Just yesterday my 11 month old Audi A3 suddenly began shuddering and misfireing while in a slow moving line of traffic. Then a glance in my rear view mirror showed plumes of white coming out the back then total loss of power. It ended up on a flat bed and is now with the dealer. This really looks catastrophic. Am I the only one who has had this experience and what am I looking at?

Robert

 

You are looking a German engineering at its best. Seriously, looks like either the turbo is sick or a head gasket let go.

 

This is my first time here. I was going to look around for clues on how reliable Audis are (From the owners themselves). But this post caught my attention right away.

I'm coming from Acura. I've had minor fixes, never related to the engine or trans. How bad is the reliability difference if I buy new?

 

After owning Vw first and now onto Audi, Among other cars prior. My experience has shown me any vehicle will be as good as the Maintenance... The better you stay on top of it the longer your car will last. We have had an old dodge cummins at 850k and still going, my Gti was at 230k when I sold it. Now my Audi is at 25k.

As far as how bad is the reliability if you buy new? Versus what?

To the OP what is the history on your first 11k? Regardless it is ridiculous to have blown a head gasket or turbo this early. But first things that come to mind, premium fuel? Full synthetic oil? Oil Change interval? Did you properly break in the engine?

 

After spending one and a half days at the dealer........good news. I received a call Friday evening that my A3 was good to go. Turned out that a faulty fuel injector was flooding the engine. It was quickly replaced at no cost as the car is still under warranty.......I'm a happy camper.

 

Good news. My A3 is back on the road after a day and a half at the dealer. The fault turned out to be a failed fuel injector that was flooding the engine. The car is still under warranty so it was repaired at no cost. I'm a happy camper

 

That is awesome to hear! Nothing to major either. Glad they got it fixed and you are back on the road!

 

There has been a rash of injectors failures (sticking open) on the 2.0T engine. I'm an Audi/VW tech and have had the exact same thing happen on a couple Audi's and at least half a dozen VW's in the past few months. I know the other guys in the shop have done a few also. Last I heard, Audi is working with the vendor that makes those injectors to find the cause and then a revised injector.

They all were the same. Never a problem with the car, driving down the road and poof,,,,,massive misfire, white smoke and raw fuel dripping from the tailpipes. No damage has ever been done to the vehicles. New injector, change the oil and filter and good to go.

They did change the oil I assume. With all that raw fuel, some is certain to get into the crankcase.

As for Audi reliability. I worked as a Ford tech for 21 years and Audi for the past 5 and, IMO, Audi's are at least 500% more reliable.

 

Thank you, sir!

Your post gave me a perspective into how different the reliability can be across brands. I guess consumer reports were not joking by putting Ford brands at bottom of reliability list.

 

And if you go ask another tech they'll have a completely different perspective than Aspen does so it doesn't really tell you anything than one person's experience.

At the end of the day, YMMV with anything car related...

later
C