New A3 TDI owner, few questions please...

[rapid_donkey]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post and I have recently purchased a 53 plate A3 8P 2.0 TDi 140.

Ive had the car for a week but have a few questions:

1. Ive been reading alot about the 'DPF' and issues with them. They only seem to affect the 170 TDI's. Am I correct in presuming my 140 TDI doesnt have this component fitted?

2. The car only has 33k miles and has full Audi service history. However, its only been on a 'long life' service plan, every 2 years. Is it worth sticking to this or is it better to have it serviced yearly?

3. After only 1 week of having it, the oil is already black (it was serviced before I collected it). Ive never had a diesel, so is black oil already normal? I expected it to still be a golden clean colour.

4. I have noticed when starting it up and for the first few miles of driving, it smokes out the back quite a bit. Is this normal? Again, this is my first diesel.

5. Finally, any reccomendations of good purchases I can make for the car, or any little useful info I should know about the car?

Thanks in advance.

[Mike Foster]

Answers :-

1) You are correct - 140 does not have a DPF fitted as standard although a retro fit kit was available
2) Depends on your mileage and how you drive it. Many don't like long life servicing but my car has done 76k on long life without problems (140 TDi)
3) Black oil is normal after 1 week
4) This could be a problem. What colour is the smoke? If it's whitish then you might have the dreaded 'porous head' problem. Are you losing coolant quickly without any apparent leaks? If it's black then it might just be the turbo that is sooted up. If it's only done that mileage from that age then it probably is sooted !
5) Get the problems sorted before you think about any mods !!!!

[rapid_donkey]

Thankyou Mike Foster for your reply.

After a slight bit of worrying, I have just been out for a short drive, including a few harsh acceleration runs, and I didnt notice any smoke at all today.
It did have 1 previous female owner who only did 4000 miles a year, so maybe it needed the cobwebs blowing out.

Could you please tell me more, or direct me to a link, where I can read more about this 'porous head' problem?

Is it a bonus that the car is not fitted with DPF if it is a common problem?

[Mike Foster]

For future reference mate there is a search function on the forum at the top of the page. If you type in 'porous head' you get this :-

http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/search.php?searchid=70968

DPF is only a problem on the 170 engine, not the 140. Even then it's not that much of a problem if dealt with in accordance with instructions.

However, you do not need to concern yourself with the details !

[alankru]

Just to add about the servicing. This PDF from VW is helpful to understand the different servicing and may help you decide which is best for you (particularly the last page): http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/assets/common/content/owners/Longlife_servicing.pdf