Over £3k spent in the last 12 months.

[Little Dog]

I bought my car, a TDi 75 SE, new in 2003 and though it would be useful to post my experiences. Hopefully this will provide some guidance for members considering a purchase and also for those who may have reservations regarding increasing maintenance costs.

I made very few Warranty claims:

Air con control unit

Rattles fixed

One of the original tyres blew out at 80mph (the stability control software did an excellent job) and a second blew out a few weeks later. Thank fully I’d specified the car with a space saver. Both side wall failures and I’ve not bought Pirelli since.

Once out of warranty there were a small number of premature failures over the years

Air mass meter

Fan motor failure

Inter cooler leaking

Injector harness

Wheel trim centres

Rear brake back plates after the car had been parked up outside for several months

At about 80K miles the car started to show its age and components started wearing out

Shockers

Strut top mounts

Wheel bearings

Cam cover to fix an oil leak

Tow bar wiring replaced.

At about 130k miles

Cam and crank sensors

Steel coolant pipe across front of engine rusted from outside in causing a leak (some Audi mechanic in the past had cut all the cable ties and the harness had worn a patch paint off the pipe).

I scraped both N/S doors on a security gate post, one of those low things to secure car parks at night that you can’t see from the driver’s seat. My insurer wrote the car off but I refused to let them take it. We eventually agreed a cash settlement such that the car wasn’t a write off and I could afford two new doors and a respectable contribution to paint.

An air con re-gas and a sensor replaced on the condenser.

It’s had a battery approximately every 5 years two timing belts. Brakes, tyres etc. I consider to be routine maintenance.

All in all acceptable I would say for a daily use, dependable high mileage motor.

At about 15 years and 150k miles the spending really started (to be continued).

 

[Little Dog]

I used to say my A2 had two accelerator positions; on and off. It spent the first 10 years of its life being driven well in excess of the legal limit on fast A roads. That changed 5 years ago when I retired and my A2 became my local runner clocking no more than 5k miles per year. It could be just coincidence but the health of the car changed too.
About 2 years ago, 140k miles, I narrowly avoided my first big repair bill. The engine and box were wet with oil and I was picking up MOT advisories. I had assumed the cause was the cam cover that I had replaced. Without access to manual I would have got the tightening sequence wrong and one screw under the EGR was virtually impossible to torque correctly. A smell of diesel prompted further investigation and yes I had diesel, engine oil and gearbox oil leaks.
The tandem pump was leaking diesel from its end cover. Apparently this is a known failure with some LUK pumps. It ‘s worth knowing if you have a LUK pump then check it regularly for leaks. A LUK is easily identifiable by its black end cover seen here:

Catch a leak early and you can avoid damage to the rubber cooling pipes under the pump. I was too late and my pipes were soft and ballooning. A set of pipes cost approximately £120 but worse was the cost of a pump approximately £600 at the time.
I found a coment here on the forum that suggested some LUK pumps had screws in the end cover that were a little too long so I shortened the screws a little and tightened everything up.
Diesel leak cured, big bill avoided but I still had engine and gearbox oil leaks and now the gear change was rough and undependable.
Time to get serious and get a manual, picked up an Audi pdf manual from eBay. I think it was about £15. Best £15 I ever spent on my A2.

 

[Little Dog]

Almost 12 months ago to the day the spending on my up began to increase considerably. I considered the car well maintained, it had never failed a MOT but components were aging due to use and the passing of time and corrosion was becoming a problem with steel components.

Based on my experience then these cars will give dependable service with respectable running costs up to about 14 years and 140k miles. Once beyond this age and mileage maintenance is likely to become expensive unless an owner has the skills, time, tools, facilities and a spare car. The burden would be easier if the car really were a true classic. I think the A2 will become a future classic but I'm not sure it's quite there yet, https://www.a2oc.net/community/index.php?threads/will-audi-a2-ever-be-a-classic-car.35995/ .

However, I've had my A2 from new, it's my longest continuous serving motor, I've saved it from the scrap yard once and I'm not going to part with it (there's a problem; it's a cute practical car that you get attached to). I am fortunate enough to have everything (except cash and the skills, I don't understand diesel, nor all the special tools) to enable me to DIY maintain my A2.

12 months ago my A2 started leaking diesel again from the LUK tandem pump. It had already contaminated and ruined the new set of cooling hoses but not to the extent that there was a risk of immediate failure. The pump was removed, stripped and rebuilt with new seals:

https://www.a2oc.net/community/inde...uk-038145209e-tandem-fuel-pump-rebuild.31924/

The seal kit was not expensive, but the dubious quality of pump to head gasket seal (I didn't know the seal was defective at the time) resulted in considerably work more recently. I decided not to replace the cooling pipes again until I was absolutely sure the pump was not going to leak again. Replacing the pipes is still on my things to do list, a further £120 to spend.

Here is an issue that will occur even if you have your car garage maintained, maintenance results in further maintenance. I didn't get this pump right and even when maintained by Audi the car frequently required rework; under tray screws stripped, scratched paint, cracked screen, burst CV joint gator, wheel bearing incorrectly fitted. Even the garages get it very wrong. Work on your car creates the need for more work on your car. Achieving a steady dependable running state again can be, and has been in my case, quite a task.

 

[Little Dog]

No sooner had the tandem pump diesel leak been fixed for the second time then the gear change became dangerous. It would leave me unable to select gears in town traffic and on approaches to roundabouts appear to have selected a gear but leave me without drive when I tried to take advantage of a gap in the traffic.

I'd taken advice from the forum and the interior of the car was stripped out for gear cable adjustment. While I could change the gear change quality for better or worse I certainly couldn't fix the problem. I discovered the gear selector was rattling around its housing. The problem had been caused by errors positioning drains, a blocked drain from the bonnet, an aftermarket screen that would not seal correctly allowing water under the scuttle. Basically the box was been showered with water, the selector seal was worn and water had got into the gear box causing selector shaft bearing surface and roller bearing failure:

There was no cheap way out of this one, at this point I was still trying to keep the car on the road so it required new parts from Audi.

https://www.a2oc.net/community/index.php?threads/difficult-gear-changing.25764/

I now have the screen fully sealed with silicone, all drains are clear and aligned and I have a special modification just to make sure no water gets on that box:

I drove my A2 for months without an interior. When I finally put it back together I had lost this little silver ring:

Thank you to Snysersmuncher93 for sending over the above replacement. A good community we have here

 

[TFG]

12 months ago my A2 started leaking diesel again from the LUK tandem pump.

Did you get to find the cause of the leak? Mine's got a small 'damp patch' under the pump but I can't really say it smells of diesel. I'm wondering though if it's the start of something similar to your woes.

 

[Little Dog]

Did you get to find the cause of the leak? Mine's got a small 'damp patch' under the pump but I can't really say it smells of diesel. I'm wondering though if it's the start of something similar to your woes.

I really can’t say without seeing your car; I hope not though.
My LUK pump leaked a third time so I bought a Bosch. Oil, diesel and vac leaks fixed, a far superior product in my opinion.

 

[TFG]

Yes, I followed your thread on the Bosch pump with interest; curious that it's supplied without a mounting gasket! I'm looking at that one or the Pierburg equivalent (which is supplied with the gasket!). Best price I've seen so far as a complete kit (pump and gasket) is about £175 for either.

I was just curious to know which part/face of the pump starts leaking and whether it's worth contemplating the rebuild kit or just concede defeat from the off and go with a new pump. Reading other threads on the web it sounds as though it's a fairly common problem.

 

[Little Dog]

My LUK leaked from the cover plate after many years, I shortened the screws and after a while my LUK leaked from the cover plate, I rebuilt my LUK and after a while it leaked from the cover plate. I bought a Bosch, plus an OEM gasket as yet everything is good. Don't skimp on the gasket; more of that later.
I suspect the cover plate on a LUK pump, which I think is pressed steel, eventually distorts but I could be wrong.