Sister is looking at a 2006 A4 Estate, S Line, 2.0 TDI, 140 bhp.

Reading on’t web, this seems to me to be potentially when they were fitting dodgy oil pumps with balancer shafts, but I’ve been unable to verify this.

Is there any way to tell definitively, or anyone care to share their experience?

I’m trying to put her off diesels anyway as I don’t think she’ll be doing enough miles or long enough journeys to get the benefits/not bugger it up.

Yeah, check the engine code. I think the dodgy ones began with BLB.

some info here
http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/2-0tdi-oil-pump-balancer-shaft-problems-the-definitive-guide-audi-vw-skoda-seat.140949/

Not heard that one.

If she’s borderline between petrol vs diesel then tell her to find one with the 2.0 TFSI engine. Likely to be cheaper than an equivalent one with similar miles, pretty bullet proof and reasonably economical engine.

my brother turned up last night with an ’01 A6 Quattro 2.7 turbo’d 6cyl he just bought for next to nothing….from a VAG mechanic mate of his who had had it from new and wanted it to go to a good home.
Christ alive it’s terrifying.
We’ve never had a car like it in the family before. I think it gets to 60mph before my landrover releases the handbrake.

Stoner – Member

my brother turned up last night with an ’01 A6 Quattro 2.7 turbo’d 6cyl he just bought for next to nothing….from a VAG mechanic mate of his who had had it from new and wanted it to go to a good home.
Christ alive it’s terrifying.
We’ve never had a car like it in the family before. I think it gets to 60mph before my landrover releases the handbrake.

That’s probably the same engine type they used in the first S4/RS4 standard they’re very quick, but most are remapped for MEGA POWA!

Reading on’t web, this seems to me to be potentially when they were fitting dodgy oil pumps with balancer shafts

It was a pretty specific batch of engines. But they seemed all to fail within 50-60k miles. If you go to a dealer they shoudl be able to tell you if it was subjec to the recall and if it’s had it done – and I am not sure they’d be able to charge you.

But in any case – it was a recall, so you won’t have to pay to have it done.

EDIT hmm that link suggests it wasn’t recalled.. hmm confused now. I swear it aws done on ours.

I don’t believe you’ve started a thread called “one for vag fans” to discuss your sister…

Most responses I can think of involve the use of terminology that won’t make the situation any better!

Yes, if your sister needs help with her vag then you’ll need to post pics before I volunteer.

I feel duped into being here

It seems there are actually two separate issues.

The first being chain driven oil pumps which suffered chain/tensioner failure.

The second is the pump being driven by one of the balance shafts in the engine, via a hex section shaft.

There’s also some discussion over the chain drive being changed to gears. In any case, if you’ve got either of the above it seems likely that at some point the oil pump will stop pumping and potentially cost several thousand pounds to repair.

Hard to tell without speaking to Audi direct (if they’ll even speak to you) if your car has one of the dodgy ones. Getting the engine code or VIN out of the car dealer (who is quite far away) is likely to be very difficult.

There’s no recall for the oil pump issue, and it supposedly affected more than one batch of engines. There was an injector recall on the 2.0Tdi engines of that era. As ever, look on the internet and you’ll find masses of (often conflicting!) information. It was (is) definitely a problem, a serious one at that. No easy[/u] way to tell if you’ve got a problem engine or if it’s been repaired previously. Dropping the sump is the only sure fire way to tell apparently

The same vintage 2.0TFSI was no problem free engine either by all accounts, like to use oil.

Anyway, there are plenty of them about still so worries about them all being failures waiting to happen are probably unfounded (probably!).

Yeah, worst thing you can do looking on the internet sometimes, people don’t generally go on forums to rant about how good their cars are, do they. You can find problems with anything if you go looking.

It’s on just over 90k miles, FSH, looks very tidy, probably worth a punt. I’m struggling to recommend something I know could have an issue though.

I had a 55 plate from new never had any issues with it, ran it to 99k and only got rid last summer to replace it with something newer.

I had one of them once – bought from new. The only car I’ve ever properly chosen. It was red. I thought it was the nuts. It got nicked in 2009. Slightly sad.

Best engine for reliability for that era is the 20 valve 1.8 T. I had the mk1 vrs. Great engine used no oil. Had a proper belt not those stretchy chains with the worn links from new depending when your chain was punched out with old tooling!

My 2007 A6 was brilliantly put together. I can’t comment on the engine but quality and reliability where superb

My brother had a 55 plate a4 2.0 tdi last year. He had no end of problems with it and ended up selling it to the repairing garage for a couple of hundred pounds.

At that age and price it would be worth looking out for Seat Exeo. The old A4 underneath. Same engines.
If I hadn’t had such a short time to replace mrs_oab’s car, that’s what I would have bought.

my 2007 a6 was badly put together and astonishingly expensive to fix. I wouldnt have another that was out of warranty. I get the feeling they are made for the company car / lease market rather than being designed to be economical to run for a long time

Maybe it was the oil pump chain tensioner I had.. I swear there was a recall done other than the injector one I did before I got the car.

Personally, I’d steer clear of any VAG that doesn’t have one of these:

She should go ahead, getting an oiled pump with another shaft for her VAG would seem unproblematic.

I’ve said it’s pot luck, only real way to tell seems to be to get the sump off. If they can get it cheap enough and get the pump checked, parts are only likely to be a few hundred quid to change as a preventative measure.

Difficult one, I’d rather give no advice at all tbh, don’t want them buying it and it crapping itself, but then people just accuse you of being unhelpful if you offer no advice when you’re the best person they know to do so, can’t win.

My workmate had a 55 plate A4 TDi … It did do its’ oil pump and was an expensive job to fix.