Oil sludge and oil pickup blockage
Attaches to B207 at engine level · Engine · carried by 1 variants across 1 chassis
Overview
Oil sludge and oil pickup blockage is a common fault recorded against B207 at engine level, typically from 120–220k km. It shows up as an oil pressure warning, a rattle from the top end at start-up and, once the pickup is blocked, bearing failure. Where it's documented, the repair runs €800–€3,500 (sump off and clean at the cheap end, engine rebuild at the dear end, costs dated 2026-07), and it can be partly checked before you buy. 1 variants across 1 chassis in this database inherit it.
What happens
Symptom. An oil pressure warning, a rattle from the top end at start-up and, once the pickup is blocked, bearing failure.
Cause. Stretched oil changes let deposits build in the sump and block the oil pickup screen, which starves the bearings and the turbo. It's entirely a maintenance failure, which is why the receipts matter more than the mileage.
How to check it
Paperwork
Look under the oil filler cap for deposits and read the service history for interval length rather than for stamps. A car with a documented 10,000 km habit is a different proposition to one on 30,000 km intervals.
On these cars the folder is most of the value.
Every variant that carries this
| Variant | Chassis | Body | Years | Risk | Good buy | Cost as % of good buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.0t B207 | 9440 | sedan | 2002–2012 | R3 | €2,700 | 80% |
The last column is the point. The same repair is an inconvenience on one variant and a reason to scrap the car on another. A failure costing a quarter of the vehicle's value changes the purchase decision regardless of how rare it is.