2001 Audi A4 questions

Yesterday I checked out a 2001 Audi A4 with about 160K miles equipped with a 1.8 engine manual trans and AWD. The owners is a bit of a squirrel to say the least but the car is not bad looking and clean enough on the inside, but I do not know much about these car and have a few questions.

1) The owner stated the brakes are not working correctly, they “gave way” on the drive home and the car has been parked in the same spot ever since. That is all the owner can tell me, the ABS light is not on, pedal felt good, master cylinder is full of brake fluid, and not contaminated. This is major concern to the owner and stated the car WILL be towed out or no sale.

2)The front passengers seat belt (wall mount) is all berkeleyed up, the belt webbing is damaged in about four places (said the dog chewed on it) and the trim is busted up. I was told that the belt can be repaired but I seem to recall seeing another A4 with the same seat belt issue. Could this cause the airbag light to come on?

3)Rear shocks may need to be replaced.

4)Dash center display is not working, anyone know how much this would cost to fix or is there a DIY fix for this?

Anything else I should be on the lookout for? The car started right up with a jump (maybe O.E battery) and he claims to have records of the cars repairs as he is not mechanical inclined and not the adventures kind of guy.

Thanks Paul

With everything listed and the fact that the pre-2001.5 B5 platform cars can be an absolute nightmare, that car better be close to free!

I had a 99 Passat and the only brake issue where they absolutely gave out was a blown RF line, but there would not be a full master cylinder in that case.

The rest of the stuff I can't help you. Mine was a basic car, no display etc. The suspension on mine was still good at 125k, the front control arms are a huge, expensive issue on those cars.

The owner is asking $1500 I have only seen one cheaper than that and it needed a LOT of work. Around here the price for beatenasscans of cars is high to say the least, I have seen far worse for far more.

nothing is more expensive than a cheap exotic car....

Buying a neglected Audi is asking for trouble. PASS.

Avoid at all cost, save money by buying a sorted car or a Subaru Legacy.

That vintage of Audis were horribly complex and difficult to work on. (Not that the new ones are any less complex.) A coworker of mine can give some real horror stories, like having to disassemble the whole nose of the car to change the water pump.

docwyte wrote: Buying a neglected German Car is asking for trouble. PASS.

Fixed

At least the owner cares enough not to risk the new owner's life by insisting on a tow. That said, P-P-PASS.

jstein77 wrote: That vintage of Audis were horribly complex and difficult to work on. (Not that the new ones are any less complex.) A coworker of mine can give some real horror stories, like having to disassemble the whole nose of the car to change the water pump.

"Disassembling the whole nose of the car" takes like 20 minutes. It's actually a pretty good way to deal with an engine mounted that forwards.

I agree, though, with not buying the car in question.

i owned a '99.5 1.8T A4Q for a few years. when it was working right...it was pretty nice to drive and struck a good balance between sporty and comfy for long trips. very pretty looking cars and feel more solid than their price suggests. i put about 30k miles on it in total.

that said, mine died through series of events as a result of oil sludge (long story) at about 95k miles. despite running 0W-40 synthetic its whole life the top end was getting really noisy and after ultimately getting the top end apart i found the cam lobes all galled and lots of varnish in the valvetrain. the small sump and tiny turbo tucked up under the valve cover just weren't enough to keep the oil from cooking. this isn't a rare problem on the transverse 1.8T cars (A4 and Passat).

i put a salvage engine in it and sold it for peanuts not long afterwards at 99k miles. it had already gone through 2 expensive OEM dual-mass clutches (i'm not hard on clutches, honest), t-belt at 60k miles (that's the suggested interval, pretty weak if you ask me) and the suspension was starting to creak which meant lots of $$ for ball joints and suspension links. i have a few nostalgic moments for it every year remembering back to some good drives, but never really miss it. my subaru is far more unsophisticated to drive but equally more robust mechanically and way more fun overall.

my parents still drive their 2001 1.8T A4Q which fared better than mine. its starting to consume some oil, probably from the turbo aging, and the suspension is starting to creak as well.

if you're serious about considering one you need to look very hard at the maintenance history and who did the work, because if you have any big services coming up and can't do the work yourself, you're going to want to push the thing off a cliff. nothing is easy to work on on those things so the shops are going to make you pay, big time.

e46potenza wrote:

docwyte wrote: Buying a neglected German Car is asking for trouble. PASS.

Fixed

+1.

The car in question sounds scary. It could be a good deal, only needing a few things - or it'll bleed you dry - with no real way to tell what you'll get. Are you feeling lucky?

I'd only consider this car if I were a shop and wanted an occaisonal filler project to keep my guys busy, then flip it for a profit (or likely break even) when done.

codrus wrote:

jstein77 wrote: That vintage of Audis were horribly complex and difficult to work on. (Not that the new ones are any less complex.) A coworker of mine can give some real horror stories, like having to disassemble the whole nose of the car to change the water pump.

"Disassembling the whole nose of the car" takes like 20 minutes. It's actually a pretty good way to deal with an engine mounted that forwards. I agree, though, with not buying the car in question.

That's actually called the "service position" and is pretty standard for any major engine work. My 1990 was the same way, it actually gives decent access once the bodywork is out of the way.

That said, Audis of that vintage are also know for needing all sorts of special tools, which means you'll either have to buy, borrow, or fab some of them. I love Audis but there is a reason I've got a hotrod Subaru now instead of a hotrod biturbo S4.

Appleseed wrote: At least the owner cares enough not to risk the new owner's life by insisting on a tow.

...or maybe it doesn't run well... Caveat Emptor.

David

jsquared wrote: That's actually called the "service position" and is pretty standard for any major engine work. My 1990 was the same way, it actually gives decent access once the bodywork is out of the way.

New MINIs are the same way. Takes about 20 min if I have "help". About 5 min if I have the car on the lift and I'm left alone and already have the tools out.