I bought a 2009 A3 convertible with the 1.8 tfsi engine and 125,000 miles earlier in the summer. Maybe not my wisest purchase but it's a lovely car to drive on nice days! I've since discovered this engine has a dreadful reputation! I've two comments that I hope may be useful to someone. Both door locks became intermittent with remote opening within 3 months. In both cases, I was able to solve the problem at minimal cost by removing the locks, cleaning them thoroughly with grease solvent and re-oiling them. It seems Audi door lock grease (and perhaps VW, Seat, Skoda) gets thick and sticky at this age. I inherited the high oil consumption problem which I have learnt is one of the common problems with these engines. In my case the low oil warning came on at 120 miles! I did a thorough cylinder soak for three days with Berrymans B12 followed by an engine flush and new oil and it seems to have vastly improved it. The next low oil level was 350 miles and the one after that 700 miles. It's a sunny day car so that's all I've driven since but perhaps it will continue to impove? In any case, I can live with 700 miles between topups for the mild use I have for it.

1 hour ago, Andy33 said:

I bought a 2009 A3 convertible with the 1.8 tfsi engine and 125,000 miles earlier in the summer. Maybe not my wisest purchase but it's a lovely car to drive on nice days! I've since discovered this engine has a dreadful reputation! I've two comments that I hope may be useful to someone. Both door locks became intermittent with remote opening within 3 months. In both cases, I was able to solve the problem at minimal cost by removing the locks, cleaning them thoroughly with grease solvent and re-oiling them. It seems Audi door lock grease (and perhaps VW, Seat, Skoda) gets thick and sticky at this age. I inherited the high oil consumption problem which I have learnt is one of the common problems with these engines. In my case the low oil warning came on at 120 miles! I did a thorough cylinder soak for three days with Berrymans B12 followed by an engine flush and new oil and it seems to have vastly improved it. The next low oil level was 350 miles and the one after that 700 miles. It's a sunny day car so that's all I've driven since but perhaps it will continue to impove? In any case, I can live with 700 miles between topups for the mild use I have for it.

Hi it might improve a little more as Audi quotes every thousand miles at least a litre is normal, not normal as the only other car I have found with this type of thirst are MINI and my niece ditched hers a while ago when she found out she was spending a minimum of £30 a month on oil, every later model Audi survives on losing about 50ml of oil between extended service intervals, also imagine what all that semi burnt oil will do for the catalyst and sensors.

Steve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's unfortunate that cars with those dreadful engines are still permitted to be sold. Even worse is that the trade knows about the fault and yet conceals it from buyers.

Be aware that you might have a problem at the next MOT test. All the oil the car is burning will be measured as emissions in the exhaust.

Thank you for those comments though, as a petrolhead myself, I'm already aware that excessive oil consumption can't be good for anything! In my early days as a car owner in the 1960s high oil consumption of many engines like 2-strokes and Jaguars was more or less taken for granted, but fortunately no longer. I just humbly offered my thoughts about my 'partial solution' to those who might have been told they need a new engine.