OK, I got another one that happend this week (but it was a friend of mine in the office).
2002 Audi A4Q Turbo..... this is a car my buddy drove to work once that belongs to his kid. He syas there is "weird light" on the dash.... I look at it, it looks like a fat lady bending over or something... I have no idea what it means. The top-end of this car sounds so bad it sounds like a diesel.... terrible. 99,000 miles & it has a new water pump & timing belt replaced about 2 weeks ago. So anyways, I tell him: "that thing sounds bad"... he says: what could it be?? I say: lets take it to my friends shop who is an engine builder after work. So off we go- 3 miles later, it stalls & a little smoke comes out & she is dead. I hit the starter, classic timing belt sound... no top end rotating going on. We put it on a flat bed & take it to my buddy Joe. He looks it over & finds out about that "weird light" we saw. Joe says: "Uh oh... how long has it been on??" My friend says: "Off & on since we bought it about a year ago". Joe says: Well, that means that you have had little/no oil pressure for a year!!" "That light is pretty important". Turns out that poor engine ran for months & months w/ almost no oil pressure while his kid drove it to school everyday!! The whole motor is toast.... cam seized, top-end wasted...etc... probably bottom end is bad too. Moral of the story: a German idiot light may look like a fat lady bending over, but it is really the DRIVER who did not take the time to find out what it was!!!! LOL!!! It's going to be like 6 or 7K minimum. Scooter