Hey guys, any help please? My oil light came on and the car started ticking. It died as I pulled over, and wouldn't start again. Because of the ticking and the oil light- I'm guessing my oil pump died, and probably my piston rings melted?

If that's the case, does anyone know how difficult an oil pump swap is? Anyway, I was prepping for a timing belt change, feeling confident after reading the writeups floating around here. But is the oil pump something I should leave to the professionals?

I'm not feeling too confident about touching the piston rings, though. But if I can do the oil pump swap, then I figure I'll save on labor and all they'll have to do is the piston rings... hopefully. Any opinions? Thanks.

A4 12v quattro 1997

 

Find a used engine at a junkyard

 

Have you done much of any diagnosis? Tried to pull codes? It sounds to me like you're getting ahead of yourself. Before you consider spending thousands of dollars on a new motor or tearing the engine apart do a little detective work.

 

Sorry, I don't have any diagnostic tools. I should have added that the reason I think it's the oil pump is because this happened early Janurary, on the first intense day of cold. I don't know what it is about synthetic (Mobil1 0W40), but in the two years in a row I've used it I've had problems- both times in the winter. The two years previous I used regular, no problems winter or summer... anyway, thanks for your opinions.

 

Just don't jump the gun, ya know? Parts and labor for these cars isn't cheap, so it would be in your favor to find out exactly whats wrong.