NHTSA Complaint #10732845 — 2009 AUDI A4

VEHICLE BEGAN TO RUN VERY ROUGH AND STARTED TO SHAKE. PARKED AND STOPPED ENGINE. ON ATTEMPTING TO RESTART IT BRIEFLY FIRED BUT THEN DIED AND STALLED. SUBSEQUENT ATTEMPTS TO START THE VEHICLE RESULTED IN IT TURNING OVER WITH NO APPARENT FIRING. VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO THE AUDI DEALER AND WE WERE INFORMED IT WAS DUE TO TIMING CHAIN SLIP. IT APPEARS FROM INFORMATION ONLINE THAT THE TIMING CHAIN TENSIONER IN THIS 2009 B8 2.0T ENGINE IS DEFECTIVE. THE HEAD AND PISTONS WERE ALL DAMAGED AND THE ENGINE WAS DECLARED UNREPAIRABLE BY THE AUDI DEALER. DEALER CHARGED $1300 FOR INSPECTING THE PISTONS AND WANTS $13,000 FOR A NEW ENGINE. THIS VEHICLE HAD REPLACEMENT PISTON RINGS OUT OF WARRANTY BUT AT NO CHARGE TO US DUE TO THE KNOWN EXCESSIVE OIL CONSUMPTION ISSUE (FOR WHICH THERE WAS A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT). AUDI INCREASED THE ENGINE WARRANTY FROM 4 TO 8 YEARS AS PART OF SETTLEMENT OF THIS CLASS ACTION, BUT ONLY IN RESPECT OF FAILURES RELATED TO THE EXCESSIVE OIL CONSUMPTION ISSUE. AUDI MAINTAINS THAT THIS ISSUE IS UNRELATED BUT THE DEALER SERVICE MANAGER TOLD ME THAT ANECDOTALLY SHE'S SEEN SEVERAL SUCH FAILURES AFTER PISTON RING REPLACEMENT (I HAVE THIS INTERACTION RECORDED ON VIDEO). SEARCHING ONLINE SHOWS THAT THERE ARE SEVERAL WEBSITES SELLING REPLACEMENT TIMING CHAIN TENSIONERS TO REPLACE THE DEFECTIVE PART THAT AUDI USES ON THIS ENGINE. AUDI REFUSES TO ACKNOWLEDGE ANY FAULT ON THIS ISSUE. RED LINE SPEEDWORX WEBSITE WHICH SELLS UPGRADE KITS TO REPLACE THE DEFECTIVE PART SAYS THAT TYPICALLY THIS FAILURE OCCURS AT 80K MILES PLUS. SINCE THE STANDARD WARRANTY IS 50K MILES THIS MEANS THAT AUDI VIEWS ITSELF AS NOT LIABLE FOR THESE FAILURES. WE ARE FILING A LAWSUIT AGAINST AUDI OVER THIS ISSUE.