Audi S7 engine failure @ 30k miles, under 4 yrs old!

[drgekko]

I've been a proud owner of an Audi S7 until the engine decided to die on me one morning during the school run. It was recovered to the local dealership and they said they would need 24 hours to investigate it at a cost of around £3200! They said it was probably a timing chain issue. Anyhow they've stopped all work and said it needs a new engine at a cost of at least £2500! I've contacted Audi UK about this to argue that really, it shouldn't have happened in the first place and awaiting their response. There's no way I'm paying that. Any other ideas of what I can do? Not entirely sure I can ask insurance to write this off?

[sunbeam alpine]

It may be helpful if you could give some more information -

- Have you owned it from new?
- Has it always been serviced at the dealer? (I know people will say that independant garages can work on cars without affecting the guarantee, but once out of guarantee a full dealer service history may be helpful in gaining "goodwill" contributions.

Dr G on here is very knowledgeable about all things Audi (there are a few others as well), so hopefully he will be along soon to advise you.

My mum's Polo developed a serious engine problem about 3 months out of guarantee. As we had bought it new and always had it serviced at the dealer, we accepted an offer that we contributed £200 toward the repairs and VW footed the rest of the bill. When we came to collect the car, they waived the £200 contribution as the mileage was so low (one 80-year old owner) and they said it shouldn't have failed.

What I would advise is to stay calm when dealing with the garage - getting all shouty and threatening legal action/Citizen's Advice etc. will be counter-productive.

[xjay1337]

As above.
More details, service history, ownership time.
Warranty, etc?

[Soov535]

drgekko said:

I've been a proud owner of an Audi S7 until the engine decided to die on me one morning during the school run. It was recovered to the local dealership and they said they would need 24 hours to investigate it at a cost of around £3200! They said it was probably a timing chain issue. Anyhow they've stopped all work and said it needs a new engine at a cost of at least £2500! I've contacted Audi UK about this to argue that really, it shouldn't have happened in the first place and awaiting their response. There's no way I'm paying that. Any other ideas of what I can do? Not entirely sure I can ask insurance to write this off?

Your insurance won't cover this. Insurance covers accidents.

Warranties cover this sort of thing. I assume you didn't renew?


If not then you are on your own unless Audi make a goodwill gesture. They are under ZERO obligation to you though.

[E-bmw]

Soov535 said:

Your insurance won't cover this. Insurance covers accidents.

Warranties cover this sort of thing. I assume you didn't renew?


If not then you are on your own unless Audi make a goodwill gesture. They are under ZERO obligation to you though.

^^^^ Wot 'e said, not sure why you would think your insurance would pay for an engine failure?

[Soov535]

E-bmw said:

Soov535 said:

Your insurance won't cover this. Insurance covers accidents.

Warranties cover this sort of thing. I assume you didn't renew?


If not then you are on your own unless Audi make a goodwill gesture. They are under ZERO obligation to you though.

^^^^ Wot 'e said, not sure why you would think your insurance would pay for an engine failure?

It must be someone's fault, probably.....

[PositronicRay]

drgekko said:

I've been a proud owner of an Audi S7 until the engine decided to die on me one morning during the school run. It was recovered to the local dealership and they said they would need 24 hours to investigate it at a cost of around £3200! They said it was probably a timing chain issue. Anyhow they've stopped all work and said it needs a new engine at a cost of at least £2500! I've contacted Audi UK about this to argue that really, it shouldn't have happened in the first place and awaiting their response. There's no way I'm paying that. Any other ideas of what I can do? Not entirely sure I can ask insurance to write this off?

£2500 seems very cheap for a new engine. You could do with a break down of what is wrong and what they propose to do.

[Soov535]

PositronicRay said:

drgekko said:

I've been a proud owner of an Audi S7 until the engine decided to die on me one morning during the school run. It was recovered to the local dealership and they said they would need 24 hours to investigate it at a cost of around £3200! They said it was probably a timing chain issue. Anyhow they've stopped all work and said it needs a new engine at a cost of at least £2500! I've contacted Audi UK about this to argue that really, it shouldn't have happened in the first place and awaiting their response. There's no way I'm paying that. Any other ideas of what I can do? Not entirely sure I can ask insurance to write this off?

£2500 seems very cheap for a new engine. You could do with a break down of what is wrong and what they propose to do.

He probably means £25k.

[xjay1337]

It won't be £25k.
Bare block with cylinder heads, valves etc is just under £10k.
No way that a turbo and fitting would come to £15k.

[stevieturbo]

xjay1337 said:

It won't be £25k.
Bare block with cylinder heads, valves etc is just under £10k.
No way that a turbo and fitting would come to £15k.

Dealer labour costs probably could...they need to factor in time for them being incompetent, fking things, up, having to do it all over again...realising their diagnosis was wrong and having to fix something else...etc etc