Hello,

new to forum and also new to audi.
I'm really getting close to buy 99 A6 2.8
price is not bad and has 90k miles on it. exterior and interior looks mint all option.

I'm pretty much using this one as my daily driver and not much speeding. more of just enjoy the comfortable ride..... short and long trip on and off on weekend.

what should I look for mechanically when I test drive?
what are the common issues, etc.

if you all can give me insight I"ll be appriciated.

 

Make sure it has a new timing belt, belt tensioner, water pump installed. If it hasent been done already you will need to have it done. It's not cheap, you will spend at least $600 to have it done. Look for burning oil around the valve covers... you will smell it if you cant see it. Have a shop check out the tie rods and all suspension pieces, they will need to be replaced eventually. Other than that, my 1998 A6 rides great after 178,000 miles and I havent had to do any major engine work to it. Use synthetic oil, use Mann filters and you wont have to do oil changes for atleast 5000 miles. Good Luck.

 

Houndz408, thanks for that info. yeah timing belt and belt tensioner water pump was thought needed. I did little search on this forum. burning oil thing definately in list of things to check..
I normally do work on all my cars and trucks so at least don't have to pay labor but since I havne't touched audi before, did ride lot of bmw and nissan, and now chevy, time to learning something new.. and I'mn building show truck and needing second car that is reliable.

I checked the parts and timing belt, belt tensioner, and water pump all togather is around 200 in parts. maybe half day to do the all the jobs?

 

so new question though.

for the belt tensioner is that design issue that causing to break? and timing belt,

this is what I'm looking at mileage etc this was was good around dealerships so far.
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...9000&cardist=3

if I go check and like it I might just buy it on weekend.......

 

Not sure if it's the same on the A6, but my 2.8 99 A4Q had a small leak around the timing cover, the CV boots got torn around 100k and the rear diff seals were leaking. The guy who bought my car took it to a mechanic and paid $75 for a thorough walk thru which picked up some things I wasn't aware of either, like a failing fuel pump. It's worth the protection I think...they also ran codes on the car. Good luck.

 

thanks, I'm mkaing the check list on those right now so I'll add them on as well.
and make sure I take my notebook and code reader to check everything.

 

If you are going to do the timing belt make sure you have access to a cam position lock tool. I hear it's impossible to do the job without it. As someone who works on BMW's Im sure you know how frustrating it can be to work without the right tools for the job. There are some members on tis forum that may have a tool that you could borrow without having to buy one. Good Luck.
BTW,the car looks like it's in good shape.

 

yeah good to have good friend who owns a shop. I take all my rides there when I need to lift car up and work or need tools....
since I'm building the show truck right now this one will be daily driver so I have to make sure that this one will be reliable.
and maybe do some small exterior upgrade like body kit maybe.....

bmw was good too and yes, it was a hard to do anything when you dont have the proper tools...

I have build thread for my truck well SUV. lot of work being done this year.
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2140931

 

I found another one near by.
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...000&cardist=10
it's 2000
that doesn't have the issue with timing belt and tensioner ? or even though still would service timing belt?

 

since I got off work early, I stopped by and took a look at the car at dealer.
I didn't see any oil eak etc. engine sounding pretty good.
only thing noticed was that click click sounds for a while at cold.
maybe valve?

I also took a look at 1.8T they had, but saw oil leak and waterpump had small crack, so I said forget that one.

and where is teh OBDII connectors located on these A6?
so I can check and make sure they didn't pull the light bulb off CEL.