I've been lurking around here for a few months and finally registered today. Back in late may this year I bought my 17 yr old an Audi A4 1.8T, 107K miles. The owner was to the point of being obsessive with maintaining the car and had records to prove it. Most of the work was performed by a local Audi dealer. A month after buying the car it needed a new clutch. While the mechanic was test driving the car with the new clutch, a connecting rod broke and blew a baseball size hole on each side of the block. We decided to replace the engine with one from a junkyard with 80K miles on it. Two weeks after the engine was installed and running great it seized up. We had taken a warranty out on the engine. Thankfully we did. The warranty picked up the replacement (60K mikes) and the mechanic covered the labor. This engine runs noticebly better than the first replacement. Now the original engine failed due to the oil sludge problem. The car had made countless trips to the dealer for maintenance but the dealer never applied the fix to the oil lines to avoid the sludge issue. I'm also looking for a center console armerest because it's stuck in the up position. I may take it apart to see if I can lower it. Sorry for the long post but this was a big issue and consuming some big dollars. All is well now and we love the car.

Mark

 

well, you have more patience than I do...if I bought a car and the motor took a crap a month later, I would have scrapped it on the spot...but to go through a second low mile motor so quickly is rediculous...

my recommendation for you is to sell it now, since the motor has a warranty and the car is running well...honestly, it sounds like the car is not working out for you...

for the armrest...your best bet to pick up another one is to go to our classified section and find someone parting out their car...the other option is to go through a junkyard....like lkqonline.com....

the less modification friendly car is the 2.8L 30V version...the motor is pretty flawless...you will have no problems hitting 250-300k on that motor... and there is no turbo to worry about, and sludge is not much of an issue either...

well, gl!

 

We can't really afford to sell the car since we have so much money invested. Also the previous owner has kept everything up to date. With a newer engine, new clutch and from what I can tell a lot of the suspension has been replaced and the body is in great condition I feel we should be in good shape with the car.

Mark

 

I've never heard of a connecting rod snapping due to oil sludge. Oil sludge on a 1.8T would starve the cams for oil well before it affected the bottom end. I suppose a valve could have somehow dropped or seized and smacked a piston, but still... did your mechanic explain this?

Either way, that's rough! I hope your child knows how much you love them!

 

The mechanic showed me the Tech Bulletin from Audi and the fix had not been applied to this car even though it had made numerous trips to the dealer. The bulletin addresses how sludge can get into the engine and cause oil failures. The mechanic applied the TB to both engines. Regardless of whether this failure was due to the sludge problem, how could the Audi dealer miss this one? I can tell you why due to the reputation of the dealer in this area. I'm not going to bash anyone on this forum.

Mark

 

No doubt that sludge is common on these engines but something tells me thats not what caused both problems. Probably one of them but not both. That and the dealer really should have noticed that the engine they were putting in was full of sludge if that's why it went out the 2nd time. I know at our shop they always pull the valve cover off and inspect the engine thoroughly to make sure the block or heads don't have any obvious cracks and such. I would look for a private shop that has a good rep for working on european cars.

 

The mechanic scoped every oriface in both replacement engines. In regards to the mechanic he is probably the best independent mechanic in this area of about 400K people. I've used him for over 10 yrs now and he's worked on my BMWs, Volvos and a Lexus. I really don't think he hasn't done anything that couldn't be done. The dealer missed the boat on the TB whether or not it was the root cause of the first failure or not. Since the block was unsuitable for a core ($1,500) charge it was too expensive to go that route. I took a risk in buying a junk yard engine with a warranty. As to the failure of the first replacement engine, something failed in the #3 cylinder. When he scoped from the top there was damage to the piston. He also scoped from the bottom of the cylinder and it looked good. I still think it was the right decision. Although it's been painfull, this car runs great and I plan on keeping it for a while. It won't be trouble free but I can't touch a nicer car with what we've invested in this one. Thanks for reading my post.

Mark

 

wow some people would have sold the car by now. i applaud you for your commitment. here's a diy on a slipping armrest and it also shows how to take it apart.
http://www.audiworld.com/tech/int.html

 

Hiwords - appreciate the link.

Mark