To end this article I will briefly mention the injectors, DPF filter and a mysterious coolant loss, since all of these things are related to these diesel engines.
Injectors
The injectors will usually last at least approximately 200 000 km and in many cases even more than this, so they can somehow work even at 300 000 km or 400 000 km. However be ready that they can fail after the already mentioned 200 000 km, so at this mileage point it’s good to at least remove them and have them tested. But if you want to be on the safe side then you can also preventively replace all of them.
The most common symptoms of badly working injectors are:
- smoke from the exhaust at idle or during acceleration
- slightly fluctuating idle
- not good engine start mainly with a warmed up engine-so the engine cranks longer or the start is not smooth/fast enough
- slightly higher fuel consumption
- the engine oil level can raise as well.
But other symptoms can appear too like:
- flashing glow plug light
- check engine light
- misfires/uneven engine running
- limp mode/loss of power
- injector related fault codes
- a louder ticking/knocking noise from the faulty injectors
- engine won’t start
If you ignore any of these symptoms then you are risking a major engine damage which includes cracked or melted pistons and damaged cylinder walls.
Rarely the injectors can suddenly fail and start to leak excessive amount of fuel into the cylinder as well. This relatively rare phenomenon can easily end with a cracked or melted piston which will damage the cylinder wall as well. This translates to a major engine damage!
To prolong the lifetime of the injectors use good quality fuel, eventually good fuel additives and replace the fuel filter regularly.
Leaking injector washers/seats
Apart from the faulty injectors you can experience leaking injector washers as well, but this issue can be easily and cheaply fixed.
The symptoms of leaking injector washers are:
- regular louder or not that loud hissing type noises from the engine mostly at idle
- exhaust smell in the interior and engine compartment will appear as well
- if the leak is bigger then you will also notice a black tar like substance coming out from the injector vent holes on the cylinder heads above the exhaust manifolds. The black tar can end up on the exhaust manifolds or on the engine mount brackets so its easy to spot this.
During replacing these washers it’s important to clean the injector ports and at the same time replace all the washers and injector seals on the other injectors as well + having the injectors tested while they are out is a very good idea too + it’s good to replace the injector bolts as well – since they can stretch
injector seals explained – pressure release holes and shit
DPF
Most of these engines are equipped with a DPF filter. It can last even 500 000 km, but bad injectors, incorrect engine oil, and using the car mainly on short distances are gonna reduce the lifetime of this filter significantly, since it gets clogged or even destroyed! By the way, if you are gonna use the car mainly for short distances then the DPF will not burn off correctly. The result of this will be a raising oil level and later a clogged DPF.
Some of the facelifted cars are equipped with the additional adblue emmision system which will have additional issues mainly in the older or high mileage cars, but I’m not gonna investigate this any further since nobody is paying me!
Coolant loss
All of these engines can rarely experience a mysterious coolant loss. If there is no external leak and the head gasket is fine together with the cylinder head, then this coolant loss is most probably caused by the EGR cooler. Because rarely, the EGR cooler can slightly crack internally thus allowing the coolant to mix with the carbon soot in the cooler itself + it will slowly leak into the combustion chamber. This internal coolant leak is obviously not gonna help to extend the lifetime of the DPF filter for example, so check the coolant level regularly and keep this in mind!
Want to get options on my thoughts. I bought my first Cayenne 2 months ago. A 2012 with 47000km on the clock and full leather interior and radar cruise control. The car is in a pristine condition. So I am very happy with my purchase and I was aware of the timing chain rattle issue on the 3lt TDI motors. However I didn’t think a motor with only 47k kilos will have the issue. Needless to say on warm startup 90% of the time the rattle are quite loud and also makes me think that the chain rattle issue is rather something to do with age rather than the amount of mileage.
So this is my idea before spending a significant amount on an engine out repair.
In my younger days with a lot less cash I drove an old 1000cc Mini with a lot of mileage and with very low oil pressure indicated on its oil pressure gauge. So I added Wynns Charge Oil treatment to the oil and that increased the oil pressure a lot.
So my idea is to add Wynns Charge to the Cayenne’s oil and see if the chain tensioner will hold the pressure for longer and maybe get rid off the rattle on warm start ups.
So I want know if anyone thinks it’s a bad idea to add Wynns Charge to my Cayenne’s oil and why?
Hi Zsolt,
I just found your channel, I am amaized about your knowledge, you showed outstanding expertism. That would be excellent if you were leaves nearby, I would definitely ask you to maintaine and repair my cars.
Yo can see my email address if you think we can contact and figure out the distance between us.
Thank you,
ZZsolt
Is it worth and economically feasible to rebuild a first gen. 3.0 TDI, specifically a BKS?
Hello! Is the 3.0tdi ASB 233hp in A4 B7 2007 a 1st gen or newer? The car is at 291,000km so should I replace the chains prevantively if I only hear a rattle starting from very cold (<0C and below) for about 0.5/1s and no rattle at all if started from cold in warm weather or hot engine.
The car doesn't have DPF and it never has been remapped so I guess it doesn't have one from factory?
The only problem I got with this car is at about 3000+ rpm on full boost i think im hearing slight squeeling/whooshing noise, i guess its a boost leak? It sound more like spinning tires but its quattro so thats out of question 😀
The other thing i wanted to ask about is, since the car has manual gearbox and i've read audi put RS4 clutch in those too, how much hp/torque can it hold before needing a clutch/smf? Will it be able to handle a remap to about 280-300hp while being conservative at low revs?
Thanks a bunch! From what I've experienced its a really smooth and well engineered engine.
-yes ASB is a 1st gen
-not all of these engines are equipped with a DPF from the factory, the DPF was standard only later
-generally speaking it is a good idea to replace the chain at around 300 000 km. I’m not saying that it won’t last more than this, but if you want to keep the car for a longer time then you should consider replacing it.
-yes can be boost leak, but also exhaust leak + you should check the turbo visually for wear/damage and for excessive play (very easy to check this on these engines)
-about the clutch I have no idea, but if its in good condition then it should last a while even with a remap
I am looking to by a maintenace book for my 2011 audi q7 tdi 3.0l CATA engine, VIN#WA1VMAFE3BD007405 can you recomend it please, to many problems with this 1st generation. Thank you.