Has this Audi expired??

Hi all,

We're in a right pickle and cold really do with some help.

We have an 1998 Audi A4 that some months ago cost us an arm and a leg when the camshaft adjuster had to be replaced. And seemed to be OK (maybe a small exhaust rattle) up until 2 days ago when the oil light came on and engine got hot and whiffy. So we did our bit and checked the oil which did need filling, and we then thought great, until today.....driving it again the oil light came on again,engine rattling noise and oil temp sky high, then BANG!! lots of white smoke...my hubby says like a formula 1 style puff of white smoke, so the story ends with a tow back home and probably another hefty bill .

Do you think that it's something like the entire engine giving up or something like head gasket? as u an tell we know absolutely zilch about cars, but need an idea if it's worth a tow to the garage for fixing or whether we're gona have to take 2nd mortgage for the garage bill.

Any advice would be great please- Thanks

has it got a turbocharger?

How often do you change the oil?

How often do you have it properly serviced?

What mileage? petrol or diesel?

Hi,
Up until about 1 year ago it was always serviced regularly with an oil change, but it has got 123000 miles on clock, we haven't used it too much this last 6 months as my father in law gave us his honda which is cheaper to run.

No turbo charger.

Sorry -petrol

no turbo is a relief

might be a broken valve or piston, will have made an expensive mess of the engine. Sounds like something broke and the oil went through the engine into the exhaust

I don't think it will be the head gasket!

Complete guess but it will be more than a few hundred to fix. Might be a thousand, might be more. Used cars are cheap these days so have a look round.

As John says it does sound quite serious, probably a piston seized due to lack of oil pressure, possibly not worth the repair, or you could consider a secondhand engine if the rest of the car is in good condition

Thanks for the advice guys

do have have any idea on price for a new engine and (exhaust probably) with labour......... trying to work out what to do with it, fix, , flog or scrap (although that would kill me-it's a fab car).

Although to be honest we were thinking about selling it as we weren't using it much anyway

Does the engine still turn over? With overheating and white smoke it could be the oil cooler gone bang and filled the oil system with water.

Yep, I would guess a piston has given up, expensive unfortunately, probably a second hand engine required, impossible to tell without a bit of diagnostic engine dismantling.