MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Well, as I wanted to be a real STWan@@r, I thought I needed an Audi.
Found one in the right colour for the Boss on Autotrader.
HPI'd it
Drove it
Took it to an Independant Audi dealer for an inspection
Haggled
Bought it
Felt smug.
Yesterday, took it to my local garage to fix the coolant pipe leak picked up at the inspection. A bit of digging reveals the coolant leak is from deeper in the engine, requiring Gearbox and Engine head removal, and 20 hrs of labour!!!!
Garage not on a scam, as I know them well, and their recommendation was to sell it on.
Really, all I'm saying is buyer beware!! As a private sale, you have very few rights. I did all the right things, and have just been stung for 2 grand, having had the car less than 2 weeks.
What was the point of the inspection?
Did it not come with any sort of guarantee?
Took it to an Independant Audi dealer for an inspection
Er...?
Welcome to the world of Audi ownership!
Surely if you paid for an inspection there is some comeback if they didn't diagnose the fault correctly?
Radweld? Worth a punt?
Troll.
I wanted to be a real STWan@@r
Interseting and novel way to enguage us..
No, the inspection didnt have a guarantee, it was really a piece of mind check that I wasnt buying a dud - oops!!
My local mechanic said he didnt blame the other garage, as originally he agreed with their diagnosis. It only came to light as he dug deeper.
I know I should get rid of it, but now we know about the issue, trying to fob it off on someone else isnt my style.
dantsw13 - Member
Garage not on a scam, as I know them well, and their recommendation was to sell it on.
Once fixed or before?
should have got a bmw, turbo is a much cooler expensive problem to have 😯
BBuoy - humour?? Having effectively flushed 2k down the loo this morning, I need something to laugh at.
Glupton - yep, I'm a huuuge troll. Only here to wind you up? Normally I just scam people in the classifieds, but I thought I'd just get some posts in other sections to make me look kosher.
Why didn't you buy a new one then you'd have a guarantee?
RADWELD
They said flog it now. Doesnt feel right though.
£2k - could have bought a bike for that.
Or take it to someone who doesnt charge ~£100/hr for labour....
[i]he didnt blame the other garage, as originally he agreed with their diagnosis. It only came to light as he dug deeper[/i]
so you knew about the problem before you bought it? Just not what the exact problem was?
Wwaswas, yes, I was told the coolant hose had a hole in it. Which it did. It just wasnt the only problem.
20 hours work, plus parts, plus fluids, plus vat for £1800-2000 isnt £100/hr for labour.
£2k for a 20hr job is bloody expensive - what exactly is the job?
Cheaper to just replace the whole engine?
Welcome to the world of [s]Audi[/s] [b]car[/b] ownership!
FTFY
Glupton - not 100% sure what the name of the leaky part is. The car is a 3.2V6 Quattro with DSG gearbox. Apparently the Gearbox, Timing chains, and engine head all need to come off for the job, and the cylinder head pressure tested and faced before refitting.
Sound to me like the cylinder head gasket has gone (going by the pressure testing and grinding) . It's not a £2k job though by any stretch of the imagination. £6-800 at a smaller independent garage.....
With all non labour items coming in at under £200.
You bought a 3.2V6 Quattro for 2K and weren't prepared for expensive bills from now on???
not 100% sure what the name of the leaky part is
[url= http://kalecoauto.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1 ]http://kalecoauto.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1[/url]
😉
Glupton, that is a small independant garage. If you are a car mechanic, thats interesting, Ill get a second opinion.
Turnerguy. No, the car was 4800 on a 53 plate with low milage.
I'm not a mechanic, but there's not many jobs I havent done on various cars over the years. And blowing head gaskets would appear to be a speciality of mine.
It wasnt the head gasket, but a job that required the head off the engine. On the A3 quattro 3.6, I dont think there is a lot of room in there, so taking off the Auto gearbox, and the 4wd linkages and the head first makes it a big job.
Say its 20 hrs at £80/hr, plus gearbox/engine oil (has to come from VAG) plus new timing chains, new gasket, facing the head, pressure testing, the price ive been quoted sounds ballpark.
trying to fob it off on someone else isnt my style.
Good man, you might own an Audi but you haven't adopted the mentality that usually goes with it.
Not really an Audi specific story is it ? Doesn't sound like the car has been looked after properly, the mileage might not be genuine either. It doesn't make sense that such a major problem would appear on a low mileage 9 year old car.
Timing chains etc probably need replacing at a certain mileage anyway, you can pay the money and have the car you want.
What is the job then?
And £80/hr is more than double the going rate in Edinburgh....
£80/hr
Is that really what mechanics are charging?
yes, I was told the coolant hose had a hole in it. Which it did
You see, that would instantly ring alarm bells to me
Why would someone not get something fixed to sell it when fixing it is always way cheaper than selling it at a reduced price?
answer, they wouldn't
2k? If you have to change both heads on a Subaru its only 1.5k.
Are you being had OP? No offence meant but a coolant leak can be anything and anywhere - tight engine compartment or not. Theres always a way to get to it.
If it was me I'd top up and monitor the coolant level whilst getting a couple more opinions.
A 2k bill on a 4.8k car would make me very focused. A 2k bill on a 15k car would piss me off but I'd swallow it better. Whats my point? I'd throw a lower % amount against a cheaper car...
BTW have you checked its mileage history back to circa 2006 online? Might not show you anything but if theres a discrepancy I'd be back at the private sellers house to discuss.
Jambalaya, no, its not Audi specific, but seeing the Audi bashing that goes on here, and the fact I now have one, and my sarcastic mentality, it seemed a fitting title.
The mileage seems genuine. The HPI check, MOT's for the last 5 years, all showing small increases, and the job/profile of the owner all fit a low mileage town car.
As for the chains needing doing at some point, that is a fair point.
The worst bit is my missus has just informed me gleefully, that its all fine, as it will be financed by my lack of a bike holiday next year!!!! Why did I marry a lawyer??
Hora - I agree.
The coolant level isnt dropping, but crystalised coolant residue is all over. Under a pressure test with the airbox off, coolant dripping can be seen from behind the timing unit.
Heads off these days means its as well to replace the timing belts etc while you're at it.
I'd hold off the 2k fix then and monitor/carry out more research. I'd even go as far as seeing if that engine (in different cars) has a known older problem etc etc etc on different forums.
At that sort of age you shouldn't be paying that much if you can get away with a fix that'll last a few years 🙂
Carry coolant and drive on.
What's the worst that could happen? A toasted engine?
Probably not much more than £2k to get a re-conditioned one if that does happen - after all it's the kind of car people crash.
Thats only IF it runs dry and you'll get used to knowing how much it consumes anyway.A toasted engine?
It doesn't make sense that such a major problem would appear on a low mileage 9 year old car.
Id' be more worried about a low mileage old car than a high mileage one.
Agreed Hora
Try some k-seal first and see what happens. I had an s40 t4 with a crack in the block, put some k-seal in it and it was fine for the following year/ few thousand miles I did before I flogged it. Problem fully disclosed to seller of course!
[b]molgrips[/b] - Member
Id' be more worried about a low mileage old car than a high mileage one.
This is a very good point.
If you're worried about selling it on to become someone else's problem, just punt it on to webhyanycar.com and leg them sort it!
Worked for a mate of mine with a dodgy clutch on his Saab!
I would check out the numerous VW / Audi forums on the net to see if this is a common problem, there may be a simple fix. You will also get a true opinion of repair costs.
No bike holiday - now that a serious issue !
We've had 100,000 virtually trouble free miles from our A6 so perhaps you've just been unlucky.
We now take our car to Merc Medic just outside Woking - excellent service - might be worth a second opinion
[url= http://www.mercmedic.co.uk/ ]link[/url]
Wisepranker - I've had a look at them. Funnily enough, the wont pay anything near what I paid for it - probably for exactly that reason!!
It seems I might as well get it fixed, as to sell it PX I'm going to take a big hit anyway.
so this garage doesnt scam, but encourages you to sell a lemon on to someone else without fixing?, dodgy ground that
Less serious ...
Went to Half-fogs to buy a new car battery and was willing to pay the charge for them to swap the new battery in for me and to take the old one away.
As I do not have the security code for the radio etc when I bought my car 2nd hand, I asked if they could keep the memory setting for me when disconnecting the old battery. They answer no which I thought was a simple job with memory keeper/saver/minder but they did not even have this particular tool ...
So I asked if they could simply swap the battery with engine running and they started to laugh at me ... hmmm ... I thought swapping car battery with engine running rather common?
Anyway ...
Maggots.
dantsw13, my sympathy. But every time you switch cars, it's a risk you take (unless you buy new, and that can still have problems). If you did flog it on, how would you know the replacement would be any better? Stick with it, get it sorted, keep it for 8 years. Do the calculation on how much £2 compares to the total cost of owning and running it for that time.
my car pisses oil out at the mo(and has done for 12 months), still driving it! get thru a litre of oil every 2 weeks
Sounds like a pain in the ass having to pay out that much so soon after buying the car, but as someone above says, once it's sorted you should get many years trouble free use out of an Audi.
Had my 51-plate 2.5TDI Allroad for over 10 years now, got over 104,000 on the clock, and probably spent less than £3k on it fixing faults (though it does cost between £300-£1000 per year on servicing/consumables).
Not sure where you're based, but WVC in Weybridge are a good independent Audi specialist. And I can also recommend Merc Medic (as Jambalaya does), as I take my 16 year old E-Class there for servicing/repairs.
mike sell it to me 🙂
Sounds like a pain in the ass having to pay out that much so soon after buying the car, but as someone above says, once it's sorted you should get many years trouble free use out of an Audi.Had my 51-plate 2.5TDI Allroad for over 10 years now, got over 104,000 on the clock, and probably spent less than £3k on it fixing faults (though it does cost between £300-£1000 per year on servicing/consumables).
I've got an 2.5 tdi allroad, looked after it as well, it has done 177k miles.
It was fine until about 150k miles, since then I've had to replace front air shock bags, wiper motors, flasher units, front brake calipers.....and then...
Last week the auto box started playing up and an recommended independent specialist wants £3k to sort it out........Mrs FB none too pleased.....
No bombers or pissing in shoes?
Looks like someone put a hole in the coolent pipe to cover up a major fault before flogging it on!
Id' be more worried about a low mileage old car than a high mileage one.
Agreed. (Having had one....)
I thought swapping car battery with engine running rather common?
Taking the battery off with the engine running [i]can[/i] casue all sorts of electrical mayhem. I wouldn't do it.
Hora, it may be for sale soon - I'm thinking of getting a van.
Fantombiker - my Allroad's also had an air shock replaced (£600), an accelerator chip (£400), new wiper motor (my fault for not clearing snow off the screen properly so the motor burned out) (£200) and a gearbox fault (£1k) over the last 10 years. Still cheaper to fix than buying a replacement car though.
Got a 52 plate A4 tdi with 243k miles...it's never let me down!
Bought it with 110K and only had to put a clutch in it at 224K
Uses a lot of bulbs tho if I have to criticise something... I'd buy another tomorrow
A quick google indicates it may be a core/blanking plug which are made of plastic apparently! Used to be made of steel and prone to corroding through whereas plastic is probably prone to temperature issues 💡
Need to get underneath car with a bright led torch and maybe a wee inspection mirror. Could be that when engine is warm the leak will seal itself up and only be visible when engine is cold 💡 Any puddles under the car?
Well, Trekster, go to the top of the class!!!!
The Quattro went in last week, and after day 1, received the good news from the garage, that as the mechanic stripped the gearbox off, it became apparent that it was indeed the core plug that had failed.
11 hrs labour @ £45/hr, a few bits and pieces, and new gearbox oil, one new core plug fitted for £707 - much better than the £1800-£2000 I was expecting.
It's still an Audi though, my commiserations.
and as for: Why would someone not get something fixed to sell it when fixing it is always way cheaper than selling it at a reduced price?
answer, because they don't have the time or inclination to fix it and they'd rather give someone a good deal.
At least that's whats happening with my C Class, I'll miss that car, bloody stupid company car.
Fantombiker & mike-at-dialledbikes another allroader here .. and just had left side air bag changed with an Arnot one at £250 plus the fitting..
Anyway back OT I would take out a warranty and then bang in a claim..