Am I Being Taken By The Dealer?
11-09-2003, 05:10 AM
#1
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Am I Being Taken By The Dealer?
My 98 A6 (103K miles) developed an oil leak about 2 months ago resulting in a loss of about a quart every 2-3 weeks. The local non-Audi mechanic could not locate the source of the leak & the job was simply too much for him to handle. Last week, the Audi dealership replaced the driver side camshaft seal, chain tensioner gasket and valve cover gasket charging 8 hours of labor ($560) plus parts ($90). The next day I noticed there was still a smaller leak on the passenger side. To be honest, there was so much oil under the car from the first leak, I am not sure if the original leak was coming from both sides or just the driver side.
The dealer is claiming that there was no leak on the passenger side when I brought the car in the first time, and that the passenger side leak is new. They insist that fixing the driver side leak has immediately caused more pressure on the engine causing this new leak on the passenger side.
A couple of questions.....Are they giving me the business? Is this a plausible explanation? If it is, was it so likely that this would have occured that they should have advised replacement of the passenger-side gaskets when doing the first repair? Is it likely they actually spent 8 hours of labor (this doesn't include their diagnostic labor charge of 2 hours)for the first repair, or is that their "book rate"? Should I insist that there should be no labor charge for the second passenger-side repair as 8 hours should have been adequate to repair everything in the first place?
Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.
The dealer is claiming that there was no leak on the passenger side when I brought the car in the first time, and that the passenger side leak is new. They insist that fixing the driver side leak has immediately caused more pressure on the engine causing this new leak on the passenger side.
A couple of questions.....Are they giving me the business? Is this a plausible explanation? If it is, was it so likely that this would have occured that they should have advised replacement of the passenger-side gaskets when doing the first repair? Is it likely they actually spent 8 hours of labor (this doesn't include their diagnostic labor charge of 2 hours)for the first repair, or is that their "book rate"? Should I insist that there should be no labor charge for the second passenger-side repair as 8 hours should have been adequate to repair everything in the first place?
Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.
11-09-2003, 05:24 AM
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Cam adjuster gaskets.
I can 100% believe your cam adjuster gaskets were leaking. Very common problem on those engines. I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner really. It is a pretty decent sized job. The cams need to come out in order to replace the gasket. As far as if the other sied was leaking or not. I can't tell you for sure. Never seen your car. It's possible they were (more than likely) but depending on how much oil was everywhere and how slow the leak it may have been hard to see. None the less, whenever I have one that is leaking. I always estimate for both sides. That's just me. I'm going to have your timing belt off and what not, doesn't take too much more time to pull the other cams and replace that one as well. Usually though they are both leaking anyway. I also do all the cam seals and those little hocky puck things as well. I usually go 10.6 hours for the whole ordeal labor. And yeah I'll make time on the job, but then again I'm supposed to. I've also done so many of them it would be really hard not to make time on it. 8 hours for one side seems about right to do one side. I don't remeber how much it is under warranty time. Really they should have quoted you for both sides. It would have covered there butts, and you would be leak free at this point. (Unless something went wrong during the replacement.) Try to work with your dealer on it. You maybe able to get them to do it for half labor or something. Doing it for no labor probably won't happen because it would have been more labor to do both sides to begine with. Just not a whole lot more. You may ge lucky and they may not charge you any labor. Good luck with it.
11-09-2003, 05:30 AM
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I just had both of mine replaced at 60k...
<center><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/50250/img_0008.jpg"></center><p>My extended warrenty pick up the bill ...but it was apparently a huge job...
11-09-2003, 06:32 AM
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The other leak was probably there
Fixing the first oil leak doesn't increase the interal oil pressure to a point where it springs a new leak.
But the other one was probably there in the first place, AudiTechIl seems to have hit it on the head.
pw
But the other one was probably there in the first place, AudiTechIl seems to have hit it on the head.
pw
11-09-2003, 06:40 AM
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but the tech, service writer and shop froman, should have KNOWN that VC gaskets were a common
problem, and offered to do them at the same time for a reduced price since they had the car apart anyway
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11-09-2003, 07:09 AM
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Yep...
If they're offering the excuse that fixing the one would have caused the other then they knew that could happen when they replaced the first one right?
It's BS in the first place but they are just making excuses for a mistake.
It's BS in the first place but they are just making excuses for a mistake.
