I realize you do not like my remarks but they are true. I do feel empathy for what you are going through.
Turbo failures are caused by oil changes not being frequent enough, running the engine low on oil while never checking the oil level regularly, wrong oil, etc.
Every turbo I’ve changed except one was caused by the above. The one exception was a turbo that had been flogged to death in less than 500 miles on a new car.
Oil change and other recommendations by car makers are very misguided and especially so with turbocharged cars. Oil changes should be performed much more frequently. Once a year does not cut it.
I hate to be a downer here but there is another potential expensive issue that may be lurking in the unknown. That is the possibility of timing chain issues. The oil situation I mentioned above also affects the timing chain, tensioners, and so on. This would have me a bit antsy also. Spend 10 grand on turbos and suffer chain failure a month later…ouch.
For what it’s worth “the car is well maintained” has to be the most abused phrase in the English language.
If records can be produced you might contact corporate Audi about some Good Will help. They are under no legal obligation to give you anything; just an answer. Do NOT threaten them or your query will be dead in the water.
I agree completely.
I specified once-per-year oil changes simply because this is a European-made vehicle and those mfrs specify ridiculously-long oil change intervals that are supposedly OK because of the Euro-spec oil that they use. I don’t have an Audi maintenance schedule handy, but I think that they specify once per year oil changes as the minimum.
Personally, I consider twice per year to be the minimum for oil changes, and over the past couple of years I have been doing them 3 times per year because of fewer miles being driven, and more of those miles being driven in local driving conditions.
In addition to the previous owner(s) possibly having done oil changes far less often than necessary, it is also possible that the previous owner(s) took the vehicle to a quicky oil change place that did not stock the special Euro-spec oil that this engine requires. Either way (or both), neglect…
When I bought my 2014 Highlander the oil recommendation for this vehicle was 10k miles or every 6 months (and still is for newer models). I was very very skeptical with that oil change interval so I did an oil change every 5k miles. At over 155k miles I’ve had ZERO issues. Some people who have 2014 and 2015 Highlanders are reporting some oil burning and engine knock issues at about 120k miles. They followed Toyota’s oil change recommendation of 10k miles. Too small a sample to make any conclusions…but I’m very convinced I’ve done the right thing by sticking with the 5k oil change interval.
Issues start with complaints and may eventually elevate to recalls, as you know. I’m not siding with the OP, just pointing out that is a documented issue among many owners, and not suggesting anything about why the turbos burned up. From my experience with NHTSA, it will take a long time before they issue a recall, if they ever do at all.
IMO, you should get the engine repaired and hope that Audi might share the expenses with you. During your diplomatic negotiations for the repair at an Audi dealer, you should show all receipts for oil changes that you have. You should have all of them if you bought your A8 new. If not, show all you have. If the A8 was a Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) car, you might have absolution from excessively long oil change intervals by the previous owner since Audi certified the car. Remember, at this point you are asking for monetary assistance with the repair and they don’t actually owe you anything officially yet. I did this with a big screen TV, and Panasonic replaced it with an upgraded model at no cost to me. I think my pleasant demeanor during the phone call (fourth on this one issue) pushed the replacement over the hump. Might work, might not, doesn’t hurt to try.
Wow, that’s insane. I used to to believe that manufactures were gospel until recently. Many cars have 10,000 mile intervals or once a year whichever comes first. Experience has given me the opinion that no car should go over 7500 miles between changes and that’s if I use full synthetic. If I bought a used car I would drop it to 5000 miles.
We can’t say that, though. Let’s say the owner follows the service schedule meticulously. But between oil changes, they drive the car like they’re on a race track. They heat the turbo up like crazy, then park the car immediately after a speed run. I know, modern turbos resist coking more than older ones did, but you should still run a turbo timer if you’re going to hoon it and then shut it down without giving it a chance to cool down with a few minutes of gentle driving.
Anyway, they’ve followed the maintenance schedule to a T, but they’ve still wrecked the turbos because they were dumb and didn’t take care of them properly. That’s not Audi’s fault.
At any rate, this is a 2013, probably sold in 2012, so practically speaking it’s a 9 year old German luxury car that’s at least 4 years out of warranty. I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect everything to work perfectly on it, especially since German luxury cars tend to be less reliable than other brands right from the start.
I think it’s prudent, even if you don’t know much about cars, to say “huh. Here’s a $100,000 car that’s selling for $10,000. I wonder why.” And then maybe come here and ask, because had OP asked us before buying the car we’d have happily warned her that the price to keep that thing on the road could be ruinous unless she had particularly deep pockets.
We don’t know what the vehicle’s previous owner(s) did in terms of maintenance, and apparently the OP doesn’t either. Time and time again in this forum we see posts from people who seem to totally skip over the elapsed time factor when it comes to oil changes, and with a low-mileage vehicle that can be the kiss of death–especially if it has VVT or a turbocharger–but even timing chains are endangered by that type of lax maintenance.
We don’t know if the previous owner(s)–there could have been more than one–only looked at the odometer reading and wound-up changing the oil every 2 or 3 years because it had logged so few miles. We also don’t know whether they used the Euro-spec oil that this engine requires. And, unfortunately, it looks like the OP doesn’t have the maintenance records from the previous owners.
The maintenance computer will alert the driver 30 days before service is due, we don’t rely on an oil change sticker on the windshield any more. Driving for 2 to 3 years with the maintenance warning on because of low miles is unlikely.
Just because you and I wouldn’t do it, that doesn’t mean that all other drivers would take note of that reminder. Think about the galaxy of folks out there who delude themselves into thinking that “every car has the Check Engine Light lit up”.
If those folks ignore one lit-up warning, why would they take note of a different lit-up warning?
Sure I can say that. I just did. If Audi specs a 20k mile or 1 year oil change interval…well, they ought to build an engine that can handle that abuse for at least 100k miles, right? I don’t really expect the general auto buyer to say “this car has turbos. That oil change interval is just too long”. I’d say that and you’d say that, but most people are doing well to check the oil… If they’re going to ask a large sum of money for it and market it as a performance oriented vehicle…it ought to hold up to some “hooning” too (I like that word, btw).
If it’s a twin turbo car, that’s probably going to get ridden hard and put away wet once in awhile, it seems to me that Audi should’ve specced a different oci. I mean, they’re the experts.
Now, whether or not it’s a wise investment to buy a used luxury car, I’d have to agree on passing on that deal.
You’re right. We don’t know a lot of things. We do know it’s a 20k mile oil change interval and the Audi dealer serviced it for the past however many miles. That’s about all we know…
So I don’t think it’s fair to make assumptions that the poster did anything wrong by following Audi’s recommendations.
+1
She states that she has owned it since 2018, and that she has changed the oil 4 times since she bought it. That sounds good, but it can be very hard to un-do damage done by previous owner(s). That’s just one reason why I stopped buying used cars about 40 years ago.
Kind of like Mike’s Toyota example. I change mine at 5k too. No issues. But, if I were to follow the 10k mile recommendation, I feel like I shouldn’t have problems either. If I did…and it was caused by the longer interval…well is that my fault for reading my owner’s manual?
FWIW, I feel like in Toyota’s case the only reason they spec synthetic is for the longer interval and so they can claim better fuel economy with the 0w20. I use the synthetic, but if I had to choose between Dino at 5k or synthetic at 10k, I think I’d be more comfortable with the shorter interval on conventional oil, on that engine.
I didn’t make my point well enough. If you abuse a turbo, no matter how short the oil change interval is, you’ll eventually wreck the turbo. The damage happens at the time of the abuse, and builds up with subsequent abuses. Driving a car too hard without giving the turbo time to cool down before you shut the engine off is the problem. You could change the oil every day and still damage the turbo by doing that.
Personally I think turbo cars should come standard with turbo timers, which will keep the engine running after you turn the key off if things need to cool down. But of course then service bays would be inundated with people angry because their car doesn’t turn off when they tell it to. Because you know they wouldn’t read the manual.
Bottom line is this Audi is long out of warranty, and it’s very possible the turbo damage happened as a result of previous owner mistreatment. The OP wants to start a class action lawsuit and get VAG in trouble with the government because an old used car that’s years past its warranty expiration isn’t as reliable as a brand new one. That’s honestly absurd, even without considering the possibility of previous owner abuse.