Arrgghhh Major problem...... Help..!!

[Felix.]

Audi A4 diesel 2.4 V8

Car has been running fine until yesterday when the glow plug light began to flash.

Carried on for a bit with no bangs, whirls, strange noises of any kind

Suddenly the car stops and won’t start although it does turn over. Looking under the car, there is oil all over the back end of the engine (back of gear box, exhaust pipe etc)

Looking at the oil leak however, it is a mixture of diesel and engine oil (there is no oil in the sump either)

Coolant water is fine and there is no ‘mayo’ on the oil cap

Now the only place I think engine oil and diesel oil come close is the turbo...... Do you think has gone bang..!!!!

Any advice on how to find out – or has anyone else suffered a similar catastrophe

[bez101]

dont think you get diesel in the turbo

[spartacus 68]

Your car is a V6, not a V8. If it was a V8, then you'd have twin turbos, twin inlet manifolds, etc. The 2.4 was a 30v petrol engine? I'm assuming this is a 2.5 TDi V6 lump?

I suspect the timing belt has broken, hence everything is out of sync. Even if the timing belt hasn't broken, it's possibly skipped a tooth (collapsed tensioner pulley bearing, water-pump broken). Pre-2003 cars had cam shaft issues. Early ones had hollow shafts with iron shrunk-on lobes. These lobes split and come loose when worn. A skilled mechanic will be able to diagnose. Keep us posted.

[Felix.]

Right - typed the original in a hurry - it’s a 2.5 V6,

It does turn over still (I know it has no oil, but we are talking mere seconds worth of turning). I wouldn’t have thought it would do this if the belt had snapped.

I'm tempted to clean it all up, put some oil in and see if there's an obvious leak by turning it over again – I’ll check the belt first of course.

I’m tempted to think that this is more ‘outside of the engine problem’ as the coolant has not been affected at all. Although I am perplexed as to why the oil smells strangely of diesel.

[phil miller]

hi mate if it was me id top up the oil level and try again, it is very possible that the ECU detected the lack of oil level and has shut down to prevent failure, now the oil light will only come on if there is lack of pressure you only need about 1/2 lt of oil to fill the oil pump and put the light out, so altho there is an oil leak that needs fixing, my first step would be tpo top up the level and see if it starts if it does then get the leak sorted asap, i dont think this is a timing issue as you said there were no bangs, keep us updated mate

[Felix.]

i will indeed mate


.....and why do these things happen right on Christmas

[phil miller]

i will indeed mate


.....and why do these things happen right on Christmas

i think its called sods law, its the one thing in life you can count on

[spartacus 68]

What's the history of this car? It's a 2000 'X' registered AKN 2.5 TDI. Things we need to determine are when was the timing belt changed (should be every 80k including water-pump and tensioner pulley). What oil are you using - ideally a fully synthetic 5w30 viscosity. Still convinced it's jumped a tooth regards the cam belt.

[bez101]

What's the history of this car? It's a 2000 'X' registered AKN 2.5 TDI. Things we need to determine are when was the timing belt changed (should be every 80k including water-pump and tensioner pulley). What oil are you using - ideally a fully synthetic 5w30 viscosity. Still convinced it's jumped a tooth regards the cam belt.

if if jumped a tooth on the belt why would he have lost all the oil ?

[phil miller]

if if jumped a tooth on the belt why would he have lost all the oil ?

i agree, with cars like this it is very easy to jump in at the deep end and condem things without doing the basics, so topping the oil up first and foremost is the first step, plus if it had jumped A tooth it would still start just be very flat when being driven