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I have a very low resolution video from the bore scope. I saw it in person but when the video was sent to my phone it lost a lot of quality. I ended up getting the car towed from the local shop I was able to get it diagnosed at, to the dealer. Considering the dealer didnt let me tow it there because they wouldnt look at it until January 30th, this is moving along, but I do want to give the dealership until next week to get to my car so they can do their own "diagnosis" and maybe a root cause evaluation. They proposed talking to Audi USA and working a deal with me under a customer appreciation plan, so again.... I'm hoping they can go bat for me with Audi USA given that i was a good customer and managed to not tune the car or touch the motor for 8 years! haha.
If I dont have luck with those discussions through the dealer, my next step will be to try to reach out to them directly. I'm hopeful they will find a resolution that isnt terrible, my only concern is that they wont have much of an incentive to fix the motor and let me go. They will either propose a less than horrible trade in value and want to lock me in for a new car. I dont want to get ahead of myself but that is not ideal.
edit:
I dont know the extent of the damage, but the mechanic that scoped it out said theres no way you can bore that damage out, and it cant be sleeved. He's an audi-certified mechanic.
That's quite a Christmas gift. Spark plugs disintegrating is not a common issue I've come across with these engines, so you may have a case of them installing a faulty spark plug, unless there was a timing or some other issue, but then I would expect damage to other cylinders as well. I loved my '13 RS5, but the engine wasn't confidence inspiring as a keeper and I ended up selling it. Between burning oil, cold start misfires that never got resolved and it badly needed a carbon clean at 60k miles (really recommended to be done every 30k miles), it didn't feel like a keeper. It's possible that a junk of carbon made it into the combustion chamber resulting in a chain reaction.
Not sure why there has been quite a few catastrophic RS5 failure in N. America. The CFSA engine started in the RS4/RS5 in Europe in 2012 and ran to 2015 so they've got a lot of them over there. I've seen a couple now with bad Connecting Rod bearings. I'm thinking that your big end Rod bearing and then the Cap gave way and the piston hit. Turning over the engine would obviosly cause more damage but since there aren't a lot of them around and nobody in N. America rebuilds them it really doesn't matter (lots of rebuilders for them in Europe though).
Audi wants $23k~$25k for the engine (long Block). Unless the dealer can deal with Audi and find a deal then your screwd there. If you really love the car and for less than a new RS5 engine want it running, and better than a RS5, then do a 4.0t conversion. It would probably run close to $20k but you end up with a engine which puts out more power and a lot more Torque than a RS5 motor, they have shown to be more reliable, and it's still an Audi motor. I wouldn't part the car itself but try to sell it whole if you choose not to fix it one way or another. Someone would be interested in purchasing it to drop in a used RS5 motor or do a 4.0t conversion, or even dropping in a V6 3.0t motor.
Sorry about the bad news. I myself bought a RS5 with a seized motor. Took a chance and bought a low mileage Ebay motor with 26k on it. I did confirm the car it came out of only had 26k but the wrecking yard stored the motor poorly and I found Milky oil inside the motor. They would not take it back and no recourse on Ebay. I flushed the motor and with fresh oil and install, the motor failed a Rod bearing after approx 300mi. This time around I bought a whole wrecked but running & driving RS5 with 27k and pulled the motor and it is currently in mine car. Just about ready to put it on the road again. If I have another engine failure I'm going to go with a 4.0t conversion for sure.
I may have a viable option getting a new engine installed, with 1 year or 12k miles on the engine, perhaps additional warranties if dealership wants to negotiate. Curious to get your input as to whether that would help with resale value, should I choose to sell the car after that warranty expires. Essentially, its a major repair, but in exchange, you'd get an RS5 that is well taken care of, with an engine with probably under 10k miles.
Thoughts on resale value being hit, increasing? breaking even? Im looking at what I'd get out of the car, to determine whether the offer to put a new engine is worth considering.
I don't think it would hurt your value, to the right person a documented low mile or new engine might be worth more. Depends on what that engine cost is to you? I think any new engine from the dealer is warranteed by Audi for 12mo/12k miles. But if you're talking over $20k for the engine I doubt you will get that extra kind of money out of it.
Wow, a new Audi Longblock? Must have cost a fortune.
It did. It was a tough choice between walking away from the car for 10k cash, and a credit in trade in value of about 7k, which would leave me with about 17k in equity, versus repairing the car and theoretically being able to sell it for 30-40k years down the road, depending on market conditions, minus the cost of the new engine and installation.
One one hand, the trade in value was comparable to the equity Id have in the car once I subtract how much I'd pay for the new engine. On the other hand, I didnt want a new car with a new loan with ****ty interest rates. I didnt want to have a big loan right now, and frankly, I didnt want a little loan for a car I wouldnt be happy with. It was tempting to just take the trade in value Audi offered as an alternative, but I also couldnt get over the fact that this happened at no fault of my own (it looks like a valve spring failed and the valve just dropped and did all that damage). Why would I get another car from Audi?
So... I figured, fix the car, get a new engine with a warranty for 1 year (not enough, but better than an engine swap with a used engine with no warranty), and keep this bad boy for the foreseeable future, especially since just 3-4 months ago I replaced the battery, brand new tires, and new control arms. Maybe 5 more years? 10 more? Realistically, keeping the car for another 5 years or so will be worth the new engine versus a new car. The value I would have been credited towards a new car would go poof the moment I drive the new car out of the lot, whereas this 2015 car has minimal depreciation at this point.
Interesting a valve spring failure. Does that mean the original engine bottom end is OK? Curious what does the failed cylinder bore look like?
The bottom end is in pretty decent shape, considering the situation. I'm not sure it's worth repairing, as it does have some scored cylinder walls especially at the top of the block where the valve and broken piece of the spark plug was hitting. Unfortunately I'm not keeping the engine, as Audi is requesting it in exchange for a deal we worked out on the new block. It's kinda frustrating where it would have been easier to accept if I would have destroyed the block, but in hindsight I think it's still the best call. It would have taken a lot of work, new top end, valves, labor, only to get back an engine with half new parts half used parts, no warranty, and who knows what other potential underlying issues. Still struggling to accept the cost of a new block especially when its at no fault of my own (broken spring, not really like I tuned it or modded it or abused it), but I'm looking forward to putting this in the past and getting a car with a brand new engine.
12-29-2022, 12:18 PM
