Audi A4 2001 1.8t Complete Engine damage

[Steve N]

Hello Guys,

I despreately need advice. I recently purchased an A4 2001 1.8T (51 PLATE) with 60, 000 miles on the clock. I was driving it to London from buying it privately when the engine went! The car had not been serviced for about a year! My mechanic tells me the cambelt slipped on the motorway and there has been huge damage to the engine.He has checked and the engine head is damaged as well. I am now faced with buying a second hand engine which is going to cost me over £1000 pounds. More importantly he says i also need to buy a new turbo charger as this is also damaged( Question is can the turbo charger get damaged as well?). I am also faced with changing the cambelt, water pump for any secondhand engine i buy! I really need help! Can anyone tell me

1. Is it possible that the engine is damaged beyond repair or is it just wise to buy a second had one?

2. If it is damaged, will my turbo charger get damaged too or is this just lies?

2b. I am told the second hand engines somtimes come with the turbo charger (if not, i would have to buy this at an extra cost). What does the charger look like and where can i find it in the engine?

3. Where is the best place for me to find a secondhand engine for 1.8t (2001) in the UK.

4. With a good second hand engine, will the car the ok?

Please help..this is really depressing!! I know its hard luck but i really do need some help on what i need to look out for.

Any help and contact details for a good mechanic that i can bounce ideas off will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Steve

 

[dubedition]

its totally feasable all of what the mechanic has said, your best place to start when looking for another engine would be Find'a'part. There on the net and also on the phone. Try to get one with turbo and alternator etc aswel as a good 3 - 6month guarantee on the engine.

im sure you will find one for between £4-700 with all the bits and a good guarantee.

The turbo will be located down the left hand side of the engine as you look in from under the bonnet, just underneathe the exhaust manifold.

 

[FactionOne]

Nightmare! Sorry to read you've had such bad luck...

1) The engine might not be damaged beyond repair, very often anything is 'fixable' given enough money and effort; It'll need at the very least a new set of valves, possibly pistons and possibly head too... All that would amount to ££££ and with labour and risks that there's something missed it's probably more economical to go for a replacement engine.

2) Again, there's no guarantees what's damaged and what's not. There is a chance your turbo survived, and likewise a chance it'd didn't. If the engine went in a big way, debris could've made its way to the turbo and damaged it.

2b) It's a crap pic, but on the 1.8T in a B5 A4 it's located lower left as you look into the engine bay from the front...

...the Turbo is the bit on the bottom edge of the picture bang in the middle.

Here's a turbo-only from a different view...

...To be honest though, it's more than likely if there is damage to it you'll not be able to see it while it's in-situ.

3) Your best bet is to hit Google for Audi/VW breakers; you'll need the engine code from your car (which can be found on the vehicle data sticker on the inside of the service record or on a sticker in the boot (usually where the spare wheel is)) - www.breakeryard.com might be worth emailing too; but make sure you haggle if someone comes up trumps on there, because they know it's a 'first port of call' so often will charge a premium. You can do worse than look at eBay too...

4) So long as the work's carried out properly, and the engine is 'good' (unfortunately there's not a lot you can do to guarantee that apart from check the history of the car it came from etc.) - there's a good chance for recovery. The advice you've been given to change the camblet (+ tensioner + idler) and waterpump is sound given that it's easy to do while the engine's not in place and is a good precaution against the same happening again. You should be able to get a cambelt kit for £30-40 tops and a water-pump for about the same...

Hope you get it sorted fella, and sorry again that the events which brought you to the site weren't happier...

All the best,

Rob.

 

[jcb]

get a pic of the head (underside showing valves) and down on the engine block into the cylinders when you visit your mechanic next. not dissing your mechanic but if you get some pics people here will tell you what is reasonable and what is bull!
unless you revved the balls off it when it went you may get away with some valves. how quickly did you stop, what speed, gear etc?

your turbo should be OK so long as you didn't get a piece of valve into the exhaust thereby taking the turbo with it.
unfortunately good second hand 1.8t's are a sought after commodity.

£1000 is a bit steep, I would want serious history and guarantee to spend that much.
anywhere from £700-800 is about right, check out eBay, couple come up on there from time to time.
If you need a turbo expect to pay a bit more, easier to get it at the time rather than seperately.

PM me if you are stuck, a mate of mine has (or certainly had) a 1.8t engine complete with all ancillaries and turbo from a 1.8t mk4 golf (KO3 150bhp model) turbo is different but the block, head and everything important will fit.
he might split it as he just wants it out of his garage!

I also have a set of rods and pistons and a spare head if you get really stuck and it needs a rebuild.

 

[macca]

jcb will know that i bought a car with said damage like yours, though turbo was ok, but turbo could be damaged.

i paid £700 for second hand engine which again had a problem and needed replacing. becareful as audi 1.8T engines are known to have the front crankshaft pulley come off, like mine did, which has the same damage to engine as a snapped cambelt. JCB had my second hand engine i bought and i think just a few valves had gone.

but i then got The Engine Shop near Dartford to rebuild my original engine, i went for the power plus engine that cost £3000, but they do a standard engine for i think around £1295 all in plus fitting, exchange. this is probably a safer bet long term as it is guarenteed. but the option is yours.

www.theengineshop.info

 

[Markey]

Could be that the turbo was just damaged before hand any way and he just noticed when taken apart. When you test drove it was it nippy of running fairly average ?

 

[aragorn]

to give you an idea, i did a rebuild on a 16v vauxhall head a few years back which needed new guides (although the valves were fine they probably cost around the same price) i paid £200 in parts alone, a further £200 for the engineer to rebuild the head and a further £300 to strip and rebuild the block

The valves will be bent, unless you were very quick at dipping the clutch you'll probably find most of them are. the bent valves can crack the guides too further increasing the costs.

However, you can look at it two ways, rebuild and and you know everything is spot on, or take a chance on another engine, rebuilding it will cost more as it involves more labour (but less in parts).

I personally would rebuild it but thats because i'd do the work myself, for you i'd recommend getting another low mileage engine and fitting that whole, just try to get the best example you can. Theres a lot of cars that use the same engine, but if you do get an engine from a different car, i'd recommend fitting the manifolds and anciliarys from your engine just to ensure everything is compatible.

 

[jcb]

get those photos up if you want some specific advice.
the engine I got from macca that lost its belt only had valve damage on cyl 2 and only the exhaust valves. rest was perfect.
pistons had slight marking on them but easily polished out and reused.

you could be lucky like that see below


http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3636115