1.9tdi Engine Failures?

[Simon W]

Hello all,

I've been lurking on here for a while and I must say the knoweldge base and advice is absolutely amazing. Have decided to register and ask my first question - sorry if it's been covered before but I'd really appreciate any advice you're able to give.

I'm looking to buy a 2004 A4 Avant 1.9tdi. My concern is that it has moderate miles at 85k with services at 24k, 44k and 71k all at Audi main dealers.

Question 1 is: Do you think these are reasonable service intervals given the year and mileage?

Question 2 (and this is the really important one): Are there any known turbo / tdi engine faults that I should be aware of? I was considering a BMW 330d but there have been so many reprted failures with massive bills that I'm really put off. Just wondered what the feeling is with the Audi units.

Thanks again in advance for your advice. Much appreciated.

Simon.

[Isoproturon]

I would say the intervals are a bit long there.

No major issues I can think of.

[nickynibbles]

The car has been on the variable interval servicing, basically the car will tell you when it needs to be serviced by analysing the oil condition and how the car is being driven. With the 20k+ miles per year im guessing the car was a motorway cruiser and as such will more than be capable of doing 20k+ miles between services. After all, its still been services annually! If its been at Audi each time it would of been filled with the correct fully-synthetic long life oil & no doubt checked over for any possible faults they could bill the owner for!! They're a virtually indestructable engine provided they're serviced correctly. Check the cambelt, pulleys, tensioners & water pump was changed at the last service though, the cambelt is due at 60k miles, the water pump is normally changed at the same time as can be prone to failure. Is it a dealer selling the car? If not, and the seller is unsure if the water pump was changed, check the receipts or phone an Audi dealer with the registration, the service department would have records if it was done or not. If its not been done its something to barter over, look to pay £400 minimum to get it done at an independant garage.

If the price & condition is good then go for it!

[Simon W]

Hi,

Thanks a lot for your reply. The car is being sold by a trader - not an Audi dealership. I'll take a look tomorrow morning at the service records for the car and check the things you suggest by calling a dealer.

Thanks again.
Simon

[Isoproturon]

Mine has covered 30-35K per year since new and managed about 19K tops between services. The petrol one I had managed about 17K.

[RickT]

ENSURE THE CAM BELT and WATER PUMP have been changed... this was due @ 60k

The milage is not an issue, and has said above, its been serviced once a year, 20k is the standard for long life but as above, the car will say when its ready.


Rick

[Simon W]

Thanks all,

Had a good test drive of the car this morning - sadly in terrible puring rain. The car drove nicely but there was one thing specifically I noticed.

When pulling away from a standstill the car seemed to judder - as if it couldn't get traction and the ESP light flickered on. I wasn't putting my foot to the floor, just pulling away as normal. It was very, very wet and the two front tyres are right on the tread wear indicators so I'm figuring that was the problem. Oddly however, it didn't seem to occcur if I put the gearbox into multitronic mode and selcted the gears myself. When disabling the ESP and putting my foot down, the wheels just spun as I would expect.

Do you think this all sounds normal? I suppose the only way to tell is drive the hundred miles back to the dealer and drive it when it's dry. Very keen to hear you opinions though. The good news is that the cam belt was changed at 71k. Just checking for the water pump.

The car has had 3 owners in 4 years and covered 87k. I'm trying to contact the previous owners as I write this.

Again, thanks a lot for your opinions.
SImon

[nickynibbles]

There are 2 types of auto box on the A4, are you sure its a Multitronic? The Multitronic is a continuous drive system that dosent have noticeable gear changes. The Tiptronic is the other sort and this has individual gears and noticeable gearchanges like a normal auto box. It also has a "manual" mode where you can manually change up and down gears, sometimes with steering wheel paddle shifters like an F1 car! So which one is it?

If its a Multitronic gearbox i'd walk away now my friend! There's more and more people coming out of the woodwork that have had chronic problems with juddering with the Multitronic gearbox liked you've described, the only proper fix being a replacement gearbox for a few grand! There seems to be a problem starting to show where the clutch & the gearbox's own mini-ecu start to fail. Check out the various Audi forums and search for Multitronic and you'll find a good selection of stories! Could be the reason its had a new owner every year!

If you want an auto find a Tiptronic one, these are much more reliable!

[The Glove]

Thanks all,

Had a good test drive of the car this morning - sadly in terrible puring rain. The car drove nicely but there was one thing specifically I noticed.

When pulling away from a standstill the car seemed to judder - as if it couldn't get traction and the ESP light flickered on. I wasn't putting my foot to the floor, just pulling away as normal. It was very, very wet and the two front tyres are right on the tread wear indicators so I'm figuring that was the problem. Oddly however, it didn't seem to occcur if I put the gearbox into multitronic mode and selcted the gears myself. When disabling the ESP and putting my foot down, the wheels just spun as I would expect.

Do you think this all sounds normal? I suppose the only way to tell is drive the hundred miles back to the dealer and drive it when it's dry. Very keen to hear you opinions though. The good news is that the cam belt was changed at 71k. Just checking for the water pump.

The car has had 3 owners in 4 years and covered 87k. I'm trying to contact the previous owners as I write this.

Again, thanks a lot for your opinions.
SImon

Hi Simon,

As Nickynibbles has said, sounds like a fault with the gearbox, judders are the start... lurching forward, not selecting gears, power loss and more to follow. I've just had mine replaced...... 27k on the clock . Lucky for me audi paid 80% due to milage or the car was going (car was out of warranty) . I love the Multitronic box (even more now I have a 2 year audi warranty it) but wouldn't buy another unless I could evidence box had been replaced and has a warranty! Walk away or try and negotiate a £5k reduction from the dealer!!