Greetings.

I will be searching the archives to read up on valve noises but I wanted to throw some questions out there.

I found a MY2002 with about 125kmi at a small audio/tint shop. Definitely not the choicest place to buy this kind of car but the asking price is only $1,200

Car is actually in good shape cosmetic wise, drives and everything seems to work BUT it has a severe valve train noise. Seller alleges that the noise goes down but never totally out when engine is warm.

If I buy this car I'll be doing the repairs myself. I've done some work before and I can follow instructions pretty well though I suspect that I might need some specific Audi tools.

So is this car worth $1k?

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

PS: One more question, in the trunk is an electronic system that says Audi Navigation but I do not see any Nav screen in the dash.

 

The NAV screen is the center display where your radio station, MPG and other stuff is located. switching to the nav system is done with the little **** on the console. Interfact to NAV is only slightly better than chisel and stone for entering street address, etc. On top of that the street data is seriously old. They've built/changed a lot of roads since 2002. Getting an updated data is not cheap. Solution: buy a smart phone where the interface let's you "talk" the addres.

Regarding the "valve" noise. I'm betting you hear it on cold start up and mostly goes away afer 10-20 seconds running. Right? When it has set overnight, it is the worst. It is not the valves. It is the cam chain tensioner. Do some research on this including search of Youtube. There is some really good information out there. Replacing the cam chain tensioner is a pretty big job and expensive.

 

Also, if the current owner can't provide you will documented repair history, assume that several things have not been done. (regardless what he says).

The most important is the complete timing belt service, which should includ water pump, tensioner, idlers. this is a good time to replace the cam seals and valve cover gaskets as these end up leaking a about the same 75-50K service interval also. Of note, during this service is a good time to replace cam chain tensioner cause it's all apart.

 

Thank you for your detailed response.

This car is an auction car and sitting at a reseller who has absolutely no history on the car.

If I do most of the work do you think I can do all the repairs for another $1k?

I'll continue to read up as you suggested.

Thanks.

 

I just did my 2006 A8L 4.2 75k maintenance at 68k. Dealer price was 2.6k. My shop did it for 1.8k. Not inexpensive but a very labor intensive job.

This IS A MUST DO SERVICE !

 

Here is a video that doesn't even get into the step by step. I think there is another video that shows more detail. search 2000 Audi a8 cam chain tensioner replace on youtube.

When I did (had done) mine, it was clattering on the passenger side bank. The tensioner itself I bought from a guy on another audi forum who had ordered if from Germany. He made a mistake and got the wrong side and sold it to me for the same $250 he paid. Note, he had a German buy and ship it to him. Apparently, it is "verbotten" for a supplier to sell it to you without excise tax, etc. If you price it at an Audi dealer, I seem to remember it being north of $500.

So, you unless the have a German friend, you're looking at $500 (for one side) and then the fun begins as you can see in this video.

i have done timing belts, head work and other deep stuff on a V6, but wasn't about to tackle this job. A shop installed my part and the labor was about $1500.

Good luck