Audi A3 timing chain broke without warning

[Aalim]

Good day!

I recently bought a 2010 Audi A3 with the EA888 2.0L TSI engine, and for the time I had the car it ran perfectly. However, a week ago the engine just died on me in heavy traffic- there was no warning in the form of warning lights, strange noises, or overheating. I did not buy the car from a dealer, but the person who owned it before gave me the car’s full service history that shows all the services were done at the dealer.

Long story short, when I removed the valve cover on the advice of my neighbor who knows something about cars, I saw that the timing chain broke, which my neighbor believes caused the camshafts to break as well. Is it possible for a timing chain to just break without any advance warning, and has anybody here had a similar experience with this engine?

What else is likely to have suffered damage when the timing chain broke, and is it possible to repair this engine, or should I take this up with the dealer? Any advice?

[Barry]

There was a known fault with the timing chain tensioners in 2.0 engines built before 2012. VAG have since released an updated and improved part, not that it helps you much now. Because you have full dealer service history, Audi may offer a goodwill gesture and offer to pay some of the repair cost. Speak to the dealer and see what they say. If they're not interested, escalate your complaint to Audi HQ. After all, they sold cars with faulty parts.

[robert]

Audi honors the warranty within the 5 years or 100k kms and after that they aren't responsible. Have you checked in service history as to when last they have changed the timing belt. Timing belt has to be changed at specified interval like 80k or 100k kms and if it's not change then it will just break without the warning an damage the whole engine.

Try your luck with Al Nabooda and see what they say. Before rebuilding this engine, get the estimate and also price of used engine from scrap as fixing the scrap engine is better idea than a rebuilding this one. Been there done that once, but not with Audi.