Audi A2 Tdi - new engine - billmiddleton

My Audi A2 Tdi has done 158,000 miles and has started using more oil. I bought the car new in 2001 and used the extended service/long life oil option. Until it reached about 145,000 miles the car used 1 litre of oil over 20,000 miles. This has now increased to 1L per 2,000 miles.

I can not afford to buy another car for more than £4000 plus what I might get for the A2. But I understand that a new Tdi engine costs about £4000. If it does, I could keep what is a lovely car, still in good condition and fitted with a new engine.

Has anyone done this? It must be a better solution than spending, say, £4000+ about £1500 on some second-hand car which may itself have a very high milage.

Audi A2 Tdi - new engine - Roly93

It may only be the turbo thats causing the oil consumption, I think this is usually what accounts for most of the oil drunk by diesels these days. This would be a realtively cheap fix with a recon unit, some of which can be better than the original units in terms of balance. Even at the mileage you state there is no reason to believe that the engine is heavily worn.

Audi A2 Tdi - new engine - Big John

I agree,

The 1.4 tdi engine is effectively a 3cylinder version of the 1.9 pd engine and should be capable of starship mileages - unlike many newer diesels!!

It's worth double checking other things - could be the turbo (check intercooler - lots of oil?) or even something as simple as the oil breather/EGR system. A slightly worn engine (slight piston blow by)combined with a slightly compromised breather system could cause excessive oil consumption as oil can be "blown" past valve seals/stems.

Audi A2 Tdi - new engine - gordonbennet

Buy oil when it's on offer and top up as needed, you could probably just renew the oil filter once a year seeing as it's getting a litre of fresh oil every 2000 miles.

I'd check the good suggestions above but if it's just using a bit of oil don't worry about it.

My last regular truck used about 5 litres of oil a fortnight....they're all on very extended service intervals too.

Audi A2 Tdi - new engine - Peter D

And what does that mean in terms of consumption " 5 litres of oil a fortnight".

Long service intervals and diesels just do not mix in my book. In fact LSI and petrol engines doesn't do it for me either. Regards Peter

Audi A2 Tdi - new engine - madf

1Litre per 500 miles would be excessive.

But 1 litre per 2000 miles is quite acceptable.

If you check on ebay, there are lots of engines, new half engines etc... But you need to nothing in my view. If it starts, goes, gives acceptable fuel consumption and uses less than 1 litre per 1,000 miles.. run it and run it.

Audi A2 Tdi - new engine - Peter.N.

I agree with Peter D, I'm sure its the extended service intervals that are responsible for most turbo failures as well as excessive engine wear. I have changed the oil on my PSA XUD engines at 5000 mile intervals and have had two that were still going well at nearly 300,000 miles. The Hdi engines are cleaner but still need cahnging at 10k or less to keep them in good condition.

Audi A2 Tdi - new engine - gordonbennet

And what does that mean in terms of consumption " 5 litres of oil a fortnight".

Long service intervals and diesels just do not mix in my book. In fact LSI and petrol engines doesn't do it for me either. Regards Peter

A fortnight in an average one driver truck will be anywhere between 2000 and 4000 miles.

Audi A2 Tdi - new engine - Roly93

Buy oil when it's on offer and top up as needed, you could probably just renew the oil filter once a year seeing as it's getting a litre of fresh oil every 2000 miles.

If the oil is going into the intercooler this may not be a smart strategy. Also, these engines use a very specialised 506/507 spec oil which is quite expensive and never on special offer unfortunately.

Audi A2 Tdi - new engine - gordonbennet

If the oil is going into the intercooler this may not be a smart strategy. Also, these engines use a very specialised 506/507 spec oil which is quite expensive and never on special offer unfortunately.

That's why i suggested checking out the above suggestions first, if it's just using a bit of oil i'd run it.

Millers XF longlife is a 507 oil, try asking your local supplier for a price on a 25 litre drum, surprising just how much cheaper buying that way, i bought 50 litres of XFD last time, brought the cost down to just over half normal.