67blackcherry

Greetings - my first post, my 2007 A3 has 95,000 miles (and has been a champ, I run her hard) flashed the chip and went with Militek dual exhaust....anyway, car started smoking, parked it, noticed oil on the top of the block by the batter. Went and saw a movie; came out, there was a good sized puddle underneath....started the car (I was only a few miles from home) but there was a gnarly knocking sound (didn't do that when the problem started) so I turned the car off and had it towed. It's at the dealer but they tell me my extended warranty has expired (April 2012) so I can have Scott Wood / Stray Dogs Garage (formerly VW Specialties Huntington Beach CA) do the work but here's my dilema...

Rebuild the engine OR just buy a rebuilt engine? There are a boatload of rebuilt blocks on eBay (not the best idea, I know) so what sort of cost am I looking at for a good rebuild AND....now is the time to upgrade the turbo, any other suggestions?

Thanks!

imtimmy

Yes upgrade that turbo if u plan on keeping the car. I would have your block rebuilt personally.

ZakMadigan

What qualifies as a "rebuilt" engine is very subjective, even more so when the ebay word is involved. a rebuild could be anything from a blown timing belt and jam a new set of valves in the head and slap a belt on it, all the way to a complete bare block tear down, line bored mains, bored out cyls, and a fly cut deck surface, same for the head, and torn down and blue printed cam/crank journals for taper/out of round etc. So this is why I would never trust anyone other than a reputable VW shop to do this task. A die grinder to the block=death by metal shavings for crank and cam bearings, best case scenario. I would buy new if this is an option. a long block is a pretty complete set up from audi. All you need is to transfer the belt and turbo...

67blackcherry

Thanks for all the replies...as fate would have it, Audi covered the repair under my extended warranty (after much arm twisting on my part) and she's running fine again.

Now...I just need to sell off my '68 Pontiac GTO to help fund the RS4 that I've got my sights on....