Just bought 2002 A4 1.9TDi Avant but have problems! Possible turbo fault??

[SMc]

Hi...

Just bought an A4 today after many weeks of searching....the positives....the car was in fantastic condition, owner has taken good care of the car and depite it being 8 years old, he took it audi for everything including the annual service.....

The overall condition was more like a 3 year old car, solid, straight, had the original glass, very few stone chips and it was immaculate inside. best i have seen by far on my search!.....so, the test drive.....

The engine sounded fine and quiet on low revs...but when i floored it there was a bit of a stutter and noise in every gear when going above 1000- 1500rpm.....could possibly be happening when turbo is kicking in?

You may think i'm mad, but the overall condition of this car added to its history made it still worth buying....

But.....

On the way home, it was 45mins of town driving and when i finally got on the motorway and accelerated harder at around 70mph the car lost power and the revs sounded like the noise you hear when the clutch is slipping........

I carried on regardless and the problem soon disappeared after a few more miles....i thought it may have just been needing a good motorway blast as it was a joy to drive home (280miles) after that.

However.....

after 250miles or so, i had the low oil warning light. Pulled into the nearest services and discovered some faint oil drops splashed on the OUTSIDE of the bonnet....on the drivers side.....the same spots were found on the front bumper, at the same side. There seemed to be no obvious leaks but under the lip of the front bumper there were some traces of oil (i think the oil has been dripping slowly from somwhere onto the bottom of the bumper and when i was driving, the wind has blown it up onto the bumper and bonnet. I put in a litre of the best oil I could get at the garage, ran the car at idle and revved it...no sign of any leaks!?. Fortunately, i wasnt far from home by this stage so drove home slowly with no more dramas.

Another point to mention is that the engine temp gauge needle sits at 70 rather than 90......

So.....does anyone have any ideas? I've read online about parts of my story that match somne problems but hopefully someone can piece this together and work it out?.......

All help greatly appreciated!

Cheers


Here's a snap taken on the journey home! Despite the above problems...the car is in fantastic condition....

 

[swarcup]

Firstly the easy one is you probably need a thermostat, that should see the temp guage back to 90, quite an easy job on the 1.9. i believe its down near the altenator on the front of the block. The second was the hesitation and stutter which matches the symptoms of a failing maf sensor, a good way to check is disconnect the wiring to it and if it drives better then its up the swanny and needs replacing. Both of these seem to be quite a common fault throughout the audi range, oil leaks are very hard to trace when you cant see the car but youve got a rough location so do a bit of investigation and if so take it to your garage to be sorted. Sorry to be a bit vague on the oil leak but my motor has a 2.5 v6 tdi so im not that familiar with your layout.

 

[SMc]

An update....the car seems to have healed itself!! It's running great, the stuttering has gone, turbo picks up well and there's no signs of an oil leak....strange!

It's going in to an independant Audi dealer on Saturday morning for a check up and diagnostic.....

Thanks to swarcup for the single reply....thought more people would have been able to help

 

[crazy88]

Thanks to swarcup for the single reply....thought more people would have been able to help

I really wish I could have helped, but I had no idea what to say!!! Just a random thought though, the oil drops on the outside of the bonnet, do you reckon they were most likely from another car? If a car/ lorry in front had an oil leak it wouldn't surprise me that this happened?! I just can't see how it would have come from your engine otherwise?!

Good luck with the Audi specialist though mate.

 

[quattrojames]

Just a random thought though, the oil drops on the outside of the bonnet, do you reckon they were most likely from another car? If a car/ lorry in front had an oil leak it wouldn't surprise me that this happened?! I just can't see how it would have come from your engine otherwise?!

I would think thats most likely, I don't see how oil from your own engine would have made it onto the bonnet otherwise.

It will be interesting to see what the scan shows up on Saturday!

 

[crazy88]

...I don't see how oil from your own engine would have made it onto the bonnet otherwise.

I bet Paul Daniels could make it happen!

 

[Marc1]

Sorry to here you're having / had problems mate. Hope it continues to right itself. I thought you where popping in to see me On Tuesday anyway, so you compare once you'd seen the Birmingham one?! So you didn't fancy one with factory GmbH kit, FASH, new turbo, egr and brakes all around, 12 months MOT, 10 months tax, full service 1k miles ago etc, etc? Blah, blah Lol. Just playing mate. Hope it goes well and welcome to The B6 section, it's a good place to be. Post some pictures in the pics section. :icon_thumright:

 

[SMc]

Good news!! The car has been running great, no problems since that initial run plus it got the all clear from the diagnostic check and road check by the independent Audi specialist!........it seems the oil low warning and oil on bonnet was a coincidence....definitely no leak....it appears the oil was simply just low as it hadn't been topped up for a while. Must admit, as others have mentioned on this thread, I knew it was unusual to have oil on the outside of the bonnet but thought it seemed to be more than a coincidence with the light coming on and traces underneath the front bumper. Turns out there are only two minor things....cam box gasket and a thermostat....parts costing £25 or so plus an hours labour. Other than that the car is perfect! Very pleased....

Marc....you have a PM mate.....

 

[BILKO1]

I know your car is fixed but oil on the bumper and loss of power would lead me to the intercooler and pipework.

 

[Marc1]

Marc....you have a PM mate.....

PM replied to