So on the very first cold day of the year (high of 4 degrees F) my car started smoking quite a bit and I could smell burning oil. At idle, the car would shudder and felt like it was about do die. When I got home, I had smoke coming from under the hood, and a steady drip of oil up the driveway. I stopped the car in the driveway, opened the hood to take a quick peek, then pulled in the garage. There was a small puddle of oil from where the car sat for about a minute before pulling in the garage. Later I pulled the car out so it could be towed to the indy shop I use from time to time. Quite a bit of oil on the garage floor. I wouldn't say a full quart, but maybe a half. Anyway, here is the email they sent and explanations:

Here is the list of recommendations and/or needed items. As I explained on the phone there are two parts to the issues you are having with the vehicle. I will put the into separate estimates. There will also be the estimate if done together due to labor combination.

"First: Smoking/burning/leaking oil from the engine:
Timing chain (camshaft chain) adjusters. Both are definitely leaking from the gasket area and both appear to be leaking from the body of the adjuster. Included in this repair is the following:
Both timing chain adjusters and gaskets
Valve cover gaskets
Timing belt kit, includes belt, a few different seals/o-rings, tensioner, and idler pulley. The parts in this kit are known issues with this vehicle and have been updated by Audi and aftermarket suppliers.
Serpentine belt
Camshaft seals x 2
Water pump, not required but highly recommended due to the age of the water pump and labor time to replace separately.
Front crankshaft seal
$3794.00

Smoking/burning oil from tail pipe. The turbo chargers are leaking internally into the intake allowing the burning of oil. Once we got everything apart we can check and there is oil in the turbo pipes. Not only are you loosing oil but obviously burning oil instead of fuel/air mixture is not good for the engine. Carbon/oil build up, damage to valves, etc...

Turbochargers replaced $4170.00

Turbocharger labor includes removal of the engine. If both jobs are done together the labor savings is about $800.00. For a total of $7170.00

Of course we would recheck everything after these repairs. With the amount of oil leaking from the timing cover area there was no ability to determine if there were smaller leaks.

Also Mike wanted me to let you know that Catalytic converter damage may have already occurred due to the amount of oil being burned, there for traveling thru your exhaust system.

Sorry for the bad news. "

Well, at least she's sorry for the bad news and included a sad face. Does anyone have any helpful advice here? There is no way in hell I'm spending that kind of money to fix the car. Btw, it's a 2002 2.7t

 

yes, but no

everything on their list is reasonable, and possible, however their prices seem....inflated. In my rough estimation, they are about $2000 too much for the timing belt and all the seals (roughly) and about $800 too low for the turbos.

there is a lot you can do to try to bring the costs down. anything you can DIY is going to save considerably on labor costs. I would suspect that a complete engine pull might be a little daunting for you.

This is a tough spot for you to be in especially if you are attached to your car but it is probably time to start shopping for a new one. You can get some money out of the Audi if you do a part out.

of course you could always go for a second opinion but everything they have indicated as a problem is reasonable

 

have them search for and quote a used engine.

Bob

 

I can DIY all of the issues listed in #1. The engine pull is the part that makes me nervous. I'm also wondering if they misdiagnosed a frozen/plugged PCV system.

 

the pcv system does get plugged up on the 2.7s. I plan to eventually get a catch can to help this out. If you are thinking about doing the timing belt yourself, you might as well go for the full engine pull since you already have the front end off. Labor is why the costs are so high... 100$ an hour makes even simple maintenance expensive.

 

Ouch, momma!
Sorry for the OT, but someone recently was just searching advice if he should part with an 1.8 A4 and purchase an A6 2.7t... This is a "sad" icing on the cake sort of answer to that dilemma.

Tabasco,
I don't know how mechanically inclined you are and what sort of "ammenities" (garage, shed, etc) you may have at your disposal, but you should consider either replacing the engine altogether - as Bob pointed out, or just try to fix the car on your own.
I don't know much about the 2.7t, but hell I would do anything possible to try to fix that car on my own, provided I'm in love with it and want to keep it.
You can buy an engine crane from Harbor Freight, you can buy a transmission Jack (for instance I've seen two different companies advertising in the Auto and RV free publication - can get a 3 ton tranny Jack for about $ 180), you can buy all those parts listed as replaceable.... I think you know where I'm getting at.
Damn...for $ 7000 + you can buy yourself a decent car and make some money of partying yours out if you're not able to fix it on your own, or if an engine replacement is as exorbitant as that repair quote you got.

 

I'm still toying with the idea of doing it all versus parting it out. I do like the car. The thing sitting in the back of my mind is what will happen once I make all the repairs on this list? What else is going to take a dump on me?

 

Probably the transmission if you don't take care of it.

BTW... I didn't notice you already said you can DIY at least the first part of the list when I typed my entry. Bob's post was the last one! It isn't important, but this board starts to become really weird in terms of display.... Sorry.

 

If your thinking of parting out let me know I need some parts for my car.

To help you out with your dilemma. I have pulled a few engines in my day and I will tell you it can take some time. Plan on your car being down for about 2 weeks or more depending on your skill and only working on it at night and on the weekends. Also, having a garage is a must for a project this size and having all the right tools is a big plus too. Whatever you decide good luck.

 

Never heard of the actual adjusters leaking... Get a second opinion. The item #1 without the adjusters should be around $2K. Anyways, considering the car is worth about $7K when it is running properly, I would seriously consider dumping it for parts. See if your insurance may chip in some.