Full Frontal Nudity

This weekend I dove into the front of the car to determine where the leaking oil was coming from. Front engine work in the Audi S4 requires removal of the "lock carrier", which is the frame that holds the headlights, electric fans, radiator, and A/C condenser. I had to yank off the front bumper, disconnecting the fog lights and headlight washer hoses in the process. Then came a multitude of tightly packed electrical wires, the hood release cable, draining and disconnecting of the radiator, and unmounting of the A/C condenser. Then remove a few large bolts and voila, the entire front of the car just slides right off, no sweat. Including the copious notes, photos, and even tape recording of all the steps to make sure I can put things back together again, I'd say the entire process took me about 698 hours. Well, it felt like it. But it was a fun process.

With the lock carrier off, it was really easy to tell where the leak is coming from. As I suspected, the left cam drive seal appears to be bad. I didn't remove the bipipes and timing belt cover to view it directly, but underneath the cover, everything is covered with a layer of moist oil and the accessory belt has carried that oil over time to other parts down below.

So, now it's off to the dealer after work today (in the pickup) to see if cam seals are covered under the warranty. Most everything that tends to go wrong with cars is called "wear and tear" and is not covered. For example, Audi used to cover tie rod ends under their certified warranty, but they replaced so many that they declared it a wear-and-tear item and stopped putting on new ones for free. I'm hoping to get lucky and have the dealer say, "Why yes, leaking cam seals are covered under your warranty, and sure, we'd be happy to replace the timing belt, pulleys, and other seals while we're in there to save you a bundle on labor charges."

If the work is not covered under warranty, then it's off to blauparts.com to get a timing belt kit (including seals) and a specialty tool ten-day rental so I can do it myself, have some fun (hopefully), and save myself about a grand in labor.