27th Jan 2011, 03:22

Hello Audi addicts. Well I purchased a 2001 Audi A6 Quattro. It had 109500 miles on it. I'd been doing my homework on the car. Before I purchased an Audi, I looked for the pros & cons. I found the specialty tools that I needed to do a full tune up and overhaul at blauparts.com, and I bought my tools off of eBay. I'd been a mechanic helper in the past, so I have general knowledge of tools and elbow grease.

I went to my local mechanic shop, rented a spot with a lift, and pulled out my engine to change all worn out hoses, and cleaned all the parts of the engine from dirt and abuse. Changed all the gaskets; believe me, the gaskets were so old it crystalized (crumbled like cookies).

The hair puller was the valley plugs under the cam chain tensioner; that's the biggest problem for the oil leaks. I found a way to change them (one in the front of the engine, and one in the back, both located under the cam chain tensioner) without pulling out the cams.

When it comes to the valve cover gasket, make sure the old gasket's residue left back is cleaned out of the grooves. Use a tool pick (it looks like an ice pick) to clean all the corners and get the old gasket residue out.

I'll give y'all a little secret; when you replace your valve cover gaskets, after you make sure it's clean from oil and old gasket reside, look for the silicone gasket maker in a black tube. I got advice to use that one, but hey it worked. Put a nice even spread of the silicone in every sharp bend on the gasket grooves. I have done this and saved thousands. Blauparts.com gives you instructions to do the job the correct way, but I found a way around their methods instead of pulling out the cams.

Since I've done the overhaul on my engine, I have no problems. I even feel a difference in power and fuel consumption.

If you love your Audi, it's like a woman, it's good to know her from top to bottom. AUDI, AUDI, if you don't keep, up your pockets will say ouch. So keep up or get left behind. Hopefully this will help.