Does anyone else change oil/filter when buy a new used car?

Anything else you replace ?

If I am buying a car for myself, if there is no evidence that the previous owner did an oil change recently and if the oil on the dipstick looks old and black, then yes.

(mind you, even after a few hundred miles a diesel engine will often have black oil)

Basically an oil change every 12 months should be often enough (unless you want to go OTT and there is no harm in that)

But no harm done in replacing them for your own peace of mind, of course.

Steve B
 
Id always change oil and filters and have a look see round the brakes and suspention, id even pop the cambelt cover and check the belt as you know where you stand then
 
Bought the wife a Pluriel for Christmas, Cam belt and filters straight away. Did the same with my A2, for the cost it gives piece of mind. When buying cars of our age it should be added to purchase price IYSWIM.

Unless, of course, the provenance / history is impeccable.
 
Bought the wife a Pluriel for Christmas, Cam belt and filters straight away. Did the same with my A2, for the cost it gives piece of mind. When buying cars of our age it should be added to purchase price IYSWIM.

Unless, of course, the provenance / history is impeccable.

What's an A2 TDI cam belt change cost?
 
Probably wise to check. My suspicion is that sometimes the oil will be changed, but filters will not. I think this was the case when I bought my FSI 2 years ago. When I came to change the filter it looked like it had been on there a lot longer than one year. Not surprising that they would be lazy, given that the moronic location of the filter makes changing it far harder than it needed to be.
 
thanks guys,

my A2 TDI has 150,000 miles and I recall there was a cam belt change in the history at about 60,000 miles...

I had so much fun test driving it for 3 hours that I didn't look too closely at boring papers... ha ha h aha...

-=sigh=-
 
I have been told that there isn,t that much stress on the 1.4 tdi cam belt in comparison to the 1.9 tdi cam belt which is more or less exactly the same size or width. Still best to have it changed every five years though.
 
thanks guys,

my A2 TDI has 150,000 miles and I recall there was a cam belt change in the history at about 60,000 miles...

I had so much fun test driving it for 3 hours that I didn't look too closely at boring papers... ha ha h aha...

-=sigh=-

First thing on your to do list should be the cambelt if its done 90,000 as would be a can of worms and huge cost if it snaps or pulls all its teeth off and highly recomended to get it replaced asp in my honest opinion , easily do able DIY if your handy with spanners and dont mind getting your hands dirty as such ...
 
First thing on your to do list should be the cambelt if its done 90,000 as would be a can of worms and huge cost if it snaps or pulls all its teeth off and highly recomended to get it replaced asp in my honest opinion , easily do able DIY if your handy with spanners and dont mind getting your hands dirty as such ...

I'd love to do it myself... but I live in a flat with only on-street parking... and I'm an a huge hill which also complicates matters...

-=sigh=-

I'll try and lookup what exactly is involved... maybe I can do it in my work's parking lot ha ha... if it doesn't take too long...

actually that's probably a bad idea...
 
I normally service if its not got evidence of being done within the last year or 10k and I'll do the cam belt fit there's no evidence of it being done to schedule as well as checking brakes etc.
 
My 2 most recent entries in my book... currently have 155,000 miles...

IMG_5479.jpg

IMG_5480.jpg
 
so I'm pretty near to the schedule of having the next "service" done going by the 04/2018 or 166,000 miles info in me book?

I don't know why, but when I tried to calculate intervals for cambelt changing I somehow got 180,000 miles but I'm bad at math...

I've got 156,000 miles now so should I just have the cambelt/water pump etc changed now? what is normally done at this service?

I do about 2,000 miles a month sometimes...
 
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When it comes to a cambelt and water pump change it is not related to how many miles the car has done.
It merely relates to when the last cambelt change was done.

Opinion varies on the intervaks that are recommended, but to me if your car has done 40,000 or more since the cambelt was done last time, then I would suggest that you should change it as soon as you feel you can.
Or if the cambelt change was more than 4years ago, then I would change it.

Time is is as important as mileage covered. The belts deteriorate over time and also, if the car is not used a lot the belt is held in that one position under a lot of pressure and so time does matter.

Just have a look on eBay etc at the number of great A2s that are written off just because the cambelt has snapped : slipped.
The cost of repairs when they fail means the car is often not worth the repair cost.

So I always recommend changing the belt and all of the relevant pulleys and water pump (I.e. The full kit) if you are not sure!

Steve B
 
Hi - according to your service book I think your cam belt and water pump were changed at 130 thousand miles so ok for a little while yet (Jan 2018 time wise). I believe this is correct but if anyone disagrees please correct me

Cheers Dave
 
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My last A2 went bang, cam belt cost me 750 quid because of the damage it did. So my new car has done 91000, cam belt was change at 52000 so I know mine is due a new one and a good service.
I shall be getting it done in Aug. Better to be safe than sorry
Regards Spud
 
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