Bought an S3 on Thursday, blew it up on...Thursday

[Greggers]

A quick tale of woe, and then a request for a bit of advice...

Evening all, it's taken me a week to get the stage where I want to think about the car again - went down to Manchester to pick up my first Audi last Thursday afternoon, a lovely little V-plated S3.

I haven't had a nice, quick-ish car for a couple of years - after getting tired of pouring my wages in to a Cosworth - and so a bit of spare cash burning a whole in my pocket led me to look at what I thought was a smart, understated, reliable, nippy motor: the S3.

I found myself an excellent condition, standard, full Audi history example, for good money, and so went down (after a couple of viewings and a full AA inspection) to buy it.

I managed 112 miles of excellent fun, and was happily cruising on the M9 when the oil warning sign appeared on the digital dash display. So I took it easy up to the next service station, checked the oil as instructed, and added a litre of 5w 40, just to make sure.

The car sounded a bit tappity, but my membership of the AA had lapsed, and I was still a good 150 miles from Glasgow, so I soldiered on, at about 60, only for the oil warning to come on again.

I slowed down, but still covered about 30 miles after the last stop, and then it all went pear-shaped; the engine gave up with some really wrong sounds going on....I coasted to the hard shoulder.

(In the interim, it took me three different pick up trucks, about 300 quid, and a 4am bedtime to get the car to my house. Good day.)

So, there it stands, this lovely little car - which I'd so looked forward to flying about in this week - out the back of my gaff, with me wondering what's needed.

I reckon, with hindsight, the oil pump probably gave up, and therefore ended up starving the engine (and I know I should have stopped a whole lot earlier that evening.)

So, to the Qs, if anyone's read this far(!)...any answers to any queries would be much appreciated :icon_thumright:

-- Does this assessment of the car sound right pls?

-- Does anyone know where or who I should go to to get the car looked at (pressure tested, I presume) please? I live in the centre of Glasgow.

-- Do I have any comeback on the private seller? (Doubt it...)

-- Should I buy a running engine off somewhere like the classifieds on this website, or get an engine build?

-- If a rebuild, how much?! And most importantly - who would you good people recommend, in Scotland?

-- Shall I go crazy and re-mortgage the house, and go for big power?

-- How's my luck?(!)



Thanks for your time, glad to have that off my chest
greggers

 

[Randomjim]

That's bad luck mate. You might not be able to go back to the seller but you may have a case to take up with the AA.

 

[scib4]

Sorry to hear about your luck mate....

Phone Jim over at Star (Kirkcaldy), thats your best bet mate :icon_thumright:

http://www.starperformance.co.uk/

Mike

 

[marms]

I can't believe you considered doing 150 miles with the oil light on.

This is likely to be very expensive for you now.

I'd agree that it sounds like the Oil Pump. If you'd stopped when the light first (or at the very latest the second time) came on and taken the £300 hit to get the car home it would have been a simple repair.

Now your looking at a new engine!

Sorry if this comes across as a bit harsh. I do sympathise with you. You must be truly gutted.

Sorry to hear your S3 experience has ended this way and wish you well in sorting it out.

 

[Ballcrusher]

well a rebuild will cost a SH££££££T load but if the wors case i have a number some were of a guy whos a breaker in harlow essex who broke a few S3 in the past 5 months ill dig the number and pm ya with it

 

[jamos3]

it,s going to expensive but if you want a engine to tune up eurospec do a bored and stroked 2.0l,2.1l,2.2l for not much more than what you would pay for a recon one jabbasport are an agent for them or check there web site for prices you could have it delivered.

 

[Toxik-Signal]

Next time stick Xado in your engine - it will run without oil for quite a while before it gives in. PM me if u wanna know more about it.

 

[S3IZZO]

Looking at about 40 hours labour + parts for an engine rebuild from personal experience....your story is so simlar to mine it's uncanny...I only managed 9 miles though

 

[claudefrog]

i would be on ebay getting a second hand engine, then get it fitted and sell all ancilleries frmo your current engine on ebay

 

[rickquattro]

Another vote for Jim at Star Performance, they really know their way around Audi's, give good advice and wont fleece you.

 

[campbell]

a second hand engine would cost about a grand or two off ebay, surely thats cheaper than a rebuild?
feel for you mate, i personally would of stopped a lot earlier and let the engine cool and check the oil etc

 

[daz2347]

Next time stick Xado in your engine - it will run without oil for quite a while before it gives in. PM me if u wanna know more about it.

what is that?

I have sort of the same problem mind you my engine has not gone,
some times mine does it.....

when going fast 100 plus then when slowing down light comes on.

and when going up hill in high gear when level light come on

or when sitting in traffic when very hot?

as i said only some times but its been like it for the last 6 months.

ps SORRY to hear about your engine and welcome to the Audi S3

 

[Audiman99]

Sorry to hear about ur car m8, i sorta know how ya feel, I spent £1700 just a few weeks ago fixing the engine after a headgasket went and lots of other problems was without the car for almost a month! Glad to have it back and running again.

good luck with yours keep us updated

Allan

 

[Toxik-Signal]

Xado is an oil additive but it's not like all the other additives that you find that supposedly clean out your fuel system. Basically when you do an oil change you mix some of this xado paste in with your engine oil (mix it in a clean bottle by shaking it until it's nicely mixed in with no lumps or anything). The Xado is absorbed into the engine metal and forms a very hard but very slippery layer along the edges of all the engine parts that are exposed to the oil - it takes about 1200 miles for the Xado to fully work its way into the engine but once it's worked its way in you don't need to add any more xado to your engine until another 60,000 miles or so (because it's absorbed into the metal and forms a layer on the metal it doesn't matter that you change the oil once it has worked its way in).
I was sceptical about this but my dad's mate has run a garage for over 20 years and he tried some of this stuff on an engine that was having compression problems and generally running rough and he said that it made a massive difference and it was running good as new. My audi only had 60,000 miles on it when I put the stuff in so it didn't really feel like it did anything to the performance but the engine certainly ran quieter than it was doing before. Anyway my main point is that this stuff is that good that you can actually run an engine without oil for quite a long time if the engine has been treated with this stuff. The stuff was actually discovered by the russians (accidently whilst drilling - the drill kept coming up good as new and at first they couldn't figure out why it didn't need replacing) but a US company marketed it.

 

[claudefrog]

that xado sounds good for the turbo oilways... blocking them up nicely :S

 

[Mo-S3]

When your measuring the layer on the metal in microns im sure it wont make difference to the oil pipes.
So many products on the market that claim to do the same. Team ZX1 is a very good one too.

 

[Toxik-Signal]

never heard of that stuff but it's probably exactly the same product as xado then, just being sold under a different name

 

[jeremygs]

a second hand engine would cost about a grand or two off ebay, surely thats cheaper than a rebuild?

This engine would be a straight swap for yours. Labour should be in the £1000+vat ballpark.

 

[Greggers]

Evening all, thanks for all your replies - really appreciate the help.

(And sorry for such a late reply - just back in to the country today.)

Randomjim - no come back on the AA, unfortuantely, they cover themselves fully. And they don't check the internals at all...

Mike (scib4 ) / rickquattro - thanks for the advice, will give Jim @ Star a bell in the morning

Marms - don't I just know it

Ballcrusher - particularly interested in the breaker you know of. Will PM you.

jamos3 - I'll try Jabbasport tomorrow, too, see what they can do.

Everyone re. Xado - thanks, just two weeks late

S3IZZO - Serious? Thought I'd done badly with 112 miles! And is it really that much effort to change the engine...40 hours?!

claudefrog / campbell - reckon that's the way I'll go, just buy a lump & get it dropped in. Grand or so should do it, it seems...

daz2347 - godo luck mate, hope it's not the same problem as I had!

Jonesy - cheers mate, will come back to moan about the problems / costs as it progresses .

jeremygs - cheers for that ad mate :icon_thumright: , much appreciated. Will call that company in the morning.


Again, thank you all very much for your time, you've been a great help
greggers