I bought a certified pre owned 2006 AUDI in 2009. It came with a full warranty for the next two years. At the beginning of 2010, the traansmission blew and it was replaced under the warranty. In 2011 prior to the end of the warranty, I was driving and the engine literally exploded. It was also replaced with a “refurbished long block”. I was given a warranty on this work and since it was replaced I have been back to the dealer 5 times for my check engine light coming on and the engine was misfiring-this was fixed by the dealership; after each repair my light continued to come on. Now I recently driving and the car started leaking massive amounts of oil. I have been told that they will now be replacing the gaskets. What if anything can I do or request? I know it is not the Lemon Law but do I have any recourse? I am afraid that in a few months when the warranty expires, I will have problems. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
And congratulations. You’ve now experienced the pride of Audi ownership. Odds are that you’ll forwver tell your friends about this cool Audi you owned…but will warn your children never to buy an Audi.
You seem to suffer a lot of explosions so I’m not real sure the problem is the car itself.
When the engine literally exploded as you describe it, how much oil was in that engine at the time?
Was that engine out of oil or very low?
Just how often do you raise the hood and check the oil level?
While an engine can certainly suffer some metallurgy problem and literally explode the odds of this are so slim as to barely even be a consideration.
In almost every instance an engine explosion is due to low oil, lack of oil, extreme overheating, or excessive RPMs and none of those are due to the company that manufactured the car.
Interesting question, actually. What exactly 'blew up"? Did a rod pop through the block sidewall? Did a turbocharger disassembly itself into a minnion pieces and take engine parts with it? I’ve never seen a head blow off of a stock engine, but is that what happened?
There’s a lot more to this story and I don’t think the Audi badge on the back automatically means it’s the car’s fault.
The OP bought the car used. How the original owner maintained and drove it is anybody’s guess. Maybe the engine blew due to sludge from irregular oil changes, if any at all.
Explosions, as it’s described, are usually caused by a lack of lubricant. That lack could be due to anything.
A refurbished long block does not come with all attachments. Many components, good or bad, from the original motor are transferred to that new block.
There is zero info provided about what caused the trans or engine explosions or where his massive oil leak on the new motor is along with zero info about why the running problem can’t be sorted out.
It’s not an Audi fault if the engine job was botched or any ensuing diagnosis has run into snags.
The word “certified” is also right up there with “Carfax”. It looks good on the sign and promotes a warm and fuzzy feeling. The always present issue is, who’s doing the certifyin’? Most cars are sent to detail for cleaning and on the line they go for sale. I’ve seen few dealers who send cars back to service for a thorough checkout.
Without getting into details, if this engine job was a legitimate paid for by corporate Audi warranty process then there should be a claim on file at the regional office. No claim = certain amount of BS maybe.
I’d still like to know if the engine was out of oil, how often the oil level was checked, and what symptoms were present before it exloded.
OK4450, you have me curious. The OP said the engine “literally exploded”. I didn;t think too much about that comment at first, but your enquiry made me wonder exactly what DID happen. Stock engines simply don’t “literally explode”…unless, of course, one drives something like a 1200HP Henessey Venom.
Like everyone else, I am skeptical that the engine “literally exploded”.
Was the driver injured by shrapnel when the engine “exploded”?
It may well have self-destructed (with a loud noise) as a result of lack of lubrication–or even from a snapped timing belt–but…“exploded”?
Not bloody likely, as the Brits say.
In any event, at least the OP now knows why the previous owner decided to get rid of the car.
The term explosion is often used by people, including some mechanics, to denote a catastrophic engine failure even though it’s not technically an explosion like a grenade. The same goes for the transmission.
I’d have to think this car had a history while owned by others. Whether there were any contributing factors by the OP is also unknown but when details are not provided and simple questions about whether the oil level is ever inspected go unanswered it does look a bit suspect.
From personal expeience, I’ve never seen or heard of an engine failure due to a metallurgy problem. There was always a reason or two behind that failure.
The worst engine damage I’ve ever seen (and it could be considered an explosion of sorts) was on a race car hat a friend of mine ran at the local track. It was a small block Chevy and when it let go not only was the engine block destroyed but 2 rods cut the oil pan in half and several more rods went through the aluminum intake manifold, cut the back float chamber off of a Holley dual pumper carburetor, and dented the hood upwards.
This was not a metallurgy issue. It was a matter of someone revving to the moon on an engine that had been set up with a .010 crankshaft grind and STD bearings; all done to hold down friction. It worked - temporarily, and he was leading the race until temporarily left town…
The two circumstances under which I’ve seen engines literally explode are the dragstrip (I think we’ve all seen those) and a case of amature installation of a N2O system. The head blew right off the block.
I’ve never heard of a stock engine exploding. And I’ve never seen a block crack, except from ice.
A few years back while at the drags at Wichita, KS a guy there with a 4th generation Camaro and running N20 suffered an explosion when the light went green. The hood blew up in a sheet of flame and black parts (assumed to be intake debris) went flying with one fairly large part buzzsawing right towards me. I hastily ducked my head and whatever it was missed by a few feet; followed by sailing over the bleachers and into the pit area.
Many years ago SAAB turbochargers had adjustable waste gates and norma boost pressure was about 7-8 PSI.
The DIY manuals offered advice on how to bump the boost up and this created some problems because the DIYers could not believe that a tiny amount of adjustment would make a dramatic difference. The general rule of 1/16 turn equating to 1 PSI was thrown out the window and the DIYers would give it a full turn or more.
This was usually followed by blown head gaskets, stripped head bolts, and sometimes a complete physical separation of the head from the block when the pedal was nailed to the floor.
Actually, SAAB didn’t offer that advice. The process was known at the dealerships but what happened is that some of the aftermarket manual publishers (Chiltons, etc) made references to it along with providing a few pics. A DIYer would buy a Chiltons and think, “cool, I can just crank up the horsepower PDQ”.
Unfortunately, the manuals left out a few things.
How critical it was not to use overkill when adjusting the waste gate.
The process for checking boost pressure before or after adjustments.
How easy it was to determine if someone had been tampering with it. The waste gates have a cover held on with a number of small bolts. One of those bolts has a hole in it for a lead seal. The only way to access the waste gate is by cutting the seal. This would require a lead seal and the stamp tool which only the dealers have. (It’s similar to the seals on household electric meters but SAAB did away with adjustable waste gates many years ago.)
