A4 2.5 TDI checks? new owner

Hi, welcome to the forum.

What year is your car, what kind of milage, and does it have any service history and/or receipts with it?

For the tyre pressure, I personally like 32psi (215/45/17), but it depends on the tyre and the load you are generally carrying.

Hope you find this site ok, it is brilliant for pretty much everything you need, and there are some people on here who have a huge amount of knowledge :icon_thumright:

First things I would do is a fluid service, oil, brake fluid, coolant, PAS and change depending on the condition/colour etc. Also find out when the cambelt was last changed.

Cambelt, injection pump belt, water pump and thermostat are due every 60K so you'll be due one soon.

Budget around £600 including labour from an independent to do it.

As the weather is crap at the minute check the drains in the bottom of the scuttle as they block and flood the passenger footwell, you'll need to take the battery out to get at them.

Factory tyre pressures are on a sticker in the fuel fillert flap.

Injection pumps can fail and are £££, it's around £400-£500 to get one refurbed.
The dashboard led display loses lines, it's normally a faulty connection, find someone who can repair fine wire solder connections and you're away.
The abs controller can die throwing an abs warning light, you need someone with VAGCOM or similar to diagnose it as the generic code readers will just sit there, you can get these repaired for around £120

The indicator connectors are a bit flakely as well, I had to get a new one soldered on so the front offside would work.

Think that's it.

They're lovely cars, I'm getting around 40mpg with a thermostat stuck open on A and B roads going up to 50mpg on the motorway.

good cars till they go wrong

issues ive had are
knackered fuel pump, about £800 fitted
knackered starter about £90 exchange and a ****** to fit
failed aux belt tensioner which kept throwng belt off, about £120 for all the different parts that make it up and a proper ****** to fit
engine breather, blocked causing oil leak that i cant trace, fitted later improved type (this is well worth doing before you get pressure problems and theres a good guide in diesel section, oh and its a ****** to fit)
turbo vanes clogged, free to fix and fairly easy to do
thermostat, not worked in about a year, collected parts and tools to do job but havnt got around to it yet belts off jobbie

oh and has yours got ASR very annoying if you pull off from a junction quickly and it cuts power (but works well in snow)

then theres the usual b5 stuff control arms, rear calipers, maf etc...

mines on 200k+ still drives perfectly and is really nice to drive on the motorway, the only time i was tempted to get rid was when fuel pump went but decided to keep it in the end

B5NUT said:

First things I would do is a fluid service, oil, brake fluid, coolant, PAS and change depending on the condition/colour etc. Also find out when the cambelt was last changed.

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i agree with him. start with the basics, look at the essentials and then go from there

As Old_skool stated, they are briliant cars when running right ! Cambelt is an expensive job as it needs quite a few items replacing while the front its off wich bumps the price up. Also, many mechanics dont know how to work properly on these cars, that's why many dislike them ! I personaly love the v6 lump as it has soo much potential, yet there's not much Off the shelf ot there for them. The FWD will eat front tyres if you're a spirited driver and i advise to check the rear springs/shocks as they prone to snapp. Parts are relatively cheap for them and i will only use quality fully synthetic oils in 5w30-5w40 flavours with max 6-8k intervals. Brakes are a bit small for the power/weight of the car so i suggest you look for audi TT caliper carriers and upgrade the discs to the 312mm ones (as fitted to quattros/late v6 engines from 2000 on). Oil breather is a must as the stock ones clog and will throw the seals off the turbo and make shure you replace-it with the later style as fitted to the AKE 180Bhp engine. If replacing gearbox oil only use genuine stuff and the antifreeze should be pink- G12 spec. Any other colour is not good. Also make shure its not on the Long Life service intervals as the cams will wear out due to the oil being kept for that long... If you ever need a cambelt done for a good price and you're not too far/dont mind traveling for a good price, then drop me a line, I know these engines inside/out... Cheers !