First of all, car is a 2006 A4 2.0 TDI S-Line 170 bhp with a BRD engine.
For a while now I have had a very strong smell from the exhaust that is only noticeable when outside the car or if the car is sat stationary for a few minutes it starts to seep inside, not noticeable at traffic lights, but if parked up for a while with the engine running it eventually seeps in and it's a really strong exhaust smell that wasn't there before.
I have also noticed that sometimes when I go for a drive and the engine has been sat for a while it has a bit of a misfire / hesitation when cruising at a constant revs. Once the engine is warmed up this goes away.
So I decided to have a look into this today and when I had a look inside the fuel filter it is black as can be. I have not poured it out into a clear cup yet to get a proper look (not enough time today), but you can see the fuel probably should not be that colour.
So it looks like a fault with either the Tandem Pump (leaking internal seal) or the Injector Seals. Neither of these are particularly cheap fixes and getting the injectors in / out looks like a nightmare to be honest.
Injector seals are about £30 a set, for 4 injectors that's £120 + what appears to be a lot of swearing in order to get them in and out, oh and a few more £££ in bolts that are meant to be renewed and not re-used as they are torqued to yield.
The Tandem pump is £250 in parts (new) or about £80 for a used one which may have the same issues, but it looks like a 30 minute job.
So...I don't want to do both of these jobs if I can help it. Is there any real way to determine if I need to go one route over the other?
Oh, and the car starts on the button every time, zero cold-start issues which a lot of people seem to complain about when they have oil in their fuel.
Trying to keep costs and knuckle scraping to a minimum here....
Any advice appreciated!
For a while now I have had a very strong smell from the exhaust that is only noticeable when outside the car or if the car is sat stationary for a few minutes it starts to seep inside, not noticeable at traffic lights, but if parked up for a while with the engine running it eventually seeps in and it's a really strong exhaust smell that wasn't there before.
I have also noticed that sometimes when I go for a drive and the engine has been sat for a while it has a bit of a misfire / hesitation when cruising at a constant revs. Once the engine is warmed up this goes away.
So I decided to have a look into this today and when I had a look inside the fuel filter it is black as can be. I have not poured it out into a clear cup yet to get a proper look (not enough time today), but you can see the fuel probably should not be that colour.
So it looks like a fault with either the Tandem Pump (leaking internal seal) or the Injector Seals. Neither of these are particularly cheap fixes and getting the injectors in / out looks like a nightmare to be honest.
Injector seals are about £30 a set, for 4 injectors that's £120 + what appears to be a lot of swearing in order to get them in and out, oh and a few more £££ in bolts that are meant to be renewed and not re-used as they are torqued to yield.
The Tandem pump is £250 in parts (new) or about £80 for a used one which may have the same issues, but it looks like a 30 minute job.
So...I don't want to do both of these jobs if I can help it. Is there any real way to determine if I need to go one route over the other?
Oh, and the car starts on the button every time, zero cold-start issues which a lot of people seem to complain about when they have oil in their fuel.
Trying to keep costs and knuckle scraping to a minimum here....
Any advice appreciated!
