my roomate has his mom's 2.8 a6 (i think 2000) down, and suddenly it not starting. last time he used it (last night), it was fine, now when you try and start it, you can hear the engine cranking, but its not turning over. the first time he tried to start the car when i was around, it smelled briefly like burnt rubber for a few seconds, but after popping the hood, i didnt see any belt damage or the like.
the starter seems to be a bit slow, but thats prob bc of the temp outside.
the coolant / antifreeze level is kinda low, but its still above the min mark.


any ideas as what this could be?

 

I also have a 2.8 A6 and it did the same thing. Ran one night. Next morning, it wouldn't start. I've searched other forums and this is not uncommon. Several people have reported that they ran the car briefly the night before, maybe 1 - 2 minutes before shutting it off. That's what I did. Coincidence????? I'm taking mine to the shop tomorrow. I'll let you know what they find.

Of course, if you smell burnt rubber, it makes me wonder if the timing belt went.

I see you're from Fairfield.I just graduated from SHU last may. I've never been to Fairfield, though. I studied at their Luxembourg campus.

 

cool, small world

 

The same thing happened to me last week,I bought a vag-com hooked it up,'bottom line it didn't help .I hate to say it but it may just be carbon build up or old wires/plugs because I just cleaned the cables charged the bat and turned it over for a min. and it started and beat the hell out of it and now it runs great. I do plan to change the plugs and fuel filter[/align]

 

Well I called the shop today and they say that the engine has no compression - like 10 psi per cylinder. My new theory is that the timing belt probably jumped a couple of teeth to where the valves were in contact with the pistons. It was very cold out the night before it wouldn't start; maybe some ice formed that caused it to jump. I just had the timing belt replaced about 10K miles ago so maybe the work is under warranty. They haven't confirmed that the engine is ruined but unless it's one of those variable compression engines, I can't think of any other reason why the compression would drop like that.

 

but I think you may be experienceing what is known as The Lawn Mower Syndrome (volvo world). You start the car and move it 20 feet out of the garage to get the lawn mower out. You shut the car off and mow the yard. Once finished you try to start the car but it won't start. In Volvo's this was caused by a loss of compression in the cylinders. There is a long explaination for why, but I won't get into it. The suggested solution was to remove all the spark plugs and pour a SMALL amount of oil in each cynlinder, put it all back together and start the car. The oil will help the piston rings reseal to bring the compression back up so the engine will start.

Best of luck,

Jeff

 

I just sold my SUV and am looking into the A6. I love it except I'm reading about a lot of starting issues on this forum. Isn't this reason to reconsider purchasing an Audi? Thanks.

 

Not a reason to stay away from AUDI. From what I've read, this problem plaques the 2.8 the most. Buy a 2.7t or 4.2 ora newer 3.0...Every car has quirks.

 

The shop was finally able to get it to start.They replaced the fuel-fouled plugs, squited some oil into the cylinders, hooked up two additional batteries and cranked and cranked it until it finally started. They said it ran really rough for a while but it finally settled down. They also said that the timing belt was off by 1/2 of a tooth (belt tension was a little loose). It also has excessive carbon build-up on the pistons. He recommended adding a quart of transmission fluid to the oil? That this would clean-off the carbon.

WRT to last post, I still love the car. If I did it all over again, I probably would have bought a warranty. Repairs are very expensive and many repairs require special tools. I bought the Bentley manual for this car, hoping it would shed some light on troubleshooting and repair but it doesn't even scratch the surface. Doesn't even cover engine removal.

 

Trans fluid will clean out carbon deposits built up in the motor and decrease sludge buildup yes.And with a name like Bently what did you expect from it? All I can imagine is it saying first page, "First put on your white gloves".....