Apologizing in advance for the long post but this has been a saga --

My 2001 A4 with 44,000 miles has a cracked engine block. This is a small crack that seeps at the oil return. It is visible to the naked eye. This car has had intermittent oil leaks since 17,000 miles that have been attributed to various things, and ostensibly "repaired". The leak is very minor, oil seeps out into the belly pan and about 1000 miles after an oil change will start leaving nickel sized spots on the driveway.

After multiple return trips to my local independent Audi and VW specialist, they found the crack. They apologized profusely for not catching this sooner, and said that they never would have expected this. They advised me that even though this is a 2001 (warranty expired by time), since it has only 44,000 miles I should make a case with Audi NA to get this covered under warranty. They feel that this crack is a manufacturing defect, has probably always been there and has expanded enough forit to get worse.

I took the Audi my local dealer. They have had the car since June 4th -- 43 days by my calculations. The local dealer has been less than helpful. After lots of phone calls back and forth and faxing in of service records, I finally got a call from Audi NA informing me today that they will not offer me any warranty assistance. In August of 2006 this car had a faulty cam chain tensioner, which the independent mechanic repaired (to the tune of $1300). Audi NA is claiming that when the independent mechanic replaced the cam tensioner they cracked my block.

My neighbor feels I should take legal action against the dealer and Audi NA. I have asked Audi NA to mail me a formal letter explaining why they won't cover this under warranty. Once I get that letter I probably will be taking it to a lawyer with automotive knowledge to have him craft a response.

What are your thoughts on this, forum? Can a mechanic crack a block like this replacing a cam tensioner? I'd think not, unless he was drunk and had an air hammer. Is it reasonable that they kept the car for 43 days while they horsed me around? I have documented every phone call and contact with them and can show that it wasn't me dragging my feet or holding up the show at any point. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

 

WOW. Definately tell AOA that you are about to take legal action and then see what they say. Sometimes thats all it takes to get them to fix their mistakes. There is no way in hell a cam chain/tensioner replacement could have anything to do with a cracked block. What a load of BS. Geez. Sounds like you got a lemon. There are lemon laws too

 

I can only think of one way to crack a block by repair and thats if godzillia was the one that put the bolts in. You have a case that can hold up in court but you will get hit with one thing. Audi techs did not do the repairs on the car. They will drive that point home to the judge to the very end. I would look into the lemon laws in this case it seems to be that you got the shaft.

 

Lemon laws are tricky. It states something to the effect that you have to bring your car into a shop a certain number of times for the same issue within a certain period of time. Also in Cali. your car cant be over 4 years old. So 01' is out. They make it really hard. I have an 02' A4 and the tranny went to **** two months after i got the car[:@] i looked into the lemon law, but it just wasnt an option cause of the age of the car and cause i only had to bring it in once. Also it wasnt down for thirty days or more. I had to pay 5300$ total parts and labor. Not sure what state your in but heres a link. I know you wouldnt qualify in Cali. cause your cars too old, but maybe in your state. You can give these guys a call and they will tell you all you need to know
http://autopedia.com/html/HotLinks_Lemon2.html

 

So I got my letter today from AoA. I asked them to put the reason for rejecting the warranty claim in writing specifically because I think it is BS that they are claiming that the indy mech was the one who caused the crack.

Thier rejection letter mentions nothing about the indy mechanic -- only says that they are sorry that my "A6" is experiencing problems and they are unable to help due to the age of the car. It's very interesting to me that they are unwilling to put what they told me over the phone in writing...

I don't think the Lemon laws will help here at all. I'm going to court anyway.

Thanks,

fiver