Average lifespan of TFSI ?!

[Jammymancan]

I know.. it's a tough question but some of you out there may have some idea. My 2.0t A4 B7 BUL is stage 1 mapped and going on 125k miles. Is it even worth considering going to stage 2 or more? It's been well serviced with 5w40 premium oil and either Tesco momentum or vpower fuel. Can followers being changed regularly, pcv delete etc..

 

[QuattroCalum]

I know.. it's a tough question but some of you out there may have some idea. My 2.0t A4 B7 BUL is stage 1 mapped and going on 125k miles. Is it even worth considering going to stage 2 or more? It's been well serviced with 5w40 premium oil and either Tesco momentum or vpower fuel. Can followers being changed regularly, pcv delete etc..

The 2.0 tfsi doesn't have a good reputation for reliability so I won't comment on that but save yourself some money and use Tesco momentum, Shell V Power is not worth the extra 10p power litre more.

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[Charlie Farley]

That's one of those " how long is a piece of string" questions really.
Maybe better to ask how long have you had the car and how many miles have you covered in it, as that maybe a better indicator as to how the cars been owned driven since new.
if its on owner number 3 now you have no way of knowing how its been treated before your ownership so hard to gauge what shape the engine really is in.
The 2.0 TFSI is not really that bad an engine but some engine codes are most certainly more prone to certain failings than others.
As you mentioned you have a BUL you may also be aware that it did have numerous revised parts that other engine codes did not receive and as such is probably the best of the bunch upto 2008 that is ,after that things did go a bit tits up with the tfsi .
A lot of owners have problem around the 70-80k mark for some reason , maybe down to servicing issues etc but other's seem to go well into 150k and beyond with no real problems.
If you are on 125k with very little in the way of engine issues you're doing well and probably fine for some time to come, the problem with remaps is that any short coming with your engine and components will soon become apparent , if you haven't had any probs thus far then maybe just leave it as is now rather than risk going a stage further and then things turning bad.
probably not what you were really thinking of doing but sometime a bit of caution is a good thing.

 

[Jammymancan]

Much appreciated answer sir. Thank you.

 

[Retroman]

As a general observation, I've seen engines ruined by poor engine oil maintenance and conversely last for ages with good maintenance. The benefit of frequent engine oil maintenance was drilled into me years ago by aero engineers, in the old days when service booklets had two regimes for changing things like oil. 1) "normal conditions" and 2) "adverse conditions". The latter was twice as frequent and was the suggestion to me as a youngster - along with a magnetic sump plug. I've never bothered with the sump plug but have always followed a regular oil service regime and I don't like these "long life" regimes with oil festering in sumps for up to two years and oil filters losing their effectiveness from 8,000 miles onwards. On a tuned/mapped car, I would just carry on changing oil/filter frequently.

 

[Charlie Farley]

Agreed chap, the long life service schedule kills engines and add that to cars that don't get used very much with just low weekly milage ,they rarely get to full operating temp and that's just doesn't do an engine any favours, and that's not just tfsi's either.....

 

[norad97]

I have aprrox 74,500 miles on my BUL, was always service by Audi when I bought the car.
I am concerned about the oil pickup pipe, I know there is a revised part now and im thinking of getting it fitted.
The question I have is, how do you know when the pickup screen blocks and the relief valve opens to stop the engine get staved of oil???

 

[QuattroCalum]

There is no relief valve for the pick up pipe if it's blocked, it's blocked. The relief valve you are thinking of is for the oil filter, if that gets blocked the relief valve opens allowing unfiltered oil through.

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[Charlie Farley]

I have aprrox 74,500 miles on my BUL, was always service by Audi when I bought the car.
I am concerned about the oil pickup pipe, I know there is a revised part now and im thinking of getting it fitted.
The question I have is, how do you know when the pickup screen blocks and the relief valve opens to stop the engine get staved of oil???

I have 72k on my BUL engine and it has the original suction pipe.
To be fair the problem is not really with the original suction pipe, agreed it is not the best of design and in the longitudinal configuration the sump does slope the wrong way...but its more to do with servicing and oil contamination.
A lot of owners have had engine failures put down to blockage of the guaze and the oil starvation , but when they have had the sump off its not just oil blocking the gauze , there is assorted debris stuck in it and onto it with very nasty black thick oil.

Long life oil changes and servicing really don't help and with short trips as the oil just goes bad and it's been pumped around for ages just getting worse.
TFSI's like and need good clean oil , not thick gloop, so regular oil and filter changes are a must to keep the gauze as clear as possible.
Just be aware that a web search on the problem will also show that many owners also changed to the alternative part and still had engine failures so kinda proves the point that the original part does work ok if the engine is maintained on a regular basis.

Also the PCV design on the tfsi is part to blame , if you saw the nasty gloop that get's put back into the sump you'd understand why the engine oil does not last long and how it can breakdown into a very unfriendly black product that just is not any use for anything frankly.

I my view yes the modified part is a good thing but not really convincened it really need's changing , there are a heck of a lot of a4 B7's with the tfsi engine in all driving around with no probs at all and with high milage , and yes there are failures , but one only ever hears about the bad things , rarely the good things.

I work on the basis of regular oil and filter changes, never do a long life schedule and use the best oil possible, also modify the PCV ….work fine for me.
All down to your personal choice though.

rob

 

[norad97]

How did you modify the PCV?
Im sure I seen a revised oil Pick up pipe for the sump, but the reply from Quattro Calam is saying no its for the oil filter?
what is this ?

 

[Charlie Farley]

there is a revised pickup pipe for the sump suction, it just has an extra oil entry point to allow oil to still be sucked up should the gauze get clogged.
The suction pipe in the sump is just that, a pipe with a gauze mesh , no valves in it.

 

[Charlie Farley]

The original suction pipe is part number 06B 115 251 F



the revised part is : 06F 115 251 B and you can see they have just added an extra oil suction point, that's the only difference.

 

[QuattroCalum]

The original suction pipe is part number 06B 115 251 F



the revised part is : 06F 115 251 B and you can see they have just added an extra oil suction point, that's the only difference.

Looks like someone knocked that up in a shed somewhere

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[norad97]

I noticed that there is only one bolt hole on the flang, the oridginal one has 2 ?
Is it worth changing, I thinking it is.

tell me about your PCV delete, what did you use?

 

[Charlie Farley]

maybe worth a look.
https://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threa...project-and-why-you-need-to-do-it-too.362003/

 

[LawrenceH]

Whereabouts does the pickup pipe sit relative to the plug? Is it possible to get a boroscope in there to see it?

 

[Rob Avant]

I want to replace my pickup pipe but I’ve heard it’s not a quick job... needing to drop the subframe to get to the sump off etc. Has anyone done this/ had it done?

 

[j_mcvic]

I want to replace my pickup pipe but I’ve heard it’s not a quick job... needing to drop the subframe to get to the sump off etc. Has anyone done this/ had it done?

Late reply but I did it myself a few months ago.

Not too difficult just fiddly. Think it took about 4hrs start to finish.

The engine needs to be supported from above like the below picture.

Then the rear subframe bolts need lowered about 1” and the front subframe bolts removed, remove the engine mounts. This allows the subframe to drop quite a bit. I unbolted the aircon pump which gave the sump room to slid out when the bolts were undone. Undo the ARB as well!

undo the sump bolts. There are 2 hidden ones that are inside 2 wee access holes in the gearbox housing. They are tricky to get to and don’t drop them or they can be a nightmare to get out! There is a thread somewhere in the interwebz that has a good guide that I followed but I can’t find it now

Hope this helps a bit

 

[Charlie Farley]

what condition was the mesh gauze on your suction pipe after you had extracted it chap.

 

[j_mcvic]

what condition was the mesh gauze on your suction pipe after you had extracted it chap.

Wasn’t as bad as I was expecting if I’m honest!

Car was on 105,000 miles. Decent service history for most of its life until the owner pervious to me had let it slip a bit. There was a wee bit of sludge in the bottom of the sump but nothing drastic. And then there were a few bits of plastic - I think probably off the bottom of the dip stick.

Changed the pick up for the new version.

I’ll be servicing it ever 12 months or 6000 miles whatever comes first!

 

[Charlie Farley]

Ah now then , you're on 105k miles with the original pickup and it looks to be pretty good in all honesty....very little in the way of clogging or debris.
I'm glad you posted this chap as it does prove that the original pipe does work ok , and as I've always said it's the way the engine is maintained that is the core problem, not the pickup, regular good engine servicing with good oil and filter is the way to go for problem free oil blockage problems .
I'm not saying all issues are related to oil quality but a heck of a lot are and these engines need good clean oil and the right amount.
Good on yer for doing the job chap , but given what I've seen you didn't have to do it, but I suppose until you have had the sump off its a difficult choice to make.

good luck with it chap.

 

[j_mcvic]

Yea it really didn’t need changed.

I didn’t have any oil pressure issues but I did have a cam chain rattle so the hope was that the pipe was blocked causing low pressure to the tensioner.

It would of been a cheap fix however it didn’t sort the rattle so had to bite the bullet and get the chain and tensioner replaced and it was spot on again!

 

[Rob Avant]

Cheers for the info on this bud, very helpful Looking at how good your pick up pipe was I think I’ll put this job on the back burner for now. That’s why I like this forum, always useful advice!