[BiturboS4] S4 Blown Turbos - Update - Audi's Preliminary Diagnosis

j y jimnetpa at yahoo.com
Thu Apr 17 01:18:32 EDT 2003


To The List,

Well, I made that visit to my local Audi dealer today
and I must admit, it was like going to the doctor to
get a flu shot. You don't want that BIG needle headed
your way - cause u know it's gonna hurt.

To make a long story short - the official Audi
diagnosis is blown impellers (spelling?) - both
turbos.

They have no clue as to how this could happen and want
to break down the engine. They speculate that
something got into the intake system but cannot figure
out how it could have gotten by the intercoolers and
damage both impellers. The siren (like a police car)
sound that I hear are the distorted impellers
according to the Audi tech.

I inquired whether this impeller damage could have
been as a result of excessive heat causing warpage and
breaking off of the impeller blade(s) on the turbos?
He would not say yes/or no. His answer was the same
"need to break down the engine and investigate."

Since there have been documented problems with the oil
inlets on Y2K and early 2001 S4s - I figured that
excessive heat damage due to inadequate oil flow was a
potential culprit.

Anyway, "the 'ballpark' estimate to replace two turbos
with direct replacements + labor will about $6500"
according to the Service Mgr.

Again, the Service Mgr said "Audi's policy is to go
50/50 with customers out of warranty as goodwill." He
said "that Audi's rationale behind this is a
pro-rating based on a 100k mi expected engine life."

Thus, I have 52k mi  on my S4 - so Audi considers my
engine to be 50% depreciated based on a 100k mi
standard.

I understand this but I still have a personal problem
if the damaged impellers are a result of excessive
heat or manufacturer's defect.

I left my S4 at the dealer and said "that I would
think about Audi's 50/50 offer." I will be asking for
something in writing from the dealership confirming
this 50/50 proposition.

On another note, I replaced the Stratmosphere DVs with
the OEM Bosch DVs before going to the dealer. Well,
they noticed that the DVs had been swapped out -
beause the OEM clamps on the Bosch DVs cannot be
gotten in the aftermkt and I didn't keep the orginal
OEM clamps.

So, no OEM clamps on the Bosch DVs leaves one open for
questioning at the dealer. Regardless, this little
incident did not change their proposal to me.










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