Hi all,

My name is Andy.

Just got our 1996 Audi A4 2.6 last Thursday.

This is the car we finally agreed to get. (from list of other cars - C180(W020), Alfa 156, VW Passat/Bora, BMW 318/320/323) Christine (my future wife) wants the style and I am with the ride and handling. After a long discuss we agree to get a A4. And we spot this one with a bargain price (we are in Australia - car price are generally higher) so paid the $$ and picked it up last Thursday.

Love the handling of the car. The engine is not powerful or high tech but it was enough for us when we test drove it.

Got a couple of problem after a week of driving: immobiliser plays up - need to wait a sec before we can start up the car properly. The remote don't always unlock the doors and the fuel consumption/accerlation was poor. Put it back to the dealer this morning and hoping they can fix the problem.

But I am sure once everything is fix it will be a solid, quality car to drive, with pleasure Quite looking forward to drive it again tonite after work. In fact every nite I try to drag Christine out for a quick ride with windows down

Too bad the one we got don't comes with a sunroof. But Audi marketed as luxury car in Australia and very hard to find in 2nd hand market. Plus this one we got with very low mileage so we just can't complaint too much.

Just wonder if anyone can tell me what are the common problem I can find on my 2.6 A4? Thanks in advance

 

Hey, I'm Andy also, and I just bought a 2.8 A4 a week and a half ago. Not sure how many miles you're at, but I can share the maintenance I've had done already (all of it necessary). I'm just past 90k.

- New timing belt (every 60k miles)!
- Tensior belt, idler pulley
- Water pump (90k, I think, but good to replace with timing belt)
- Steering parts (lower control arms, sway bar links, and tie rod ends for me)

Also, watch out for the a/c evaporator. I hear those can be problematic.

 

2.6 is no low tech motor, remote put new batteries in, no sun roof is a saving on a bald head like mine lol and aircon makes up for it

 

HI audi82. Thanks for the info.

We actually use Kilometers instead of mile here. Our car clocked 95,000 something KM. Service need to carry out every 15,000KM. I think they got the timing belt done last time. So that should be ok.

Not sure about the rest of the stuff as the service book is pretty simple and the previous owner didn't leave the service invoice for us to go thru. [:'(]

I got the car thru 2nd hand car yard. Not sure what happen in US/Canada, but in Australia we can buy extra warranty (not factory one, and it works like insurance) and I got 2 yrs warranty with this thing.

Put the A4 to the workshop of the car yard and.... well, the mechanic found out the problems on engine start and fuel consumption...

The Alternator is not working hard enough and the battery is under charge. So the immobilise thinks the car is being stolen and just resist to start sometime.

The performance/fuel consumption thing is the faulty O2 sensor which need to be replaced.

Does it make sense to you experts? (I am a little unsure about the alternator... because I thought alternator only works when the engine is running, right?)

 

A faulty o2 sensor will cause poor fuel consumption and crappy performance. A pretty simple fix.

The alternator only charges when the engine is running, yea. But a failing alternator will not fully charge the battery and could easily cause a no start problem.

 

Woohoo... Alternator fixed (they rebuild the original unit instead) and now I am going to picking it up!

I know I will be a very happy man tonite