I have an '02 Allroad Quattro 2.7T with 136,000 kms. Recently, while driving home from work, I noticed a lot of smoke blowing out the tailpipe. The situation quickly worsened when smoke started coming out from under the hood and even the interior. I pulled over and had the vehicle towed to the local VW/Audi dealership who informed me that the PVC valve froze causing excessive oil pressure to build and then blow all the engine seals and gaskets. The outpouring of oil also contaminated the exhaust system and the turbos. Estimated cost of repair: $14K+!

Can this be true? Has anyone else even heard of this as a possibility?

 

Are you considering fixing the car?
Is the car a local car - purchased (as new) and serviced in Manitoba?

 

Yes a frozen PCV System can cause engine oil seal(s) to blow out and it is a alot of work to fix it but $14K is WAY too much!

I don't understand how an engine oil seal failing would "contaminate the exhaust and Turbo's". For that to happen, an oil seal inside Turbo(s) would have to fail and the likelyhood of that happening along with other engine seals failing at the same time is highly remote.

I have the same concern and am looking at installing a seperate upper limit crankcase pressure vent to prevent this situation. VAST sells an oil fill cap with an internal vent installed.

VAST Performance

 

I am still looking for options other than having the dealer do the work because, at their rates, I feel I'd be better off just looking for another vehicle - non-Audi unfortunately. I had a BMW before this and it was a great car so I wasn't too intimidated buying this one.

The car has a few previous owners and came from Quebec - had I have done my homework BEFORE purchasing I wouldn't have bought this one because of it's unaccountable history. Bought on emotion - bad move.

Bad experience aside, I still think the Allroad is a great car. I expect costly repairs in a German vehicle I just didn't expect a common part to fail and cause such damage as to render my car almost valueless...

 

Agreed the Allroad is a great car!

I think the quote you were given is "highly over-estimated" and you can be assured that the Allroad still has value