This may not be realistic,but I’ll ask anyway. I’m looking for a tdi, there is a stunning one in Scotland, but slightly higher mileage than ideal, SO, this is a car I will drive every day for the next 5 years, then will be reluctantly given to my son as his first car. I will accumulate the mileage, had anyone dropped a low mileage engine in to replace the higher mileage, or a. Are they impossible to find, b. Not that easy to do and expensive c.ever been done before? Thanks so much.
Engine change
- Thread starter Sacha968
- Start date
Erlingtheyounger
Member
How high is high? Your annual mileage and the one in the car.
Yes, replacement engines from low mileage cars do pop up from time to time and swapping them is documented on these pages however it is far from the norm as is rarely necessary.
If it’s been well cared for and continues to be, a tdi 75 will just about be bedded in at 200k! That is probably a slight exaggeration but 300k TDI’s are not that uncommon. Regular servicing and general maintenance combined with mainly long runs seem to keep these essentially bomb proof units going onto stellar mileage.
I bought a very high spec car with 180k on it and am fast approaching 210k and fully hope (touch wood) that it’s engine will at least double the mileage it has when I purchased.
Don’t shout at me but it’s 138k ?, I suspect I shall be doing around 10k per year, then over to my son (Nearly 200k by this time) I look after my cars, so maintenance isn’t an issue. but I don’t part with things either (so once I’ve found her, I’ll keep her) I just figured that something with a lower mileage (around 100k or under) would be worth the initial outlay (£), or buy something with a higher mileage then hunt over time for a low mileage engine. thanks for your reply.
If you're going for *very* low mileage, Audi Tradition have long and short Tdi engines (link below), but that would be an entirely different kettle of fish cost-wise. 138k is peanuts for a Tdi - I bought mine on 118k and it is now on 148k, and the project car is over 290k. I know supply from AT is difficult, but this is just an illustration. Something lower mileage may have also done many more short runs (heat cycles) and be in a more heavily-used condition as a result than something on higher miles although at 16-20 years old this is a moot point.
Proghound
Admin Team
At the age range that all A2's are now in, you really need to buy on condition and not mileage. As Robin says, low mileage examples are more likely to have had lots of short runs at a correspondingly high wear-rate, which does not bode well for their ultimate longevity. Being increasingly rare these days, such cars are also often over-priced by sellers as a result. Higher mileages are not really anything to be scared of on the TDI75, it's a very reliable unit if well-maintained.
The Scottish car will be the older AMF engine variant: these if anything are more trouble-free overall than the later BHC engines, due to having less built-in complexity in meeting a lower Euro emissions standard. The fact that it's only Euro3 instead of Euro4 won't make any real difference these days, when (AFAIK) anything beneath Euro6 is penalised equally in all the clean-air schemes that have been established in this country.
On an '02 registration, that car will have the cast lower suspension arms. The later (cheaper) pressed ones rust out from the inside over time and can fail catastrophically without prior visible warning signs. It will also have the Webasto auxhiliary heater which warms the engine up to provide heat through to the cabin. Being so efficient, in cold weather all the 1.4TDI's struggle to generate sufficient heat to warm up properly on their own, unless on a really long run. Later cars just had an electric element in the cabin air circuit, which didn't help the engine out. But with the Webasto they are able to get to proper operating temperature which is good for overall economy and longevity if you're doing more than just the school run every day.
The Scottish car will be the older AMF engine variant: these if anything are more trouble-free overall than the later BHC engines, due to having less built-in complexity in meeting a lower Euro emissions standard. The fact that it's only Euro3 instead of Euro4 won't make any real difference these days, when (AFAIK) anything beneath Euro6 is penalised equally in all the clean-air schemes that have been established in this country.
On an '02 registration, that car will have the cast lower suspension arms. The later (cheaper) pressed ones rust out from the inside over time and can fail catastrophically without prior visible warning signs. It will also have the Webasto auxhiliary heater which warms the engine up to provide heat through to the cabin. Being so efficient, in cold weather all the 1.4TDI's struggle to generate sufficient heat to warm up properly on their own, unless on a really long run. Later cars just had an electric element in the cabin air circuit, which didn't help the engine out. But with the Webasto they are able to get to proper operating temperature which is good for overall economy and longevity if you're doing more than just the school run every day.
greywolfhound
Member
I have a similar experience we have two tdi amf one with 42k one with 160K plus the engines themselves pull the same & no oil usage ..the gearbox on the high mile one not as smooth ..the other is the bhc engined with 70k drives as new all round ..
Erlingtheyounger
Member
As noted on my Webasto thread elsewhere here, you can't beat it if it is working properly. 5kW heating power compared to 1.5kW for the electric heater means windscreen-thawing heat in a couple of minutes, and enough warmth to start getting properly toasty within a 5 minute drive, even if nothing is showing on the temperature gauge yet. It is similar to the heating potential of the 2.7tt engine in my A6 where a couple of minutes running and then accelerating onto the local dual carriageway can give you a true roasting through all vents on full heat even on the coldest days I've experienced here. Then again, the 2.7tt is a great way to quickly convert fuel into heat and a rather nice sound.. (but not the best for a 7 mile commute, hence why I purchased the A2!).
Leopard680
A2OC Donor
? the more people tell me about the A2‘S, the more i wish I’d bought one sooner…..
Damian Bond
A2OC Donor
Have you had anything major go wrong with the engine in the last 6/7 years?
thanks Damian
Leopard680
A2OC Donor
Injector Wiring Loom. At about 250,000 miles... ?