Just purchased a 2003 Audi A3 1.9 TDI Sport. What checks should I do?

[nath-w]

i Everyone,

I have just purchased a 2003 audi a3 1.9 TDI sport. It has high mileage of 145K, but has had one owner from new and full service history, plus I have been told that majority of the miles are motorway miles. I am still slightly worried about the high mileage and am just wondering what checks I should do to ensure that the engine will still keep running smoothly for many more miles.

Thanks

 

[JimS3]

Regular (7500 mile) oil changes using 5-40 fully synthetic PD aproved oil will do it the world of good.

As the cams have secondary lobes for the injector rockers the lobes for followers are narrower to fit them in.
Rebuilt many of these due to cam eating through followers.

Regular changes with good oil will save you a packet in long run.

great engines when mapped tho, run one as my daily driver.

 

[nath-w]

I was told that the oil to put in the engine was 5w-30 fully synthetic, or 10w-40 part synthetic for engines with higher mileage?

I was thinking about remapping, but doesn't this put more strain on the engine and components such as the clutch and how will it effect fuel economy?

 

[JimS3]

Nooo... It's the 10-40 semi that kills them!

5w-30 fully is ok as long as it has VAG spec 506.01 or 507.00 on the bottle.

5w-40 needs to have VAG spec 505.01. Don't confuse with 505.00, totally different 10w-40 oil.

VAG developed with castrol a special oil spec for these engines which holds up much better to the higher pressures / wear on the moving parts caused by the pd injector system and cam arrangement.

The 5w-40 is likely to be better in a high mileage vehicle and cars running this I have seen little top end wear on.

TPS is a good source, Synta Platinum is the stuff from them you need. About £24 retail, a few days each month the have a special offer and it drops to £14 + vat for 5 liters!


remap is ok if your engine is healthy. I bought my golf 130 Pd on 41,000 miles 9 years ago and mapped it straight away, it was then stage 2 mapped on 125,000. Despite this the clutch lasted until 135,000. Still going strong now at 152k!

I would recommend only a stage 1 / not too aggressive custom map if reliability is your concern. My stage 2 aggressive map now eats driveshafts and flywheels and still feels quick after driving my mapped S3.

 

[nath-w]

Thanks for your advice. Im glad I checked on here first as I just bought 10w- 40 part, but havnt changed oil yet. Think il take it back and change it for some 5w-30 fully. Is the VAG spec just written somewhere on the bottle?

 

[JimS3]

Yes, on the front or back of bottle.

Castrol edge do a version, halfords also which is made by comma (Esso)

Bear in mind the castrol comes in 4 litre bottles though and you will need 4.5 liters to do oil and filter.