Why have so many Audi s3s had an engine replacement?

[mrggg123]

Hi im looking for a low clean audi S3. The only worry I have is that the engine might blow. Ive seeen a lot for sale which have had this. Im looking to spend around 5k-7k for a mint one, but im scared this might happen. Is it a manufacturer problem?

[loose cannon]

You won't get a reply on here it's not French or British

[Catatafish]

mrggg123 said:

Hi im looking for a low clean audi S3. The only worry I have is that the engine might blow. Ive seeen a lot for sale which have had this. Im looking to spend around 5k-7k for a mint one, but im scared this might happen. Is it a manufacturer problem?

I think a lot of people remap them, and forget to upgrade the supporting bits like intercoolers, injectors and what not...

[loose cannon]

Not what I was told, my vag dealer friend told me vag reliability has gone by the wayside
Don't think remap's have anything to do with it tbh more like huge market domination and cutting costs
To maximise profits seems a similar view for all the German brands

[thatdude]

I understand the 2 litre TDi engines have some issues - I've read plenty about oil pump issues, although that was some years ago which I should think was sorted by now. I have some pictures soemwhere of an audi engine my dad had to rebuild because the oil pump failed, and the bottom end was shot - again, this was some years ago

[Dave Hedgehog]

i suspect that those cars are well in the "barry" price range so many will have been modded and ragged to an inch of their life

personally i would go for a model less attractive to the tuners, the 3.2 S-Line (which is basically an R32) i find the engine far better in the real world (instant torque) and sounds wonderful especially with a milltech exhaust

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/a...

[The Nur]

My mate has a minty minty 'T' reg S3 that has just had a new engine at ~50k

Took it for a full service at Audi and the knob end who serviced it left the sump plug finger tight. It was fine when not under pressure.

[k-ink]

German cars are all about nice interiors and cheap mechanics these days.

[richwig83]

Which S3?? 8L.. or 8P

To be honest, if its the 2.0T then it wont blow up. Solid engine.

[SuperVM]

From the price range, I take it is an 8L. If so, the oil pick up clogs as the variable servicing often results in the oil not being changed for around 20k miles.

[LiamM45]

richwig83 said:

Which S3?? 8L.. or 8P

To be honest, if its the 2.0T then it wont blow up. Solid engine.

That's what I was wondering, at that price point it's a potentially overpriced 8L or a ropey 8P.

Both the 1.8T and 2.0T are very solid reliable engines. The 1.8T had oil pick up problems which centered around lack of servicing and using poor quality oil filters. The 2.0T I have heard can suffer from similar if not serviced regularly and with quality parts.

A remap will not kill these engines, like most cars, poor maintenance kills them, so I would be questioning exactly why the engine has been replaced...

[richwig83]

Yeah.. the 2.0T can suffer from the oil pick up pipe too. Like you say, its its been maintained well these lumps will do 200K easy! (or at least i hope so as thats what I intend to do with mine)

[LiamM45]

Yep! General rule of thumb would be to completely ignore the VW/Audi longlife service plan, use good quality oil and genuine (or Mann) oil filters. Do that and it should go on forever!

[Easternlight]

richwig83 said:

To be honest, if its the 2.0T then it wont blow up. Solid engine.

Solid maybe but can use vast quantities of oil, mine did 1500miles/litre.

Google 2.0 tsfi oil consumption.

[richwig83]

Easternlight said:

richwig83 said:

To be honest, if its the 2.0T then it wont blow up. Solid engine.

Solid maybe but can use vast quantities of oil, mine did 1500miles/litre.

Google 2.0 tsfi oil consumption.

Thats not a common issues as far as I am aware. I'm uses virtually zero oil

[Bonefish Blues]

Dave Hedgehog said:

i suspect that those cars are well in the "barry" price range so many will have been modded and ragged to an inch of their life

personally i would go for a model less attractive to the tuners, the 3.2 S-Line (which is basically an R32) i find the engine far better in the real world (instant torque) and sounds wonderful especially with a milltech exhaust

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/a...

Agree - and IIRC the 3.2 in A3s is generally cheaper than in the R32 Golf, isn't it?

[LiamM45]

Bonefish Blues said:

Dave Hedgehog said:

i suspect that those cars are well in the "barry" price range so many will have been modded and ragged to an inch of their life

personally i would go for a model less attractive to the tuners, the 3.2 S-Line (which is basically an R32) i find the engine far better in the real world (instant torque) and sounds wonderful especially with a milltech exhaust

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/a...

Agree - and IIRC the 3.2 in A3s is generally cheaper than in the R32 Golf, isn't it?

do not get that 'instant torque' comment.

I've owned a VR6 and driven a couple of R32's, none of which I would consider 'torquey', infact quite the opposite, they seem to need to be revved hard to go anywhere.

Then you have 2.0T in the GTi/S3/ED30 Golf, all with a nice fast spooling K04 turbo, and unless you're in completely the wrong gear, there is zero lag!

The 3.2 does make a nice sound but for me the 2.0T, and the 1.8T, is a far superior engine.

[Bonefish Blues]

I think the noise is worth the price of admission

[Chicane-UK]

richwig83 said:

Thats not a common issues as far as I am aware. I'm uses virtually zero oil

I had an Octavia VRS with the 2.0 TFSI and it used to drink oil despite being a relatively low mileage engine. I did some searching and found countless threads on the subject - so it certainly isn't an unusual / uncommon problem.

[Devil2575]

loose cannon said:

Not what I was told, my vag dealer friend told me vag reliability has gone by the wayside
Don't think remap's have anything to do with it tbh more like huge market domination and cutting costs
To enable them to sell them for less than they used to seems a similar view for all the German brands

EFA

If you look at historic prices for premium German cars like BMW and merc you will notice that although they have gone up in price over the last 30 years in real terms i.e. taking inflation into account, they are cheaper than they used to be.

In 1996 a BMW 328 was about 25k
In 2014 a BMW 328 is about 30k

In todays money 26k in 1996 is worth about 40k. So in reality the price of a BMW 328i has come down around 25%

Reduction in quality was not a decision made just to line shareholders pockets, it was one to enable survival in a very competetive market place.