Strainers in the night
I wonder if you can help me? I have an Audi A4 Cab 1.8T, it is three and a half years old, has done 70k miles and has always been serviced and maintained by the same Audi dealership. Last week I had a Low Oil Pressure light come on the dash, I immediately rang Audi from the car and asked what this meant. They informed me that they would call me back. There was plenty of oil in the car and before they called back (which they didn’t), 5 – 10 miles later, the engine stopped. The RAC took it to the dealer, where it was left for over a week, numerous calls every day to try and find out what is happening, but nobody seemed interested in calling me back. I ended up calling Audi UK to express my dissatisfaction with this dealer and could they help? Audi UK called the and, hey presto, I am put through to the Service Manager. He informed me that he would find out what was happening. When he called back I was advised that the oil strainer was found to be blocked and the oil pump failed, causing major damage to the bearings, turbocharger, and valves. I was advised that the cost will be over £4,000 and that Audi accepts NO liability. I asked how could the strainer be blocked when it was regularly serviced by them? I later found that this a common fault with this car and engine. So much so that in the States they give an 8-year warranty against the problem on this car.
If the car was bought from and always serviced on time by this Audi dealer you have a clear case to sue the dealer for the cost of the repair using the small claims track at the county court. The strainer can only have become blocked because the oil congealed and that can have only happened if it was not changed regularly enough or if when it was changed the old oil was siphoned out leaving a filthy residue in the sump. (It turned out that G.C. had been late for an oil service, so had no case against Audi or the dealer.)
Answered by Honest John on