Hello all. Today I picked up a 2000 2.8 quattro 5 speed, fully loaded as far as I know. The vehicle has 94,xxx miles and drives fantastic. However, there are a few minor issues that I didnt notice when I test drove it, and was wondering if someone could point me in the right direction. The engine light is on, and when I called the previous owner, his wife told me it has been on for 2 years, but no mechanic could figure out why. The 2nd issue is that when I turn the wheel either direction I get a groaning/grinding sound. The 3rd issue is that the factory cd player gives me an Err1 reading when I put a disc in. The clutch is original, and Im sure it will need to be changed soon. The brakes squeal a little and so Im sure that those too are on their way out. Again, I didnt notice any of this when I test drove it. It was very quiet and smooth. I read reviews on google and all I hear is that the transmissions have tons of problems. The more I read, the more "common problems" I run across. Im getting a little scared and am wondering what is to be made of all these issues, and what it will cost me. I paid $6250 for it, but i have a feeling I will be putting a lot more into it.

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2000 2.8 A4 5 quattro 5 speed

The transmissions do not have tons of problems,the manual tranny in any Audi is pretty much bullet proof. Early model CVT's are a different story.Squeeky brakes dont mean bad brakes. Just look at them or have someone else look at them. Check the power steering fluid level for the groaning. Go to autozone. They will scan your ecu to find out why the CEL is on for free. He will print the codes and have them cleared from the ecu. See which one's if any come back and go from there.The Err1 reading probably means a mechanical failure. Does your cd changer work?

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ya i have 117k on my original tranny and it's still strong. upstatenya4 has 130k on his i believe. so just baby it and you won't have to change it anytime soon. and don't get worried that the clutch engages high, it's an audi thing. how did you not notice the was on during the test drive though. welcome to the forums

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01.5 2.8qm: Custom CAI, 18" Hp Lightning on 245/40/18 Kuhmo Ecsta MX, CC mod, tinted tails, 2x 12" Jensen sub with a 300 watt Bazooka Amp, Asian driver....

thank you guys for the advice. I will go to autozone today (I was going to have that done anyways). Well Im glad to hear that my tranny is probably going to be okay. People are telling me that its just a rebadged VW and will self destruct on its own. I hate hearing that kind of stuff. Honestly the car is in immaculate condition. It was driven by a business woman and used as a family vehicle for her 2 and 4 year olds. I have to baby it anyhow because gas is so damn high. I went from an f150 to this for gas mileage reasons, and it wasnt the best choice economically, but it is better than the truck for sure. I havent checked the cd changer...I thought the options they gave were single disc or CDC. I will check my trunk in a bit. One other thing, premium gas or not?



http://usera.imagecave.com/enjoi_311/A4/

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2000 2.8 A4 5 quattro 5 speed

definitely premium. To my knowledge Audi doesn't make a car that doesn't take premium. Put at least 91 in it, i put 93 in mine. I know its a little more expensive, the beater i had before my A4 was an 89 Bronco that probably would have run on just about anything lol.

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97 A4 2.8QM 12v
Debadged, clear corners and side markers

CAUTION: Quattro kicks ass when wet!

A woman's daily driver? Sell it, SELL IT NOW!!!!! J/K

How short was your test drive man, cause you missed a lot of stuff.

It will groan a little when you are sitting still but should be pretty quiet when you are moving. Its also louder at the end stops whether moving or not.Otherwise, check the power steering fluid level. If that is full and its noisy, then you may have a problem.

For the radio, pop the holder out and put it back in and hopefully it corrects itself. The changer going bad is not uncommon. Mine was replaced, but even the replacement gets that error.

Bulletproof tranny? I am rather skeptical since I have some issues with mine and read about plenty of others. There aren't a ton of posts about how to change the tranny fluid due to how smoothly the tranny shifts as it gets older. I don't consider 130k to be very high considering Hondas go to 200k plus all the time. There is a small handfull of 200k+ A4s on here and people act like they are super impressed by the reliability. If you car is doing well, then don't worry about it. If a problem shows up later, then you will deal with it, just like with any other car.

The gas thing is debated to death. 91 is recommended, but personally I got over it when regular hit $3 a gallon. On 87 with some good granny shifting, low reving, gear skipping driving, I get between 24 & 27 mpg. Leave the 93 for the modified turbo guys IMO.

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1998.5, Quattro, V6, 5Spd, Sport, STOCK

Congrats on your ride. Now with the advice... check for wheel play because shot control arms are very common on a4's and for yourcd changer problem, it'susually because you put the cd in the wrong way or it can't be read because of bad recording or dust. I did that once not realizing until the next time I went in to put a cd and saw one cd was facing the opposite direction that the others. Other than that check and make sure you don't have any fluidleaks.Take care...

Really? I'm pretty sure none of that is normal. Maybe it's what you are used to, but that doesn't justify anything.

Bulletproof tranny. Maybe youve never heard of insane people like Tom Ritt who do 300+whp clutch drops at 7k rpms?
A lot of people have synchro and clunkingissues, but typcially nothing that disables the tranny. It's interesting how many people complain about their problems before even attempting to think about things such as replacing differential fluid, routine maint.etc.

Tranny fluid doesnt have as much to do with smooth shifting as you might think.

Why would you even attempt to compare an Audi to a Honda, or anything else other than a VW? Audi engines are just as good as Honda engines in general. Both will do 200k+ miles easy if taken care of. The reason people are impressed with a 200k mile Audi is that they have not had to claim bankruptcy due to the cost to fix every thing OTHER than the engines.

Youre kidding right? Did you ever wonder what the "preventative" part of the term "preventative maintenence" means? Wow...

Using 87 forces your engine to under perform via the knock sensors while decreasing mpg. You're probably not saving any money now or in the long run. But yeah, debated to death.

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What the heck? Do you just feel like argueing with me today?



You prob misunderstand the first one. I am talking about the power steering. If you are not moving and turn the wheel, you can usually hear a low groan from the power steering pump. That is normal sir. That means the power steering pump is running! At the end stops, it is louder and when you are moving, it should be pretty quiet. That is how all cars work. The 'loudness' is proportional to how hard the pump is working.



Yes, that guy does that with anupgraded clutch of course. As you said, there are a lot of synchro and clunking issues. Doesn't that pretty much prove my point? You do realize that replacing synchros costs about as much as replacing the tranny right? Parts are nothing, but labor is just as expensive or more so. I wouldn't call anything with clunky, crappy shifting 'bulletproof'.


You can compare Audi's to any other car out there. Whats the big deal? Honda CARS make it to 200k all the time. Audi's CARS, not so often. It may not always be the engine that goes, but overall, they just don't make it there as often. The whole package is what counts when you are talking about car ownership, isn't it? Why are you arguing with me?


Hah, I did not mean 'don't do preventative maintenance'. I meant that he is worrying about having to replace the tranny even though the thing doesn't even have any problems with it. Do your preventative maintenance, but don't get rid of the car just because it might have some tranny issues or clunking in the future that aren't evenshowing up right now.


Yes debated to death, but we are revisiting it again aren't we? The knock sensor thing is correct. The saving money thing is debatable. Not spending 20 cents + more per gallon though, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

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1998.5, Quattro, V6, 5Spd, Sport, STOCK

Take it to PM if you wanna keep goin. I said what I needed to say [8D]
I think you are wrong on a wide variety of things, which is why I am interjecting.

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