Buying Advice - Audi A4 Avant 2.0 TDI SLine 58 plate 143bhp Manual Transmission

[NFS]

I am looking to purchase an Audi A4 Avant in a 2.0 TDI S-Line. The car is on a 58 plate, registered in 16/09/2018 and has manual transmission. There car also has a few optional extras such as B&O speakers, privacy glass, sat nav, adaptive suspension and full leather interior. It has done 110,000 miles.

I have been searching through the forum quite heavily and noticed that the usual advice is to stay away from the CVT / Multitronic / Automatic gearboxes. I am also aware that there are issues with the earlier A4 2.0TDI engines with the oil pump, but I am not aware if this was solved in the >2008 models.

Hence, are you able to advice on the common faults of an Audi of the spec i provided? Is there any signs or things i should look out for when buying the car? How has the reliability been for other owners? I am quite hands on, so will regularly service the car and do the usual maintenance. Any advice will be much appreciated.

[Renars]

Decent cars, good engine.
Could have problematic hex key oil pump drive. If so sump have to be removed and key changed for safety measures.
Needs engine code to figure if car has problematic this oil pump drive.
If you can drive manual, stay away from multitronic.

[NFS]

Decent cars, good engine.
Could have problematic hex key oil pump drive. If so sump have to be removed and key changed for safety measures.
Needs engine code to figure if car has problematic this oil pump drive.
If you can drive manual, stay away from multitronic.

So in the below the engine code is shown as CAGA. I have looked on KMB Parts Direct and noticed they are selling an oil balance shaft for gear driven with engine codes CAGA, so I presume this vehicle is also affected by the hex key issue?

If so, how much does it cost for a garage to carry out the work typically? i.e. i bought the parts from KMB and told a garage to do the work.

Also how likely is it the issue will occur? I have read that it causes engine failure due to insufficient oil being pumped around the engine, but surely an oil pressure light will show before any catastrophic damage to the engine could occur.

In general, is the CAGA engine a reliable engine? I heard of engine blocks cracking, is this something this engine code will be affected by?

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[Gazwould]

This is the daft part , some got the old 77mm inferior hex drive key and some the revised 100mm , so your CAGA could have either!

The keyway bore in the balancer shaft end is still 6 machined grooves so splined like which means only the very tips of the hex drive key edges are in contact and none of the flats , daft #2 .

The 77mm provides a miniscule 15mm contact length absolutely guaranteed to fail 50k-400k ( 80-150k most common ) the 100mm oem has 35mm of contact length and I've yet to hear of a failure .

Going from 15mm to 35mm in contact length is massive in engineering terms and there's no way an engineer would come up with that 15mm non hexagonal keyway unless the design brief was planned obsolescence ( it was designed to fail ) .

KMB further bullet proof on the 100mm oem by using an actual hexagonal chrome vanadium balancer shaft keyway insert , perfectly centered that provides 38- 40mm contact .

As for the low oil pressure light it's useless as it only operates above 2000 rpm and isn't sensitive enough anyway so that partially slipping drive key is giving a lower oil pressure for some time before it's total rounding failure , most delicate of all is the turbo .

You could get the car home , most idioticly limp it if a short distance , scratch their head , start it up in the morning , leave it idelling and no red stop oil pressure light and all the time the oil has drained into the sump overnight and it's not circulating...

[NFS]

This is the daft part , some got the old 77mm inferior hex drive key and some the revised 100mm , so your CAGA could have either!

The keyway bore in the balancer shaft end is still 6 machined grooves so splined like which means only the very tips of the hex drive key edges are in contact and none of the flats , daft #2 .

The 77mm provides a miniscule 15mm contact length absolutely guaranteed to fail 50k-400k ( 80-150k most common ) the 100mm oem has 35mm of contact length and I've yet to hear of a failure .

Going from 15mm to 35mm in contact length is massive in engineering terms and there's no way an engineer would come up with that 15mm non hexagonal keyway unless the design brief was planned obsolescence ( it was designed to fail ) .

KMB further bullet proof on the 100mm oem by using an actual hexagonal chrome vanadium balancer shaft keyway insert , perfectly centered that provides 38- 40mm contact .

As for the low oil pressure light it's useless as it only operates above 2000 rpm and isn't sensitive enough anyway so that partially slipping drive key is giving a lower oil pressure for some time before it's total rounding failure , most delicate of all is the turbo .

You could get the car home , most idioticly limp it if a short distance , scratch their head , start it up in the morning , leave it idelling and no red stop oil pressure light and all the time the oil has drained into the sump overnight and it's not circulating...

What are the symptoms for this issue, what should i look out for? I presume it would make a loud rattling noise if it is spinning free.

How can i confirm if mine has the 77mm or 100mm? Is this something the dealers can tell you?

I see the part off KMB is £200, I am quite hands on with cars, but I will not have the time to carry out the fix myself, so ideally I would get my local garage to do it. How much do you think a garage would charge for this?

[Renars]

The hex key is few £.
Probably have to give dealer VIN and ask if its 77 mm or 100 mm.
Its sump off job, not a big deal if you can access lift.