Oil spraying from filler cap!!!

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BlackS3
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Oil spraying from filler cap!!!

Post by BlackS3 » Sat Feb 04, 2006 5:22 pm

Hey people has anyone experienced oil being forced out of filler cap??
I was driving along earlier and suddenly lost power, when I tried to accelerate the car just juddered. I pulled over and found that oil had been forced out of filler cap spraying everything around it. I only lost 1/2 litre of oil but some ran onto coil pack. Maybe that is why it is now running rough, maybe on 3 cylinders. I got towed home then started it and white smoke came out of rear and it sounded like a subaru. I've checked for faults using my vag-com software but nothing came up so must be mechanical. Anyone experienced this or have any idea what has happened? It's going to Audi on Monday morning I'm hoping it's something little :cry:

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RE: Oil spraying from filler cap!!!

Post by bakerdcb » Sat Feb 04, 2006 6:46 pm

This presumably is the car that was apparently burning loads of oil? I've only known the filler cap to come off before when an engine was overfilled with oil and the pressure blew it off before too much damage was done. Not only was there too much oil but it was also the wrong viscosity for a 1.8T engine.

The only thing I know causes awful sounds and white smoke is a blown turbo :oops: Sorry mate, but I hope its warrantied. Best of luck on Monday

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RE: Oil spraying from filler cap!!!

Post by BlackS3 » Mon Feb 06, 2006 1:53 pm

It was towed to Audi this morning to get diagnosed but they have a full workshop today so I might be waiting. Don't think it's the turbo, surely that would have thrown up a fault code. I'm thinking it's definitely mechanical, something is causing a pressure build up forcing oil out of top of engine.

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RE: Oil spraying from filler cap!!!

Post by BlackS3 » Mon Feb 06, 2006 7:37 pm

After 20mins looking at it Audi have said the plug on the 3rd cylinder has snapped in half, melting the remainder in place. They rang and asked if they could take the head off to investigate further what damage has occurred. It was at this point i asked their hourly rate and price to take head off. £95ph and £400 just to take head off for further diagnosis.

That would mean I'd have spent £500 without a single step towards fixing the problem!! Am I stupid or is this not a total rip off?? Vindis Audi

I'm no mechanic but I could remove a head myself, might not be able to put it back together tho. I'm having it towed to a decent local garage who can easily sort problem well under 1k. I might even have them do the cambelt while they are at it. I'm all for full VAG history as this car has from same dealer but not at the expense of totally ripping myself off.

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RE: Oil spraying from filler cap!!!

Post by DavidT » Mon Feb 06, 2006 8:17 pm

I can't see why the dealer is being unreasonable, their rates are £ 100/hour inc VAT and it will take half a day to get the head off and diagnose further. I think you may have piston damage, which would explain the pressurised oil.

Best of luck with it, looks like an expensive repair.

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RE: Oil spraying from filler cap!!!

Post by BlackS3 » Mon Feb 06, 2006 8:53 pm

I'm hoping the damage is restricted to the 3rd cylinder only. When your talking about engine internals any good mechanic with a decent set of tools knows what he's doing. If it was a service or electrical issue I'd happily leave it to Audi but when we're talking serious engine work £100 ph is a lot to pay for doing the basics.

Might consider Forge internals if it comes to it. If I'm going to spend serious money on it I might as well keep it and do a few upgrades.

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RE: Oil spraying from filler cap!!!

Post by DuncS3 » Mon Feb 06, 2006 10:10 pm

Sorry to hear the news, not nice when a plug gives up like that...What is the year/mileage of your S3?

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RE: Oil spraying from filler cap!!!

Post by sitas3 » Tue Feb 07, 2006 10:57 pm

here we go again! when were the plugs last changed? I wonder if there's a dodgy batch of plugs around!
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RE: Oil spraying from filler cap!!!

Post by shineydave » Tue Feb 07, 2006 11:01 pm

if it has a full dealer history then the plugs must be dealer fit parts too, how about asking for a contribution to the repair seeing as it's parts they've fit that have failed
Dave

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RE: Oil spraying from filler cap!!!

Post by sitas3 » Tue Feb 07, 2006 11:37 pm

from your original 'oil usage' thread, your S3 is a year 2000 - so it will have either the APY or AMK engine. Is your car tuned/has it ever been tuned at all? Just wondering if it has been running lean.
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RE: Oil spraying from filler cap!!!

Post by HTC » Wed Feb 08, 2006 10:30 am

Somehow the crankcase has become pressurised enough to force the oil out. If the breather system isn't working correctly then usually oil can be forced past engine gaskets and into the induction. High oil comsumption is a symptom.
Having said that, oil out of the filler cap means big pressure in the crankcase. There are a number of causes. For example if you have a leaking head gasket that is allowing combustion gases into the oil system, coupled with boost pressure, this is easily enough to blow a cap off. Also could be a dodge PCV system allowing boost back into the crankcase past the one way valve.

If this was the only problem then I'd have a stab at the cause, but with the melted plug as well, its a bit more complex.

I'll be interested to hear exactly whats happened.

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RE: Oil spraying from filler cap!!!

Post by HTC » Wed Feb 08, 2006 10:38 am

Just to add, there was a guy on audi-sport.net that had his APY engine fail due to localised heating on the side of a piston causing ring failure and bore scoring. Hopefully this isn't the case with yours.

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RE: Oil spraying from filler cap!!!

Post by sitas3 » Fri Feb 10, 2006 11:23 am

this has all gone a bit quiet - what's the latest? Good or bad?
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BlackS3
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RE: Oil spraying from filler cap!!!

Post by BlackS3 » Sun Feb 12, 2006 11:20 am

Sorry guys!! Thanks for the responses. I've been very busy at work this week. The engine is APY 210bhp with 55k on the clock. The car is currently in a local garage awaiting the head removal mon/tues. Cylinder 3 has compression failure and bits of the spark plug have broken off and gone into cylinder. There is also leakage from cyl 3 into crank. I'm hoping the fragments haven't gone into turbo but scored and wedged inside cylinder. The mechanics suspect there ia a hole in either side or bottom of piston. One of the bolts holding the turbo is very stiff and in an awkward position to get to. Once this is removed it will make removing the head a lot easier and we can see the full extent of the damage.
The history of the car for me is that I bought it mid december 2 days after a longlife oil service at just under 53k. It was a private sale and the car has been looked after by Crewe Audi it's entire life. As you can see it's low mileage and there was no sign of abuse at all quite a nice example really. I noticed that it was using quite a bit of oil (at least 1 litre per 1000miles). I checked for smoking from exhaust and for any visible oil leaks but nothing at all. On a trip to Birmingham the oil light came on so i took it to Birmingham Audi to investigate. I explained the situation and that the oil must be going somewhere so they agreed to take a look. £60 and an hour later they gave it back saying it was absolutely fine and that they are known to be quite thirsty on oil so just to keep topping it up. So I drove away thinking that everything was well and not to worry. 3 weeks later this has happened.

So now I'm pricing up parts. I'm looking at £1900 for bottom end and £1600 for top. This doesn't include Turbo £600-800 on exchange and obviously labour to fit £700-1000??
Mechanic said it might be easier to get another engine £3000 on exchange if I can locate one?? I'm waiting till tues when i get full details of damage before I contact Audi but I'm thinking they aren't going to want to know. I've also been told this can occur when the engine is running lean especially when they have been chipped. Mine is totally standard and ran absolutely fine until this occurred. One mechanic thinks that maybe over a period of time the third cylinder started to become oval leaking into crank before eventual failure occurred. I'm no mechanic but have a little knowledge so bare with me on exact explainations if I'm a little out.
The plugs were changed on last service just before I bought her.

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RE: Oil spraying from filler cap!!!

Post by DuncS3 » Sun Feb 12, 2006 1:42 pm

I would defo go back to Audi before you pay anyone to start work

Dunc

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