Hi all
I've just bought my first German car in the form of an A3 2.0 TDI Sport 140 (53 plate). I bought the car off a close friend so whilst it's done just short of 150k miles, I know the car well and it's been diligently serviced and cared for. The problem I have, which I was aware of before buying is the seemingly infamous idle judder issue. I've noticed it before when I've been in the car with my mate and know it's been doing it a while. There don't appear to be any issues around performance as the car drives beautifully and there's no noticeable judder when it's moving but while my friend has just lived with it I'm keen to get it sorted.
I've had a good read around and it seems to be a fairly common issue with these engines but there also seem to be numerous different causes. Specifically, my car idles fine for a few minutes after starting the engine then the juddering starts. Sometimes it's worse than others but you can feel the car move and if I open the bonnet you can see the engine lurch and 'tick' slightly when it happens. The car has recently had a replacement clutch and fly wheel and I'm told the cam belt is due in 10k. I've seen these mentioned as potential causes along with fuel injectors or pumps amongst others.
The common consensus seems to be get it hooked up to a computer and check the diagnostics as a first port of call. I'm afraid I'm a complete novice when it comes to car mechanics so I'm fully reliant on a garage to do any work. Being as I've wiped out my bank account buying the car, I suppose I was hoping for a rough idea of what it'll cost to have it looked into. Do most garages charge a fixed price for an initial diagnostic test? Also, as I mentioned, I know the car has had the problem for a while and doesn't appear to be suffering any ill effects, is it likely to be causing any unseen damage? If it's going to cost a fortune to repair I'll have to live with it for the time being but if it's a serious issue obviously I'd like to get it sorted as soon as possible. I've read a few posts however where people have had numerous repairs done with no improvement in the judder so I'm loathed to start wasting money on a wild goose chase if it's not serious.
As a side note, I'm in the Sheffield/Rotherham area. There's a German car specialist garage nearby (autotecnic) I wondered whether anyone had any experience with them as I was considering taking the car there.
Any comments greatly appreciated
Thanks
Stew
I've just bought my first German car in the form of an A3 2.0 TDI Sport 140 (53 plate). I bought the car off a close friend so whilst it's done just short of 150k miles, I know the car well and it's been diligently serviced and cared for. The problem I have, which I was aware of before buying is the seemingly infamous idle judder issue. I've noticed it before when I've been in the car with my mate and know it's been doing it a while. There don't appear to be any issues around performance as the car drives beautifully and there's no noticeable judder when it's moving but while my friend has just lived with it I'm keen to get it sorted.
I've had a good read around and it seems to be a fairly common issue with these engines but there also seem to be numerous different causes. Specifically, my car idles fine for a few minutes after starting the engine then the juddering starts. Sometimes it's worse than others but you can feel the car move and if I open the bonnet you can see the engine lurch and 'tick' slightly when it happens. The car has recently had a replacement clutch and fly wheel and I'm told the cam belt is due in 10k. I've seen these mentioned as potential causes along with fuel injectors or pumps amongst others.
The common consensus seems to be get it hooked up to a computer and check the diagnostics as a first port of call. I'm afraid I'm a complete novice when it comes to car mechanics so I'm fully reliant on a garage to do any work. Being as I've wiped out my bank account buying the car, I suppose I was hoping for a rough idea of what it'll cost to have it looked into. Do most garages charge a fixed price for an initial diagnostic test? Also, as I mentioned, I know the car has had the problem for a while and doesn't appear to be suffering any ill effects, is it likely to be causing any unseen damage? If it's going to cost a fortune to repair I'll have to live with it for the time being but if it's a serious issue obviously I'd like to get it sorted as soon as possible. I've read a few posts however where people have had numerous repairs done with no improvement in the judder so I'm loathed to start wasting money on a wild goose chase if it's not serious.
As a side note, I'm in the Sheffield/Rotherham area. There's a German car specialist garage nearby (autotecnic) I wondered whether anyone had any experience with them as I was considering taking the car there.
Any comments greatly appreciated
Thanks
Stew
