bestoverall

I have a 2009 A4 Avant CPO with 98,800 miles on odometer. I had the car for little over 3 years. Last week, the engine wouldn't start and had to get the car towed to a dealer nearby. The dealer told me that the engine seized and that I have to put a new engine in. I was under assumption that the repair would be covered under the CPO warranty, but the dealer said that the time lapsed about 4 months ago.

The dealer quoted $12,000 for new engine which is more than trade-in value of the car. I still owe about $10K on the loan with Audi Financial. I'm at a loss as to what I should do. I did contact Audi Care, but they are only offering $2500 discount on the repair which is not very meaningful at this point. The car has been maintained properly with all the oil changes and new spark plugs at 50,000 mile mark. I only use premium gas. I don't understand how an engine less than 100,000 mile can crapped out without a warning. At around 45,000 miles, the engine has been re-bored with cylinder rings by the dealer because I was losing about a quart of oil every month. This could possibly contributed to the pre-mature engine failure.

Does anyone have any suggestion? Should I pursue a lawsuit? If so do I have a valid case?

Please help!

snagitseven

Need more information. Did the dealer indicate what caused the engine to seize? Were there any indicator lights in the display while driving prior to the car not starting? Are you saying that the last service including oil change was done at 50K miles and not since it reached 98.8k? If it was done afterward, at what mileage was the last service/oil change and who did it? Finally, where are you located?

bestoverall

The dealer could not tell me what caused the engine failure. They said that it will cost me $1500 to diagnose the engine. They said that valves are bent. The dealer is Biener Audi in Great Neck, Long Island, NY.

The last oil change was done about 7 months ago at around 90,000 mile mark. I did the oil change myself with Mobile 1 0w-40. I've been keeping up with regular oil changes before the warning comes up at around 9000 mile interval. There was no warning. It ran fine. The engine light came on for a few minutes before it went dead. Right before this happened, the engine was running rough for probably about 10 minutes. So I turned off the engine and tried to restart again, but it never came back.

snagitseven

The usual causes for engine failure are lack of proper lubrication or a failure of a timing chain (pretty rare). Did you or the dealer check to see if there was any oil left after it seized? Those last 10 minutes of the rough running engine probably was the cause of the failure. If during that time, most especially if the engine warning light was flashing, the car should have been turned off immediately and not run for 10 minutes.

If lack of lubrication was the cause, since you did the last oil change yourself, that could present a more difficult challenge in a legal action. Audi could claim that it was not done properly resulting in a loss of lubrication and/or that the owner continued to run the engine after obvious evidence by the roughness and with a visible indicator warning something was wrong.

Sorry it happened but I'm guessing that you will likely have a tough time getting Audi to pony up fully for the repair and a legal action found in your favor. In any case, you should consult an attorney for legal advice.

If, in the end, if you have to bear the cost, you might want to check with a good indy shop. The cost could be dramatically less expensive than the dealer.

SamLV

Did anyone else drive it just before it seized? Sorry this happened to you.

bestoverall

I'm pretty certain that lack of lubrication was not the cause. Since the oil change was due in short time, I've been monitoring the oil level. last time I check the oil level which was about 2 weeks ago, the display was showing about 75% within the safety level meaning it was almost full.

bestoverall

I'm the only driver. No one else drive this car.

jfo

Without a proper diagnosis, we can only guess. How did they determine the valves were bent? This suggests a broken or stretched timing chain. If the chain is found to have failed, then the head must come off to determine the amount of damage. The head will need to be rebuilt and any damaged pistons replaced.
You can probably get a remanufactured head for about $500. I just replaced the head on an older 5 cylinder Volvo for this amount from Clearwater Cylinder Heads.
They don't list your year on the website but call them and they will likely have it.
You may be lucky and not have damaged pistons. A scope may be able to determine this without removing the head. You may want to take it to an indy shop that will charge less for the diagnosis and repairs.

snagitseven

But how long before the engine failed was it checked? It can only take a short time for a catastrophic oil leak to empty the pan. In any case, like I said in my first post, virtually impossible to guess until the engine is properly examined vs. conjecture here. Good luck.

bestoverall

Thanks for all the advices. Does anyone know of any indy shop for this type of engine work preferably in Long Island New York, northern New Jersey or Rockland area? I remember there is a good Audi shop in Rockland, but I lost their contact info.