I've been a member of this forum for many years but not active at all. I wanted to make this post to see if any have experienced what I just experienced, or maybe you can guide me in the right direction. Brief intro - I used to race cars before my RS5, used to do my own services, mods, and tweaked my own maps on tuning software. So I know a bit more than the basics, but by no means am I an experienced mechanic. Especially with the RS5 - I havent messed much with it. Stock except for a capristo exhaust I've had for the last 6 years of owning the car. I bought the car new in 2015. The car has about 54000 miles on it. I've had every service on it, except the latest one was overdue by like 3 months - not too worried about that being the case, but technically it is a bit late.

I was driving around today and the engine stuttered a bit when i got on the gas (probably 5% of pedal position)... I wasnt sure if that was the road or the engine, so I did it again, i got a stutter again, and the third time, the RPMs just dropped to zero, got a check engine light, and the gas pedal just stopped responding. The engine just shut down. I coasted to the side of the road and got my car eventually towed to my house. Planning to take the car to the dealer on Tuesday after Christmas and figure out what my options are... but I'm not too hopeful based on the following:

- The car sounds like absolute **** when i try to get it started. it cranks but it doesnt turn on correctly, its just spitting and misfiring and rattling really badly. not sure if I heard pinging, or just some other mechanical issue so I shut it off. I tried this twice and the second time it sounded worse so, no more of that.
- I plugged into the OBDII port for codes and got
- P068A00 ECM/PCM Power Relay De-energized performance Too early - passive/sporadic
- P030000 Random/Multiple Cylinder Misfire detected- active/static
- P030500 CYL. 5 Misfire detected - active/static
- P045600 EVAP Emission Contr. Sys (very small leak) leak detected - passive/sporadic
- P056200 System Voltage Low voltage - passive / sporadic

No visible damage, no leaking fluids, no funky smells, nothing. Just a weird nasty sound and bad vibration rattle when i try to start it again.

My concern is that these codes are only showing me what I'm hearing with the engine, and not necessarily telling me much about the underlying reason. I am particularly concerned about how the issue started. I was literally coasting, not even on the gas. I had been driving for about 20 minutes, everything was normal, then all of a sudden, the stutter and shut down while I was cruising on a backroad near my home at a steady 40 mph. This is the most troubling part, I have no clue how to diagnose.

Has anyone with this engine reported anything similar? Any thoughts? I'm hopeful its a faulty sensor causing some misfire or some timing issue, but I'm preparing for the worst. Not sure If I can justify a 10k investment into the car if I need a new engine, if they can even find me a new engine... Probably gonna take a month or two, with my luck. Have any of you dealt with a situation like this where youre faced with a decision of trading it in? If so, does the dealer just give you pennies for the trade in, knowing you dont have many options?

Many questions, any valuable input appreciated. Merry Christmas to me.

 

Cyl 5 misfire is one critical issue to look into further. Could try moving the spark plug and coil pack to another cylinder and see if the code follows or not.

 

yeah, my worry is I can’t do much troubleshooting without cranking the engine and I’m worried about damaging it further. I’ll give as many details to whoever ends up servicing the motor, and this is a good point. As obvious as it may be, I don’t know if they would start there, so a worthy suggestion.

 

I am not seeing crank and cams not aligned codes. Are you suspecting something like a timing chain issue? Just trying to understand why your thinking there is mechanical engine damage?

 

Mainly just the chaotic rumbling and noises when I try to start the car.

 

Have you checked your battery? The last code says low system voltage, and these cars go nuts if it doesn't get the right voltage due to a bad battery, bad alternator, or bad ground.

 

I had a new battery so I didnt check that.

Unfortunately I just got a call back from a local shop (dealer wouldnt get me in until January 30th). They looked at the engine and found a spark plug disintegrated, piston came loose and destroyed. I'm speechless... not sure how this happens, what options I even have besides looking for a new engine or trade it in for parts/pennies.

Is there anything I can do if engine is out of warranty? how does that even happen?

 

Geez thats nasty and sounds like FOD damaged cylinder 5. The engine would have to be examined in detail to understand exactly what happened. Since you bought it new and have the service records then I would suggest talking directly to Audi USA (assuming your in the US).

 

Saw the spark plug, sliced like butter (possibly by a valve, maybe related to jumped time?) and destroyed. borescope showed the piston shattered like glass. No coming back from that.

Among the options I have available, I am debating parting out my vehicle. What is the etiquette regarding part-out posts, would someone give me in the right direction. Ideally, I'd be able to list items available before finalizing sales on any, but I can see how that's probably against some rules. At this point I'm just exploring all my options, as you can imagine, there arent many motors around worth taking a risk on (i.e., front end damage with unknown run time without coolant, water damage with unknown info about whether it was running while wet, crazy high mileage without any reasonable pricing, etc.). This boils down to being at the mercy of the dealer and what they want to do for me, if they can even help.

I am debating how to play this out with them, since they replaced the spark plugs 3k miles ago, I did every service with them, purchased the vehicle new from them, and yet I had this freak catastrophic failure that I dont think anyone could have predicted.

Either option will almost certainly wipe about 25 grand of value out of this asset. Frankly it just hurts that I wanted to keep the vehicle for at least another 10 years. I still dont think this has sunk in.

 

Would like to see borescope pics

One large question is the engine block damaged? Before parting out, one option is to determine exactly what is required to repair, and also talk directly to Audi USA.

https://www.audiusa.com/us/web/en/su...ontact-us.html