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Wed 28 Aug 2013 16:00

Audi A4 diesel saloon - Low-mileage turbro failure - Rusty-Rim

I recently suffered a severe power reduction while motorway driving. My car was 21 months old, I'd had it from new and it had done 25000 miles. It then used a litre of oil in about 6 miles to the garage and subsequently the turbo, exhaust system and DPF had all to be replaced, fortunately under warranty as estimated cost was £6,000. The car has engine auto-stop as a default and a journey to the office is 13 miles of motorway, the off slip has lights and at red the engine usually stops when the car is stopped. Audi suggested that auto-stop was not the cause or contributory to the problem. I have my doubts and now switch it off for every journey. What are your thoughts about auto-stop on such a diesel?

Rusty-rim

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Wed 28 Aug 2013 18:16

Audi A4 diesel saloon - Low-mileage turbro failure - skidpan

I had stop start on a diesel BMW for 5 years. My commute to the office is 14 miles of mixed roads.

Never had a problem.

But in your case since your commute is mainly on the motorway stop start will not function much if at all.

So why worry.

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Wed 28 Aug 2013 18:56

Audi A4 diesel saloon - Low-mileage turbro failure - craig-pd130

I've got it on my current Volvo. I always disable it when I start the car - only because it's irritating if it kicks in when I'm in slow traffic.

Your engine problem sounds like it could have involved turbo oil seal failure, perhaps the stop/start did contribute to this, although the turbos on diesels do run cooler than on petrol-engine cars, and usually don't need idling down to cool off as much.

You'd think that there'd be a routine in the ECU that checks oil temp and will not allow the auto-stop to kick in if the temp exceeds a set value ....

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Wed 28 Aug 2013 20:40

Audi A4 diesel saloon - Low-mileage turbro failure - coopshere

If you believe even half of the horror stories about turbo problems after turning the engine off immediately after a fast run then it is seemingly a contributory factor in your case. Having driven just a couple of cars with the stop/start system have to to say I found it annoying and wouldn't buy a car that had it if it couldn't be permanently turned off.

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Wed 28 Aug 2013 22:51

Audi A4 diesel saloon - Low-mileage turbro failure - Peter.N.

This isn't generally a problem with diesels, they don't get hot enough

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