A couple days ago I purchased a 1999 A6 2.8 Quattro Wagon with 97,000 miles from a local used car lot. I was a bit nervous after reading many posts regarding maintenance costs of the forum. The car intself is immaculate inside and out with some issues, mostly electrical. The car is loded with all available options (just more to go wrong). The used car dealer spent prior to my purchase $1500 on new steering components so he knew the costs were high to repair. It kind of worked to my advantage regarding negotiations. He wanted $7K for the vehicle but I was able negotiate considerably further down because of my apprehension and thinking I would have about 3k of maintenance that needed to be done right away (TB, seals, water pump, etc.) He knew my figures to be spot on and he did not want to pay for these thing so he agreed to $4k as a sales price. Before I went to pick up the car I had a pre-purchase inspection done and the mechanis noted things I already knew were not working. He took it for a drive and was super impressed on how well it drove and handled which is also what sold me on the car. While he was doing the inspection I was able to locate the previous owner and talk to him on the phone and I found out that he did all the TB and WP work at 90K whoopee! I negotiated a really good deal as it turns out, maybe! Here are some things that perhaps some of the wise sages on this forum can advise me on:

1. No power to the radio- I checked the fuse box and fuse is OK next step is to get the removal tools to see if the in line fuse is toast (I hope) then get radio code to get it up and playing. Previous owner said that it worked and one of his cassettes was stuck in the deck and sure enough I saw it in there.

2. Cruise control does not work and previous owner told me as such. Any possible DIY ideas?

3. Rear wiper will move then stop then move and stop intermittently through a swipe. DIY ideas?

4. Info center fading. I have looked at the forums and see that this is common. I am going to send module to module masters for repair. Question is where is module located for removal?

5. Rear passenger windows do nor work properly. They cannot be operated by the rear passengers but can be operated by driver somewhat. The window will go down but not up unless driver continually "bumps" the switch and after several atttempts it goes up. Sometimes will go half up then back down by itself. Ideas, switch or motor if switch which one ie window lock, driver control or rear passenger control?

So far all fairly minor stuff that is not a concern but here is the one that might be.

6. There is some ticking from the engine almost like a exhaust leak sound. I took off the oil cap and there was considerable grit on the bottom of it. Mechanic said it was carbon build up. As I have read more I have seen topics on engine sludge being common. Suggested fixes? Any ideas on the ticking noise? Engine I believe is not as quiet as it should be. I have noticed no leak evidence in my driveway and the mechanic noticed nothing. I did notice once after a test drive a smoke from the engine compartment after raising the hood like some fluid trickled onto the engine somewhere and burnt off. It lasted only a few second and was gone. In the area of the smoke there seemed to be ash-like debris. Perhaps someone on the forum recognizes symptoms like this and could offer some advice of the possibilities and remedies.

I will tell you I love this car. It is absolutely stunning to look at and is in incredble condition. The previous owner was very helpful and told me all he knew. In fact he bought the car from the original owner who happened to be his best friend at 60K who he said was a maintenace fanatic with the car and he did the TB replacement before he bought it. The second owner said the WP went out at 90K so at the same time they replaced it and he had them do the TB and seals also then. He said it was over 3K of work and he told me after he did that work that the rack and pinion needed work and to make sure I checked it. He traded her in prior to doing the work because he said he had enough expense. The dealer did fix the steering before selling it to me and confirmed by the mechanic during his inspection. The car drives incredible now. Smooth and straight as can be.

Any and all help is truly appreciated.

 

1.) Make sure getting the radio code isn't going to be an issue, it can be pretty frustrating otherwise.

2.) Might be a -relatively- easy fix. Read here. And then my post here.

3.) I'm no expert on wipers but maybe the motor is bad or it's slipping, shrug.

4.) You have to send your entire instrument cluster in. That means all of the gauges, etc. The whole thing.

5.) This might be fixed or alleviated by taking apart the driver's side switch and cleaning it. The window lock might be stuck on or something similar. Additionally it sounds like you might have window guide problems (pretty common), maybe try to see if you can get them fixed.

6.) I'm also not an expert here, but to clean out your engine you should be using full synthetic and maybe do your intervals pretty early for the first couple of times to get things flushed out. Make sure to give your car a good long ride so that all the water vapor can actually get burned off proper (none of this drive to the grocery store and back once a day business). I'm not sure if you should be worried about the ticking, my fiance and I both have the same car ('99 a6 2.8) and our engines also have a reasonably loud ticking.

 

Thanks nm3210 for the reply and links I truly appreciate your help. Just an update. I pullued the radio using a fingernail file. Not easy but I got it to work. I was being very cautious not to break anything so I took it slow. I checked the wiring and all looked good. I pulled the fuse out of the back of the radio and it looked fine. But I drove down to parts store to get a new fuse and I replaced it. I was expecting if that worked I would get power then the "safe' signal and would have to go through the procedure of getting the radio code. I turned on the power and it said Bose then I had a radio station. Excellent I now have tunes. I went home and got a Diana Krall cd and put it in the changer to see if it worked. Her beautiful voice came beaming in. next I took the top cover off the radio to see if I could get the stuck cassette out. After about 15 minutes of playing around I said heck with it. I did not want to totally tear apart the radio and the cassette was some good Reggae music any ways and it plays so be it. I have no other cassettes anyways. Whoopee I now have tunes! Next project is to fix the information screen.

 

Here's some more info about the information display (by me again): https://www.audiforums.com/forum/sho...86&postcount=9

I got mine easily and happily replaced by module master and it is still looking great! Zero fade even in harsh hot/cold cycles (sometimes fluctuating from -10° to 70° F).

 

Hey pinehurst, I have the same 99 and can send you a link that will explain exactly how to fix the cruise control. If you have a soldering gun it literally takes about 1 hour. Very common problem with these cars. reply if you're interested.

 

Engine cleaning - use SeaFoam. Add half a can to your oil, drive it an hour or so, then change oil. Always use a top quality synthetic.

If the SeaFoam doesn't work, you can try diesel fuel. Drain your oil and refill with diesel fuel. Idle (do not drive!!!) the engine for 10 minutes, then drain the fuel. Repeat as needed until the fuel comes out about the same color as it went in. Change your oil filter and add fresh oil.

If the engine continues to tick, then you need to track down the source of the tick. Get a mechanic's stethescope and touch it to various places on the engine. Do you fuel injectors first as a bad injector will make a loud ticking noise. Check your heads at various places to see if it is a lifter. Sludge will somethimes block the oil restrictors in the heads and cause oil starvation to the lifters. The above clean out methods might help this, but if they are too plugged, then you have to have the heads removed...

Good luck,

Bob