smaller
bolts that hold the harmonic dampener to the crankshaft pulley came loose,
backed out and at some point twisted causing the crankshaft gear to shatter.

My timing belt change was done 40K miles ago by a recommended shop.  I did
notice that there was no lock-tite on the 4 smaller bolts or the 1 main
bolt.
Lesson for the day - check these bolts.  My suggestion is that at an oil
change
or sooner remove one bolt, coat it with blue lock-tite, reinsert it and do
the next and so on.  My wife suggested that I post a picture of the gear and
the current stage of the S6's front end but I told her that you guys would
puke.

Last item - what could cause the bolts to loosen?  I think that my A/C
compressor was on its way out and when engaged you could see that the
serpentine
belt tensioner was dancing quite a bit.   I presume this caused enough
vibration
to move these bolts.

Oh well, so down the slippery slope I go - I know I should have bought the
A6-4.2.

Mark  wrenching (or retching) near Chicago

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