Felix.

Audi A4 diesel 2.4 V8

Car has been running fine until yesterday when the glow plug light began to flash.
Carried on for a bit with no bangs, whirls, strange noises of any kind

Suddenly the car stops and won’t start although it does turn over. Looking under the car, there is oil all over the back end of the engine (back of gear box, exhaust pipe etc)

Looking at the oil leak however, it is a mixture of diesel and engine oil (there is no oil in the sump either)

Coolant water is fine and there is no ‘mayo’ on the oil cap

Now the only place I think engine oil and diesel oil come close is the turbo...... Do you think has gone bang..!!!!

Any advice on how to find out – or has anyone else suffered a similar catastrophe



Before you ask - this has been posted on an Audi Forum, but Scoobynet tends to be quicker (and better )

The Zohan

2.4 v6 not v8?

Is the car completely out of oil and if so it could have siezed.

Might be two different problems
top up the engine oil and check the oil filter is tight - It might be your audi has the long life engine oil which could be mistaken for diesel and oil mix and also a certain amount of diesel will contaminate any diesel engine oil over a period of time. Mine used to stink of diesel when i 'dropped it'

Re glow plugs they only work when starting the car and cut out after it has been running. Glow plugs do tend to die in the winter months when they are most used and hardest worked.

cutting out could also be a hole or poor seal in the fuel lines. The Audi engine run very high pressures as most modern diesels do. Check fuel filter(s) and lines.

Felix.

The glow plug light is a feature with Audi’s I think - in that it flashes when there is an engine problem.

I might try getting some engine oil, filling it up and spinning the engine - see where it spurts from.

The car is completely out of oil - when you say 'seized' - the car still turns over on ignition and if it is a major engine blow-out then I would have expected some effect with the coolant water.

And why does this happen right on Christmas

Jamz3k

so its completely out of oil, yet you are still trying to turn it over? is the car faulty or are you faulty?

birchy2010

iTrader: (12)

i wouldnt be turning it over with no oil in at all, no lubrication can kill all the bearings and you still may sieze the engine. you wouldnt always expect to loose coolant depends on exactly whats wrong, you could have blow the turbo and lost all the oil through the housing, you really need to look at wear exactly the oil is coming from, well worth making sure you fill it with oil and cranking it a few times to get oil round if you cant see a leak now. worth spending a hour or 2 going over eveything you can access to keep any bills down, you may get lucky in that it is a hose or loose housing in some way.

Jamz3k

Tell me about it, my mechanic can't fix my car because he can't get a stupidly small part because of the snow.

Dedrater

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Dedrater

What are you after?

Jamz3k

some reservoir piece of my power steering system.

BOB.T

You only get engine oil in the turbo...well, and air! You may have a leaking fuel line, be careful though as the pressures are insane! It'd be nice to get a fault reader on it and see what the light was flashing for...

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Helps to know what car your actually driving; No such thing as a V8 diesel in an A4. And the only 2.4 litre fitted in the A4 was a petrol V6. (V6 diesel was 2.5, 2.7 or 3.0)

If it is low on oil; pray it hasn't seized the head(s) and jumped some teeth on the cambelt, you are looking at a bill well into four figures to fix the heads and cams, even if the bottom-end has survived without damage.

I hate working on Audi V6 TDIs, great when they work, pain when they go wrong. Nearly every task involves removing the front end of the car at the very least, if not the entire engine. At least there is space around the 4pot units so many jobs can be done with the engine in situ.

Felix.

Right - typed the original in a hurry - it’s a 2.5 V6, and when I say turn over - we are talking a mere second to see if it does. Shouldn’t do any harm as cars at work have travelled some distance with no oil in before seizing and then only at reasonably high revs – but I digress.......

The car is only an s reg and is probably not worth 4 figures - you can get a whole new engine for about £300 in any case.

I will have a closer look tomorrow to see where the oil is coming from.

I'm tempted to clean it all up, put some oil in and see if there's an obvious leak.

Don't know what I was thinking about the turbo (its air I know and not diesel) but the leak does smell strangely of diesel.

I’m tempted to think that this is more ‘outside of the engine problem’ as the coolant has not been affected at all.

LeeMac

iTrader: (1)

Winds me up when people ask for help when they dont even help themselves, but.....

If there is a diesel leak then air will get in and it wont start

look at the fuel filter
check pipes from filter
check pipes at the pump

and FFS put some oil in