My 2013 A6 3.0T Engine Has broken down. Please advise
01-07-2019, 12:36 PM
#31
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So the verdict is finally in. nhdoc you were right. It's a broken exhaust valve spring on cylinder 1.My mechanic says that this has the potential of causing serious engine damage. He recommended I check with Audi if they will cover this under good will since the car is still under 50,000 miles though out of warranty. I will call Audi USA. Any pointers on what I can say to help my case?
Thanks for everyone's help and advice here.
Thanks for everyone's help and advice here.
Last edited by rimmi2002; 01-07-2019 at 12:40 PM.
01-09-2019, 11:00 AM
#33
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I've been following AW and on occasion Audizine for past 4 years (this board primarily) starting some 6 months before I bought my A6. I don't recall valve springs coming up as regards the C7 A6 but perhaps only happens later in car's life. Out of curiosity what does your indy say about cost to repair this failure?
Best,
Jeff
Best,
Jeff
01-09-2019, 04:22 PM
#34
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I've been following AW and on occasion Audizine for past 4 years (this board primarily) starting some 6 months before I bought my A6. I don't recall valve springs coming up as regards the C7 A6 but perhaps only happens later in car's life. Out of curiosity what does your indy say about cost to repair this failure?
Best,
Jeff
Best,
Jeff
Approximately $1400 for the valve spring replacement. For labor and parts. Is there anything further I should have the mechanic check for to find out if this is an isolated problem or if there is an underlying issue that has caused the valve spring to break.
If the engine needs replacement then he said approximately $3300 for labor and parts will be additional.
He said he placed a camera inside the engine and did not notice any significant damage. However he cannot say for sure until he gets in there. I am leaning towards just getting the valve spring replacement.
That cost of valve spring repair is reasonable to me. Replacing the engine on such a young car which has been primarily driven by my wife who is a conservative driver sounds crazy to me. If it comes down to engine replacement I will see if Audi covers it, Else I am just selling the car for parts. I might lose money that way but I would have simply lost faith in Audi permanently to invest any further in their car.
01-09-2019, 06:24 PM
#35
AudiWorld Senior Member
nhdoc is for sure has more knowledge here than I so let's see if he weighs in. FWIW I think your "order of operations" makes good sense. From the sounds of what your indy is saying if you are lucky valve spring replacement job should take care of things. I think this is an isolated incident -- just bad luck as I haven't heard of valve spring issues affecting the 3.0T in my travels here on AW and Audizine. The $64,000 question is whether you involve Audi now or only if your indy determines there is additional expensive damage that needs to be addressed. I'd be interested in nhdoc's take on that. I would involve Audi head office now if I were in your shoes. Nothing to be lost by doing that and they for sure need to know the scam that the dealer was running as regards engine tear down nonsense.
I hear you loud and clear regarding loss of faith in the product. I had a litany of teething problems with my A6 -- (I) driveline vibration that selling idiot dealer took 4 months to figure out (and they never figured it out -- I did -- long story won't bore you with details but in the end I insisted they swap wheels/tires from another car on their lot and presto no more issue -- turned out to be out of round center bore in one wheel -- why they didn't figure this out quickly is beyond me; (ii) all 4 rotors warped in first 11,000 miles -- replaced rotors and pads under warranty over 20K miles ago and all is fine; (iii) fuel filler door refusal to open (thankfully I never let tank go less then 1/2 full -- fixed under warranty); (iv) upper timing chain tensioners replaced under warranty per TSB; and (v) rubber sheath covering steering gear making awful noise on hard right hand turns -- lubricated and noise gone. Now, none of the foregoing is end of world and didn't cost me anything other than inconvenience/bit of a headache. However, way more stuff gone wrong with the A6 than any of my Acura vehicles and this does make me question the wisdom of keeping the car post warranty expiration. I will go 6 years/65,000 miles at most assuming that all is peaceful for next 2.5 years. If your car has been otherwise solid and offloading it now would cause you a significant financial loss consider chalking this up to a bit of bad luck, fix it and hope for the best going forward. While the issues I've had with my A6 somewhat tick me off, I've resolved to put them behind me and just enjoy the car for the balance of the time I own it -- not going to let the teething problems overshadow the driving joy.
I hope it ultimately works out for you such that the issue is only the valve spring, repair is done and you have no further issues going forward.
Best,
Jeff
I hear you loud and clear regarding loss of faith in the product. I had a litany of teething problems with my A6 -- (I) driveline vibration that selling idiot dealer took 4 months to figure out (and they never figured it out -- I did -- long story won't bore you with details but in the end I insisted they swap wheels/tires from another car on their lot and presto no more issue -- turned out to be out of round center bore in one wheel -- why they didn't figure this out quickly is beyond me; (ii) all 4 rotors warped in first 11,000 miles -- replaced rotors and pads under warranty over 20K miles ago and all is fine; (iii) fuel filler door refusal to open (thankfully I never let tank go less then 1/2 full -- fixed under warranty); (iv) upper timing chain tensioners replaced under warranty per TSB; and (v) rubber sheath covering steering gear making awful noise on hard right hand turns -- lubricated and noise gone. Now, none of the foregoing is end of world and didn't cost me anything other than inconvenience/bit of a headache. However, way more stuff gone wrong with the A6 than any of my Acura vehicles and this does make me question the wisdom of keeping the car post warranty expiration. I will go 6 years/65,000 miles at most assuming that all is peaceful for next 2.5 years. If your car has been otherwise solid and offloading it now would cause you a significant financial loss consider chalking this up to a bit of bad luck, fix it and hope for the best going forward. While the issues I've had with my A6 somewhat tick me off, I've resolved to put them behind me and just enjoy the car for the balance of the time I own it -- not going to let the teething problems overshadow the driving joy.
I hope it ultimately works out for you such that the issue is only the valve spring, repair is done and you have no further issues going forward.
Best,
Jeff
01-10-2019, 12:29 PM
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nhdoc is for sure has more knowledge here than I so let's see if he weighs in. FWIW I think your "order of operations" makes good sense. From the sounds of what your indy is saying if you are lucky valve spring replacement job should take care of things. I think this is an isolated incident -- just bad luck as I haven't heard of valve spring issues affecting the 3.0T in my travels here on AW and Audizine. The $64,000 question is whether you involve Audi now or only if your indy determines there is additional expensive damage that needs to be addressed. I'd be interested in nhdoc's take on that. I would involve Audi head office now if I were in your shoes. Nothing to be lost by doing that and they for sure need to know the scam that the dealer was running as regards engine tear down nonsense.
I hear you loud and clear regarding loss of faith in the product. I had a litany of teething problems with my A6 -- (I) driveline vibration that selling idiot dealer took 4 months to figure out (and they never figured it out -- I did -- long story won't bore you with details but in the end I insisted they swap wheels/tires from another car on their lot and presto no more issue -- turned out to be out of round center bore in one wheel -- why they didn't figure this out quickly is beyond me; (ii) all 4 rotors warped in first 11,000 miles -- replaced rotors and pads under warranty over 20K miles ago and all is fine; (iii) fuel filler door refusal to open (thankfully I never let tank go less then 1/2 full -- fixed under warranty); (iv) upper timing chain tensioners replaced under warranty per TSB; and (v) rubber sheath covering steering gear making awful noise on hard right hand turns -- lubricated and noise gone. Now, none of the foregoing is end of world and didn't cost me anything other than inconvenience/bit of a headache. However, way more stuff gone wrong with the A6 than any of my Acura vehicles and this does make me question the wisdom of keeping the car post warranty expiration. I will go 6 years/65,000 miles at most assuming that all is peaceful for next 2.5 years. If your car has been otherwise solid and offloading it now would cause you a significant financial loss consider chalking this up to a bit of bad luck, fix it and hope for the best going forward. While the issues I've had with my A6 somewhat tick me off, I've resolved to put them behind me and just enjoy the car for the balance of the time I own it -- not going to let the teething problems overshadow the driving joy.
I hope it ultimately works out for you such that the issue is only the valve spring, repair is done and you have no further issues going forward.
Best,
Jeff
I hear you loud and clear regarding loss of faith in the product. I had a litany of teething problems with my A6 -- (I) driveline vibration that selling idiot dealer took 4 months to figure out (and they never figured it out -- I did -- long story won't bore you with details but in the end I insisted they swap wheels/tires from another car on their lot and presto no more issue -- turned out to be out of round center bore in one wheel -- why they didn't figure this out quickly is beyond me; (ii) all 4 rotors warped in first 11,000 miles -- replaced rotors and pads under warranty over 20K miles ago and all is fine; (iii) fuel filler door refusal to open (thankfully I never let tank go less then 1/2 full -- fixed under warranty); (iv) upper timing chain tensioners replaced under warranty per TSB; and (v) rubber sheath covering steering gear making awful noise on hard right hand turns -- lubricated and noise gone. Now, none of the foregoing is end of world and didn't cost me anything other than inconvenience/bit of a headache. However, way more stuff gone wrong with the A6 than any of my Acura vehicles and this does make me question the wisdom of keeping the car post warranty expiration. I will go 6 years/65,000 miles at most assuming that all is peaceful for next 2.5 years. If your car has been otherwise solid and offloading it now would cause you a significant financial loss consider chalking this up to a bit of bad luck, fix it and hope for the best going forward. While the issues I've had with my A6 somewhat tick me off, I've resolved to put them behind me and just enjoy the car for the balance of the time I own it -- not going to let the teething problems overshadow the driving joy.
I hope it ultimately works out for you such that the issue is only the valve spring, repair is done and you have no further issues going forward.
Best,
Jeff
Thanks!
01-10-2019, 12:32 PM
#37
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You don’t have to remove engine head to replace the valve spring. In your case, bank 1 exhaust camshaft has to be removed. To do that, mechanic will remove valve covers ( both banks), camshaft chain covers, compress bank 1 camshaft chain tensioner, remove bank 1 camshaft cradle then pull exhaust camshaft out. Special tools are needed to do the job right. To correctly time and tension camshaft timing chains. Mechanic has to loosen camshaft sprockets and camshaft adjusters on left and right cylinder heads. Follow factory procedure in repair manual to do it right. Do not short cut. All bolts for camshaft sprockets and adjusters must be replaced after removal. I believe torque is 80 Nm + 90 degrees. If you just want to spend a minimum extra, just replace chain guides. If you have good money to spend, replace camshaft adjusters and tensioners on both banks. Remove supercharge somehow makes the job much easier.
02-17-2019, 05:53 AM
#39
AudiWorld Member
I haven't been on this board in over a month and see the OP got his diagnosis but never updated the thread. It would be great to hear if the spring got replaced and if so is the rest of the engine OK?
As far as chasing Audi for goodwill in cases like this it is a tough call. You could pursue it but chances are Audi will only provide goodwill if you return to the dealer and even then they probably will only offer to pay part of the repairs. In cases like that it is overwhelmingly likely that you will land up spending more than what the Indy shop will charge to make the repairs since the dealer's price will be much higher. In other words, the dealer charges $3000 for the spring replacement and Audi offers to pay half so you are still net out $100.
In this case I would probably opt to let the Indy shop do the repair and then call Audi and explain what happened. You never know, they might just send you a check for half the repairs anyway. Even if they don't you might just hold onto the bill and see if it becomes an issue common enough that they offer an extended warranty for in the future. If so, you would be entitled to reimbursement for it at that time. Good luck and let us know the outcome!
As far as chasing Audi for goodwill in cases like this it is a tough call. You could pursue it but chances are Audi will only provide goodwill if you return to the dealer and even then they probably will only offer to pay part of the repairs. In cases like that it is overwhelmingly likely that you will land up spending more than what the Indy shop will charge to make the repairs since the dealer's price will be much higher. In other words, the dealer charges $3000 for the spring replacement and Audi offers to pay half so you are still net out $100.
In this case I would probably opt to let the Indy shop do the repair and then call Audi and explain what happened. You never know, they might just send you a check for half the repairs anyway. Even if they don't you might just hold onto the bill and see if it becomes an issue common enough that they offer an extended warranty for in the future. If so, you would be entitled to reimbursement for it at that time. Good luck and let us know the outcome!