Oil Leak Problem

[Drewster]

I broke down today, all oil was drained out of the engine, came to a stop, turned it over- drove 50' more- another stop.  At the shop, they said they would need to replace the oil cooler ??  Replacement about $450. w/ new oil filter & oil.  Does this sound about right?   Quite the oil change bill.
They think the engine may be salvageable, but wouldn't really know for sure until they made the change and tested her out.

Anybody have any experience w/ this?

no need to ask about oil light... please

Drewster

[ianacole]

Out of curiousity, which shop did you take it to?

[Drewster]

I took it to G&G Auto Import on 38th
They replaced a timing belt for me a couple of years ago.

[gragravar]

what kind of car?

a leak in an oil cooler could cause the cooler to need to be replaced, and generally they are low enough that if they leak you could lose much of your oil.

as for other damage to the engine - sounds like it ran a minute or so without oil.  this could cause problems, but not likely, that is really hard to say.

overall this is hard to diagnose over the internet.  if you want a better confirmation on price, I'd check in with Autobahn premier service to ask what an oil cooler runs, that or have the car brough to them to see if that is what the problem really is if you don't trust the shop you are at.

[Drewster]

1998 Passat- 4turbo
all oil was out, didn't smell like it had burned up while sniffin the oil intake
we'll see soon enough.

[KevB]

$450 sounds right, I had mine replaced last fall by the dealer for about that.  You have to be real careful who you take the car to for oil changes.  If my assumption is correct and the Passat oil cooler's are the same type as on my 1.8T Gti, they are easy to damage if a tech overtightens the oil filter.

Kev

[jayryan]

You have to be real careful who you take the car to for oil changes.  

Kev

Werd to that. I took mine ONCE to an unnamed do-it-all place because I didn't have time :? They put too much in and my poor intercooler became all messy. I spent a good long afternoon cleaning that.

Anyway sounds like you have your answer. Hope it gets worked out and stop by when the car's working well too!

[92UrS4]

Well G&G works on VWs as I recall, so probably not the worst place to be.

[Drewster]

Great- thanks everyone for your input, it's been real helpful.
Those Audi engines are tuff.

Drewster

[zmaninco]

Really?  $450 just to change the oil cooler?  That sounds really high to me.  A new cooler from ECS is only $80.  Add tax and shipping and maybe you are at $100.  Takes about an hour to replace.

Z

[jfrahm]

Usually if you run one of these engines out of oil, the cam(s) seize to the head, that can break the timing belt.  If you ran it without oil until it stopped, twice, I think you may be in pedestrian mode.  Hope the oil cooler is all you need.

-Joel.

[Drewster]

Well, you could say "Dead car walking".  I was very lucky- the oil cooler went bad, metal fatigue, GG filled it with synthetic and the BK oil additive and it fired up just fine.  There were some metal shavings down in the bottom, but the damn thing still runs.  It's slightly more noisy now, but everything is properly lubricated.  I estimated that it probally ran for 5-10 minutes without oil before quitting, now they were at low rpm's but still... Don't think you could do that w/ a gm or ford motor.

Crossing my fingers as I drive down the road,
Drewster