I think I killed my car...

I'm a girl and for that reason I do stupid **** sometimes and would appreciate any help...

My Jetta was burning through oil, idling rough, making a kind of rattling noise when I would accelerate and then the noise would stop when the gears shifted and the rpms went down, and it had a lot of smoke coming out of the exhaust--- and then I ran it out of oil. They checked the intercooler for oil and there wasn't any so they said the turbo was fine. However due to my apparently careless driving, the mechanic is suggesting I replace the engine. They told me the metal of the pistons grinded against each other (or something) due to the lack of oil, 2 of the cylinders have low compression, and that it is basically fatally wounded. It still runs, but very poorly. I'm so sad, I love my car and I wouldn't trade it for anything else. But I also do not have 5k to repair it.... so I'm kind of at a loss here.

Sorry to hear. I wish I had some advice. But just sucks!

I don't understand why they can't just fix whatever is messed up without having to replace the whole engine?.... and I've done a lot of looking around and these engines are hard to come by.

Did the oil light come on? He is suggesting a new engine as the cost of a replacement engine would be far less than the labour cost of reconditioning your own engine. If it could even be done. Sorry to hear your news!

Yeah, the oil light came on a dinged for ONE second as the car was stalling to a halt. All of the used engines I have found are $3000+ plus labor. There isn't a way of getting around this or any cheaper method?

I own the car, but I don't have thousands of dollars to fix it at the moment (I'm a broke college kid), and I REALLY do not want to sell it. I don't know what to do other then have it towed back home to sit in my driveway indefinitely. =(

It sounds like you certainly ruined your engine. It is almost always cheaper to find an engine out of a wreck vs repairing your engine. the damage done by running without oil is extensive and will damage almost every single part inside the engine.

I'm a bit confused about your post "I'm a girl and for that reason I do stupid **** sometimes" Didnt women fight for equality and (attempt) to convince the world they are equal to men? How does being a girl in college excuse the fact that you drove around in a car spewing smoke and making a rattling noise? I'm not convinced on this equality thing...

Luckily for you, there are mechanics on this site who will be able to help you locate an engine and install it. Search for Matt-98AHU and send him a PM asking if he can help repair your car.. It won't be cheap, but it'll be significantly cheaper than getting it done at a shop and it will be done right. maybe he can beat some sense into you as far as trying to maintain your new engine properly so this doesn't happen again.

or maybe you should just play the stupid card and go buy a hyundai or something that is more tolerant of abuse.

I REALLY don't really care about all of that equality nonsense, when it comes to cars women generally know less and are ****tier drivers- I'll be the first to admit it. I bought the car used and have only owned it 3 months, how was I supposed to know that within one weeks time it would magically burn through 2 quarts of oil? It wasn't so bad that it was noticeable to other people or anything but I could sense the subtleties and tell something was up. I took it to a mechanic, they said it was just really low on oil and that's why it was acting funny, so they filled it up completely, and within one week the oil is gone and my engine is apparently ruined. And it makes me really mad that no lights came on or anything. I bought the TDI to DRIVE it, I drive a lot and I thought diesels were known to be more dependable or "tolerant of abuse" - I love the car and thought that I was taking good care of it. But thanks for the advice I will definitely contact him.

E_Dula said:

Yeah, the oil light came on a dinged for ONE second as the car was stalling to a halt. All of the used engines I have found are $3000+ plus labor. There isn't a way of getting around this or any cheaper method?

Click to expand...

No. I would think a new engine out the door will be closer to $6(k). A 2006 Jetta in all around good condition is worth somewhere between $9-12(k). Your best bet, IMO, is to trade it in. Good luck.

I was considering buying a used one or one off of a salvaged car or something. I don't know I just need to get it fixed to cheapest way possible- I don't have the money or the desire to trade it in. I love THIS car and would rather just look at it sit in my driveway for years until I had saved enough money to fix it.

Contact Aaron @ boraparts.com and see what/if he can supply an engine for ($$). Labor, shipping, etc. will be on you but you should be able to get back on the road for significantly less than the $5k you were quoted. It will still be expensive but... Sorry to hear of your troubles.

Okay I will definitely do that. Is that his email address aaron@boraparts.com? Or his name/website?

Contact info should be on his website, www.boraparts.com. IF you have trouble PM me and I'll give you his phone #.

E_Dula said:

I REALLY don't really care about all of that equality nonsense, when it comes to cars women generally know less and are ****tier drivers- I'll be the first to admit it. I bought the car used and have only owned it 3 months, how was I supposed to know that within one weeks time it would magically burn through 2 quarts of oil? It wasn't so bad that it was noticeable to other people or anything but I could sense the subtleties and tell something was up. I took it to a mechanic, they said it was just really low on oil and that's why it was acting funny, so they filled it up completely, and within one week the oil is gone and my engine is apparently ruined. And it makes me really mad that no lights came on or anything. I bought the TDI to DRIVE it, I drive a lot and I thought diesels were known to be more dependable or "tolerant of abuse" - I love the car and thought that I was taking good care of it. But thanks for the advice I will definitely contact him.

Click to expand...

Good luck with your car E. Don't worry, there are PLENTY of men around who are bad drivers, know nothing about cars, and do stupid things too.

Hahah thanks. I am literally losing sleep over it! It's definitely not one of those problems that just works itself out.

Just curious, how many miles did you have on the car and what kind of oil did you use in it when you put some in?

125k 5w-40 synthetic for diesels. I had the oil changed about 1 month after purchasing the car, and that type of oil run has been the only to run through it since I've owned it. I'm just curious a) what was the root cause of it burning oil in the first place and b) I don't know a lot about engines but it seems to me that there are still parts of it functioning perfectly, so can those be salvaged and sold? Or is an engine just one big part that has to be entirely trashed?

Definately give Matt a call. I think that it's possible that the engine could be good, but someone with TDI knowledge will have to check it out. I had a car towed here last year with an engine that VW said was no good, that it was going to cost $9000 for a replacement, and I was asked to see if I could get a used engine. After looking at the car, I found out that minimal diagnostics were done to it, and the engine wasn't junk at all. Granted, it still needed about $1700 of work, but it was fixable. They are still driving it, and it happened to be an '06.

I think that if smoke is coming out the tailpipe, then it could indeed mean that your turbo is failing (might explain the rattling) on the exhaust side. In addition, the low compression can come from a failing cam, which these cars are known to have.

My best advice is to not let anyone unfamiliar with these cars touch it from now on, because misdiagnosis is so common. I agree with you that it can sit in your driveway until you have the money to fix it and it could be a great car.

-Rich

Because from what I could understand 2 of the cylinders were functioning at a reduced (60%) capacity but the other 2 were fine. And the turbo was fine. It was just the pistons/cylinders messed up. Are those non-replaceable? Does it really require a whole new engine?

Might check these guys out. They are in California not sure how far from you. Looks like pretty good prices. They may even have your engine although they don't list it.

It was/is a great car. Okay I'll see if he can come take a look at it since he lives really close to me anyway. Yeah $1700 is do-able for me 5-6k is not.

Lefty said:

Might check these guys out. They are in California not sure how far from you. Looks like pretty good prices. They may even have your engine although they don't list it.

Click to expand...

Check out who? Is there a link or # or something missing?

Engines can be rebuilt, but it depends on how bad the damage is, and what type (I do it here all the time). Sometimes, it's more expensive to rebuild rather than replace because of all of the labor involved in the process.

I only mention the turbo because I had a car in here recently with a turbo shaft that was snapped in half- the intake side was perfect, and still spun with minimal play. It can look good, but if it's not really taken apart thoroghly, its true condition will be masked.

I would still give Matt a call, or someone from the "Trusted Mechanic's List" at the top of the TDI101 section.

-Rich

Nutsnbolts said:

Definately give Matt a call. I think that it's possible that the engine could be good, but someone with TDI knowledge will have to check it out. I had a car towed here last year with an engine that VW said was no good, that it was going to cost $9000 for a replacement, and I was asked to see if I could get a used engine. After looking at the car, I found out that minimal diagnostics were done to it, and the engine wasn't junk at all. Granted, it still needed about $1700 of work, but it was fixable. They are still driving it, and it happened to be an '06.

I think that if smoke is coming out the tailpipe, then it could indeed mean that your turbo is failing (might explain the rattling) on the exhaust side. In addition, the low compression can come from a failing cam, which these cars are known to have.

My best advice is to not let anyone unfamiliar with these cars touch it from now on, because misdiagnosis is so common. I agree with you that it can sit in your driveway until you have the money to fix it and it could be a great car.

-Rich

Click to expand...

And the mechanic shop it is at right now is reputable, it is even listed here on the TDIClub trustworthy mechanics list or whatever. But I'm not convinced that they know what they're doing. The car has been there a week and a half and I haven't even received a solid diagnosis on it. I've been having to do research on my own and telling them what they need to be testing etc. And all I hear back is that the motor just needs to be replaced. I don't know....

I'm just afraid of them going on a wild goose chase by breaking down the whole car piece by piece until they find the problem and then charging me hourly for it. I would like to work with someone who knows which problems to look for in the first place.

Nutsnbolts said:

Engines can be rebuilt, but it depends on how bad the damage is, and what type (I do it here all the time). Sometimes, it's more expensive to rebuild rather than replace because of all of the labor involved in the process.

I only mention the turbo because I had a car in here recently with a turbo shaft that was snapped in half- the intake side was perfect, and still spun with minimal play. It can look good, but if it's not really taken apart thoroghly, its true condition will be masked.

I would still give Matt a call, or someone from the "Trusted Mechanic's List" at the top of the TDI101 section.

-Rich

Click to expand...

Also would a snapped turbo as you mentioned cause the oil burning issue? It burned it RAPIDLY. Like 3 qts in 500 miles- gone!

A snapped shaft or broken seal on the exhaust side could cause a rapid loss in oil, but at that rate, I would expect to see some in the tailpipe or on the back of your car.

I've only seen one other car that consumed so much oil (1 quart in 200 miles), and it had a broken oil control ring on one of the pistons. It was a grease car, meaning that it was running on waste veggie oil, and that started the whole downward spiral.

Keep us posted...

-Rich

E_Dula said:

Check out who? Is there a link or # or something missing?

Click to expand...

Sorry about that. WWW.QUALITYGERMANAUTOPARTS.COM

My '02 TDI consumed 4 liters(quarts) in about 30km / less than 15 minutes...with no runaway. Turbo let go, drained the oil, and seized the engine.

E_Dula said:

the mechanic is suggesting I replace the engine. They told me the metal of the pistons grinded against each other (or something) due to the lack of oil.

Click to expand...

Engines cost a lot of money. When my engine died in my old car it was the same problem: An oil leak caused the engine to literally burn the oil until it ran dry. The car was worth negative dollars (the engine fix was more than the car was worth). So I sold it. I think I'd do the same in your case too. For $5000 to $6000 you can buy a replacement car off the used market.