Diesel

First the good news – its not about a Scoob it’s about mein dad’s V6 2.3 Audi.

Cyl 4 has failed a compression test at local garage and legitimises the huge oil consumption of the engine. [The main dealer ‘solution’ was to charge him £300 to replace ‘leaky’ rocker cover gaskets – twice the cost of another main dealer for the same simple job and when I looked the engine has zero signs of top end oil leaks – I’m fuming!)

Anyway, it’s a 1997 car with FULL main dealer service history. Is this acceptable in a ‘high quality’ ‘well engineered’ 'low stress' car – I would expect 3 times that mileage before looking at such a problem…

IT MUST be a design/manufacturing fault - any recourse at this age/miles do you think?

D

John Catlin

No, absolute min 100k

mikelmr

It would depend on how it had been driven, serviced (by the same garage that ripped you off with the gasket change?) and what the tolerances on the engine were like when it was new.

I have heard stories of VAG cars using excessive amounts of oil from new and wonder if they have had a problem with out of tollerance parts getting through into production or some other problem resulting in poor piston ring sealing.

I would take it up with Audi UK and see what they have to say, its very odd for just one cylinder to be down on compression due to excessive wear .. I would expect all to be low.

Is it certain that it is down on compression due to wear or could it be a head gasket ?

~ Mike

Diesel

And there was me thinking 'engines' were quite a general 'car' thing!

Go on guys put yourself in his shoes - you have a teutonic sofa barge and how would you react if you were told the engine was gone at 70k? I know Mercs that have done 400k on the orig pistons and bores...

Diesel

Thanks Mike - owner's VERY mechanically sensitive (chip off the old block ) but nails it for an overtake with full kickdown whjen warm. Overall the car has been totally cared for and prob never got past 90mph... I'm just looking to balance the 'tough luck' factor with extreme dissapointment. I'll get more details on the exact fault later...

Flat 4x4

There was a problem with the V6 2.6 / 2.8 I believe, but what do I know.

mikelmr

if it is excessive bore wear on one cylinder I would be asking the dealership what Audi are going to do about it. Do they have any sort of engine warranty ? (say 100K miles ?)

The Zohan

The mileage does not seem high for an Audi
My last co ran an A6 20l for 250k mile and all it had was a clutch. Audi engines are pretty robnust.

I see it is pretty old (with the greatest respect) and i would be suprised if it was a serious/mechanical fault. Likely to be perished valve stem seals or any intertnal rubber or gasket at that vintage. Might be a sticking valve even????

get another opinion, the problem is that most garages will charge £ 50.00+ per hour labour to sort it.

Paul

scooby_si

i hope mine goes 75k but then it is a rotary
Si

Diesel

Cheers Paul - would a sticking valve opn Cyl 4 cause a litre in 400m & plumes of blue smoke?

krazy

head gasket would... but you'll not really know til u get a leakdown test or take the top off to have a look.

Diesel

Can u explain a 'leakdown test' pls? Does it involve a Welsh veg down the plug'ole Cheers.

MooseRacer

TBH, I'd expect there's plenty of 7 year old cars with blown motors, regardless of mileage.

Interesting to know if Audi are in the slightest bit interested.

Petem95

My old Audi 5S (5 cylinder one) did 250k with no major problems at all. Was starting to use a bit of oil at that mileage though.

MooseRacer

I sold a Prelude last year with 277k on the clock. It's still going strong now and the guy has even done a few trackdays in it

They don't build 'em like they used to

Franx

I lost compression in 2 cylinders of my range rover (3.5 V8 Efi), but then this was an E reg, and it had by that stage, done 158 000 miles, which I didn't think was bad. I never worked out why it was just the two cylinders (on opposite banks, as they always have to be) that went, but they needed replacing, with new gaskets & lifters all round.

70k miles, I'd say, is not good for an engine failure, esp. in a 'quality' car such as an audi.

Second opinion?

Diesel

Cheers guys. Comp test stats are 5 cyls @ 175psi, cyl 4 @ 75psi. Idiot indie specialist then told him it was a write off!!! It has been a while since I had a block off a car, but this can surely NOT write off this still rather nice car that's in good nick!!!

Any way to diagnose a sticking valve or is it likely to be a snapped ring (as it started munching oil all of a sudden). Either way ITS FIXABLE for under a grand surely????!!!!!

D

PS no tales of RR V8 woes pls - have been servicing mine all afternoon and now need a DAY to dismantle the dash to replace the aircon display backlight bulbs!!! Madness!

Midmotorsteve

my chipped 1992 80 had 180,000 miles on it when i sold it, not even a wisp of smoke, ran silently pulled well and had no leaks anywhere, i only ever had it service ever 12,000 miles by a specialist.

Franx

Sorry
It was very good apart from that little problem though:P

Is that a classic? I've pulled my dash apart as well, to connect the wires up again, that light up the speedo needle. It was enourmous fun, I can assure you....didn't work though

Sorry if that's a bit off topic...

THE M25 FLYER

What could be done to help diagnose the cause of the compression loss would be to retest the offending cylinder but first to add a few cc of light oil down the plug hole before fitting the compresssion tester.The therory being the oil will act as a temp seal around any worn piston rings/bore wear and so will improve the comp tester reading,if no improvement is noted chances are the fault lies with a valve or head gasket problem.
A good garage should also be able to pressurise the offending cylinder with compressed air and then look/listen for escaping air.
Air from intake manifold /exhaust=prob valve
Air from dip stick/oil filler=prob rings/bore
Air from rad cap=poss head gasket or cracked head.
Obviously this procedure cant be 100% but it will narrow down the fault.

Diesel

M25 - why we cant get that level of detail, diagnois support from gagarges I do not know. Poor bugger! I'lll find him someone to do it, so thanks!

[Franx, Mr Encouragement!!! Today my P38's jobs de jour are to remove radio (guess what - no display...). new rubber mounts for AES pump (£22) and replace tatty handbrake gaiter. LR wanted £176 for a new gaiter - I'll manage it for a tenner :- their parts prices are worse than theor £88 an hour service costs!!!! I then wash the Scoob as it has had ZERO faults in 5 years!]

Diesel

So Audi main dealer do a comp test and say it is FINE!!!!! All cyl's over 180Psi...

They suggested he was over filling it with oil which a very odd thing to say for a car he's owned for over 6 yrs, and he's read dispticks for years in his trade... So he's going to keep it low-ish on oil and monitor it.

Might have been a stuck valve that released itself???

D