So let me tell my story. I wanted a new car. Found my car... a 2000 Audi A6t. Thought it was the perfect car, car fax good, everything seems well, in my favor....right? So bought the car from a Officer of the marine corps. He even told me he was giving me a head start in life by selling me this car with 128,000 miles.6,000.00 So here's where it starts getting interesting. Right after I buy it, about a month or so into enjoying my new car, driving back from lunch one day, car within seconds overheats like I never saw a car overheat before, temp gauge is maxed out, steam pouring from every opening, and all my antifreeze pouring out rapidly from the bottom of the car. Opened the hood and found out the little plastic T looking valve running off the resovoir tank, eXploded in pieces PROBABLY from the intense heat the engine was putting out because the FAN.... wasn't working barely at all which I found out later on. (i spun the fan before and thought it felt weak but an audi mech on the phone told me that an audi COULD lead you to different conclusions. Pretty much saying to me that thats how the fan was suppose to be, easy enough to turn with you pinky, very easily... last time i talked to that particular mech. Well I replaced the T valve thing and seemed to work until sitting at a stop light and the engine started to get warm at the same time I was watching all the water pour all over the road from the bottom of the car. So now I know somethings wrong. Well after paying 100.00 for the tow truck to take it to an audi specialist (which i wasn't bothered at paying 100.00 at the time)they told me it was going to cost me 1,780.00 so, well.... I paid it of course. Whole bunch of problems. And they also referred me to do an engine purge because there was a whole bunch of sludge in the engine. ALSO COME TO FIND OUT, the marine who sold it to me changed the oil every 15,000 miles. I understand synthetic oil but come on now. I found this out because the audi specialist, 45 minutes away...... just happens to be the same mechanic that the marine was taking the car too. So now I have the facts for the last 5 or so years on the car. So anyways to get back on track, I paid the audi mech shop and the tow truck and proudly drove my car back to my house. But before I even got there the oil light turned on, pulled over and shut the car down after 30 sec (turbos) and checked the oil. (mech shop said check the oil when its warm??, thats what they told me) but anyways after that it stayed off, til the next day I had to go to work and it went off about 4-5 times on the way to work about 4 miles down the road. So again just got it towed back to their shop today for another 100.00 to have the oil pan dropped. Well they called me back today and said I have to change a rod!!! but they said I replace one, I should replace ALL of them, and the bearings or some S***. They said it'll cost me and 1,700.00 exactly to fix it again. And the best thing is, my birthdays in 2 days and I have no vehicle because they said they can't get my car back to me until aug 27, cause there backed up. Happy Birthday to me right??........ my experience with my NEW audi. Hope your day is going better that mine.

 

Sorry for your problems. But let me be straight with you. If a rod is gone, assume the rest of your motor is also in poor shape. Why? I would guess the over-heating, not history. Although i'll also note carfax is relatively meaningless. If you don't know the history of a car ( really know it) - either have it carefully gone over (a couple hundred bucks from a specialist) or walk, or low-ball big time. In the big picture, price means nothing when you could be facing a $5k rebuild or $5 k turbos.

Regardless of the mechanical cause of the over-heating, you should be watching your temp and idiot lights. Once the steam and water are coming out, the damage has been done. If you turned it off when it went well above normal, no damage would have resulted. That's why the gauge is there. You waited far too long. Sorry, but lesson i hope learned.

Now, with a motor that has overheated, had minimal oil changes, and a bad rod, would i fix the rod? No. I'd find a good used motor and put it in. And treat it better.

The Oil change interval was in fact too long. But that was not the cause of your woes. Your cause was ignoring the dash-board.

I just saw someone selling a 2.7t motor for a couple tho...

Incidentally - flushes are bull****. If you need to clean out a motor, change the oil with high detergent oil more frequently - like very 2k for a couple times.

G

 

I would surmise if I had to on the following .. it is purely conjecture but there are no coincidences in life ... i agree with Just me that overheating is very bad for a motor , and to have it happen multiple times could be the death knell for any engine .. but i am not here to rub salt.

personally ( my own opinion based on years of diag ) i think the problems started with the engine flush .. I would NEVER flush an engine .. rather use a high detergent oil with more frequent changes and GRADUAlLY decrease the sludge in the engine.. flushes are very bad as they try to release everything at once and can easily if not done completely and correctly leave sludge now floating around in the engine to plug oil galleries and squirters. I think this is what happend and you busted up a rod bearing likely. "needs a rod" is not very specific and I would be suspicios of the bearings and crank also .. sorry about your luck .. you could have them repair it and take our chances or invest even more in an engine .. the choice is yours ... i would be looking to cut my losses take it as a life lesson and move on ...

Good luck ..

 

Just droppin in my experience.

I sold a '98 A6 2.8 to one of my buddies years ago. The car was ****, absolutely nothing wrong with it and drove great. I think it has around 90k on the odo.

Shortly after, he takes the car to Jiffy Lube(why?????) and they convince him he needs an engine flush. The car never ran right again. Idiot lights on all the time, hesitation, overheating, you name it.

 

I wonder how most flushes are actually performed. What do they use to flush with? For it to clean better than an oil change, it must have higher detergent, and lower viscosity, and maybe even dissolve some of the thick ( sludge) agents.

The detergents are probably fine.

The others worry me. Thinning down oil means less protection. And dissolving it ... let's not go there.

But if we do go there, it sounds like running a motor with minimal lubrication.

Anyone know what is typically done?

G

for the record, i have used rislone on old motors with good results. I always drive kinda easy while its in there. H ave had no need to do so in > decade

 

So I had no choice to take it to the same place, because the fact that all the mechanics around here didn't even want to touch it.

I'm paying for all the bearings/rods to be replaced, but one thing I talked about to all the other mechanics around town is the purge. They all said its complete B***S***. But I do know the overheating was an issue.

Had no choice to drive it, only means of transportation. But now what the mech told me is that it wasn't overheating. Temp gauge was always in the safe zone, he replaced my water pump, said it was the pump actually pumping the water out.

Costing 1,700 to fix. Hopefully it works

 

Thought it might be a rod bearing .. i had kind of a clue others would chime in also about the flush .. so oyu going to keep the car or cut your losses and sell it when you get it back ?

 

Dang, that sucks the big one.

Car-fax basically tells you what kind of shape the paperwork is in. A "clean" carfax doesn't really tell you jack about the car itself.

You can do a heavy-duty cooling system flush if you want to make sure the cooling system is clean, but it may expose (or create) more problems. Search for radiator wood bleach, and you'll probably turn it up. I did mine, it looked like the muddy Mississippi coming out of there. I'd probably at least replace the coolant cap, in case it's clogged up and holding too much pressure in the cooling system. Make sure all the cooling fans are working the way they're supposed to. When they fail, it doesn't set a check engine light or anything.

Start running Rotella T6 5w-40 (or other HDEO-heavy duty engine oil) oil in it, with relatively short changes, like they said. It's made for turbo-diesel engines, so it has more additives for cleaning crud and keeping it suspended in the oil. Make sure you change the filter every time you change the oil, at least for a while. Half a can of seafoam in the crank-case, and idling for half an hour or so before draining the oil will speed the process up, but the risk of breaking loose some chunks and having them plug oil passages probably makes it not worth it. After you've run good clean oil in it for 5000 miles or so, you might be able to do the seafoam thing without as much risk. Oil additives get to be a religious subject, so let your conscience be your guide.

Since it's been abused (running on worn-out oil, if nothing else) and probably neglected, you may have to work hard to get ahead of the break-down cycle. Sounds like there's probably several years' worth of maintenance that's going to need done in a pretty short time. Good chance if he didn't change the oil, he didn't change the coolant either, although I guess now that's been mosly changed, what with the boilovers and the water pump replacement. Transmission oil, power steering fluid, etc.

I had an A4 2.8 that someone had run out of oil (which I found out after I bought it, naturally), ruining the rod bearings, scoring the crank, blah blah blah. I had the rod bearings replaced and it ran ok, but the love was gone, so I finally gave up and sold it, with full disclosure, to a friend of mine. He puts heavy oil in it, and his wife drives it around town, and it does fine for her. I pretty much lost my *** on the deal, and that's what it took to make me more careful about buying cars.

After the A4 thing, I bought a Subaru. A couple years later, I couldn't stand it anymore and got an allroad, knowing full well that it was going to spend a couple months in the garage before it was road-worthy. I learned more than I ever wanted to know about the 2.7t.

So maybe the Marine really did give you a head start, by giving you a life experience that will shape your car-buying for years to come. You should send him a thank-you note.

 

Well I figured out what I was going to do with the car. I figured since I was the one who got the car without doing more research, I'll take the hit and eat it. Now that I'm getting the car turned around I think I'm going to keep it... I did get the cooling fans and the coolant cap replaced by the way

I am though placing the car for sale. Probably sound stupid by saying I'm keeping the car and selling it at the same time, well I thought alot about this car and came to the conclusion that I'll price the car for sale for a couple grand more than I bought it for, so it has a better chance for not selling (which i love that car and do want to keep it BUT if it does sell, then better for me, I'll be able to pay off the loan and the second loan to pay for the car's maintenance...... and then I'll buy a car... perferable a newer Audi lol.

Did kinda learn a lesson in one way.. don't buy a cheap car, cause you'll have to pay more in the long run, do buy a nice car to start so you'll still have a good car by the time the cheap car passes you up in costs. Well thats the way I think about it. (Obviously a 500 dollar rust bucket fart beater doesn't count.)

 

Good Move .. borrowing money to buy any used car is risky. to buy an Audi i would suggest you have SURPLUS of money after making the purchase.. hope it works out