AUDI A8 - 2011 - Gearbox Coolant Valve

Started by MilanB, January 09, 2018, 06:21:09 PM

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MilanB

I have a 2011 Audi A8 4.2 Litre Diesel with 66,125 km on the speedo as at October of 2017.
This was a UK import with 8,136 km when I purchased it from the Corporate Cars in May 2013. The car has been great until October 2017 when the engine started running rough, I thought I had a timing chain or valve lifter noise.

Continental Cars carried out an inspection and advised that the Coolant Valve on the Gearbox had leaked and the Wiring looms have had Coolant injected into the wiring loom under pressure. The failure of the Coolant Valve resulted in two wiring looms being damaged and quite possibly the computers attached to those wiring looms.
I requested a repair quote from Continental Cars.

The repair quote was for $56,074.60 (2 wiring harness =  $44,128 + 2 Valves = $737 + labour = $11.208 ).

The cost of new computers has not been covered in the repair quote above.


This repair estimate is about the market value of my car. So my luxury top of the line 6-year-old Audi A8 is now worth nothing.

I have been in touch with AUDI Germany and they are still deliberating after three months.

I undertook a considerable amount of research online to try and establish if this was a one-off event or something much bigger.

1) I found reference to the issue I had on the ROSS-TECH Wiki site. Reference No. P2755, (please google it ............very interesting)

2)  This information led me to National Highway Transport Safety Authority...NHTSA ID: 16V619000, .............................a product recall for the US and Canadian markets on all Audi A8's manufactured between May 2010 and May 2012. 

There were 9.067 cars recalled in USA and Canada in August 2016 of which 7192 cars were remedied.  (google it)

Audi Germany has said via their various agents they will not consider any vehicles older than 5 years old and European Motor Distributors (NZ) has advised that the recall was only for select VIN numbers in the USA and Canadian markets.

My view is that the issues identified in the USA and Canada are exactly the same issues and symptoms that I have with my vehicle, so I fail to see how they come up with certain VIN numbers.

The NHTSA Recall Notice states that the defect rate was likely to be 100%.

My view is that I should not be responsible for the repair of a product that is damaged due to a faulty component utilised at the time of manufacture.

The recall issued in the USA and Canada should have been issued WORLDWIDE for all AUDI A8 cars manufactured between May 2010 and May 2012. 

Having read in detail all the various recall notices, I suggest that this is a much bigger problem that extends to more cars in the Audi range than just the AUDI A8's. 

See link to Recall Notice: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1c4qdU5U0lwkIAkET_YfA60mefNNYZ5id

Who else in NZ or Australia has had a similar issue?

So consider carefully whether you want to invest in a luxury high-end AUDI where the manufacturer won't support their product. 
   

tjsmada

Any luck with getting any assistance from Audi? Could they at least discount the parts? I guess they either didn't bother with a decent failure analysis during the design phase or decided it would last long enough for them not to care...

MilanB


The subject is currently under discussion at AUDI AG, and I should have a response this week.

Audi AG as a should stand behind their product and repair fully as they did in the USA, Canada and Australia.

I will update once I receive a response. 

 

Horch

Quote from: MilanB on January 09, 2018, 06:21:09 PM
I have a 2011 Audi A8 4.2 Litre Diesel with 66,125 km on the speedo as at October of 2017.
This was a UK import with 8,136 km when I purchased it from the Corporate Cars in May 2013. The car has been great until October 2017 when the engine started running rough, I thought I had a timing chain or valve lifter noise.

.......

So consider carefully whether you want to invest in a luxury high-end AUDI where the manufacturer won't support their product. 
   

Who has performed the service and maintenance work since landing ex Uk ?.
2024 Porsche 992 GT3 Touring
1988 urquattro MB
1986 MB 300SL
2006 Vespa PX200


tjsmada

I wonder how the original dealer would feel if you started into the consumer Guarantees Act with them. I'd say a design flaw that writes off a 6 year old luxury car means it isn't really fit for purpose and isn't of acceptable quality   :o

Trofeo

Quote from: tjsmada on March 09, 2018, 01:36:34 PM
I wonder how the original dealer would feel if you started into the consumer Guarantees Act with them. I'd say a design flaw that writes off a 6 year old luxury car means it isn't really fit for purpose and isn't of acceptable quality   :o
however being sold secondhand as an ex uk car, I'm not sure you'd get too far.  Still worth investigating however
2015 Amarok 4WD auto
2018 Golf R-Line Tsi

Horch

Quote from: tjsmada on March 09, 2018, 01:36:34 PM
I wonder how the original dealer would feel if you started into the consumer Guarantees Act with them. I'd say a design flaw that writes off a 6 year old luxury car means it isn't really fit for purpose and isn't of acceptable quality   :o

You are required under the act to return the vehicle within reasonable time (define that) and give the dealer the opportunity to rectify the complaint. This may allow more than a single opportunity to resolve the matter.

5-6 yrs may be beyond what is deemed to be a reasonable time frame. The boundaries are loose. You could challenge them under the CGA and when this fails go them via the courts as the amount is beyond small claims tribuneral. Get your wallet in out....

Corporate cars won?t rush to write a cheque I imagine.

Vehicle age is the barrier. A few years earlier and it may have qualified for a factory goodwill contribution via CCS if they were to submit a goodwill claim given Audi would need a complete service history to support the claim. They will opt out if it?s incomplete or administered by unauthorised agents. Corporate cars should certainly contribute 30%. and you then take a share as owner.





2024 Porsche 992 GT3 Touring
1988 urquattro MB
1986 MB 300SL
2006 Vespa PX200

slaeya

#8
To the OP.

Did you ever have your issue solved by AUDI?

I'm currently going through the same process and believe this is the same issue however you may have additional information to aid me in the process.  As you identified there is a recall put out for Audi A8 2010-2013
Quote"The affected vehicles have a coolant valve that may leak, allowing coolant to enter the engine control module causing a loss of power or the engine to stall."

ref: https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2011/AUDI/A8/4%252520DR/AWD#recalls

According to the Audi NZ website imported vehicles fall under the category of "Grey Imports" however section 9 States
Quote9. What about recall and service campaigns?

Imported vehicles will be included in any manufacturer recall and service campaigns, only if the vehicle is known to exist in the local market. All NZ new vehicles will automatically be covered under any manufacturer programmes and all costs will be covered.

ref: https://www.audi.co.nz/nz/web/en/sales/grey-imports.html

As my Audi has been serviced by Giltrap Audi since it arrived the vehicle should be covered under the recall.  Giltrap Audi have referred me to Audi New Zealand to whom I am about to contact.  Did you at any stage get confirmation from Audi that the issue was wider spread than just USA / Canada if so this could be paramount in having Audi pay for the repairs, any further information you can share would be appreciated.

madmax100

Wow what a nightmare, I just brought a 2010 Ā8 4.2Tdi done 118k NZ new full dealer stamps, did a lot of research and over all a great car, same engine as in the Q7 of which there are many on trademe well over 200k's. So far no seroius issues, was going to get a remap punching out 930NM from standard of 800NM. Having just sold my second S8 2008 V10 to a guy in Wellington, that car was mint with only 49k's on, miltek, upgraded sounds, laser jammers and radar, a very tidy package. I wanted a similar Audi and was drawn to that torque of the diesel and also have a Jetta 2.0 Tdi 2012 with remap and a A4 2008 convertible 3.0Tdi remapped very rare in NZ both great cars. I want to turn of EGR what are others thoughts it just appears to carbon up the engine and adds costly repairs down the line.
Any thoughts and ideas would be appreciated, I hope I don't end up like MilanB's experince that sounds a frustrating problem with a hard landing.
2007 Golf GTI Edition 30, APR stage 2 395bhp, 3 door, white, manual
2007 Ford Mustang manual GT CS Roush
2007 Audi S8 V10 500hp
2008 Volvo C70 summer crusier
2012 VW Jetta 2.0 Tdi

Lurch

Recently repaired this car, continentals are full of crap the only damage to the loom was immediate area of the coolant valve, pleased to say it is back on the road and running like a dream, at a fraction of the price they quoted.

Moral of the story, The $tealers more often than not have no idea what they are talking about