Sooo, went to view an S3....

[finesse]

What does it mean to have oil around the top of the engine, residue around the manifold?

The engine temp gauge was hanging around 60-70 degrees, even though stationary... is this normal?

When the engine was started from warm, it first sounded rough, like a diesel but then sounded "normal" after. Is this normal?

How to distinguish an AMK or BAM engine, only from the V5 document?


Finally

What is the recommended time change the timing belt???



Thanks

 

[Alex C]

Oilly Top of Engine:

Oil cap might not be on properly. The engine has an engine cover and the oil cap is accessible without having to take the cover off. In order to make this accessible without removing the engine cover there is a stubby pipe which screws onto the head of the engine, the engine cover goes over the top and the oil cap screws on top of that. When removing the oil cap you can sometimes unscrew this stubby pipe thing as well with out noticing because the engine cover hides it all. And when you put the oil cap on, the stubby pipe might not screw back in place (it should click). In this case you are in effect, driving around without the oil cap on. I have done this (I know, STUPID) but thankfully i regularly check the oil and after getting through a litre of oil in the space of two weeks i checked and found the oil cap was on fine, but the stubby pipe thing under the engine cover was not!

Cam belt - every 5 years or 75,000 miles

Tax - I think £215

 

[Sandip]

What year is the car? Early model are APY (210BHP) and the later facelift models would be the BAM(225BHP) and AMK(210BHP)

Not sure what you mean about the oil around the manifold bud, but the temp issue is the thermostat, it's staying open so hence why it ain't hitting 90oC, it could also be the temp sender.
The slightly diesely sound is quite normal, have a look at the oil on the oil filler cap, it's likly to have a bit of mayo on it because it's been running cold. By the sounds of the car it needs a good service including timing belt, tesioners, thermostat, temp sender, oil and oil filter.

The recommended timing belt service is every 60k but it also depends on time, best to be safe than sorry

The engine code is stamped where the red arrow is

 

[s3_kev]

diesel noise will be the variable cam chain tensioner around £300 for the part alone, and 3hours fitting by the book times i have changed one before and took around 40mins though, thermosts are common on the 1.8t's and would give the 60-70 degree problem should sit on 90 dgree all the time once upto temp, oil issue could be as described above or the cam cover could be leaking a little

 

[voorhees]

When the engine was started from warm, it first sounded rough, like a diesel but then sounded "normal" after. Is this normal?

welcome to the 1.8t

 

[Alex C]

The gaiter on my stubby pipe, just below the oil cap on mine is the other way round, so that it catches any spillt oil

 

[finesse]

Thanks for the reply fellas, the owner claimed it was 225.

Is the thermostat issue an imminent problem that would need to be sorted as soon as possible?

 

[Sandip]

Yes, it's not an expensive job, just a bit awkwardd to do. Running a car cold isn't a good thing