Piston Slap: Escaping the Four Rings of Hell?
Richard writes:
Sajeev, this is a 2010 Audi A4 Avant that is in like-new COSMETIC condition. It was purchased over my wife’s strong objection, as none of our four prior Audis has made it past 80,000 miles without suffering a complete and total meltdown. This one suffered an oil consumption meltdown at 65,000 and required a new set of pistons and rings – paid for by Audi! It now has 99,378 miles on it and a Blue Book trade value of $6,000.
The other day the check engine light came on. I correctly internet diagnosed a loose bypass valve on the turbocharger and was ready to write a $2,200 check to replace it. Not so fast said the Audi man! To get the light off it requires (1) a new turbo, (2) a new PCV valve, (3) a new cooling fan, (4) and some other new item at the back of the engine. On top of the typical A4 oil consumption and turbo failure issues, the Audi man says it has the third typical A4 issue – carbon valve build-up, which causes it to chug and spew vast amounts of smoke on startup periodically. Finally, it needs all new front end bushings. This is set to cost a grand total of about $6,000.
I like this car, but fear I am in for lots more heartache. Is it time for a new car – perhaps a LEASED GTI or Elantra Sport? One idea is to just run it into the ground or the next smog check without fixing this crap, which has not affected performance. What should a heartbroken Avant owner do?
And if I were to do this vast amount of work, how would you sequence it?
Sajeev answers:
New pistons and rings at 65,000 miles? Son, I’m not even mad with that – such an epic fail is seriously impressive!
But you’ve clearly owned that beautiful, fragile machine past its expiration date. Speaking from personal experience, if you were truly heartbroken, you’d learn to turn wrenches on it to bring back the love via spare evenings and weekends. Check out this cool video on the PCV replacement. Looks like a fun job (sort of)!
I’ll indulge your keep and repair sequence query for a moment – that’s a terrible idea – and suggest this order:
- Get a second opinion on the work needed from another Audi savvy mechanic. Never hurts.
- Address the turbo, PCV valve, cooling fan and whatever the heck your mystery item is concurrently: that’ll save labor costs.
- Do some internet research about the carbon build up, it might not need to be done at the same time as #2.
- Unless the mechanic noticed play in the suspension bits, change the bushings later.
- Get your head inspected for even considering steps 1-4.
Go lease an Elantra Sport ( which we quite like) and enjoy the big-ass warranty you’ll use sparingly. Time to get over the allure of fahrvergnügen: the Hyundai’s dynamics are close enough, the interior is decent and you’ll score mega-turbo-bonus points after thanking your wife for bringing you to your senses. Big win.
[Image: OP]
Send your queries to sajeev@thetruthaboutcars.com. Spare no details and ask for a speedy resolution if you’re in a hurry…but be realistic, and use your make/model specific forums instead of TTAC for more timely advice.
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The best Audi (and probably universally true with VW products) is a leased Audi. I've owned 2 VW products. I had an 01 GTI vr6 that I loved, but didnt even make it to 20k miles before perpetual shop time kicked in. I recently had an A4 that was completely solid until the 50k mile marker. Then I got hit with several 4 figure service/repair bills. I liked alot about that A4, but I dont really miss it.
300,000 miles yesterday '02 TDI Wagon manual (not Brown) As with my '99 7.3 Navistar, there are reliable platforms, we just don't know about them until later.