Things to look out for when buying?

elvo

elvo

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Hi everyone, not been on here for a while. I had n s3 in the 8l chassis a few years ago and am now looking at getting a 2004 a3 2.0tdi 140bhp. Its done 81k and has service history.

Iv had a look through the forum for this but cant seem to find it but im wondering what should i be looking for as im going to view the car in a few days. Iv read some horror stories about cylinder head being porous and injectors can fail and this leads to having to spend ££££'s.

any help would be appreciated

Thanks
 
The A3 140 TDI suffers a lot of turbo failure, porous heads and injector problems.

The 170 tends to have DPF problems but tends to be the better buy, just make sure you gut the DPF and map it out.

Id say reliability wise the 140 of the age your looking at, is probably the most unreliable of the range.

When they are working, cracking car, but with the sheer volume of problems with the TDI's of that age, stay clear.

The newer ones tend to be better. But then there's always a budget.

Thats my 2p as they say...
 
mjr901 said:
The A3 140 TDI suffers a lot of turbo failure, porous heads and injector problems.

The 170 tends to have DPF problems but tends to be the better buy, just make sure you gut the DPF and map it out.

Id say reliability wise the 140 of the age your looking at, is probably the most unreliable of the range.

When they are working, cracking car, but with the sheer volume of problems with the TDI's of that age, stay clear.

The newer ones tend to be better. But then there's always a budget.

Thats my 2p as they say...
Click to expand...

unfortunatly my budget dosent go that high, ill need to have a good think about it seeing as there a lot of troble with them. Gutted as i really like them :(

Thanks for the reply
 
find one with a new turbo and you'll be on to a winner!!
 
Full VCDS scan before you buy.
Just look for normal stuff.. i.e. no water in oil or vice versa.
If it's done that mileage everything should be bedded in/ settled down. But do look for white blue smoke coming out of exhaust when starting or revving. Black sooty smoke is perhaps more normal for a turbo engine.
 
Well had a look at that car above yesterday....as soon as i started it i new something wasnt right. I think the flywheel was briken as i could hear something knocking/ratteling. As soon as i reved it it stopped. Also while driving it the air bag light wouldnt go off and i could feel somthing knocking on the front n/s everytime i went over bumps. Safe to say i walked away from this one.

Thanks for the help guys just gonna keep looking for another one.
 
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