Give me your expperiences good and bad potential purchaser

[m0rri5]

Hello all,

I currently drive a Civic Type R and found this site while trying to find any information I can regarding a 2006 AUDI A4 1968 cc 2.0 TDi 170 S Line 5dr Diesel Avant its one owner and got 109k miles mainly motorway, I am looking at going to look at the following vehicle as the civic isnt really big enough now we have our first child and three doors are annoying me already its only been 9 days not to mention the other half nagging in my ear, so I hope someone can push me in the right direction to any useful posts and any bodies experience of this vehicle good or bad anything major to look out for?

Any way I hope to become a fully fledged member if I do go for said vehicle.

See you all soon off to do some bed time reading.

 

[outsideline]

Im new to audi ownership mate, i have a 2.0 tdi 170bhp quattro saloon, car feels and drives very well but....... and this is a big but, they do have there flaws.

Mines just turned 65,000 miles and as we speak is waiting to be taken to audi maindealership for injectors recall as it has broke down. Oil pumpnand balance shaft is also a huge worry as these fail quite regular and audi stand none of the damage done to the car when this accurs. Im sort of wishing that i had gone for the 2.0turbo petrol engine instead as nothing much seems to go on those engines. Other than these issues it seems a good well built car, i came from a bmw 320 cd m sport and that just played havoc with my back. Also i really needed the 4x4 the quattro offers for where i live in winter.

 

[ivor1]

My previous car was a 170 sline ,which was quite fast and pretty practical. It had the oil pump checked out by the dealership ,and the drive converted , i thought generally the car was a bit thirsty . It had an injector replaced under warranty. Nice car but i would be wary of the oil pump balance shaft issue as well documented above..some people also experienced difficulties with the dpf filter.

 

[herbie]

There's far too much tales of woe on here with the 2.0 TDI, personally I'd avoid.
I bought the 2.0tfsi instead and it was fine. Averaged around 33 mpg too which is not that much worse than the derv!

 

[ivor1]

as herbie says above if mpg isnt too big an issue i think i would go petrol.in fact i would look at an accord seeing you have a honda already

 

[Trumpyman]

As above,please read balance shaft/oil pump thread - you have been warned! Another option,would imagine not as nippy as what you are after , is of course the 1.9Tdi...

 

[m0rri5]

Hi all thanks for the replies I'm scared now how much are they to be replaced any ideas?

 

[outsideline]

parts alone are over a grand from what i can see, but its not the parts really thats the issue. Its the fact that the oil starvation first ruins the turbo as it runs dry on the feed then slowly works damage accross the engine. im looky in a lot of ways, i work for a merc specialist as a technician and have axcess to ramps, tools and parts at trade etc etc, but even for me if this fails i would be looking at a monster bill.

i read reports of nearly £8000 worth of damage to cars on this forum......

 

[m0rri5]

jeepers surely the parts in question could be replaced at the same time as other items such as cambelt, clutch? or does this not prevent this failure?

Thanks for that link read most of it blimey think I may be looking elsewhere could do without them costs, as no one got a warranty as from warranty direct or similar and would this be covered?

 

[outsideline]

you could service your car every 1000 miles and that wouldnt prevent this problem. audi in the wisdom made the shaft that causes the problem out of to softer metal thus rounding in the oil pump giving no oil pressure to the engine and turbo.

when mine goes in tommorow im going to ask them to check the parts in question ( means taking the sump off ) and look for premature wear, think i would rather know before it goes instead of it totally failing on me. i would check it my self but i dont know what audi engineering tolerances are for the shafts play/ movement, from what i hear from new they have a lot of movement on the shaft.

these are horror stories mate and do happen but as a car i can not fault it any other way, absolutley love to drive it, merc's arnt a patch on build quility compared to audi's in my opinion, and i drive every model every day.

you got to ask your self what else is there estate wise on the market that look as good as the avants??

 

[Paul B7]

Never buy a 2.0 tdi that hasn't had the oil pump balance shaft issue addressed ( you need proof e.g dealer receipt to say the work has been done ) and never but an Audi Automatic ( Audi make the worst automatic boxes out there).
If you must have a used Audi buy a 1.9tdi manual .If you have the funds and can afford the purchase costs and the fuel costs get a 2.5tdi or a 3.o tdi or even a petrol but THINK TWICE about the 2.0 tdi unless the remedial works have been done.
Then again forget AUDI and go Japanese...........................

 

[jaygeezer871]

Correct me if I'm wrong but is it not the BLB 140 engines that suffer this failure not the 170 BRD's?
Yes there is the injection failure issue that now has prompted a recall and make sure the cambelt has been changed as per the interverals.
My wife has a type r, from her experience Honda are no cheaper for parts/labour than Audi so don't let these guys frighten you.
Forums are notorious for the bad stories, you don't see anyone opening a post saying my car is x years old and has been faultless, no one would read it!
While on a recent trip to Devon she won the traffic light grand prix but couldn't live with my torque on the motorway having no turbo, take that vtec engine!

 

[outsideline]

totaaly rue point that about moaning about the problems, no one ever rights a review about how good there car is lol. that said though you have to be critical when your £12,000 car is faced with near £5000 worth of repairs.

also as said above honda and the jap stuff aint any cheaper on parts, i just replaced a o/s front drive shaft cv joint for a suzuki ignis ( little town car right ) and part only available from main dealer....... £460 INC VAT!!!!! My old evo windscreen over a £1000 etc etc.

the blb engines are the the main oil pump failures but there are reports of the brd engine going to with not many miles.....

 

[Paul B7]

Correct me if I'm wrong but is it not the BLB 140 engines that suffer this failure not the 170 BRD's?
Yes there is the injection failure issue that now has prompted a recall and make sure the cambelt has been changed as per the interverals.
My wife has a type r, from her experience Honda are no cheaper for parts/labour than Audi so don't let these guys frighten you.
Forums are notorious for the bad stories, you don't see anyone opening a post saying my car is x years old and has been faultless, no one would read it!
While on a recent trip to Devon she won the traffic light grand prix but couldn't live with my torque on the motorway having no turbo, take that vtec engine!

Ok lets explain this oil pump /balance shaft problem and the issues associated with it;

BLB coded engines are the most notorious in that they have a chain driven balance shaft from the Crankshaft. This balance shaft drives the oil pump. In time the chain tensioner ( plastic) fails, the chain becomes slack , rattles and wears down the cog on the balance shaft end causing chain slippage and sometimes the chain just fails causing catastrophic failure to the engine and turbo ( i.e due to no oil because the oil pump isn't being driven).The drive from the balance shaft to the pump ( this is an hexagonal shaft and it wears round and hence this can also cause the oil pump not to be driven again this can cause catatstrophic engine failure and take out the turbo as well). Audi do a conversion kit for the BLB which converts the chain drive to a gear driven oil pump /balance shaft assembly. Cost of the parts alone is circa £1100 and with labour this adds depending where you live in the country and hence taking the Audi labour rate into consideration something like another £500 - £1000 extra taking the cost for the repair to something like £1600-2000. NOW if your turbo has gone as well you can add another £1000 to your bill. Similarly if you have driven the engine with the red warning light on you will need a replacement engine and turbo which from Audi will drive the repair cost upwards to somewhere near £9000 i.e for most people this means look for a second hand engine or scrap the car .

NOW the BLB engine codes can be found on 05,55 and possibly 06 registered cars.

OTHER engine codes in the B7 Audi cars e,g BRD, BRE etc etc these all have gear driven balance shaft/oilpump assemblies and the problem is with these that like in the BLB the hexagonal drive to the oil pump can wear round and prevent the oil pump driving. This wear thing is a gradual thing and as such many of these engine owners will not ever suspect there are any problems until the red oil warning light appears.
In summary just avoid the 2.0 tdi engines unless your sure the engines has had the oil pump/balance shaft issues addressed.

 

[m0rri5]

thanks for all the replies once again and no japanese parts are not cheap so I always upgraded what needed to be replaced with after market redesigned equipment isn't there a Audi aftermarket company that can do this modification for less? as Amd Essex, some other companies associated with this forum surely they could compete on price and no doubt labour costs?

 

[Paul B7]

thanks for all the replies once again and no japanese parts are not cheap so I always upgraded what needed to be replaced with after market redesigned equipment isn't there a Audi aftermarket company that can do this modification for less? as Amd Essex, some other companies associated with this forum surely they could compete on price and no doubt labour costs?

The real and simple answer to your question is NO.

My engine when repaired by Audi Teesside was £600 less than a known engine rebuilder in the area.
Audi gave me 20% off parts ( they paid the VAT) and 50% off labour (charged me £50/hr and not the usual £99/hr) and the local engine builder said he couldn't come anywhere near it.Total costs for my own repair was circa £2000 and Iam now in dispute with Audi UK for having a known latent design defect in a product and not doing a recall to address the issue.
if you want to know more about AUDI go read the sticky in this Forum on 2.0 tdi oil pump/balance shaft issues, go see a similar thread on "Piston Heads", go check out the"Honest John" web site on 2005-2007 a4 2.0 tdi models and the 2005-2011 Passats ,
go on Facebook and look up Audi ( Not the Qulaity Car they Advertise) etc etc
This is a major problem and true not all the 2.0 tdi units suffer from it but the evidence on these web sites and forums is that there are a LOT of cars out there that do.
You pays your money and you takes your pick , now what are you going to do ?

 

[m0rri5]

I guess keep looking for one which has it done or look elsewhere... the search goes on

 

[mearnsA4]

avoid the 2.0tdi at all costs....speaking from experience here.....

 

[jaygeezer871]

Ok lets explain this oil pump /balance shaft problem and the issues associated with it;

BLB coded engines are the most notorious in that they have a chain driven balance shaft from the Crankshaft. This balance shaft drives the oil pump. In time the chain tensioner ( plastic) fails, the chain becomes slack , rattles and wears down the cog on the balance shaft end causing chain slippage and sometimes the chain just fails causing catastrophic failure to the engine and turbo ( i.e due to no oil because the oil pump isn't being driven).The drive from the balance shaft to the pump ( this is an hexagonal shaft and it wears round and hence this can also cause the oil pump not to be driven again this can cause catatstrophic engine failure and take out the turbo as well). Audi do a conversion kit for the BLB which converts the chain drive to a gear driven oil pump /balance shaft assembly. Cost of the parts alone is circa £1100 and with labour this adds depending where you live in the country and hence taking the Audi labour rate into consideration something like another £500 - £1000 extra taking the cost for the repair to something like £1600-2000. NOW if your turbo has gone as well you can add another £1000 to your bill. Similarly if you have driven the engine with the red warning light on you will need a replacement engine and turbo which from Audi will drive the repair cost upwards to somewhere near £9000 i.e for most people this means look for a second hand engine or scrap the car .

NOW the BLB engine codes can be found on 05,55 and possibly 06 registered cars.

OTHER engine codes in the B7 Audi cars e,g BRD, BRE etc etc these all have gear driven balance shaft/oilpump assemblies and the problem is with these that like in the BLB the hexagonal drive to the oil pump can wear round and prevent the oil pump driving. This wear thing is a gradual thing and as such many of these engine owners will not ever suspect there are any problems until the red oil warning light appears.
In summary just avoid the 2.0 tdi engines unless your sure the engines has had the oil pump/balance shaft issues addressed.

Looks like i will be getting the 3 series coupe next year i have always fancied!

 

[Paul B7]

and some of the 3 series engines have had major issues that have been covered up by BMW but thats another story and not for here................

 

[Rheady]

Thought this was an Audi owners club not a forum to deter future owners. What type of money are you spending is the first port of call. The
issues were with the BLB engine so if you are spending more this will be avoided. Also most people have had injectors changed free of charge from Audi. Every car has problems even from new. Perhaps read more threads before you make up your mind. Personally I have the 2.0tdi
140 and have had no issues at all. It's on a 06 plate and have only spent on service costs and tyres.
With the car covering over 100k miles you'd need to check that it has service history together with a cambelt having been changed. Please take more time before writing off buying the 140.

Steve

 

[m0rri5]

Hi Rheady thanks for your reply its the 170 version and is on a 56 plate MY2006 and has covered 108K or I have seen another with 96K both with full audi service history and cambelts changes they seem good value for money to me there are always horror stories which ever forum but its just the unknown, really like the looks of the A4 avants and there a good size for us as the new arrival is here its just not practical and finding a 1.9 is pretty hard going. I always service my cars and only ever replace like for like or improve. Guess I will have to decide has any one got any thoughts on the Warrenty Direct or Wise warrentys as a few people on other forums have had good experiences so wondering whether this may be worth a thought if I do go ahead?