So I mainly just lurk around and read other peoples great tips and whatnot, but didnt see much about this so I figured I'd post.

I'm the second owner of a 2005 A4 2.0T Quattro. I bought it 2.5 yrs ago with 48k miles on it, and have since driven it to just a tad over 90k. (my daily commute to and from work is awesome).

The other day I was driving to work and heard a pop, had every possible warning light come on my dash, and lost power. Upon coasting to the side of the highway, I opened up my hood to find this...(apologies, but the attach image option wasnt working for some reason so I included the link)

http://img12.imageshack.us/i/camshaft2.jpg/

Not something you want to see, I know. I had the timing belt, tensioner, water pump, etc changed a month ago and hadnt had any problems until this. Naturally, I had the car towed back to the garage that did the work to look at it. They told me it was unrelated (of course) to the work they did, and I was skeptical until I saw the damage with the engine cover off...(again, apologies for the link)

http://img716.imageshack.us/i/camshaft.jpg

The camshaft had completely broken in two pieces. I know I'm going to have to bend over and take it, but wanted to know if anyone here has had any experience with this problem. Ballpark estimates from another garage (I didnt want the same garage to do the work) range from $2k-$3.5k to fix/replace the head, camshaft, valves, timing belt and includes parts and labor.

This ever happen to anyone?

 

We sell many more intake cams than we do exhaust cams. Sales history is 2 for the last 2 years for ex cams. A tech walked by when I was typing this and thought for that cam to break something must have jammed up the exhaust cam to then break the belt and cam. I know that's pretty obvious, but it's all I have for you. I am sorry this happened to you. Jeff.

 

The explanation I was given, was that there is a screen on the bottom of the engine that likely got clogged and caused poor oil circulation. The poor oil circulation likely meant that the top of the engine wasnt getting adequate lubrication, which could have lead to a cam bearing siezing, which ultimately lead to the cam snapping. Apparently there is a recall for this issue, but only on the 1.8T

Because of the amount of damage, the most cost effective solution is to replace the engine with a "new to me" used one. I found one online for $2800, which pales in comparison to the $5-6k I was quoted for a new head alone. I ordered it today, and will hopefully have my car back and running late next week or the following week.

 

Yep, I had the same situation with my exhaust camshaft breaking in two, bending all the valves and destroying the head.
The pictures look exactly the same as my engine did with the gear hanging out of the housing.
This 2006 A3 2.0T has 80,000 miles.
All this was apparently "unrelated" to the new timing belt, intake camshaft, high pressure fuel pump and follower replacement just 6 thousand miles prior.
The lead mechanic at the dealership said there was no evidence of lack of lubrication and no bearing seizure was evident.
In fact there was no explanation what so ever as to how the camshaft could have broken.
Sounds like another mystery symptom of over engineering.
I was quoted $6,800 and I'm in the process of requesting help from Audi USA.
We'll see how that turns out.

 

Just curious , how frequently was the oil & filter changed?
Was the proper VW/Audi spec 502 00 oil used?

I have not seen this problem yet so far. That sucks!

I would also be curious if the camshaft/s were seized up. Did they check to see if the cam bearings were scored or is this just what you were told?

 

Mine was changed with new filter and full synthetic oil VW spec 502 00 oil every 3k miles (which one would think would be overkill).

For this problem, I submitted my claim to Audi, and they reimbursed the entire thing even though the car was technically not under warranty anymore.

I've had a whole host of unrelated problems since then, and there's no way I'll ever purchase another Audi.

 

exact same thing happened to my 2006 A3 with 85 000 miles.

Audi replaced it under warranty 3 weeks ago.

 

hi all, can you help me understand further how you managed to get audi reimbursed for the expense.. how did you file the claim? i've contact customer relations but they are not paying for the labor as of today... here's my story. thank you in advance!

My 2006 Audi A4 just got a 95k service (my car's actual mileage's about 92k). The day after I got my car back, my car just died on me in the middle of the road, I tried starting it 10 - 15 times and finally got it running again but it was making loud noise and shaky. Due to the Hurricane, the dealership where I had the job done at was closed for almost a week, I sent it right back to see if it's the turbo pipe recall (there was a recall that helped to turn off the service light, they replaced something called breather, but didn't have to replace the turbo pipe so i thought it might be it), but they said it wasn't it. After some diagnosis, they thought it might be the timing belt but it wasn't the timing belt, at the end they found it's something inside the engine called crankshaft. They don't know how to fix it, they said it's really rare and have to wait for Audi Tech to get back to them. So they did the following week and called me that they will replace a new engine (only way to fix it) but they want me to pay for the labor which's around 2k-3k. WHY DO I NEED TO PAY FOR THE FACTORY DEFECT THEY ADMITTED? Even the service manager said to me that it's nothing that can be done by the driver or the driving habbit, so it's not by normal worn, it is a factory defect. I called the customer relations, she's not helping at all, just trying to be all business and not looking at it from the consumer's perspective and she's calling herself my advocate, so ironic. This is not the first quality experience I have with Audi, but this is the most recent one and most costly one.

 

Hi I Just had a catastrophic cam failure 20K miles After Audi replaced them free of charge at 110000 miles, 10K miles over the warranty. Did you have any luch with Audi.