Garrett73

My son has a 2003 Audi A6 2.7T with about 155,000 miles on her. He was driving down that "Ol Town Road" and smacked his oil pan on a rock and didn't know at the time he cracked the pan. He drove it about 5 miles home and realized it the next day went he started the car and took off only to hear some not so good noises. I had him shut it down immediately and found the cause pretty quick, the cracked oil pan and it was very low on oil. So far we JB welded the pan in order to fill it up with oil and run it to see what we were in for. I cant really hear anything on the lower end but the upper end (valves) etc are making a good amount of noise. I'm looking for some guidance on what to do next? Should we buy a new oil pan and investigate/ clean the pan and pickup etc and move on to the upper end? What should we do to the upper end to see if the motor is worth keeping? Pull valve covers and inspect? Looking for any advice to logically troubleshoot and move on from this point. I'm not against pulling the motor as we have the tools and equipment to do that but looking for some seasoned opinions on what YOU would do to try and save THIS motor. Maybe it isn't as bad as we think? It still had oil dripping out of the motor after he brought it home. Thanks for any and all help!

Garrett

johnkk

If you ran the engine long enough to get the oil pressure up in the cam tensioner pistons and the noise persisted, you're probably done for. I'd run it some more to see if the noise subsides. Used engines are not that expensive, if you can swap diy.

kjopen

With the age of the car I wouldn't spend a fortune....

I did have an old Volvo 244 many years ago that seized up, I bought the car second hand and didn't know that someone had changed the head at some point, I found out they had fitted a head with and external oil supply pipe - however, the idiots didn't fit the external pipe on the car itself! This meant that the head was not directly supplied with any oil at all and the camshaft seized! I removed the valve cover and cleaned everything up in there, used some very thin 'flushing /machine' oil and left it overnight to soak, I then managed to get some movement and then turn the engine by hand, ran the engine briefly on very thin oil, flushed then changed oil again. Believe it or not, that car ran awesome after that, was more economical and ran for over 3 years before I traded it in.

Harleyguy

No guarantees here but I think it would be worth trying to save this car. If the JB Weld is holding at least temporarily I would change the oil and filter, using a synthetic oil like Mobil 1 that will almost instantly establish oil pressure and then run the car for a few minutes. Most likely the top end noise is because there wasn't enough oil pressure to pump up the cam chain tensioners. Hard to know if any valves got bent but a possibility. If the symptoms go away after trying this, then get a new oil pan and happy motoring. Lesson learned for your son: if you hit something pull over when safe to do so, and have a look to see if anything got hurt. I'm thinking you already had that discussion.

kjopen

Another point of reference to search on is a site I used to post a lot on: https://www.audiforums.com/forum/audi-a6-9/ - but doesn't get as much traffic these days (hence, I've started using this site more).

Good luck and post back so we can see how things went! (- another thing that is annoying when you've offered help - no one replies these days)

Garrett73

I had a 77 Volvo 244 DL station wagon before I went in the Navy wicked cool car until the shifter linkage broke on me coming home from the recruiters office LOL. Thanks for the advice!

Garrett73

I will keep this thread updated as we move along, thanks for the advice!

Garrett73

We did refill with Mobile 1 and ran it initially for a few minutes. I think we will definitely drain the oil out, pull the pan inspect that, replace with new pan (the JB didn't hold very well) and the pan is only 50 bucks to the door, then refill with fresh Mobile 1 and new filter and run it again see how she sounds. I have a friend who is an auto mechanic and ran his own shop for years I'm going to grab him to help "listen" and help direct us. Thanks for the advice!

Garrett73

Sounds good thanks for the advice.

Harleyguy

Some things will translate in general mechanical knowledge. Use caution when your mechanic isn't well versed in Audi workings. There is a plethora of unique operations when it comes to Audi and if not done correctly will turn your car into a money pit in very short order. Also careful with Asian "knock off" parts. There are a lot of parts sources out there that are selling that stuff and it seems there is almost always a problem with fitment or quality ( part doesn't align exactly, bolt holes don't line up, poor finish quality, etc). Regarding the current issue you have, the top end noise should go away in a short amount of time ( a couple of minutes at most). Once the noise is gone it would be worth the cost of a scan to be sure valve/ engine timing wasn't compromised. You will want a VCDS scan for this.