Hey everyone!!
Looking for some advice or to hear from others who may have been in a similar situation. I’ve got a 2018 Audi S5 Sportback with around 73,000 miles on it. I’ve kept up with all scheduled maintenance, had Audi Care, and the car has been well taken care of.
A couple of weeks ago, the check engine light came on. I scanned it and got code P0333. I took it to Dealership #1, and after their diagnosis, they claimed that one of the pistons hit the engine wall and the engine needs to be replaced. The total cost? A staggering $30,000. I do have the Audi Platinum Warranty, and while it is active, they told me it would only cover up to the value of the car, which they estimated at $23,000. That leaves me with a $7,000 out-of-pocket expense, which feels hard to justify on a relatively low-mileage car.
I wasn’t convinced, so I decided to get a second opinion from Dealership #2 in a different city. They came back and said it was just a bad knock sensor and replaced it under warranty. I thought I was in the clear—thank God—until a week later, the check engine light came back on.
I then took it to Dealership #3, and unfortunately, they also recommended a full engine replacement, quoting me the same $30,000, with Audi covering $23K and me footing the rest.
Honestly, I’m not comfortable paying $7K for a 73K-mile car that’s been religiously maintained. It feels wrong to be caught in a situation like this when I did everything by the book.
Has anyone else dealt with this type of issue? Piston damage, Audi Platinum Warranty limits, etc.? If you’ve had experience navigating something similar, or found a path forward (goodwill assistance, independent shops, successful repairs without full replacement), I’d really appreciate any advice.
Thank you in advance!

Edit: Zero mods on the car.

 

You have the EA839 3.0TV6 engine which in 2017 and 2018 model years is known to be prone to failure of cam follower roller bearings. The poor description from your dealer is likely incorrect. The piston "hits" the cylinder wall thousands of times per minute.

My guess is a cam follower has failed. This can, but does not always, lead to engine replacement. This has nothing to do with maintenance and everything to do with failed Volkswagen engineering design.

Part of this that is in your camp is that it seems like you did not read the warranty fine print carefully. This relates to the maximum payout the warranty will award.

It's your call. $7k for a 73k mile 7 year old car where you know the maintenance history, or much more than that for a comparable new car or a newer/used car.

 

Whether you dispose it or pay for the repair, in both cases you can't win this one. I would do it only if it is a new engine, not a rebuilt.

 

If you go for the new engine, what would your car be worth then? If it is well cared for, a new engine would surely add considerable value if you wanted to sell, trade or just enjoy a bunch more miles. Also, what warranty would come with a new engine.

 

Your car as it sits now is worth very little money considering it needs either a $30k brand new engine or used engine, and with some light searching looks like a used one will cost you at least $7k before labor costs for installation. And obviously with a used engine, you basically have no information on how well it was maintained.

It sucks, but in my opinion having Audi put in a new engine for the $7k is your best option.

 

I think so, too, unfortunately. Maybe replace the engine, try to recoup any possible money by selling it, then get a nice DAZA car. Those don't seem to croak after 73k miles.

 

@Only_S5 My condolences. Thats a funky situation to be in but paying the $7000 to get the new engine may be a viable option. Out of curiosity, were you the original owner (purchased brand new) of your S5 sportback? Also, did you contact Audi of America corporate customer relations to escalate the scenario? I ask because I've gotten unsatisfactory information from dealerships before and had to get it cleared up from AoA corporate to get a proper resolution.

 

There are some with this problem who Audi has engine replacement split cost with. Since the the warranty payout is probably not coming from Audi, contacting AoA might result in reducing your out-of-pocket.

 

Crazy that without that warranty the car is an uninsured write off!

 

No expert on your particular motor woes, but I agree with prior mentions of contacting Audi of America (Big Audi, as I like to call them), since the dealerships/stealerships could care less about your problem with the car. They tell older Q7 owners all the time that they need to replace the engine when there's nothing wrong with the engine itself, so glean from that what you will.

In your case, since there is a known failure point with that engine, I'd be raising hell with AOA since youv'e literally done what you can do by getting it to the dealerships and have the platinum extended warranty/ Audi care package, etc., and you've been told conflicting things by different dealerships.

If ever there was a case for AOA to make a good-will gesture/offer to a customer, I'd say you are a shoo-in, but it only happens if you start shaking the tree at AOA. Some owners have gotten the Service Manager at a dealership to offer them a discount off an engine replacement in extreme cases like yours where everything has been serviced by Audi, but again that includes 'shaking the tree' up the food chain from your service advisor and getting in there to represent yourself and fight for what is right, rather than letting them off the hook with no pushback. Most owners don't escalate their issue, and therefore get any discount or goodwill type offers at the dealership, and remember that they've got warranty administrators at each dealership that are in contact with AOA if they want to be proactive on taking care of an obvious issue; it's just a matter of if they want to help or not. You better believe they know there's an engine problem with those early cars on that engine.

FWIW:
We bought TDIs used post-dieselgate because they are excellent and came with the additional 4yrs/48k drivetrain warranty or 10yrs/120k miles coverage, so a win-win situation, and they were relatively cheap too. Problem was every time I'd take one to an Audi dealer for covered warranty work, they'd deny my claim. Not once, not twice, not thrice, but every single warranty repair visit. Sounds pretty crazy, right? We bought two Q7 TDI's, so I adapted pretty quickly as the situation required, and I put AOA on my phone's speed dial, so as soon as they texted me it was denied and not covered by my TDI settlement warranty extension, I'd be on the phone to AOA immediately to open a warranty dispute case. I'd found that in my situation with the TDI warranty, it wasn't worth wasting time arguing with the Service Manager on-site, as they were simply going to mimic what I'd been told already, so dropped dealership escalation and went straight to AOA, and cut out the middleman entirely. One time AOA did deny my initial claim after speaking with the Audi Stealer my car was at over a parts coverage dispute, and so I had to go prove to AOA that the part in question was integral and related to and/or linked directly to the covered items. And I did so by using their own 'engine technology video' about my TDI engine. Really stupid and frustrating the entire dealership process was, but you can hopefully see what I'm getting at here. Every step was uphill, but I kept stepping and learned the system and who actually has the 'power' to say YES or make me a goodwill offer. In the end, I never paid Audi dealers a single dime because it was all covered items, but every single dealer I went to tried to cheat me. Go plead your case to the folks who matter to your resolution, or if you have a really good relationship with your local dealer and car's always been serviced there, you might consider discussing with their Service Manager, but wouldn't get my hopes up unless you know the Service Manager or they've always serviced the car.

Be a boon to your case to look up the known issues for any related TSBs to the cam follower failure issue too, etc., as any tech docs issued by Audi support around known issues on that engine resulting in engine failure support your case.

Those A-H0les in myriad Audi dealerships I've been to in four states all made me jump through hoops just to get the warranty repairs my contract said I was entitled to. Why? It's all about the money differential they make by charging normal shop rates vs taking a warranty claim which pays them a predetermined flat-rate, etc.