Hi all,
My other half has just bought a 2009 A4 2.0 TDI S Line, 119k, only had 10 days MOT remaining but managed to secure the car for £2900 which seemed too good to be true, but looking around the car I couldn't find anything wrong apart from the obvious, which are being sorted prior to the MOT at the end of the month.
Initially, having put £20 of diesel in the car to take it up to almost half a tank, we'd noticed that the fuel gauge did drop quite fast and it seemed as though we'd barely travelled a decent distance for the needle to quickly fall to almost empty.
I noticed that the coolant temps weren't ever going above 75'c whilst driving, and would only jump up to 90'c if the car was left idling for a couple of minutes, start to drive again and the temps would plummet back to around 75'c.
The previous owner had informed me that the car had been remapped, and has had its DPF / Cat removed (not sure if this model has one or both of these - engine code is CAGA). I notice that when the car is cold there's a bit of whitish smoke (bordering on bluey white but maybe it's just my eyes!), but the car doesn't smoke badly on WOT. There's a lot of turbo spool sound from the exhaust but I presume this is normal with a DPF delete.
Is there a chance that the remap is a ****** amateur jobby and it's not had the DPF properly written out of the software? So it's still sending messages to perform a regen? Or perhaps is it overfuelling, hence the smoke?
Anyway, so far, the car has had new discs all round, rear pads, two rear tyres, a full oil service including engine flush, air filter and it'll be getting a fuel filter on MOT day. I also checked the tyre pressures and these were way too low.... being at 20, 24, 25 and 29 PSI! Her car has 245/40/18 wheels, does anyone who has experience with this car have any advice on the best tyre pressure to run for optimal MPG (bear in mind this car isn't going to be ragged around as it's for transporting our baby who is due in October).
I've also fitted a main thermostat, which has resolved the issue with the coolant temps and the car now happily sits at 90'c during street driving, and this temp drops somewhat on the motorway to around 86'c (judging by the gauge anyway).
I've used a code reader to check for any DTC's.... and amazingly the car is showing none, which is great news, and so far the car, including the work carried out, has only cost £3300 up to now. The code reader has a livestream feature and it seems to show that the coolant temps are roughly 10'c cooler than what the gauge is saying, for instance... 90'c on the needle is 80'c on the code reader. Does this mean that I might have a naff coolant temp sensor? Is the car still failing to properly reach temp? Since it never went over 83'c from a 40 mile round trip this evening.
I've a few questions though, and have noticed a couple things that I'd like to see if anyone else can help me with..... firstly, the buttons on the dash to reset the odometer / service interval don't work. Does anyone have a fix or work around for this?
What MPG does everyone else get from this engine from motorway and city driving? Just so we know that we're getting roughly the right amount of fuel mileage from our car?
Are there any common issues with this model that I need to be aware of, and what are the preventative tips that you'd offer.
The car has had a new timing chain, clutch, flywheel and water pump done over the past 19,000 miles, it ticks over well, no nasty knocks etc..... I'm probably just being over cautious but whenever you get a car for a good 33% less than the going rate for this model / year / mileage, you sort of have your doubts (and every Audi I've ever bought in the past has had a never ending supply of problems arise shortly after buying so I'm always sceptical!).
Your advice and tips are both welcome, and appreciated
My other half has just bought a 2009 A4 2.0 TDI S Line, 119k, only had 10 days MOT remaining but managed to secure the car for £2900 which seemed too good to be true, but looking around the car I couldn't find anything wrong apart from the obvious, which are being sorted prior to the MOT at the end of the month.
Initially, having put £20 of diesel in the car to take it up to almost half a tank, we'd noticed that the fuel gauge did drop quite fast and it seemed as though we'd barely travelled a decent distance for the needle to quickly fall to almost empty.
I noticed that the coolant temps weren't ever going above 75'c whilst driving, and would only jump up to 90'c if the car was left idling for a couple of minutes, start to drive again and the temps would plummet back to around 75'c.
The previous owner had informed me that the car had been remapped, and has had its DPF / Cat removed (not sure if this model has one or both of these - engine code is CAGA). I notice that when the car is cold there's a bit of whitish smoke (bordering on bluey white but maybe it's just my eyes!), but the car doesn't smoke badly on WOT. There's a lot of turbo spool sound from the exhaust but I presume this is normal with a DPF delete.
Is there a chance that the remap is a ****** amateur jobby and it's not had the DPF properly written out of the software? So it's still sending messages to perform a regen? Or perhaps is it overfuelling, hence the smoke?
Anyway, so far, the car has had new discs all round, rear pads, two rear tyres, a full oil service including engine flush, air filter and it'll be getting a fuel filter on MOT day. I also checked the tyre pressures and these were way too low.... being at 20, 24, 25 and 29 PSI! Her car has 245/40/18 wheels, does anyone who has experience with this car have any advice on the best tyre pressure to run for optimal MPG (bear in mind this car isn't going to be ragged around as it's for transporting our baby who is due in October).
I've also fitted a main thermostat, which has resolved the issue with the coolant temps and the car now happily sits at 90'c during street driving, and this temp drops somewhat on the motorway to around 86'c (judging by the gauge anyway).
I've used a code reader to check for any DTC's.... and amazingly the car is showing none, which is great news, and so far the car, including the work carried out, has only cost £3300 up to now. The code reader has a livestream feature and it seems to show that the coolant temps are roughly 10'c cooler than what the gauge is saying, for instance... 90'c on the needle is 80'c on the code reader. Does this mean that I might have a naff coolant temp sensor? Is the car still failing to properly reach temp? Since it never went over 83'c from a 40 mile round trip this evening.
I've a few questions though, and have noticed a couple things that I'd like to see if anyone else can help me with..... firstly, the buttons on the dash to reset the odometer / service interval don't work. Does anyone have a fix or work around for this?
What MPG does everyone else get from this engine from motorway and city driving? Just so we know that we're getting roughly the right amount of fuel mileage from our car?
Are there any common issues with this model that I need to be aware of, and what are the preventative tips that you'd offer.
The car has had a new timing chain, clutch, flywheel and water pump done over the past 19,000 miles, it ticks over well, no nasty knocks etc..... I'm probably just being over cautious but whenever you get a car for a good 33% less than the going rate for this model / year / mileage, you sort of have your doubts (and every Audi I've ever bought in the past has had a never ending supply of problems arise shortly after buying so I'm always sceptical!).
Your advice and tips are both welcome, and appreciated
