Any opinions on A4 3.0d quattro avant

[Ross]

I'm starting to have to think about the successor for our C5 RS6, now my wife needs a daily car. The A4's all seem so small - no chance that 3 car seats are going in there! Except the B8, which has similar dimensions in the rear seats as the C5, less space in the boot as it's shorter... it's funny looking at the dimensions and seeing a new A4 is wider than the C5 A6, they really do just get bigger with every revision

I know of friends who have had the injector issues with the 3.0d (04/05 models) costing about 2k to put right, as PRJ said. But otherwise positive feedback about the engine.

[Greg_S]

If you go for a 170 A4 and want to have it chipped you will need to avoid a DPF variant or fit a removal pipe as my golf couldnt be chipped without removing the DPF first because the back pressure is too high

[prj]

Thanks for all your replies.
I was tempted to go for an earlier (2003 ish), as there are a few available- Autotrader/Pistonheads, but reading your replies, maybe I need to throw a bit more money at this, 2007 onwards.

????

2007 have exactly the same issues, besides the 3.0 tdi came in 2004 IIRC.
You need to properly check it prior to purchase and not just go in blind.

Oh, one thing I forgot. Electronic turbocharger actuators seem to pack up on these also.

[Tonybolony]

I drove an 05 plate B7 3.0 auto avant last night. 114k miles, full history with a gearbox rebuild about a year ago. Looked completely straight, with a full suspension bush set recently. It went well, handled, and stopped well. No obvious oil leaks, but the area around the back of both heads sounded harsh- are they famous for cam wear problems at this mileage??
PRJ suggested I check for- among other things- injector issues. What do I look for, other than a missfire?
Any help gratefully received.

[prj]

Chain tensioner wear problems.
You have to shut it off, let it sit for 15 minutes or so, start it up, if there's a rattle on startup then the tensioners need replacement.
There can be a slight rattle when it's totally cold, that's normal, but not when it's hot.

Injector issues you can only check via diagnostics (VCDS etc).
I'd say it's a pretty bad idea buying one of these without doing proper diagnostics checks.

If it has DPF don't forget to check soot loads and so on as well.

[Tonybolony]

Cheers PRJ- are the chain tensioners at the Back of the head(s), as that's where the noise was coming from. It wasn't particularly noisy, but I'm not familiar with this engine.

[prj]

Yes, back of the head, there's many of them. The upper ones you can replace in-situ, not so for the rest.

There should not be noise when it's running though. Even with the tensioners shot they don't really rattle when running. There is a characteristic sound on start.
They all do it when completely cold, but only for a couple seconds, which is fine and nothing to worry about. However if it does it when hot-starting it after it's been off for a bit, then they are definitely shot.

If you roll the windows down you can definitely hear the noise on startup, which goes away after a while, as the oil gets circulated enough.
If not replaced in time this will cause the chain to slip and eventually the valves will be hit by the pistons, and you know how it goes after that...

Don't let me put you off too much, just check all these issues. The upper tensioners don't cost that much to sort...
The intake manifold flaps can be coded out and blanked off, the gearbox oil can be changed and gearbox reprogrammed to be more torque resilient, even after it has started to slip, the DPF can be removed and coded out and so on.

Most of the issues have quite cheap fixes. The only expensive things to go wrong are the injectors, but not likely at this mileage (more of an issue at over 200k) as well as the tensioners getting neglected to the point of causing catastrophical engine failure.

[Tonybolony]

The engine was already hot when I arrived- he had only just returned from work, however- the noise cannot be heard with the bonnet shut, it's not THAT loud. It's a private sale (advertised for £6400), but because of the overall condition being good- I'm thinking that I still have cash left in the budget to put a warranty on it (Can I get a warranty on a vehicle with over 100k on it?), and some left for an amount of remedial work.
Regarding the chain tensioners, if they fail- is it likely to be a slow degradation,(giving some warning) or sudden death?

[prj]

Slow degradation. It will start to do a longer and longer rattle each time you start it. Will be horrible cold, and not there hot at start, and then will start appearing when hot as well. Once it is so bad that it does it each time you start it from hot you have to replace them.

[Tonybolony]

Thanks Again, PRJ