Failed oil pump and aftermath

A

A2fan

Member
Apologies I am neither mechanically minded nor familiar with complexity of the A2. We have owned an 05 1.4 tci special edition from a year old it has 100k on clock. It has become part of the family and fantastic condition.there have never been any engine issues other than steering and anti roll bar issues. Three weeks ago my wife was driving it when the oil light came on, she pulled in and called our local garage who have looked after if for the last 7 years. They started it and drove it to the next roundabout, it stalled and eventually got another 500m before being abandoned. The net result engined wrecked chain slackened and scoured the end of shaft and my engine in pieces on the garage floor. They are offering me little by way of solution other than it will cost you 3-3.5k to fix with a small engine replacement. Aside they have 12 hrs in dropping the engine out. The muttered about sourcing a new cam shaft at £300 and turning this and that and twice the time to put the engine back together. I think they are out of their depth but the question is what should be my next steps? New small engine with alternative garage?
Any suggestions as to sourcing new engine much appreciated.
 
Sorry to hear of the problem. Not heard of this before but I would do a google search to see if this has happened to others. Have to say that a garage driving a car with an oil light on with out doing a couple of checks would seem a bit foolhardy. Second hand engine do come up on eBay from time to time, possibly from a breaker such as motorhog or youpullit.
 
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TDI 90 or 75? This is very relevant for finding a replacement engine.

Failed oil pumps are known and seen, but generally the right side of 350+ thousand kms. So this is a very early failure.

Dropping the engine out is something a half-competent mechanic can do in their own garage and shouldn't take 12 hours. If I remember correctly Thomas on the German forum did his own engine replacement over a weekend in his garage with help from a friend.

Who have you spoken to at the garage? The manager? They are trying to fob you off. The car is movable? I would want the car out of there ASAP and no bill for them having removed the engine at the minimum.
A replacement short engine shouldn't be too expensive, maybe £1500, plus fitting. Bottom line: they should not have started it with the light on, they know that and I would pursue them because of it. Red light? When was the last oil change? How often were you checking the oil levels?
New cams won't cut it, you can't replace it if I remember correctly, it needs to be a complete new bottom end.

- Bret
 
simufly said:
Sorry to hear of the problem. Not heard of this before but I would do a google search to see if this has happened to others. Have to say that a garage driving a car with an oil light on with out doing a couple of checks would seem a bit foolhardy. Second hand engine do come up on eBay from time to time, possibly from a breaker such as motorhog or youpullit.
Click to expand...

I echo that, any garage that drives a car with the oil light on is one I would avoid.

In fact I would probably sue them for the damage they caused.

Your wife did exactly the right thing, she seems to have more sense than the "mechanic".

The garage would, of course, blame the oil pump failure for the damage, but the fact that they were able to start and drive it meant that at the point they took control of the car it was not "trashed" (as it is now)

So I would sue them for the damage, definitely !!!!

To me, you would win any such case.

Any opposing or supporting comments may help the OP.

Steve B
 
Thanks for all the responses. The car was serviced in September the mechanic checked the oil before he fired it up. It had a new timing belt in September also. It seems most concur with my thoughts even if the pump had failed it fired and ran hence not as catastrophic as the current position.
It's a 60bhp on. BHC engine code if that makes a difference.







Birchall said:
I echo that, any garage that drives a car with the oil light on is one I would avoid.

In fact I would probably sue them for the damage they caused.

Your wife did exactly the right thing, she seems to have more sense than the "mechanic".

The garage would, of course, blame the oil pump failure for the damage, but the fact that they were able to start and drive it meant that at the point they took control of the car it was not "trashed" (as it is now)

So I would sue them for the damage, definitely !!!!

To me, you would win any such case.

Any opposing or supporting comments may help the OP.

Steve B
Click to expand...
 
okay, so that's a 75PS TDI....And he checked the oil level, it appeared OK - yeah, it would do, because the pump has failed so it's all in the sump - and he started it anyway. Lovely. The red oil lights will have come on and stayed on at that point, and it should have been a "turn it off again, NOW!" moment. Assumption was probably that the sensor was dead. Fools. Instead, they drove it, restarted after a stall (at this point, the damage will have cause the crank to stop moving) and away you go. The block is probably toast, there will have been some residual oil but not enough.

There's a company on EBay in Germany offering a complete (recon) engine including fitting with 12 month guarantee for €2400. That should give you a price indication, fitted.

- Bret
 
On my way home from work last Tuesday after around 30 mins driving I got into second gear off the lights and the big red oil can light with the drip came on, loads of juddering from the TDI engine but no smoke or signs of an engine about to blow up. I took off the bonnet and had a good look around but there was no oil leaks anywhere. I had a feel around to see if I could spot any loose pipes, split hoses and still nothing. I started the car again and the juddering was still there so I phoned my recovery guy straight away and got the car home. My mechanic friend has diagnosed an oil pump failure so I got onto warranty direct and they said to get it booked into Audi for them to check out, they haven't been able to look at the car until Friday I got a call to say they are going to be on it first thing on Monday.

Call came this morning saying they have found that the oil pump has failed but need to fit the pump and then do another compression test to see if anything else has failed and at the moment I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it is just the oil pump and nothing else. The good thing was that when this happened the car wasn't driven so hopefully there hasn't been any further damage so I may have saved DARMEL from certain death at this point. They said if all is well the cost would amount to £563.89 and I'm hoping they may waver the £60 diagnostic fee too..... Since Tuesday I've borrowed a 55 plate Ford focus 1.8 diesel not bad at all on fuel and I'm now borrowing a 3 series Bmw 1.8 petrol convertible which is let say is just a car as beggars can't be choosers.

I need my Audi A2 fuel saver back as soon as possible, I have around 1500 miles left till my next service so I'm going through this car meticulously to see what other things can fail and what may need replacing sooner rather than later. I did notice my rear silencer had dropped a little whilst they were loading the car onto the recovery truck, closer inspection revealed the exhaust rubber hanger has broke and hanging on by one side. Just goes to show how general checks can save us big bills!

But for now, I'm awaiting Audi's call £££££

:cool:
 
I don't know Chubbybrown, and don't think it matters now as the engine is toast according to Audi. They said when the oil pump went the chain came off and has fragmented into the engine as bits of the chain is in the sump which has put a £6K bill on the repairs.
Its a good thing I am with warranty direct as they said if i can provide my last MOT and Service reciepts they will approve the go-ahead for the work to be done up to the car's cost of £6k they said, but also need to show receipts for the cam-belt & water pump as I may have to foot the bill for those because they will have to be changed and may not be covered in this instance the service manager said. I'm not ready to part with this car yet as it's been so good to me and would like to keep it as these will soon become collectors item especially 90bhp Sports, so I'll be paying whatever it takes as my only option to another reliable small Audi is the A1 1.4 TFSI Sline which my wife has got but she has the TFSI version cylinder on demand.

:cool:
 
I have a complete tdi 75 hp engine, all good with only 78k miles.
pm ME if interested.

cheers
 
Thanks guys but at the moment it's in the hands of Audi and hopefully they can get it sorted, by the way my car is a 90bhp not a 75bhp so I'm not sure if they are a straight fit!

:cool:
 
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Car is now for sale due to warranty circumstances.....see FOR SALE POST!

:(
 
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Thanks for looking, but it makes more economical sence for me to get into something newer now as I can't have a car being off the road for so long especially waiting for parts and the right mechanic to do the job, these cars are delicate.
 
Sojah, do you still have car.
personally I would be curious to know if engine turns,If it does I would venture a repair.
I know we all should rely on audi dealers but if they cant be bothered, even if you could get a 2nd opinion.
If that chains in the sump and its still in there if you see what I mean?

Roy
 
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