First An Hello, and then a question
Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 2
First An Hello, and then a question
Hi!
We just bought a 2002 A4 Quatro friday. Its an automatic. It is the nicest used care I have ever seen. I got it for my wife but we both love it. Our son had an A6 up until a couple of months ago (totaled by a friend) and it was his recommendation that led me to look at the A4. For whatever its worth I have significant mechanical background and can perform many automotive repair and virtually all maintainence tasks.
Now the question, and this looks to me like if its a problem it is easily and relatively inexpensive to fix now, but very expensive to repair if let go.
The couple of times we have cranked the car up a good bit we have noticed a burnt oil smell afterwards. The smell is not strong, but it is there. This is not coolent, I know what anti freeze smells like. Also, there seems to be another smell that is more like the very faint burning of plastic. I think this may be associated with operating the heated seats, but I'm not much worried about this one. It is the oil smell that bothers me. The reason is because of this part of a response I found when doing a search. A Moderator answered a somewhat similar question with (April of 2004):
"There's also the possibility that you have a leaking seal on the turbo. When the oil leaks from that seal the combustion of the oil is total and the smoke will be white. This scenario will lead to a dead turbo eventually unless fixed.brrman38104.5809722222"
Is this seal a common problem? Is there a way to test it or inspect for a defective seal? Are special tools required for replacement (a job better left to the shop?) or could it be replaced by a reasonably competent mechanic?
In depth answeres appreciated.
Thom
We just bought a 2002 A4 Quatro friday. Its an automatic. It is the nicest used care I have ever seen. I got it for my wife but we both love it. Our son had an A6 up until a couple of months ago (totaled by a friend) and it was his recommendation that led me to look at the A4. For whatever its worth I have significant mechanical background and can perform many automotive repair and virtually all maintainence tasks.
Now the question, and this looks to me like if its a problem it is easily and relatively inexpensive to fix now, but very expensive to repair if let go.
The couple of times we have cranked the car up a good bit we have noticed a burnt oil smell afterwards. The smell is not strong, but it is there. This is not coolent, I know what anti freeze smells like. Also, there seems to be another smell that is more like the very faint burning of plastic. I think this may be associated with operating the heated seats, but I'm not much worried about this one. It is the oil smell that bothers me. The reason is because of this part of a response I found when doing a search. A Moderator answered a somewhat similar question with (April of 2004):
"There's also the possibility that you have a leaking seal on the turbo. When the oil leaks from that seal the combustion of the oil is total and the smoke will be white. This scenario will lead to a dead turbo eventually unless fixed.brrman38104.5809722222"
Is this seal a common problem? Is there a way to test it or inspect for a defective seal? Are special tools required for replacement (a job better left to the shop?) or could it be replaced by a reasonably competent mechanic?
In depth answeres appreciated.
Thom
4th Gear
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,354
RE: First An Hello, and then a question
Oil usually burns blue. Our cars do not have ethyl-glycol, sweet smelling, based antifreeze.
"Contents: Ethylene Glycol, Diethylene glycol. Secbacic acid, sodium hydroxide, water."
The smell of hot oil, in the absence of smoke could be either a leaking valve cover gasket, or more often, oil slopped on the engine when the oil filter is changed.
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