3.0 TDI Quattro

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Tank.

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Hi there, New member to the forum so please be gentle.
To cut a long story short im a 28 yr old HGV driver. I have had a love of Audi's for some time but its unlikely I'd ever have the money to buy a good one one outright. Dad has said when he retires at the end of the year he wants to buy me the Audi I'm wanting and so far I'm set on the A4 Avant 3.0 TDI Quattro. Mainly specifically the 3.0 TDI because I want the sound of a V6 but the MPG is a bit low on the petrol V6 engines.

Im generally after any information common faults/problems/mpg's if possible

I have done some reading regarding failure of the swirl flaps on the inlet manifolds and that a proper replacement is rather pricey?
Although there was also mention of mapping out the swirl flaps and EGR valve.
Just wanting to know about the alternatives for repairing the potentially costly issue.

All information/insight would be fantastic.
Thanks

PS I know you cant really run one of these on a tight budget but thats why I'm wanting to get as much information together as i can just now
 
Is there swirl flap issues on the Audis? I know it's common on the BMW's.
 
I had read particularly with the 3.0 they can become faulty. Ive read in some cases audi are contributing some money towards the cost of repair as theyre aware of the fault.
 
Wife just bought 3.0 tdi quattro, from my research on good old internet its mainly the little control rods that control the flaps that control the inlet tract length that go wrong as opposed to the flaps themselves falling apart ala BMW
The rods are available on ebay 20 quid a side.
Dont buy anything with multitronic gearbox, but im pretty certain all auto quattro have the proper auto gearbox and not the multitronic/cvt thing.
Apparently there is some sort of recon manifold from germany what that entails i havent a clue, but also on ebay


Lynall
 
Welcome to the site Tank.

Can your dad adopt me & buy a 3.0 tdi for me aswell :p

Peach of an engine tbh mate, not many issues I've read about.

If when you do get one & need any oem technology, give s a shout as we supply/fit :)
 
I had seen the repair parts on ebay, although i had also seen youtube videos posted of the internals of the inlet manifold worn so the rod which the flaps are on is loose
i was unsure as to whether the repair part would stop the internals getting into that condition
 
NHN said:
Welcome to the site Tank.

Can your dad adopt me & buy a 3.0 tdi for me aswell :p

Peach of an engine tbh mate, not many issues I've read about.

If when you do get one & need any oem technology, give s a shout as we supply/fit :)
Click to expand...

Haha, thanks for the welcome :) In all honesty if he's paying I'm thinking big numbers that include V's may take a bit of persuading although what ive seen so far though the MPG on a 3.0 tdi isnt that bad. But thats figures on car sites, and not figures from people actually driving

I already have ideas in my head for what i would do to it. but i think im getting WAY ahead of myself at the moment sadly
 
Actual driving.. around 30mpg for short runs.. 45mpg for cruising motorways..and then downhill when you really put your foot down :)

Just going to the station and back (8 miles each way) I am getting about 400 miles to the tank.. closer to 600 if I am doing a longer motorway based trek)-
 
thats not bad but whats the tank capacity?
and is that brim just till the red light comes on?
 
64 litres.. full to (well I normally fill up when its mid way through the last quarter tank)
 
Wifes A4 is doing same mpg ish as Matt above maybe a tadge more.

Lynall
 
Had mine for around 18 months and love it. I had inlet manifold issues and fixed them myself reasonable easily and cost effectively (£250 for a reconditioned manifold from Germany). They effortlessly munch miles and combined with Quattro the are very safe and secure on our winter roads. I am also getting around 35 around town and around 45 mpg on a run. Mine has been remapped and it a lot more lively now. Running cost wise, the 18" sline wheels mean tyres are a bit pricey. Servicing wise the filters are pretty cheap, but they need about 8 litres of oil if I remember right. I do all my own service and maintenance (owning a Land Rover has turned me into a mechanic haha :keule:) Running cost wise they are not a scary as people may think. We have 7 Audis in the family and this beast is pretty good, other than when my bottom pulley fell off. Hope that helps and good luck :salute:
 
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ben.w93 said:
Had mine for around 18 months and love it. I had inlet manifold issues and fixed them myself reasonable easily and cost effectively (£250 for a reconditioned manifold from Germany). They effortlessly munch miles and combined with Quattro the are very safe and secure on our winter roads. I am also getting around 35 around town and around 45 mpg on a run. Mine has been remapped and it a lot more lively now. Running cost wise, the 18" sline wheels mean tyres are a bit pricey. Servicing wise the filters are pretty cheap, but they need about 8 litres of oil if I remember right. I do all my own service and maintenance (owning a Land Rover has turned me into a mechanic haha :keule:) Running cost wise they are not a scary as people may think. We have 7 Audis in the family and this beast is pretty good, other than when my bottom pulley fell off. Hope that helps and good luck :salute:
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Brilliant, thank you! I take if servicing on these yourself is fairly straight forward. Likewise my history in the Royal Logistics we always serviced our own vehicles since then i've looked after my own car and in all honesty if ive no real intention of selling on then missing a stamp in the book wont be a problem, definitely cheaper doing it yourself plus you know its definitely been done.

Not many plans mods wise but ideally just air in/air out with hopefully a nice sounding exhaust (decat/DPF delete) prior to a decent map.
If I'm getting it mapped am i as well saving myself some time and money down the line and mapping out the EGR and swirl flaps at the same time or wait and see if it causes a problem in the future?
 
Hi Op, I have had my 3.0tdi Quattro cab (manual) for about 5 months now. To be honest, I'm bored with the soft top but the engine won't allow me to sell the car! My perfect car would therefore be what your after which is the avant. Every time I get into the car it puts a smile on my face. I believe the manual is a lot rarer than the auto but obviously it depends on what you prefer. Economy for a v6 is fantastic and as said above can be quite cheap to run unless you have a heavy right foot but to be fair I thrash mine and it doesn't sting me anywhere nearly as much as my previous merc c200 kompressor. All in all I find the 3.0tdi to be a perfect blend of performance and economy. I know you have mentioned reliability but my understanding is that with regular oil changes/filters these engines are bullet proof. My advice is to try and find a well specced example as the toys really add to my driving pleasure. I would look for heated seats, xenons, rear sensors and Bose if you can. The sat nav is nice to have but I've had a lot better systems in a golf than what I have now to be fair. Anyhow good luck in your search...
 
I did read somewhere that those cars that have been on the extended oil change regime tend to let the camchains go floppy!
Serviced wifes the other day, doddle to do, only pita is the engine undertray to remove to drain the oil, oil and fuel filters both easy, pollen also easy, air filter bit tight due to being very careful with the maf wiring.
7.5 litres of oil, brings it about 3mm under the max mark.
All new pads as well, again easy stuff, just got glow plugs to do and thats it for 10k.

Lynall
 
I'm going to add my voice to the chorus urging you to go ahead. I suspect you've already seen the comments I've made in old threads about how I sorted out my manifold flap problem but this was before Audi started selling modified linkages for small change.
 
Tank. said:
Yea I found a stunning example from a dealers in Wigan, no doubt will be sold by the time it comes to buying.

Used AUDI A4 3.0 TDi Quattro S Line 5dr for sale in Wigan | PistonHeads

and like you said above its really what I'm looking for, the perfect balance between performance and economy
Click to expand...

im sure this car has had aftermarket mods done? I never knew LEDs came on the 2006 models. I may be wrong...

edit- what are Quattro spec upgraded brakes? Lool...sounds like someone's project to me...not bad looking mind! (Not sure about red though)
 
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jdp1962 said:
I'm going to add my voice to the chorus urging you to go ahead. I suspect you've already seen the comments I've made in old threads about how I sorted out my manifold flap problem but this was before Audi started selling modified linkages for small change.
Click to expand...

think i had read a few of your posts prior to being a member on here, most came up in google searches regarding the problem. were you the one that had the flaps mapped out rather than replace the manifold?

im interested to know about the modified linkages as i also thought part of the problem was with the internals, (plastic brackets that hold the rod?)


and as above i did suspect that they may have been aftermarket mods i suppose if thats the case you dont know what else has been done, still seems good at that milage
 
rizzini7 said:
Not to sure on their specs. 3.0ltr 16v 4 cylinder??
Click to expand...

yea i noticed that before, when i narrowed down the search it didnt appear when i selected V6, then noticed they had it down as a 4 cyl.
wonder if that means its not a 3L, would be handy to see the reg to check. Although, like i said, it would be pointless every chance it would be sold by the time dads ready to buy.
Plus i could even be barking up the wrong tree, no idea what his budget is
 
I have thought about the B7 3.0TDi as my next car (coming from a B6 2.5TDi).

Good old swirl flaps - Its a common fault on Vectra 1.9CDTi's too - I had to replace the inlet manifold on mine due to the plastic swivel points wearing out. Couldn't believe they were plastic - almost designed to fail!
 
yea, only bad thing with the V6 is you've got two of them to replace :(
but i couldnt believe what i saw in the video that they were plastic.
suppose a manufacturer has gotta guarantee bringing money in
 
One of those things to worry about only when it happens - plenty of options to fix it.
 
Tank. said:
were you the one that had the flaps mapped out rather than replace the manifold?
Click to expand...

Yes, I was. My first port of call was my supplier (Fontain, the independent Audi place) who tried their linkage modification route first. When that didn't work (for which they didn't charge me), I had the fault mapped out by a local agent for these people. They asked me if I wanted a remap at the same time. It seemed rude to refuse so I said yes.
 
jdp1962 said:
Yes, I was. My first port of call was my supplier (Fontain, the independent Audi place) who tried their linkage modification route first. When that didn't work (for which they didn't charge me), I had the fault mapped out by a local agent for these people. They asked me if I wanted a remap at the same time. It seemed rude to refuse so I said yes.
Click to expand...

sorry another question did you therefore have the EGR mapped out as well , did you see any loss or improvement in performance or economy?
and if I was having the car mapped anyway would you advise for this to be done as a pre-emptive? or ride it out and see if the problem occurs
 
Tank. said:
sorry another question did you therefore have the EGR mapped out as well , did you see any loss or improvement in performance or economy?
and if I was having the car mapped anyway would you advise for this to be done as a pre-emptive? or ride it out and see if the problem occurs
Click to expand...

I didn't ask for the EGR to be mapped out, so must confess I have no idea whether it was or not. As far as mapping out the manifold flap fault code, I'd wait until it happens before you do so.
 
Sorry excuse my ignorance here but what does it mean to have "the fault mapped out"?

Is this just masking the issue or fixing it?

The reason I ask is that I have just bought a 3.0tdi quattro and it has the fault codes for both sets of swirlflaps but no eml light has come on and the car runs great. It is also showing fault codes for 2 glow plugs.

Car is superb though, 2 days of ownership, 233bhp, 36mpg mixed driving. Amazing!

Get One!
 
preston6566 said:
Sorry excuse my ignorance here but what does it mean to have "the fault mapped out"?

Is this just masking the issue or fixing it?

The reason I ask is that I have just bought a 3.0tdi quattro and it has the fault codes for both sets of swirlflaps but no eml light has come on and the car runs great. It is also showing fault codes for 2 glow plugs.

Car is superb though, 2 days of ownership, 233bhp, 36mpg mixed driving. Amazing!

Get One!
Click to expand...

To use your phrase, mapping out a fault code is a mask rather than a fix. In the case of the worn manifold flaps on the 3.0TDi, the problems makes virtually no discernible difference to how the engine performs. It's just that the wear in the mechanism is detected, logged in the ECU's memory as a fault, usually causing the engine light to come on. Mapping out the fault is a process whereby the ECU is effectively re-programmed to ignore the fault report.
 
So in my position(fault codes p1018 & p3135 showing when I read them but no eml light ever) would your advise be to just leave them as is or to go and attempt to fit swirl flap repair kit?

or something completely different?

All advise much appreciated? Cheers
 
If the EML is on the car will fail its MOT. As yours is not, you are OK for now. I'll let the 3.0TDi boys comment on whether to fix it now or not.
 
If you are going for a map i would get the egr done at the same time. I agree with the others that the 3.0tdi, especially when mapped, gives the perfect balance between performance and affordability.

Ps was thinking of changing my golf for an avant a few months back and that red one was in Autotrader then, at first glance it looked OK but there's something about it that puts me off. It might be fine but it's been on sale for quite a while now, for what that's worth.
 
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Stevieb2905 said:
If you are going for a map i would get the egr done at the same time. I agree with the others that the 3.0tdi, especially when mapped, gives the perfect balance between performance and affordability.

Ps was thinking of changing my golf for an avant a few months back and that red one was in Autotrader then, at first glance it looked OK but there's something about it that puts me off. It might be fine but it's been on sale for quite a while now, for what that's worth.
Click to expand...

Thanks yea after a bit of reading thats my intention, just want to find somewhere that can do what i want in the one go, de cat, dpf removal, exhaust system then a remap to get it running as it should.


when it comes to mapping are there a lot of places that use off the shelf maps or are most cars mapped individually since every single engine is slightly different.

was also reading about terraclean too, probably advisable on a 2nd hand diesel
 
Terraclean, the fact its recommended by edd the dickhead i would avoid!
 
lynallbel said:
Terraclean, the fact its recommended by edd the dickhead i would avoid!
Click to expand...
Not a fan of him then?
Ive heard of folk mentioning it on other forums saying its improved their performance/mpg anyway
 
How i see it is the bloke seems to be an expert on every vehicle he works on, which as we all know you cannot know everything, plus some of the things ive seen him do, makes me think oh dear, i bet any mech watching the show is thinking exactly the same thing, in fact me old apprentice whos now 20 was telling me only the other day, you wont believe what that tosser edd did to a disco!
As for the terraclean ive never seen it used, but have to say on the trucks i work on injector failure is almost unheard of, i do know some of the smaller trucks do have starting problems and thats because an injector leaks thus not allowing the common rail to get up to engine staring pressure.
Im sure if it was as good as they say commercial operators would all be using it, because even if it only made 0.5 percent difference the miles trucks do it would soon pay for itself.
Old saying goes (if it seems to good to be true it usually is):blink:
 
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