Looking at buying an avant tdi 130 tomorrow what to look for??

[krs187uk]

I've just sold my A3 tdi with a view to upgrading to the faster and larger avant 130bhp. Can anyone tell us what's including in the se spec of an 02 model? Also is there anything major to be aware of?? If the viewing goes well tomorrow i'll start a build thread so any advice would be great!

 

[Greg190t]

Hello. Corrosion on the roof and roof rails, turbo veins sticking, water in the plenum chamber, lumpy idle, noisy cam and accident damage!

 

[TwedA4]

the a4's have thei comon problems, i'm sure there's wuite a few threads in here.

mine had 2 of the common problems - water not getting up to temp (thermostat) and rusty front arches.

check the heater and blower direction controls are working as the little motors on them can fail and they can be upwards of 50 quid each. check the carpet isnt wet too.

 

[Greeny233]

Check the plenum chamber (battery compartment at the back of the engine bay) isn't full of water and all of the above.

 

[DieselJake]

Most things you'd want to know can't be identified easily. Check it over cosmetically, see how it drives, take the gamble.

 

[krs187uk]

Thanks for the advice guys, much appreciated. Think it's got rust on the front wing and a couple of bubbles on the rear arch. But i'll give it a drive and hopefully knock a couple of pennies off the price.

 

[cnut]

The clutch and DMF are essential checks too!

 

[krs187uk]

Well i bought the car as it had 1 owner over the 12 years and was a good price. But it has a few faults.... Driving it home and it felt very slow for a 130bhp, Stopped at the services and restarted the car and it flew!! got it home and did a vagcom scan and got 17964 - Charge Pressure Control: Negative Deviation P1556 - 35-00 so replaced the hoses (the ones i could see) Checked the actuator that moved fine, Cleaned the EGR (thanks for the Guides) to be fair for a 160k motor there wasn't much gunk. Drives fine and then randomly just goes into limp mode Any idea's??

 

[TwedA4]

could be sticky vanes on the turbo and it's either over boosting or not getting enough boost and shutting down. mine doesnt go into limp mode, but sometimes it's a bit sluggish, other times it gets a move on! lol

maybe try the mr muscle turbo cleaner trick?

 

[desertstorm]

Best thing to do is get VAG-COM connected and do some real time logging, there are quite a few things that cause negative deviation, can be the vanes sticking but more usually it's a loss of vacuum somewhere in the N75 turbo actuator circuit, or the N75 itself or quite often a boost leak caused by a hole in a hose.
Check all the vacuum pipes, When the engine starts actuator on the turbo should pull fully in. If the engine is revved you should see the actuator moving. Boost leaks are easily spotted by looking for the oil leaks that occur as the crankcase ventilation oil fumes exit from the hose through the hole.

Karl.

 

[mattyb6]

Mate your best bet is to replace all the vacuum lines, I did mine yesterday, mainly for piece of mind and I got the odd limp mode.
£10 eBay got me 5 meters of RAMAIR silicone tube 3mm inner diameter

I did one piece at a time and it's fine.

I know done people disagree with me on this but maybe consider getting it terra-cleaned ?

There's a thread I started when I got my pd130 done last month. It made a hell of a difference.

 

[krs187uk]

Cheers for the advice, I replaced all the hoses i could see that went into 3 blocks all the hoses i did were front drivers side near the air intake. Struggled with the block where the hose is on a l shape bracket which connects directly to the turbo but got loads left over so wondering if there some hoses hidden? Was thinking about that terra-clean as it seems to be .. i dunno blocked/restricted in someway? My a3 100bhp seems loads quicker through the rev range where this one seems really slow and to me it seems the turbo only really kicks in about 2500-3000rpm and you can feel the lag lower down. But you get it passed 80 and there's no codes coming up.. WOW it just wants to go. I've got my mate (works at VW) fitting me a thermostat and checking out the error code so i'll keep you posted!

 

[ruffrida]

Defo sounds like the turbo needs a good clean,find a nice long hill,motoway is usually best,put in 6th at bout 2k and as you hit the hill,floor it,if it limp modes then the vaines are sticking,im pretty much certain the code you have was the same on me A3, my turbo was to far gone,£260 later to have it reconditioned and it was a flyer.

 

[pecrow]

just had mine show the same symptoms (for the second time). both occasions it was the MAF at fault. it looks like they need regular replacement

 

[krs187uk]

Good news, got my thermostat fitted car now sits bang on 90 average of about 45 mpg (i am attempting to clean the turbo.. Honest) Now i've been driving it around and.. It's loads better. My mate looked at it and said that code is either vac pipes or the solenoid (n75 i presume) He did mention that there was no vac pipe to the air box so i checked and someones put in a rawlplug?? can anyone upload a pic of their vac pipes please???

 

[BakPak]

Cheers for the advice, I replaced all the hoses i could see that went into 3 blocks all the hoses i did were front drivers side near the air intake. Struggled with the block where the hose is on a l shape bracket which connects directly to the turbo but got loads left over so wondering if there some hoses hidden? Was thinking about that terra-clean as it seems to be .. i dunno blocked/restricted in someway? My a3 100bhp seems loads quicker through the rev range where this one seems really slow and to me it seems the turbo only really kicks in about 2500-3000rpm and you can feel the lag lower down. But you get it passed 80 and there's no codes coming up.. WOW it just wants to go. I've got my mate (works at VW) fitting me a thermostat and checking out the error code so i'll keep you posted!

To get to lower vac line did you do it from under the car or from the top? I've had a look but it looked to me the large pipe to the turbo needs to come off for better access??!!....