Buy used car, oil sweat (?)

[PelleNor]

Hi all!

I am in a process of buying a used Audi A4 Allround B9 2017 model. 3.0 TDI. Done 132 000 km.

I had it for a conrol today and The only thing I am a bit worried about is some oil sweat.
The oli is on both side of the motor. And under where the shield is.
It is not dripping any oil. So could also be old.

Is this typical for a car with this age/milage? And could it be expensive to fix?

[spartacus 68]

Difficult to tell, ideally you want some sort of engine clean to determine what's going on. Oil sweat just now could be related to earlier issue with EGR or oil cooler that was subsequently fixed. Any mention of this in the history? Find someone with VCDS to run a scan.

Which 3.0 litre model TDI, the 218bhp (S tronic box) or 272bhp (Tiptronic)? If S tronic, then the gearbox oil is due every 38k miles. Tiptronic although Audi will say is sealed for life, can be serviced at 60-80k miles as ZF have a maintenance kit.

If you do buy it, get the engine degreased, steam cleaned and check again. That oil sweat shouldn't continue. For longevity on these engines, get into habit of changing oil every 5k miles. If engine tray is dry - I wouldn't worry unnecessarily, but it would be better if the engine and sump were bone dry.

If dealer (probably not Audi on a 2017 model), then see where you stand in terms of supported warranty. Norway will have their own rules to protect consumers. In UK you have up to 30 days.

[PelleNor]

🙂 It is a 218bhp engine. Thanks for the headsup on the oil change.
Do you know how long this cars can last if is serviced as should ?

 

[PelleNor]

Probably the oil is from leakage and sweat from the top cover gasket and the sump. Any idee what this could cost to fix?

 

[spartacus 68]

3 hours ago, PelleNor said:

Probably the oil is from leakage and sweat from the top cover gasket and the sump. Any idee what this could cost to fix?

 

Potentially from valve cover gaskets, but it’s worth deeper dive to trace it. The gaskets themselves (one each bank) are inexpensive, but you need to strip down fuel pipes and electrics to access, plus you need to remove injectors. Remember their order as they are coded. In addition, renew copper washers on injectors and use new bolts on injector clamps as they are stretch bolts. Not done the job myself, but my understanding is from general reading. Valve cover torqued in sequence.

https://www.darksidedevelopments.co.uk/products/rocker-cover-gasket-for-3-0-cr-tdi-engines-cyl-1-3.html?srsltid=AfmBOopikyFKN487f_WcL4QJGeZxZM9pDYQHCoLHoFmXSz5b692zDhgB

Lower sump uses silicone sealant. Difficulty here is once sump is off, it needs to be absolutely spotless, remove any gasket material, make sure dry. Sump would need to be washed, remove all trace of oil, apply sealant to sump and mate them together, then torque down in sequence.

If I was doing it, I would get access to ErWin to see torque settings.

You probably need a car lift, but anything is possible.

If sump itself was suspect (bear in mind they are plastic), they are around £300 GBP.

Search on LLL Parts.