VW Amarok (First Generation) Common Problems: An Owner's Guide

The first-generation VW Amarok is one of the better pickups to live with day to day - car-like manners on the road, a properly wide load bed, and a drivetrain that holds up when it's looked after. The problems that actually cost owners money cluster in a few places: the diesel emissions hardware on the 2.0 TDI (DPF, EGR and fuel dilution of the engine oil), turbo and injector faults that show up as limp mode, clutch and dual-mass flywheel wear on hard-worked manuals, tired leaf springs and bushes at the back, and corrosion or water ingress on trucks that have led a working life. None of this makes it a bad buy - but which engine and gearbox you're looking at changes the risk profile a lot, so it's worth knowing exactly what's in front of you.

Which engine you're buying - and how its timing is driven

This matters more than anything else on an Amarok, and it's where people most often carry a fact across from a different VW. The first-generation Amarok never had a pump-duse (PD) diesel - every diesel in the range is common-rail - so the PD-era stories you may have read don't apply here.

The four-cylinder 2.0 TDI came as a single-turbo version and as a sequential twin-turbo 'BiTDI'. The BiTDI uses two exhaust-driven turbochargers working in sequence: it is not supercharged and not twincharged. Every one of these four-cylinder variants - engine codes including CDBA, CNFA, CDCA, CNEA and CSHA - drives its camshafts with a toothed timing BELT, replaced along with the tensioner and water pump. This is an interference engine, so a snapped belt means valves meeting pistons and, realistically, a rebuild or a replacement engine. Ask for documented proof of the last belt change, with a date and a mileage on paper rather than a verbal assurance, and if there's no proof, budget to do it straight away.

The 3.0 V6 TDI arrived with the 2016 facelift and is a different proposition: it is CHAIN driven, and on this engine family the chain drive sits at the back of the engine, so reaching it is a major strip-down rather than a routine service item. Chains normally outlast belts, but that inaccessibility is exactly why a rattle for a second or two on a cold start is worth taking seriously rather than shrugging off. Don't assume a post-2016 truck is a V6 either - the four-cylinder carried on alongside it in some markets, so check the engine code on the car.

A turbocharged 2.0 TSI petrol was also offered from 2011 in some markets, South America in particular; it wasn't sold in the UK. If you're looking at one, confirm its cam drive against the engine code on the block rather than assuming it matches either diesel, and bear in mind that parts and specialist knowledge for it are thin outside the markets that got it.

DPF, EGR, AdBlue and the rising oil level

This is the Amarok's headline weak spot, and it's mostly a usage problem rather than a design one. A diesel particulate filter needs sustained running to burn off soot. An Amarok used for short school-run and site-to-site trips never finishes a regeneration cycle, soot builds up, and eventually you get a warning light, then limp mode.

The knock-on effect catches owners out. During a regeneration extra fuel is injected, and some of it washes past the bores into the sump. On short-trip trucks the oil level climbs above maximum instead of dropping. That's diluted oil with reduced protection, and in the worst case an engine that can run on its own sump oil - which cannot be shut off with the key. If the dipstick or the cluster says the level is rising, treat it as urgent: change the oil, and change how the truck is used.

EGR valves and EGR coolers clog with soot and carbon on these engines, and a cracked EGR cooler can quietly lose coolant into the exhaust. Trucks with AdBlue (SCR) - the V6 among them - add another layer: NOx sensors, the metering injector and the tank heater can all fail, and a fault there can eventually stop the engine restarting.

• Look for a service history with regular oil changes, not stretched intervals.
• Check the oil level and smell the oil on the dipstick for diesel.
• On AdBlue trucks, confirm there are no stored SCR faults and no countdown warning.
• The Amarok's 2.0 TDI was caught up in VW's diesel emissions software recall - in Europe it was the first model to be updated, in early 2016, and Brazilian trucks built in 2011-2012 were affected too. Ask whether the update was carried out and how the truck has run since.

Turbos, injectors, glow plugs and limp mode

Sudden loss of power with a warning light is the classic Amarok complaint, and the usual suspects are boost-related. On the BiTDI, the sequential turbo arrangement relies on actuators and control flaps that stick with soot; on single-turbo trucks it's more often the variable-geometry vanes or their actuator. Either way the symptom is the same - the engine goes flat and refuses to make boost until it's restarted, and often comes back once it's warm.

Common-rail injectors are a genuine wear item at higher mileages. Symptoms are a lumpy idle, a diesel knock louder than it should be, hard starting when hot, smoke, and rough running under light throttle. A diagnostic check of the injector correction values tells you far more than a road test will.

Glow plugs and the glow plug control module cause poor cold starting and a flashing coil light, and on the four-cylinder the plastic intake manifold's flap motor is a known failure that throws a fault and drops the engine into reduced power. None of these is catastrophic on its own - but several of them together on one truck point to neglected maintenance.

Gearboxes, clutch and the 4MOTION system

Two facts worth nailing down, because they get muddled constantly. The Amarok's automatic is an eight-speed ZF torque-converter unit - not a DSG and not a CVT, and no dual-clutch gearbox was fitted to this model. It arrived for the 2012 model year, so the earliest Amaroks are manual only. The manual is a six-speed.

The four-wheel-drive systems are not the same thing. Selectable ('shiftable') 4MOTION uses a mechanical transfer case with a genuine low range and was generally paired with the manual gearbox. Permanent 4MOTION uses a Torsen centre differential with a nominal 40:60 front-to-rear split and has no low-range box, leaning instead on a very low first gear - that's the automatic's arrangement. Rear-wheel-drive-only versions were also sold in some markets. There are exceptions to the pattern, too: Volkswagen Australia sold a V6 manual with a proper low-range transfer case. If you plan on serious off-road work or slow, heavy towing, check what the individual truck actually has rather than going by the badge.

On manuals, the dual-mass flywheel and clutch are the expected big-ticket item, particularly on trucks that have towed heavily or been worked with a loaded bed. Listen for rattling at idle that quietens with the clutch pedal down, and feel for judder pulling away. On automatics the gearbox is robust but not maintenance-free - despite 'lifetime fluid' claims, a fluid and filter service is cheap insurance. Harsh or hunting shifts, or a shudder at light throttle at cruising speed as the torque converter locks up, are worth investigating before you buy.

Driveline vibration at speed on 4x4 trucks often traces to propshaft universal joints or the centre bearing rather than wheel balance.

Suspension, steering and brakes

The Amarok has coil-sprung double wishbones at the front and a leaf-sprung live axle at the rear. Unladen, the back end is firm and skittish - that's normal for the layout, not a fault. What isn't normal is a rear end that sits visibly low or leans, which suggests the springs have been flattened by years of overloading.

Front lower arm bushes, ball joints and anti-roll bar links wear and knock over broken surfaces. At the rear, check the spring bushes, shackles and U-bolts, and look for a corroded or leaking shock absorber.

Steering wear shows up as knocking through the wheel, vibration, or uneven tyre wear - check the track rod ends and look for splits in the rack gaiters. If there's a power steering fluid reservoir under the bonnet, the assistance is hydraulic, and a whine that rises with steering input or a falling fluid level means a leak somewhere in the pump, hoses or rack seals. Find the leak rather than topping it up.

Identify what's fitted at the rear before you assume anything: this generation was built with drums on some versions and discs on others. Drums on a truck used off-road or on salted roads collect grit and can seize, and the handbrake mechanism inside them sticks on trucks that sit for long periods. Front discs and pads wear quickly on a vehicle this heavy, especially one that tows. Brakes are safety-critical - if the pedal is long, spongy or the truck pulls under braking, get it diagnosed before it's driven again rather than treating it as a haggling point.

Electrics, water ingress and bodywork

A lot of Amarok electrical complaints turn out to be damp-related. Blocked scuttle drains at the base of the windscreen let water into the cabin - a wet footwell, a musty smell or persistently fogged windows are the giveaway, and the pollen filter housing area is a common route in. Once water reaches wiring and control modules in the footwells or under the seats, faults become erratic and expensive.

The tailgate lock actuator and its wiring are a common nuisance, and a truck that's flat after a few days standing is worth chasing properly rather than fitting a new battery and hoping - a parasitic drain will simply kill the new one too.

Bodywork-wise, the panels generally hold up better than the underside. Get underneath with a torch and inspect the chassis rails, the rear spring hangers and shackle mounts, the bed mounting points and anything around a towbar bracket. A plastic or spray-in bed liner can trap water against the load bed floor, so check the edges and the drain points, and look where the liner meets the tailgate - that's where damage hides.

Test drive and pre-purchase inspection

An Amarok is easy to assess if you're systematic, and a working truck's history tells you more than its mileage does.

Start it cold - insist on it. Listen for chain rattle on a V6 at start-up, watch for excessive smoke, and check that the dashboard lights all extinguish, particularly the glow plug, DPF, ABS and airbag warnings. An airbag or ABS light must never be dismissed or 'cleared before collection': both are safety systems that may not do their job in a crash, and both need diagnosing properly rather than resetting.

On the move, get the truck up to a sustained speed to see whether it makes full boost without dropping into limp mode. Feel the clutch for judder and listen at idle with the pedal in and out. On an automatic, test full-throttle upshifts and gentle part-throttle cruising for shudder. Try the four-wheel-drive selection, and on a manual truck engage low range somewhere safe to prove the transfer case works.

Afterwards, check the oil level and condition, look for coolant loss, and inspect the underside for rust and for fresh underseal hiding it. If it's an ex-fleet or ex-site truck, assume it has towed and carried at its limits and price the clutch, springs and bushes accordingly.

Fault codes that come up on an Amarok

A generic code reader will show engine faults, but a lot of what matters on this truck sits in other modules and in live data rather than in a stored code list. These are the ones that come up repeatedly:

Reading a code is only the first half of the job. What tells you whether an Amarok is healthy or about to get expensive is the live data behind it - measured soot mass in the DPF, distance since the last completed regeneration, injector quantity deviation per cylinder, and actual against specified boost pressure. VAGPULSE is a Windows application and cable built for that kind of check: it scans every module in the truck, shows those live measuring blocks, and handles coding and adaptation as well as fault reading.

One warning: never buy a truck whose warning lights were cleared shortly before you saw it. Ask for the fault memory to be read in front of you, engine cold.

• P0299 underboost and P0234 overboost - turbo actuators, vanes, or a split boost hose.
• P0401 / P0402 - EGR flow too low or too high, usually soot build-up.
• P2002 / P244A / P244B - DPF efficiency and differential pressure faults.
• P0087 - fuel rail pressure too low; injectors, filter or high-pressure pump.
• P2015 - intake manifold flap position, on the four-cylinder's plastic manifold.
• P0016 - crankshaft/camshaft correlation, which on a belt-driven 2.0 TDI needs immediate attention.
• P0670 / P0671 - glow plug control module and circuit faults.
• P20EE and NOx sensor codes - SCR/AdBlue faults on trucks with the system fitted.
• P0128 - thermostat stuck open; slow warm-up, which itself worsens DPF problems.

Common questions