[s-cars] Further Developments -- 94 S4

[Keith Franchetti]

Hi Gary-

I think I'm the lister who was mentioned as having recently had a similar
problem.  If you want to look up the story, it's mostly under "Thanksgiving
Misadventure," I believe.

I had a spark plug loosen up and back out, AND a failure of the valve cover
gasket, which inundated the plug wells with oil.  I'm pretty sure those
events were connected, but not sure how.  There was also probably a bit of
fire in there, which melted and destroyed the boot for that plug (#5 for
me) and that #5 coil.  On top of that, the spark plug hole/threads in the
head were badly damaged.  Not sure what the situation is with your spark
plug and the head threads.  The valve cover gasket sure seems to me like
the culprit on the all that oil.  I also had it spraying onto the firewall
when I first opened the hood to figure out what was going on (I was
clearing only hitting on 4 cylinders).

I got the new OEM gasket set (2 main pieces, plus two little half-moon
pieces that I almost threw away!) from Sunset Audi in Oregon (I'm in VT).
 Great customer service and competitive price.
http://www.sunsetimports.com/audi/  I've heard that trying to use other
than OEM on this, the fit is not quite right and they are harder to
install.  That job was not too big a deal.  I also got a great set of
instructions on this valve cover gasket repair (off list) which I could
forward to you if you'd like.

If your spark plug threads are also damaged, I've got just the tool for
you.  Not helicoil, as was mentioned, but a much better version of that
similar idea:  TimeSert.  Let me know if you need it and I can hook you up.


As for the coil, that ended up being the biggest PITA, though #5 made it as
easy as can be.  And I got some great advice for how to change out just
that one coil.  Fortunately, I had a spare loom/set, and fortunately, the
one I switched in has worked.  Car is doing fine now.

Good luck.

Keith Franchetti

96.5 S6 Avant
01 A6 2.7T