I am new to this forum and wanted to get your guys feedback. I have a 2006 A4T quattro with 62K miles. I am the original owner of the car and it has always been serviced at the dealership at the appropriate intervals. 2 weeks ago I had a check engine light come on and I lost 90% of the power, so I took it to a shop for an evaluation.

My local shop whom I trust a lot tried to figure out what is wrong and they were able to pull out the codes, however, audi has not released what these codes mean and therefore they could not fix the problem. They recommended that I take it to the dealer. When the dealer ran the test, at first they said it was the fuel sensor. The repair was going to be $300. I was excited that it was relatively cheap, soon to learn my excitement was only short lived. When that sensor did not fix the problem, they determined it was the fuel pump that failed. That was going to be a $3000 repair. Unfortunately it does not stop there. When they opened the engine, they found a lot of broken parts inside the engine. Something burst and went everywhere. This now escalated to almost $7000 repair.

I guess I want to know if anyone has heard of something like this happening and is there responsibility on the part of Audi. The tech that saw the car first said it failed to poor manufacturing. I do now know if that is true. But the worst part about this whole situation, even if I pay to get the car fixed, they can not guarantee to remove all the broken parts out of the engine because they are not sure where they went. The only way to be certain is to replace the engine completely, and that is now $12,000 repair.

Finally, does any one know if I get a used engine how much approximately does it cost to swap the engines?

Thanks for any input you could provide.

 

wow....thats a bummer....the first thing i would do is get a second opinion....now that you know what went wrong with the engine, take it back to the local mechanic that you trust and ask him if any of these problems could have been forseen (like could the audi tech have noticed these problems under warranty and was negligent to fix them) you have the audi tech saying this is a pure mechanical failure its there job during the services to figure out if any of these problems are about to happen and fix them accordingly.

i just cant see that from 50,000 miles to 62,000 miles that something could break internally in your engine and cause this huge problem without some sort of hint or somehting wrong that would show up during a service ya kno? if you can prove that the audi tech missed crucial points that showed intense wear n tear then hell yea its audis fault and this repair (new engine) should be on the house

 

Something doesnt sound right here at all. The fuel pump is located on top of the gas tank, right? Why would they be "opening the engine"? What does that entail?

I has a Saab 93 before my audi and the fuel pump went. I went ballistic when they told me they wanted a grand to fix it (not $3000). Did it myself for MUCH cheaper. If they can't tell you what burst all over your engine or offer you anything better than replacing the entire thing there is a serious problem there. Get all the details. Don't let them be vague. A second opinion is a must...these guys don't sound reliable. Have the car towed elsewhere.

 

Also, get them to detail everything in WRITING at the dealer. Take it for a second opinion elsewhere and DONT show them what the first said. I think the Audi dealers can pull up in their computers what the others are doing, but try anyway. And in the end, when you DONT have to replace your whole engine (which I'm sure you won't), be sure to follow up with corporate.

 

I'm assuming this is a 2.0L Turbo?
If so, the A4 has two pumps, one in the tank, the other driven by the cam shaft. The cam driven pump is $1000. I have not had my A4 long, but I have read of cam/fuel pump failures due to a manufacturing flaw. (I think the cam lobe itself wears or disintegrates, but don’t quote me on that please) As I recall there may even be a TSB out discussing it and periodic check that tech should make.
If something came apart (it would be nice to know what, as that in itself is questionable) internally, then the possibility of finding all the other pieces, and preventing further damage cannot be done easily without a complete engine pull and teardown. At this point the overhaul is inevitable from a shear cost perspective.

If or where you chose to do this is your decision. Obviously an Audi dealer has the skills, but command one and a half times the money for parts over the outside market.

A remanufactured 2.0 long block can be had for just over five grand (obviously not from Audi). Labor for the swap should be (and this is a very rough guess as it has been years since I had anyone quote me what they paid these days) about $2000 to $2500. So add in the replacement pump and you top out at $9000 for a rebuilt motor mounted and running.
http://www.eurospecsport.com/product...lt-engines.htm

 

Any idea which year models have this issue? Or is it
a particular batch within that year?

Jeez, should have bought the extended warranty :-(

2007 A4 Quattro

 

Sorry, haven't gone back and tried to dig out exactly what I read. I think it was early b7s/2005/2006ish 2.0L motors, cause I remember thinking "Great my car is one of them."
Common failure to the VW line as well. Search for premature cam and cam follower wear. This drives the fuel pump and hence related to the OPs question.

V

 

Well thought I would update you all and so this can be avoided by others. I had the car towed out of the dealership. Still ended up paying for a new fuel sensor (since this was the original code-$300) and a $400 for their time to take the engine apart and put it back together. They did a pretty rough job (they "butchered" the engine according to the new shop I went to).

I am giving a description of what I remember them telling me and showing me. Please fogive if some of the descriptions are inaccrurate . What happened was the fuel pump has a spring on top that is retained by a large washer. Well, this tension like piston broke and the washer went into the cylinder heads. The second shop I took it to tried to get the washer out, with no luck. They said that taking the cylinder heads apart and machining them is a possibility, however, we may get in there and realize that it is damaged beyond polishability. New cylinder head is $2k on top of the labor I would have invested into.

So, after careful consideration, decided to swap the engine for a used engine. We found one with 34K on it for $3k. The shop said they need 12 hours of labor. Additional parts required were oil, coolant and fuel pump upgrade kit. The shop I am having my car fixed by specialized in Audi/VW. They told me that 100% of the cars that go through the shop they recommend the fuel pump upgrade kit to avoid this problem. As I learned this is a chronic problem with this car. I am also changing the timing belt and water pump while I am at it. To make the long story short, for $5k I will get everything done, plus they are even putting the Revo Stage 1 software for that money. I am just glad I did not go with the dealer.

Looking back at it, there were some signs of fuel pump failure. About 4 months before this happened, the car was turning over much slower during ignition. I thought it was the battery, but doing more research I learned that this is a sign of fuel pump going bad. If I learned anything from this, GET the fuel pump upgrade kit if you have the B7 Audi.

 

Good luck, hope it works out well.

But if Audi knows about this issue(and which cars have it
based on the batch number, etc.), why are they not issuing a
recall? Or atleast the dealer should do the needful during
the scheuled maintenance, as someone mentioned.

Not doing either sound unethical.

 

One of the first things I have learned about Audi, is that they are very meticulous about warranty service. It is a cost game to them. A recall is significantly more expensive than waiting for the product to break. At that point, even a 50% failure rate under warranty is money in their pockets, because the other 50% will then fail after the warranty expired.

As the OP saw here, an out of warranty repair saved them from the recall costs, and will actually earn them cash in parts labor!

I’m saddened to realize that Audi is no different that any other company, where bottom dollar, not customer satisfaction, is what the stock owners demand.

Like the bad rings in early B7s, or poor syncros in the 6spd manual tranny Audi knows it, and hopes you don't until it is too late.


Vince