98 A6 with unkown engine trouble.
Thread Starter
New Member
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
98 A6 with unkown engine trouble.
1998 A6 v6 2.8 liter. Automatic, triptronic 125K.. No serious problems
Last week while driving the car 60mph and then to a stop for a red light a loud high pitch whining sound was heard so I stopped driving. Looking under the hood reviled back smoke so I turned the engine off. Looked under the car and found lots of oil. My local mechanic for 5 years has always done a great job and never had any issues. At first glance he thought it was the timing belt, which had never been changed. After opening the engine up it was found that the timing belt was "two notches out of place" but was not the cause of the problem. He said that he put in about 20 hours and asked as special Audi mechanic if he could help, but nothing was found. Any idea? One more thing, for the last 1k miles or so my transmission wouldn't properly shift from 2nd to 3rd gear. The car would jolt and the rpms would go up and down. However when you stepped on the gas and got into 3rd all was well. Thank you for any ideas.
Last week while driving the car 60mph and then to a stop for a red light a loud high pitch whining sound was heard so I stopped driving. Looking under the hood reviled back smoke so I turned the engine off. Looked under the car and found lots of oil. My local mechanic for 5 years has always done a great job and never had any issues. At first glance he thought it was the timing belt, which had never been changed. After opening the engine up it was found that the timing belt was "two notches out of place" but was not the cause of the problem. He said that he put in about 20 hours and asked as special Audi mechanic if he could help, but nothing was found. Any idea? One more thing, for the last 1k miles or so my transmission wouldn't properly shift from 2nd to 3rd gear. The car would jolt and the rpms would go up and down. However when you stepped on the gas and got into 3rd all was well. Thank you for any ideas.
AudiWorld Member
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 277
Likes: 0
Re: 98 A6 with unkown engine trouble.
could be the cam gaskets which can cause oil to leak everywhere and possible evaporate. If its dark black smoke then thats kinda scarry. For the tranny has the fluid ever been changed?
Tech Guru
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 34,430
Likes: 130
"My local mechanic for 5 years has always done a great job"
Yet he was content to let you drive to 125k on the original belt, eh?
You post isn't really clear, but sounds like the tensioner failed and you were lucky enough to shut off the engine before the belt melted completedly. The was oil on the ground (this is the confusing part) and even with an Audi specialist no leak was found yet the oil is no longer leaking? Did your mechanic change all the timing belt associated seals? After he changed the belt, what did he spend the other 14 hours doing? Did he disconnect the battery and fail to do a throttle adaptation? That would explain the shifting issue if there were no problems prior to the failure.
So confused....
You post isn't really clear, but sounds like the tensioner failed and you were lucky enough to shut off the engine before the belt melted completedly. The was oil on the ground (this is the confusing part) and even with an Audi specialist no leak was found yet the oil is no longer leaking? Did your mechanic change all the timing belt associated seals? After he changed the belt, what did he spend the other 14 hours doing? Did he disconnect the battery and fail to do a throttle adaptation? That would explain the shifting issue if there were no problems prior to the failure.
So confused....
Member
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 6,211
Likes: 1
Just because your car never broke down before doesn't mean your mechanic is good. You have an issue
with the tranny, likely related to no fluid change. Not saying he isn't that good for certain, but there are a lot more people out there who think they know how to work on a German car than there are that actually do know what they are doing...
Trending Topics
AudiWorld Stories
Bringing Audi to Life for Audi Fans
10 Strangest Audi Designs That Actually Made Production
Joe Kucinski
2027 Audi Q7 and SQ7: Audi Upgraded EVERYTHING!
Michael S. Palmer
Audi Unveils Absurdly Cool New Supercar: 10 Things You Need to Know!
Verdad Gallardo
The Highs & Lows of Every Audi C-Class Generation
Joe Kucinski
Top 10 Most Expensive Audis Ever Sold on Bring-A-Trailer
Brett Foote
10 Audi Features & Options We Miss the Most!
Joe Kucinski
Audi Recreates Crazy-Looking Speed Record Breaker From 1935
Verdad Gallardo
Coachbuilder Recreates the 1995 Audi TTS Concept
Verdad Gallardo
Every Audi V10 Car Ranked!
Joe Kucinski
Thread Starter
New Member
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
Re: "My local mechanic for 5 years has always done a great job"
You are correct about the timming belt, not sure why he missed that. I do not believe the car is still leaking oil, not sure if he replaced all of the seals. When the car was running oil was spiting out from the top of the engine and dripping down. He filled it with oil and it has a slight leak. The shifting issues were before he had the car and I thought it maybe part of the problem. Thanks.