Purchased the vehicle for my 17yrs old daughter as a graduation gift in June and after having the vehicle for only 2mos, it had her stranded in a parking lot unable to start. Dealer told me it was Timing chain tensioner and it would cost 8700+tax...vNeedless to say my daughter is crushed!
Bought the car, got it inspected at an Audi dealer that did not mention tensioner issues. I had the car almost a year when it failed, i had the car towed to my mechanic thinking it was something stupid, he called me the next day and said my engine blew. I called Audi.. nothing they could do and the engine repair would be $10K ++ . My mechanic found a secondhand engine with a warranty for $7500 and he installed it for me. Worst nightmare and not to mention the car never went well after!
Was driving on the highway for a few hours, didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Exited into a service area to get fuel, at which point, the car downshifted as I began braking. While going from 6th to 5th to 4th, the engine stalled, and there was an audible clicking sound corresponding to the speed of the vehicle. I coasted to a stop, waited a few seconds, and tried to restart the engine. It would spin, but not start. I had it towed, spent $600+ on a U-Haul rental to bring it 4 hours home. Audi Burlington diagnosed it as the timing chain had skipped teeth, threw the timing off, and the valves collided with the pistons, thereby destroying the top-end, and possibly damaged the pistons. The cost to repair this is $6,000-$8,000 depending on the mileage of a used engine. THERE IS NO RECOMMENDED SERVICE INTERVAL FROM AUDI FOR THE TIMING CHAIN. Once out of warranty, your timing chain failing may render the car worthless. By not taking any responsibility it seems Audi does not expect anyone to be able to surpass 200,000 miles without having to replace your engine at least once.
Our Audi A4 left us stranded 120 miles from home this past weekend. It ran fine all morning. We stopped, and when I tried to restart, it ran rough but evened out. The next time I started it, the engine continued to run rough, shuddered and stopped. It would not restart so I had it towed to the repair shop. The repairman told us the Tensioner had failed and the timing chain had jumped some teeth which had caused serious (as in you need a new engine) damage. Audi America paid to fix the oil consumption problem two years ago, but they claim this is a "rare occurrence" so it will not be covered. The Audi dealership quoted $10,716.98 for the repair. From what I am reading on the internet, this is not an isolated occurrence and I feel they need to take responsibility for a wear item that needs periodic replacement. My engine would be fine today if someone had told me the Tensioner was a ticking time bomb that would destroy my engine. I would have paid whatever the Tensioner replacement costs to have avoided this catastrophe!
- raleigh nc,
Moncure, NC, US
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Purchased the vehicle for my 17yrs old daughter as a graduation gift in June and after having the vehicle for only 2mos, it had her stranded in a parking lot unable to start. Dealer told me it was Timing chain tensioner and it would cost 8700+tax...vNeedless to say my daughter is crushed!
- aterry415, Manchester, US