About to buy an Audi A3 2.0 2009 TDI (170) - Anything I should take note?

[Joejacsj]

I'm very close to finalising a deal to getting a lovely Audi a3 2.0 Diesel 170bhp, 2009.
It's currently at 62,000 miles and has literally just had the cam belt and water pump replaced.

With this, can I expect the car to be running fine for the foreseeable future? Everything else seemed perfect, brand new tyres, brake pads, discs seem fine. Gear box seemed smooth. FSH (missed one service between 33k to 52k) but has been served at 61k.

Any comments about the engine?

One issue which was a little strange was, basically the little Wheel warning light is permanently on (a little yellow ish) even when the ignition if off. Very dim light is the best way to describe it. I turned the battery on to compare the colour when the light is on, and its 100% isn't on. I just found find this a little strange. The seller said he got it looked at and there were no issues with the steering and I can confirm this at least from the test drive.

The only thing that is putting me off is the fact of buying 59'Reg car. Should this not be an issue?


Thanks

 

[LEE69]

This might be due to the clocks being faulty, seem to recall that was the answer when asked before.
My 170 is now on 180k

 

[Joejacsj]

This might be due to the clocks being faulty, seem to recall that was the answer when asked before.
My 170 is now on 180k

whats mpg like?

 

[LEE69]

late 30's around town mid 50 on a run

 

[Jps3290]

See if you can get VCDS connected up to it just to check for error codes.

Mileage wise its fairly low for a 59 plate diesel. I bought my 60 170 TDI with 23k on in 2015 and now up to 48k. I plan to keep racking the miles up on it and will be the daily work horse for me and the wife when we finally have enough to replace her car with a nice RS5 as we both work different shifts so the 170 will be getting hammered lol

 

[Dannymoto]

This might be due to the clocks being faulty, seem to recall that was the answer when asked before.
My 170 is now on 180k

whats mpg like?

Lee, your car is 2007 right? This makes it the BKD engine.

2009 will be the CBBB engine (Common Rail) and will be a much better/reliable engine.

I have the CBAB (140 common rail 2009) engine and its never let me down in 26k miles. One thing I would get checked is the oil pump balance shaft as it will have the 77mm hex drive which are prone to failing.

 

[Mario]

Oil pump is driven from the balance shafts via a hex key which doesn't fit very well and rounds off over time. This leads to the oil pump stopping which means no oil pressure which means a dead engine.

There is a fix which involves a modified balance shaft and longer / stronger hex key. Parts cost £215 + £125 refundable deposit when you return your old balance shaft. Probably take a specialist 4-5 hours in labour.

If you take that into account and get it done immediately after buying you should be fine. That is their main weakness and if done before the failure happens the costs are manageable (about the same price as a timing belt change), but if you leave it and the pump stops due to the shaft rounding then it's new engine + new turbo. So a little preventative maintenance goes a long way!

Audi did eventually fix this issue on 2010 and newer engines.

 

[Sayam]

Audi did eventually fix this issue on 2010 and newer engines.

Far as I know they never 'fixed' the problem. They just made the hex key longer from 77mm to 100mm which just delayed the problem occurring.

 

[Mario]

Far as I know they never 'fixed' the problem. They just made the hex key longer from 77mm to 100mm which just delayed the problem occurring.

That is the "fix" and the hex key is also a much better fit on the new ones instead of being a sloppy fit like the old ones. A very tight fitting hardened hex key will last many, many times longer than a sloppy fitting one that is made of softer material.

 

[Sayam]

That is the "fix" and the hex key is also a much better fit on the new ones instead of being a sloppy fit like the old ones. A very tight fitting hardened hex key will last many, many times longer than a sloppy fitting one that is made of softer material.

In my experience in which I've opened about 4 or 5 77mm setups and about 7 100mm they are identical apart from one key being longer than the other.

The fact is putting a hex key in a round hole is just rubbish engineering. How or why they are allowed to do this is a crime.

Why not use a hex key in a hex hole? That way it could have been 20mm and we'd never had an issue.