10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
1 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
67,113 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2009 Audi A4 engine problems

engine problem

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2009 Audi A4 Owner Comments (Page 1 of 3)

problem #44

Mar 202024

A4

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The turbo sounds like it's not going in/out of gear, oil going into spark plugs, radiator fluid leaking system getting real hot. Low engine poer picking up speed an issue. Air bag rear brake light malfunction, oil pressure not correct

- Pomona, CA, USA

problem #43

Dec 262019

A4

  • 93,420 miles
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.

- Nolensville, TN, USA

problem #42

Aug 232019

A4

  • miles
Engine coolant and engine light etc came on. The vehicle was on the highway. I have a small child. Based on the Audi message my vehicle could catch on fire.please send me info to have this problem corrected.

- Stone Mountain, GA, USA

problem #41

Apr 302019

A4

  • 97,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

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.

- Austin, TX, USA

problem #40

Feb 082019

A4

  • miles
I purchased from a dealership with warranty and with in the week the car needed a quart of oil, I come to find out the car has been to Audi dealership and it was advised the vacuum pump needs to be replaced and that the engine is consuming oil, the dealership that sold this car in auction to the dealership I bought the car from was fully aware of this issue since Audi diagnosed it for them and no work had been done. Audi had a call back for this issue and had refused to address the issue when the dealership brought it to their attention and now I am stuck with a car loan on a car that need over $6K in repairs to the engine it self.

- Langley Afb, VA, USA

problem #39

Aug 312017

A4

  • miles
Oil consumption is horrible I'm refilling a quart of oil every few hundred miles. I bought the car used and I did receive notice of a recall on the vehicle regarding the oil consumption issue.

- Houston, TX, USA

problem #38

Jan 242019

A4

  • 60,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Oil consumption I had this car since 2012 and found out recently about oil consumption class action lawsuit through the internet, when my car started consuming copious amounts of oil. The owner manual says a quart per ~1,200 miles, but I'm getting oil light at about 400 miles after service at the dealership. I spoke with multiple dealerships including the dealership I'm currently doing every 10K maintenance with and none have actually helped me out since I'm out of warranty of 80K. I spoke with Audi corporate and they say they will review when they get to my case which is pretty much never. They keep telling me to take my car in to do phase 2 oil consumption which is going to be a several grand repair. I did phase 1 out of pocket roughly 1,700 and they fixed PCV breather valve, seal and updated software after I replaced the PCV breather valve recently, but they said the valve is old, so they replaced with newer one, but still pretty much doing the same thing and that's consuming oil. Audi corporate say they will "review" my case which pretty much means I pay out of pocket and then they'll see which I doubt. This car is literally a headache never buying an Audi again. Audi is crooked and they do not want to repair even though they know about these problems. I know they're trying to bait me into repairing the car further which will ultimate lead to a 10K engine replacement and that's not going to happen not on my dime.

- Los Angeles, CA, USA

problem #37

Dec 012018

A4

  • 109,000 miles
This car is burning oil in a extremely danger speed

- Woodward, OK, USA

problem #36

Aug 102018

A4

  • 141,000 miles
My car was over heating due to a water pump and my timing chain is going and I got a recall letter 2 days later on the timing chain and now my alternator is going out

- Fox Lake, IL, USA

problem #35

Nov 012016

A4

  • 85,000 miles
At 70K car was consuming oil every 1K having to top off a liter of oil. Dealer adv this was normal because of turbo engine. Ignored the issue until got worst topping off every 750mi's then to every 200-300mi. Dealer checked & adv needed turbo assy replacement before they would check on the oil consumption issue. Cost to repair $3,925+ tax. Couldn't afford that so lived w/issue for a while. Doing research on internet I found this was a very common problem w/this car/year and there was a class action lawsuit & Audi had to pay to repair for this oil consumption issue for free but only if you put the claim in by a certain date.I didn't know of this so I complained to the Audi dealer but it was too late for my car to be honored. The dealer then would perform a oil consumption test for $300 with a few new seals and bolts.if after the test it still consumed oil rapidly they advised maybe Audi Corp would honor the repairs or at least help cover a partial amount since I was a dedicated customer getting all my services done at Audi. After testing it failed & was diagnosed that I needed new pistons/turbo etc.to fix this. Basically sounded like a new engine.went to Audi Corp. & submitted the complaint & all showed all receipts of services done to the car to see if they would help honor the repair but end results they didn't do much & was advised by dealer it would cost me $7000 to fix. I ended up declining service from the Audi dealership & went to a local Audi mechanic shop to at least perform the turbo repair & that cost me near $5K. This is a lemon of a car & Audi knows it! there should of been a recall for this fix but instead let their customers suffer spending loads of money on repairs.

- Antioch, CA, USA

problem #34

May 012018

A4

  • 125,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Vehicle burns a quart of oil every 150 200 miles it's very common and several years many complaints on the internet

- Montebello, CA, USA

problem #33

Jan 012018

A4

  • 94,000 miles
In August 2015 with 66K miles my Audi experienced a turbo failure which, because of the oil consumption class action, was replaced by my local Audi dealer free of charge. They then performed the oil consumption procedures and while they cited redoing piston rings and some other seals, the oil light issue is still present. An important note here in regards to braman Audi who handled this service...when they did the complete block removal in order to handle the piston repairs, they did not replace the rear mail seal that is apparently known to fail around 75K miles, so there I was dropping another $1500 for a rms replacement of a $50 part because the Audi certified dealer didn't think to replace what's known to fail before reassembling the block. Here we are now about 2.5 years later and with 94K miles, and my timing chain has failed inside the block and I'm being told my entire engine might be toast. How can you possibly claim an oil consumption issue that causes turbo and piston failure, and not cover the timing chain that runs the whole system? this is ludicrous, has cost me significant time and money while the car itself isn't worth but maybe $6K. Now I'm looking at a chain replacement at $2K or a whole new engine at $10K plus. Might as well put a sticker on the new Audi that says the car will have negative value after 65K miles. My car now won't run at all and has been at the mechanic for months waiting for someone to step up and take responsibility, manufacturer or dealer, either way they are both aware of major flaws in their manufacturing and do nothing about it. Sounds like consumer fraud to me.

- Lake Park, FL, USA

problem #32

Mar 022018

A4

  • 68,000 miles
Driving vehicle home 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 turned it off and then I turned it on again and this time it didn't turn on at all I had it checked by mechanic and he told me that those Audi and that year had an oil consumption problem and so he checked the engine with a diagonate machine and it said chances are there can B major engine problem it said the machine said the chain jump and could have cause piston and rod places sad car is in great shape and looks good and has low mileage now it needs a engine replacement

- Hallandae, FL, USA

problem #31

Dec 202017

A4

  • 92,000 miles
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.

- Nashville, TN, USA

problem #30

Aug 122017

A4

  • 77,000 miles
August 12, 2017 car was parked in a target parking lot. Went to start and car lights and radio came on but engine wouldn't turn over. Also check engine light became illuminated. Next day car was towed to quad cities Audi to service dept. Audi service dept finally got around to looking at car on Friday Sept 1. they state that " found timing to have jumped causing valves to come into contact with pistons and bend." Their repair suggestion states " R&R cylinder head and send to machine shop to determine how many valves need to be replaced. Replace timing chains, guides and tesioner." Quoted $3,729 to fix, plus $595 for diagnosis. Car is currently at that dealership being worked on.

- Davenport, IA, USA

problem #29

Jul 182017

A4

  • 120,000 miles
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!

- Westford, MA, USA

problem #28

Jun 242017

A4

  • 117,284 miles
Timing chain failed on engine while driving causing a complete loss of power. Towed to Audi dealer who quoted a repair > $ value of the car. Car is a total loss.

- Ambler, PA, USA

problem #27

Jun 292017

A4

  • miles
Came into the garage in the morning and realized there was oil on the ground. The next day took the car to the shop to have them looked at to see where the oil leak is coming from. After diagnosis the result was that rear main seal needs to be replaced with the PCV valve. Total price is about $1500. I did not have any check engine light and this seems like it is a known issue with Audi vehicles where the PCV valve is over pressuring the engine and causing gaskets/seals the blow. I believe this should be the responsibility of the Audi to fix this problems since this is a known issue and has been reported a lot of 2.0T engines.

- Milwaukee, WI, USA

problem #26

Mar 132015

A4

  • 44,598 miles
The car leaks oil. Audi of wilmington refuses to repair it. Purchased it in 2015 and have been trying to get repaired. Bought it from Kia of wilmington along with a warranty that was never honored by either. Was told Kia never registered the warranty. Also the car was sold with a lifetime warranty that no-one will honor. The driver door has a shortage and the defrost doesn't work. The alarm works when it wants to. I was told there is recall. Can you help

- Watha, NC, USA

problem #25

Apr 202016

A4 4WD 4-cyl

  • 77,800 miles
I been doing a lot of research and I seen that there are many vehicles that the "add 1 quart of oil light to keep driving" light comes out. Many have said is a pistons problem that need to be recalled by Audi. The light warning comes out randomly every month. There are no leaks in my vehicle. I have two buy 3 bottles in oil every month. The light comes on when I'm driving.

- Santa Ana, CA, USA

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