New A2 TDI Owner

putyourmittenson

putyourmittenson

Well-Known Member
Hi All,
Purchased my first A2 recently having wanted one for quite a while now.
After some weeks of searching i spotted one which fitted the bill and was quite well specced. Looked very tidy but had a few issues which i thought could be sorted.
It is High mileage at 176k but hoping it will reach 200k before anything major.

Have had some starting issues with it as discussed in this thread;
http://www.a2oc.net/forum/showthread.php?29565-1-4tdi-Starting-Issue

And you will see in the pictures that at some point someone has butchered the dash and now the stereo and A/C unit don't fit, i thought they were just fitted sloppily when i viewed the car and would just need straightening but nope :(

Hopefully everything can be solved and some quality A2 ownership can commence.
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Hi Mike

Sorry to hear your having the issues with the car. I'm still perplexed about this one. After buying it, it sat about on my drive for a couple of weeks while I cleaned it up and got it looking presentable. I then set about looking at the mechanical side of things. My first call was to change the glowplugs and charge the battery. I couldn't believe my luck when it started first turn of the key. I took it for a long run and drove really well. Thinking it couldn't be that simple I left it 24hours to cool down and tried again the next day, again it started first time, same again 3rd day and on the 4th day the battery died.

I charged the battery again and the car started again first time. It was at this point that I put the car up for sale believing the issue to be sorted.

After you had driven 500 miles with the car driving really well you said you had a starting issue the following morning. Going back to the way it had started fine for me I was convinced it must be the battery hence why I sent you the money to replace it.

I'm sorry that you've had this issue and if I'd thought the issue wasn't resolved I would never have put it up for sale.

In terms of the dashboard, as I mentioned it was the double Din conversion by the previous owner.

Steve
 
Love this colour! it matches mine :) but nice to see another.
Hang on in there with it, all cars of this age will have a few niggles. ( DMF and gear selector tower in first 3months of ownership) These cars are worth keeping, nothing else like them.
Regards Lee
 
Update on the ownership, i think its been about 5-6 weeks since i first got the car.
So far all is well. The starting issue is a rare occurrence now and it generally starts first time, followed by the whir of the starter motor sticking. Im not sure why the starting has improved. I did discover a leaking coolant hose and replaced that but don't think that would solve it, perhaps just constant use has fixed it. I have got a fresh battery to put in and that may help the rare starting struggle.
I've covered ~2.5k miles now and averaging about 60mpg but on a run its high 60s and i have reached low 70s on occasion so smiles all round.
The car was serviced in December but i don't know what with so I'm getting ready to do it again soon with parts and oil I'm confident with. Anyone recommend doing the gearbox oil aswell?
Ive just purchased a new shield for the fuel filter and a new dipstick (which was cheaper at the dealership than online). At the same time i got all the aero mods and now will be waiting for a nice day to fit the new parts, clean up the starter and service the car.

Still got a few things to do though! I need to either replace the wheel centre caps or refurb. Obtain a spare wheel, space saver or full size as i don't like the idea of relying on the goo when I'm in the middle of nowhere so will carry a spare when I'm along way from home.
The brokensky is opening a little now, i cleaned the old what looked like multipurpose grease out and used silicon grease. The first panel now opens a little more smoothly but soon starts to judder. So will leave that till the summer to investigate although I'm not to hopeful with it.

Apart from that it has been a joy to drive. Ive included a picture of it proving its worth and taking the old washing machine to the recycling centre!
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putyourmittenson said:
Anyone recommend doing the gearbox oil aswell?
Click to expand...

Looks like you are making good progress.

They are supposed to be "sealed for life" but when I had my gearbox mod done after 6 years and circa 50k miles the mechanic said it was 1/2 empty. If you can do things yourself then it seems a sensible thing to do.
 
The oil I used at my last gearbox oil change was 2 litres of Castrol TAF-X SAE 75W-90 API:GL4 VW501 50

You will need to undo the pendulum support bar (lower gearbox mount) to get to the drain plug. Its just two 17mm bolts from memory and an easy job.

As a tip make sure the oil fill plug undoes before draining the lower drain plug.

I don't know the technical name for it but you will need to get a sort of reverse socket that inserts into the drain plug. I'll try and get a photo later if I get chance.

Its easiet to fill the gearbox back up using a length of garden hose with a funnel on top as there is no room to get a bottle under the car.

Hope this helps.
 
I have a spare full-size SE wheel with a decent tyre on it I'd be happy to sell you for £30 if you're interested. I'm in Exeter, so presumably not far from you?
 
Hi Chris. Good to find another member in Exeter. Is that the 6spoke 16inch alloy wheel? have you got any photos?
Cheers.
 
Here are the photos as promised. It's actually in decent condition apart from the scuffs on the rim shown. The tyre tread depth is also more or less 7mm, so it's hardly been used.


wheel_1.jpgwheel_2.jpgmark_1.jpgmark_2.jpgtyre_1.jpg

The coin in the tyre photo is almost entirely useless, so apologies for that!
 
Wheel collected from Chris and it is very nice!
Todays job was to replace the rear brake drums and shoes as the old drums were corroded to the point of catching the guards. New drums have been painted to try and prevent this in the future.
 
New drums can be bought at a very reasonable price and visually they do make a big difference !. Also many moons ago on my first A2 i noticed a vast increase in the handbrake efficiency with less creaking. :)
 
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Completely agree Special Ed. With the drum not catching the guard I'm hoping for extra mpg aswell now.
Whilst i was in the area of the rear hub i noted that the hub wasn't spinning as freely as it should, the hub nut was torqued to over 250Nm! For now its torqued to spec at 175Nm but will have to replace it asap.
 
Small update!
Just about covered 10k miles in the car now and things are looking good. In the past few weeks i haven't experienced any starting problems and it has started first time. All I've done recently to try and fix the starting issue is that i replaced the return fuel line from the vacuum pump about a month ago. So maybe it was the fix it needed although I'm not sure.
I haven't experienced an increase in mpg with the aero kit although I'm still convinced it makes a difference.
Pre gearbox oil the change from 2nd to 3rd wasn't flawless but post change all gears are smooth and easily selected.
Im planning on improving the main beam lights now and hopefully sorting some roof bars before summer is over.
Attached is the most recent excursion to cornwall camping. Plenty of room for all the required gear.
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