Hi everyone, im an experienced home mechanic and im going to look at this tomorrow as a runabout:



I was wondering if anyone could point me towards common problems with this bodyshell, things to look for etc.

Would there be call for the alloys, as theyre not my cup of tea and i would be looking to replace them.. Just worried at how hard/easy it would be to punt them on.

Thanks in advance for any replies.
Paul.

 

Those are some awful looking wheels. Anyway, there are threads on here about common problems. I will say this: I wish I had never bought mine. But that's more because the douchebag that sold it to me messed up tons of stuff and lied about it and I didn't find out until it was too late.

Quattro is untouchable. Does the one you're looking at have it? Do not buy an Audi without it as there is no other reason to buy an Audi. Quattro is amazing. Though the TT and the < A4 cars have Haldex AWD (still called Quattro on those cars but it's not the same as our Quattro) which sucks.

 

check if the coolant is somewhat clean or really dirty, and make sure its pinkish with NO GREEN TINT. green coolant is a no go on these cars. and if the coolant looks like a milk shake, then its your decission if its worth your trouble.

and check the timing belt!!!. these are interference motors so if you buy it and in 50 miles your timing belt breaks you will be rebuilding the head putting new valves in it.

and on and on, just look at the stickies they will give you lots of good info.

 

things that you want
quattro AWD
5 speed
1.8t engine
bose speakers
digital display in dash
sports package)car will be lower than normal with a 3 spoke steering wheel

Ok so things to look out for
-bad tie rods
-timing belt has to be done every 60k (ask if its been done)
-turbo look for oil or ply inside of turbo or smoking out of exhaust
-the year of the car everyone prefernce is 99.5-01
-look for bad bearing in the wheels you will hear it while driving the car
-important steering alignment if its not straight than it might of been wrecked
-make sure gears shift smoothly in the 5speed
-if its a auto make sure triptronic works with the pedal shifters
-Heater make sure it works and ac also

this is just a list at the top of my head

 

Oh, and if the car has 90k, rebuild the turbo. If it has much more than that then it's probably already trashed.

Note, also, for these engines you want to use Mobil 1 5w40. Do NOT use 5w20, 5w30 or whatever other junky oil you're probably used to using.

 

theres people with the orginal turbo on here going 150k plus

 

I don't believe that, unless they just don't realize that their turbos are junk.

 

i have 134,xxx on my turbo and it is junk i have a new ko3 for it but i just have to find the time to swap em.

 

i have 132k on mine and no issue's

 

well the previous owner (im the second owner so i know it was him) drove the **** out of my car when he had it, cause when i rebuilt the head the cams and lifters had TERRIBLE wear from obvious high rpm driving.

and the junkie turbo i now have