A6 1.9 TDI - What to look out for when buying.

[NickPicks]

I've had my 2.4 A6 for 5 years now, and I've been reading this forum since then, so I like to think that I know they usual things to look out for when looking to buy one (plenum drains, suspension, electrics etc), but now that I'm thinking of changing to a diesel, are there any things specific to the 1.9TDI to think of?

I'm looking to buy a 2002 1.9 tdi 130 with about 120-160k on it. I've had a drive in one and am happy with the power, noise, etc.

Are there any things to look for on the engine? Any engine codes to prefer or avoid? Anything likely to fail within weeks of purchase? What sort of mileage can I expect to get out of a tdi? I've seen some on the high mileage register with 300k and more.

Any advice appreciated.
Thanks.

[Eshrules]

I've had my 2.4 A6 for 5 years now, and I've been reading this forum since then, so I like to think that I know they usual things to look out for when looking to buy one (plenum drains, suspension, electrics etc), but now that I'm thinking of changing to a diesel, are there any things specific to the 1.9TDI to think of?

I'm looking to buy a 2002 1.9 tdi 130 with about 120-160k on it. I've had a drive in one and am happy with the power, noise, etc.

Are there any things to look for on the engine? Any engine codes to prefer or avoid? Anything likely to fail within weeks of purchase? What sort of mileage can I expect to get out of a tdi? I've seen some on the high mileage register with 300k and more.

Any advice appreciated.
Thanks.

Aside from the usual, fault scanning to check there's nothing untoward, tyres, paint for dings, clutch/engine for noises during during the test drive... Make sure there's history. A car is only as good as it's history imho. You're wanting consistent servicing, mots and a proper hpi check, don't be scared of getting your own, the short term outlay can save a lot of heartache.

Are you looking privately or trade nick?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[mrnice]

I looked for the same a year ago and now have a 2001 130pd avant, had 165k when bought (as far as I remember),
As above, the usual checks (some of them I was ignorant to at the time as its my first Audi and first diesel).
I did find that at the price and mileage I was looking at even the one-owner full history cars showed general signs of neglect/abuse
despite regular servicing/oil changes (my one-owner fsh one had a filthy interior with missing load cover and leaves and soil and dead spiders everywhere).
Also most had been on long life servicing (including mine) and as pd engines are supposedly particularly sensitive to having correct clean oil I switched immediately to annual/10k oil changes.
Since buying a year ago I've had to deal with the following-
All the usual water ingress issues-preventative measures
thermostat
coolant temp sensor
egr cclean
Had car go into limp mode once a few months ago due to overboost prob due to
manky turbo vanes sticking so plan on cleaning/refurb turbo too.
I'd had about 46mpg overall which I'm happy with as I'm in Glasgow and its mostly
town driving with occasional short motorway blasts.
Very happy with overall performance etc too.

Dont quote me on this but I think all 130s are AWX eng code (No they're not!)
I'm still on a learning curve myself with audis/diesels/turbos but sure someone else will have more insight,

good luck!

ps 250k before anything really expensive happens is aparently easy with proper servicing

[gupsterg]

Hi,

I'm looking to buy a 2002 1.9 tdi 130 with about 120-160k on it. I've had a drive in one and am happy with the power, noise, etc.

From what I've read they are supposed to be a great reliable engine... when I got my A6 (2005) 3.0 TDI I was considering one but did not find a good example some how I managed to end up with what I have now ...

Besides owners experience have search in the forum for A8 Tech's posts as he rates that engine highly... you may find some posts of his with some pointers/look outs,etc,etc...

Regards
G

[NickPicks]

Aside from the usual, fault scanning to check there's nothing untoward, tyres, paint for dings, clutch/engine for noises during during the test drive... Make sure there's history. A car is only as good as it's history imho. You're wanting consistent servicing, mots and a proper hpi check, don't be scared of getting your own, the short term outlay can save a lot of heartache.

Are you looking privately or trade nick?

I always take my laptop to plug in and fault scan. I'm looking at both really. I generally trust a proper trader to have done an hpi check, the one I bought my A6 off of explained that as they're registered, they are liable if there's a problem with it. Privately, I'd get my own check done.

The problem I'm finding is that most of the good looking reasonablly priced ones on Autotrader are somewhere like Lincoln or North Wales, which is a bit of a trek from London!

[Doctle Odd]

Always give it a scan before starting it and if it's a private sale go to the sellers house and start it from cold. I have got a couple of cars that were hard to start, cheap, that were sorted for the price of a CTS. Sometimes people panic if these don't start instantly which they normally do and try to sell them.

[mrnice]

I always take my laptop to plug in and fault scan. I'm looking at both really. I generally trust a proper trader to have done an hpi check, the one I bought my A6 off of explained that as they're registered, they are liable if there's a problem with it. Privately, I'd get my own check done.

The problem I'm finding is that most of the good looking reasonablly priced ones on Autotrader are somewhere like Lincoln or North Wales, which is a bit of a trek from London!

I travelled from Glasgow to Essex for mine, with a stop over in London for pints with friends..
the long drive back got me familiar with the car

[NickPicks]

Thanks for the advice.

What about gearboxes? I'd have thought a 6 speed would have been better, but it seems that they aren't as economical as the 5 speed. Any ideas why not? Also, is the 6 speed as reliable as the 5 speed?

The reason for asking is that I was thinking 5 speed would be better, but there's a 6 speed one for sale just 5 miles away from my house.

Any thoughts on this one on ebay?

[Dozy]

Hi
Supposedly (And I could well be wrong here!), the 5 and 6 speed boxes both have the same final drive ratio in top gear (i.e 5th gear on 5 speed box is exactly the same as 6th gear on the 6 speed box). Cue a deluge of replies telling me that I'm talking a load of ******!
I have a 2002 AWX engined avant & I love it! Mine has now done 162k and has had 15 oil changes (next one due in a week or so). These engines are extremely hard on their oil as the camshafts are used to drive the mechanical injector pumps for each individual cylinder as well as the valve gear. Personally I wouldn't touch one that hasn't had oil changes every 10k (and the correct grade of oil at that : MUST be fully synthetic and approved for use in PD engines).
Had mine re-mapped to 170bhp when it had 115k miles on it and it absolutely flies (300 ft/lbs plus 150 bhp available all the way from 2500 rpm to the red line) and all this on the original clutch! Almost the power of the 2.5 tdi without the extra weight and complexity of the v6 engine and all the associated grief that comes with it.
Have a habit of getting through suspension arms at an alarming rate, other than that no more expensive to maintain than any other 4 cylinder deisel.
Hope this helps
Cheers
Dozy