Eight problems related to timing tensioner have been reported for the 2009 Audi A4. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2009 Audi A4 based on all problems reported for the 2009 A4.
Purchased vehicle 8/15/19 at select motors inc, smyrna TN. Clean car fax report. Ongoing oil consumption issues. Intake camshaft locked up following oil consumption test at Audi of nashville. Not driveable now. Audi of nashville quoted cylinder head and associated parts, timing chain, tensioner, cam adjuster and pistons. TSB-2027731-8 brought to my attention. Engineering defect with pistons a known issue. Contacted Audi of north America. Unwilling to provide financial assistance. Car beyond the 8year/80,000 mile extended warranty they offered following a class action lawsuit. Paid cash at purchase, put roughly 2,000 miles on the car and and being told will need to spend an additional $10,000-$13,000 to get the car running again for a known engineering defect with the pistons Audi is unwilling to classify as a recall.
Driving vehicle and it started shaking. Got the car home and when I shut it off and turned it back on it rattled and sounded like metal. I was able to get it to the dealership. I had it checked by mechanic and he told me that the timing chain and tensioner were the problem and I was just two months out of warranty. The next day the dealership called to tell me I needed new cylinders because the car would not start. Quoted me $7,500 to repair. I do not qualify for the class action suit because my car did not break until after the window closed. Audi knew about the failure and did nothing to warn owners.
Driving home from work, all of a sudden my vehicle was revving while it was idle and at low speed, making it very difficult and dangerous to steer the car and keep it under control. Upon inspection, it was found that the timing chain tensioner had failed and had caused serious engine damage, causing the pistons to fire prematurely. Previously the tensioner was replaced in 2014 by Audi when the car had ~50k miles and was reported as a "weak tensioner". My car currently has 92k miles. I believe that no replacement tensioner should only last 40k miles and cause catastrophic engine failure and put consumers at risk of not being able to control their cars.
While driving the car came to a complete stop and had to be towed to a garage - it did not start again. After investigation the tensioner failed causing piston and valve damage which equals an engine replacement! no insurance coverage and when I picked up the car - there was another one coming in for the same issue!.
The timing chain tensioner failed causing the Audi interference engine to become out of sync resulting in the engine becoming totaled. This has become a common occurrence and is widely reported on 2009 and newer models. Below is an article with their assessment of the situation. The car had been taken in 2x for misfires and was diagnosed as an issue with the spark plugs, it is now clear that this was the timing chain being out of alignment and missed. Upon the engine light coming on the car was left parked until the day before the service appt when it was to be dropped off at the service location, at that time, upon starting the vehicle the timing chain tensioner failed and caused the engine to fire out of alignment damaging the engine. When speaking to a member of the Audi dealership it was shared that another vehicle is in for the same issue and that they are seeing this occur more and more in their vehicles. This failure is also reminiscent of the 2007 class action law suit which prompted Audi to move from a timing belt to the for the same outcome occurring. . Read more...
The timing chain tensioner failed causing the Audi interference engine to become out of sync resulting in the engine becoming totaled. This has become a common occurrence and is widely reported on 2009 and newer models. Below is an article with their assessment of the situation. The car had been taken in 2x for misfires and was diagnosed as an issue with the spark plugs, it is now clear that this was the timing chain being out of alignment and missed. Upon the engine light coming on the car was left parked until the day before the service appointment when it was to be dropped off at the service location, at that time, upon starting the vehicle the timing chain tensioner failed and caused the engine to fire out of alignment damaging the engine. When speaking to a member of the Audi dealership it was shared that another vehicle is in for the same issue and that they are seeing this occur more and more in their vehicles. This failure is also reminiscent of the 2007 class action law suit which prompted Audi to move from a timing belt to the for the same outcome occurring. . Read more...
2009 Audi A4 was recalled for oil consumption issues. Rebuilt in March of 2014. July 2015 timing chain tensioner failed causing timing chain to jump and drop a valve. Car is now sitting at Audi dealership with an unfixable engine. There are hundreds of examples of this part failing after oil consumption rebuild. This as a defect and very dangerous because car just stops running. Audi will not take any responsibility despite the mounting facts against the part.
Vehicle began to run very rough and started to shake. Parked and stopped engine. On attempting to restart it briefly fired but then died and stalled. Subsequent attempts to start the vehicle resulted in it turning over with no apparent firing. Vehicle was towed to the Audi dealer and we were informed it was due to timing chain slip. It appears from information online that the timing chain tensioner in this 2009 b8 2. 0t engine is defective. The head and pistons were all damaged and the engine was declared unrepairable by the Audi dealer. Dealer charged $1300 for inspecting the pistons and wants $13,000 for a new engine. This vehicle had replacement piston rings out of warranty but at no charge to us due to the known excessive oil consumption issue (for which there was a class action lawsuit). Audi increased the engine warranty from 4 to 8 years as part of settlement of this class action, but only in respect of failures related to the excessive oil consumption issue. Audi maintains that this issue is unrelated but the dealer service manager told me that anecdotally she's seen several such failures after piston ring replacement (I have this interaction recorded on video). Searching online shows that there are several websites selling replacement timing chain tensioners to replace the defective part that Audi uses on this engine. Audi refuses to acknowledge any fault on this issue. Red line speedworx website which sells upgrade kits to replace the defective part says that typically this failure occurs at 80k miles plus. Since the standard warranty is 50k miles this means that Audi views itself as not liable for these failures. We are filing a lawsuit against Audi over this issue.