motoguy128

Something happened during the repair, or they changed their mind and decided to replace the whole engine before starting on the pistons?

Wonder if while replacing pistons and rings they found the cylinders were scored so bad they needed to send out the block to have them re-honed. At that point a whole new engine was cheaper. Of they found something wrong in the top end too.

Interesting. Full engine swap is a LOT bigger job than a bottom end rebuild, which as I understand, doesn't require engine removal, but I assume the heads still need to be removed.

vanz

I believe while they were working on the pistons, they discovered a broken bolt inside the engine or something like that. I don't know the cars much, but it must have been a very important bolt. The tech then took pics to show corporate. They were then told not to repair, instead remove entire engine to be replaced with a new one.

motoguy128

When they replaced the engine, did you get a new Turbocharger and heads as well?, or just the block and bottom end?

vanz

I'll have to look at the work order.

I just picked up my q5 today and it felt no different than before. But I only rode it for maybe 10 miles so far. They at least did a great job washing the q5. I've been letting it get so dirty since having kids. They even installed new license plate holders since the original ones had part of their name fell off. Can't be driving around embarrassing the dealership can we?

I'll let you fine folks guess on how much the work cost. Glad it didn't come out of my pockets.

motoguy128

New engine.... including parts, $10,000? Probably $6500 for a rebuilt engine, $3500 Labor. I assume you got a rebuilt engine, not brand new.

motoguy128

UPDATE on my Q5. I failed the test....miserably. They said it was one of hte worst they've seen. It calculated a consumption rate of 3.5quarts/1000mi!!! My low oil light come on at 250 miles. it was showing about 90% on the MMI full when I left the dealer last Friday morning.

I'm scheduled for new pistons and rings on 9/28. I'm going to replace the timing chain while they have it apart since i have 97mi on my car. They will only charge parts. I get a free oil change too...haha.

Here's the interesting part. The mechanic said they haven't seen this much on Q5's. But a LOT of A4's. Like A LOT!!! He said something about 70%. But I'm thinking they've rebuilt 70% that failed the test.

He claims that Audi used a lighter tension piston ring for improved fuel economy to meet CAFE standards. It seems that combined with low friction oil for extended service intervals, the engines may not seat or rather break in the light tension rings properly, and over time they wear faster, stop sealing properly. The problem might be less common on Q5's as the vehicle is heaver and you get higher loads on the engine at breakin that a A4. That's my theory. I wonder if the final drive ratio is taller too, so RPM's are lower...and again, more torque, more load on the rings and they seat better. But again, just guessing. Maybe it's more of an issue if you followed the extended oil service interval. Maybe the small contaminants cause issues with ring wear over time.

My car for example was an executive lease. SO it was maintained regularly, but might have done a lot of idling idling, highway driving. Hard to say.

Also, I think the updated oil seperator di help a little. I suspect it dropped my consumption from around 4 quarts/1000mi to 3.5. SO if my consumption had been 1 qt, then I would have passed the test at 0.5 quarts. I'd bee perfectly happy with 0.5 quarts/1000 miles. I'd prefer more like 0.2 and not having to really add any between 5000mi oil changes.

Oh, the dealer gave me 1 quart of oil to hold me over.....for a week or so.. haha.

vanz

wow, you are good! 10g and some change. Sad to say I didn't look at the break down of the cost though. I didn't get a copy of that one, just the print out with $0 cost to me. So I'm not sure how much was labor, and what was parts.

My oil consumption was .40/1000 miles.

I've attached my invoice. In it you can see what and why they replaced the engine. Looks like they used parts from my old engine on the new engine.

motoguy128

0.40/1000? I wish. That's still unacceptable. That's 2L between oil changes. 1L, as they state, is reasonable. I think our Nissan Altima burned at least 1/2-3/4 a quart. My CR-V maybe 1/3 quart or so. ALL cars burn some. Its' virtually impossible not to. But I think most cars get overfilled slightly on oil, so most owners will never notice. Plus you get moisture, fuel, etc that goes into the oil, so a small protion of the lost volume is replaced.

Interesting that a front main bearing bolt failed. Wow! I almost wonder if that's more the reason you were burning oil. If that bolts broken, then the bearings are not longer torqued correctly and the shaft could be slightly out of alignment and could do some weird things as temperature changes and RPM increases. Also some vibration at certain resonant frequencies. A real mess.


... just tossing this out there, but there's also a possibility that the bolt broke during disassembly, and the dealer doctored the shop documents just a little so they didn't have to eat $8k for the new engine. Either way, the dealer and Audi did step up and take care of it.

motoguy128

One other side note... I was very impressed how open and honest the mechanics and service manager have been about the issue. Great, positive attitude, low stress and very quick and organized. They pulled my car in, checked the computer, submitted it to Germany electronically, had the paperwork all done and washed the car (can't have a dirty Audi on the road) in about 50 minutes and I had a nice conversation with a sales guy that shockingly, wasn't trying to sell me anything.

Dealer was Maple Hill Auto Group in Kalamazoo, MI. They also sell Subaru, Volvo, VW and Hyundai at this location. If your in SW MI, thumbs up on this place.

Conversely, the dealer (Zeigler Automotive Group, Kalamazoo, MI) that sold us he car across town has been terrible to work with and IMO should have noticed this on inspection (which they did according to service records). We took delivery with a 1/4 tank of gas, low on oil (light came on 20 miles from the dealer) and car wasn't washed. Apparently keeping a porter (that's probably paid $1 over minimum wage) past normal hours is too much trouble or expensive for them. They are a BMW dealer and I can guarantee we won't be taking my BMW there... ever.

yakev724

My 11 Q5 will be in for new pistons + rings in a few weeks.

I wanted to bring to attention the fact that there was an updated chain + tensioner made since the originals fitted to the CAEB engines (2.0 TFSI Timing Chain and Tensioner Study.). I'm planning to ask for these to be replaced during the service, hopefully at part cost as with motoguy. Might make sense for any others having pistons done.