JRHILL1

My garage told me that the tensioner is oil pressurized and the pressure is maintained by a non return valve when the engine is not running. If the valve is worn or damaged (my engine has covered 160k miles) then oil can/will leak and therefore lose pressure...how much and over what time scale being dependent on the severity of the leak, which seems plausible. My initial problem was oil in cooling water, suspected during service as oil cooler leaking but could not fit me in to do the job before a planned trip, so to be on the safe side I trusted another outfit to do it. I drove it there performing perfectly. They completed the job and after a few seconds running it went BANG! My usual garage, whom I've trusted for 30 odd years, towed it in and sorted it, but I had some sleepless nights wondering if it was new engine or scrap time.

I've just had this on my A4. The non return valve (apparently a spring and ball bearing)was leaking very slowly and released pressure on the timing tensioner. Local garage drained oil to do another job involving oil cooler, left it standing over weekend and when they started it up after completion, the timing jumped 3 notches and the subsequent repair (for which they deny all liability) was in excess of £2k. This can apparently happen if the car is not started for a while, allowing oil to leak and de-pressurize the valve. Of course, there's no way of knowing if you have a worn valve, so imagine parking at an airport for a couple of weeks, turning your engine over and immediately needing a rebuild. Hope this makes sense...I'm not a mechanic.

My A4 seemed to be using a bit of oil and I thought that was just normal for the model. I took it in for MOT and service at end of Dec. and they pointed out that there was oil in the coolant, but no water in the oil and suspected the oil cooler leaking. It's worth checking the water in the filler/expansion tank in case that's where your oil is going. The car was still running perfectly with this defect. On a sour note, the garage could not fix it immediately and I had a journey planned, took it elsewhere and it seems they drained everything down and left it standing over a weekend which de-pressurised the timing and when they finished the job, it ran for seconds before giving up. I am now looking at around £1500 for strip down and re build (garage denied liability) and a battle for compensation.

WD40, the problem solver. My headlamp washer covers stuck open but a spray and gentle nudge cured them. That was 3 months ago.

I had my A4 serviced and MOT (no advisories) end of December, but the garage pointed out oil in water but no water in oil. They suggested oil cooler needed changing but could not do it until after new year. New year came and I had a trip pencilled in for 7th Jan. my garage could not fit me in until after, so I entrusted it to another garage. After its service it was running fine and showing no problems. I told 2nd garage to save oil if not polluted as it was £50 2 weeks ago. They changed the cooler but told me the engine seized after running literally seconds, saying there was water in the oil and implying that I had said Do Not change the oil. As the car was running sweet as a nut when I drove it there and now has a seized engine which they say they cannot fix but have offered a discount on the "repair bill". Any advice welcome.

My headlamp washers stuck open (A4). Sprayed with penetrating oil and gently pressed the covers downwards which seemed to release a catch and both retracted ok. Fingers crossed they stay closed.