Broken Gasket, Coolant in Cylinders, two days post Dealer Service [112k, 2015 Quattro P+]

pdfowler said:

We bought our Q3 brand new in 2015 and have had every service completed at the dealer. Last Monday, we had the "105k" service completed, and on Thursday we got the flashing Check Engine + EPC lights. No attempt was made to restart the car once the problem hit. 4+ hours waiting for a tow, finally get it to the dealer and they report that there's a broken gasket, coolant in the cylinders, and "let me get in you in touch with our sales department"

Ok, so we blew the head gasket, or maybe intake manifold, valve seals, etc - somewhat understandable at 112k. But wouldn't there be some sign that things were failing? Trace amounts of coolant, low pressure in cylinders, etc? I wouldn't think much of this, except that in 2015, also within a couple of days of a service, and also shortly after our extended warranty expired, on the same stretch of the 280 freeway outside of San Francisco, our A4 Avant also had an engine explode - leading us to buy the Q3 at that time.

Right now, we're sitting on the following

• Q3 has been a great car, 112k 95% smooth freeway miles, recently paid off in full.
• Waiting on the full report from the tech diagnosing what they believe is the problem
• Wondering what the **** we spent $800 on last week
• We've called Audi Customer Care to plead our case
• Svc Department gave a brush-off repair estimate of "$5k just to get started, and it'll go way up from there. I'll have the sales department reach out to you"
• Last week's svc also seemed fishy, they recommended new tires despite current set having less than 3k miles on them (new tires have been the only thing we have done outside the dealer's svc dept)

Any thoughts on the following?

1. Anyone have a recent head gasket (or other coolant leak) recently, or around 110k? IE: is this expected at this mileage?
2. Shouldn't regular inspections show cylinder pressure problems pointing to failing gaskets?
3. Any chance the "fuel system cleaning protocol" jarred something loose or could have spiked pressure leading to imminent engine failure? IE: the circumstances seem fishy and I'm looking for someone to blame.

Click to expand...

pdfowler said:

We bought our Q3 brand new in 2015 and have had every service completed at the dealer. Last Monday, we had the "105k" service completed, and on Thursday we got the flashing Check Engine + EPC lights. No attempt was made to restart the car once the problem hit. 4+ hours waiting for a tow, finally get it to the dealer and they report that there's a broken gasket, coolant in the cylinders, and "let me get in you in touch with our sales department"

Ok, so we blew the head gasket, or maybe intake manifold, valve seals, etc - somewhat understandable at 112k. But wouldn't there be some sign that things were failing? Trace amounts of coolant, low pressure in cylinders, etc? I wouldn't think much of this, except that in 2015, also within a couple of days of a service, and also shortly after our extended warranty expired, on the same stretch of the 280 freeway outside of San Francisco, our A4 Avant also had an engine explode - leading us to buy the Q3 at that time.

Right now, we're sitting on the following

• Q3 has been a great car, 112k 95% smooth freeway miles, recently paid off in full.
• Waiting on the full report from the tech diagnosing what they believe is the problem
• Wondering what the **** we spent $800 on last week
• We've called Audi Customer Care to plead our case
• Svc Department gave a brush-off repair estimate of "$5k just to get started, and it'll go way up from there. I'll have the sales department reach out to you"
• Last week's svc also seemed fishy, they recommended new tires despite current set having less than 3k miles on them (new tires have been the only thing we have done outside the dealer's svc dept)

Any thoughts on the following?

1. Anyone have a recent head gasket (or other coolant leak) recently, or around 110k? IE: is this expected at this mileage?
2. Shouldn't regular inspections show cylinder pressure problems pointing to failing gaskets?
3. Any chance the "fuel system cleaning protocol" jarred something loose or could have spiked pressure leading to imminent engine failure? IE: the circumstances seem fishy and I'm looking for someone to blame.

Click to expand...

pdfowler said:

We bought our Q3 brand new in 2015 and have had every service completed at the dealer. Last Monday, we had the "105k" service completed, and on Thursday we got the flashing Check Engine + EPC lights. No attempt was made to restart the car once the problem hit. 4+ hours waiting for a tow, finally get it to the dealer and they report that there's a broken gasket, coolant in the cylinders, and "let me get in you in touch with our sales department"

Ok, so we blew the head gasket, or maybe intake manifold, valve seals, etc - somewhat understandable at 112k. But wouldn't there be some sign that things were failing? Trace amounts of coolant, low pressure in cylinders, etc? I wouldn't think much of this, except that in 2015, also within a couple of days of a service, and also shortly after our extended warranty expired, on the same stretch of the 280 freeway outside of San Francisco, our A4 Avant also had an engine explode - leading us to buy the Q3 at that time.

Right now, we're sitting on the following

• Q3 has been a great car, 112k 95% smooth freeway miles, recently paid off in full.
• Waiting on the full report from the tech diagnosing what they believe is the problem
• Wondering what the **** we spent $800 on last week
• We've called Audi Customer Care to plead our case
• Svc Department gave a brush-off repair estimate of "$5k just to get started, and it'll go way up from there. I'll have the sales department reach out to you"
• Last week's svc also seemed fishy, they recommended new tires despite current set having less than 3k miles on them (new tires have been the only thing we have done outside the dealer's svc dept)

Any thoughts on the following?

1. Anyone have a recent head gasket (or other coolant leak) recently, or around 110k? IE: is this expected at this mileage?
2. Shouldn't regular inspections show cylinder pressure problems pointing to failing gaskets?
3. Any chance the "fuel system cleaning protocol" jarred something loose or could have spiked pressure leading to imminent engine failure? IE: the circumstances seem fishy and I'm looking for someone to blame.

Click to expand...