My 2005 Audi A6 4.2 (140k miles) rumbles and smells like it is burning oil when it idles, but them smooths out nicely when you give it gas. My mechanic says that the timing chain lost tension at some point (probably due to lost oil pressure which he says is fine now) and skipped a notch ("notch" wrong word?). He says timing chain needs to be re-set and probably replaced. Says it is at least a $5k job, and too big of a job for him.

Does anyone know if a car that rumbles and smells like it is burning oil at idle, and smooths out as you give it gas could be suffering from some other ailment other than a timing chain issue? Hopefully something that is cheaper to fix

 

Wow!! You might want to look into buying the parts urself and findings a mechanic who will do it for you first off if the oil smell is persistant it can be that you seals are done my car is having that smell you would need a head gasket kit that includes the seals and caps check out blauparts.com they have kits that include cam pads too for my 98 its 120 bucks for the kit and if you live in denver Colorado let me know I can give you a deal on fixing it...

 

Thank you for the info. It is an 8-cylinder car and the problem is obviously coming from one of the 2 exhaust pipes. It appears to have oil dripping out of one of the exhaust pipes while at idle, but as I said before it smooths out and the exhaust looks normal (and the smell goes away) when you give it some gas. The burning oil smell is definitely coming from the exhaust pipe while at idle. Do you think that additional info makes your diagnosis or my mechanic's diagnosis more likely correct? I am about to sell this car based on the assumption that it needs the timing chain replaced and re-set -- obviously it is worth much more if your diagnosis is correct.

 

I read a couple more things and seems like it all leads to a leak or pvc clog honestly I'd think all of what I said would be cheaper then the timing chain look up labor amount online you might get a better answer for what it'llcost to fix remember I said a head gasket kit or the pvc is you prob you could ask a few more people but I lean in towards heads leak or the pvc clogged more then a chain issue sounds like he might not know too much bout audits look up blauparts they got some good reads for issues also its a car worth keeping if u can fix it the one I got has 205,500 it has a problem I'm tryna figure out but other then that its going strong...

 

thank you for the info!

 

My 2014 Q7's timing chain tensioner has failed and it jumps off the gears. It is currently in the shop and they want $11k to fix it. I heard they are covered up to 100,000 miles. There is a class action lawsuit pertaining to Audi's and this issue. I'm going to be on the phone w/ Audi this morning. Have you received any feedback or solutions to the problem?