I bought a '99 A6 and ran into quite a few problems. I bought the car from a dealer with no warranty. I had it looked at by a few mechanics and everything before I got it, car is in great condition. This being my first Audi I was a little worried when I saw the information center saying service inspection needed. So I went to an Audi dealer near where I bought the car. They reset the service inspection and said since I just got the car I should get the timing belt etc.. checked. They were saying it needs changed every 60-80k miles with my car having 130,000 I was a bit worried but willing to shell out $1200 to keep my Audi running. So I said for them to do it. They said for $120 they will check all that plus other various things. 3 hours later I go to pick my car up they say everything is fine a few things here and there but nothing crazy. They said the timing belt was changed and should be good to go for at least 20k miles. I passed on the other things since most I could do my self. I drive the car for about another month and I hear this very loud noise coming from the engine. I drive from my girlfriends house ( 8 houses) to mine and shut the car off. Get it towed to a local mechanic who says a pulley went and bent valves only 2 cylinders are fine. So i'm figuring 20 valves are bent.. I'm wondering could that happen that fast and two should that Audi dealer be at least partially responsible? Also I found out the place I bought it from and the Audi dealer I took it to are related. The owners are brothers. So hear I am four months after my purchase with a car that is beyond repair pretty much and could of been avoided for $1200. So advice on maybe what I should do or expect?

 

Oops. Bet the tensioner wasn't changed when they changed the belt (or they used a Made in China tensioner). Unless it was making noise when you had it inspected (and one of three mechanics would have caught it if it was) there is no way they could forsee this issue. You, basically, are on your own. Sorry.

Bob

 

Well the car was never really quiet it always made a form of knocking noise but since I just got it I figured thats how it sounded since it wasn't terrible sounding. But what I failed to mention was the timing belt has a lot of cracks in it and could of definitely been changed thus the pulley would of been changed and none of this would of happened

 

The timing belt can sustain "lots of cracks" in it. The knocking noise could have been a lot of things (like fuel injectors) depending on the tone of the noise. There was another post yesterday about someone who was quoted, by a dealer, for a TB change WITHOUT a tensioner change. Of course, I am guilty of this as well and I have my fingers crossed that I don't wind up like you. However, unlike you, I know this to be the situation and if the tensioner fails I have no one to blame but myself. You, on the other hand, went through all the right steps in consulting multiple mechanics and you still got blindsided by a failure on a car you just purchased. OUCH!!! You are correct, that $1200 would have prevented this IF the $1200 included changing the part that failed. But, the dealer can only tell you that facts, such as when the belt was laast changed and what the recommended interval is and what the cost would be to do the job anyway. After that, you pays your money, you takes your chances.

Have you decided what you are going to do or are you still in shock?

Bob

 

Well I'm still in shock but really not having $3,000 to fix it is more of a problem. But what everyone is telling me is there is no way that many valves are bent and since my car was still running pretty much fine besides the noise and I turned it off so fast that it shouldn't of had the chance to bend that many valves. From the dealer Audi quoted me $125 a valve! The head tech told me thats ridiculous and don't go to an Audi dealer for valves. He changed his valves for $12 each. Just to give you some insight on how crazy expensive it is. But since I was pretty mad I talked with the head technician for awhile and he was mad that no one told me to get the timing belt changed. He said thats there policy that if they don't know when the belt was last changed or if there are any cracks in it, they recommend to get it changed not for money but just because of this situation. And he chewed the tech out that serviced my car in front of me and later called me saying the tech wrote he recommended the timing belt should get changed and that I denied service though that isn't on the paper he gave me. He said he wants that tech fired. So that made me feel a little better.

 

Even though you feel a little better it still doesn't resolve your problem. Your next step should be deciding whether to fix your car or cut your losses. If you decide to cut and run, you should look at parting the car out. That is probably going to give you the best financial return.

If you decide to fix it, there are definitely ways to do it on the cheap (relatively speaking). Going through the dealer is going to be cost prohibitive. I would at least try to get some kind of compensation from the dealers, the one that sold you the car and the Audi dealer that told you it was ok (but I wouldn't hold my breath on either). Find an independent shop that can do the work. See if they will install parts that you bring them (some won't due to liability concerns). Find out what they need to fix it and start looking for part outs, recycled and remanufactured parts. There are lots of sources for quality parts a lot cheaper than you will get from "official" sources.

Good luck and keep us up on how it goes

 

Well the local dear I went to quoted $3500, the Audi dealer I took it to and they said it was fine told me since they messed me over they will do it for less than him. They didn't say how much. But yeah I thought of cutting my loses but I really love the car and its hard for me to just get rid of the car after 4 months. Oh well Ill get it fixed its just a matter of when. This whole thing really made me not want an Audi anymore just because of the way the people act at the dealer and even independent shops. They act like there better than you for no reason. Just because I'm not a doctor or run around in a Armani suit all day doesn't make you better than me or anyone else. As I sat there waiting for my car and I was pissed because the lady making coffee thought she was above the president a sales man walked up to me on his break and told me about his ancient Audi TDI saying how it has over 300,000 miles and all the cool stuff he's done in it and all the places he went in it. Thats what made me not give up on Audi and thats what it should be about!