Hello all, Obviously Im new here and have some questions about a car Im looking to purchase. Its a 99 with 130k miles. 5sp all time awd. The good is that is has a gt3071r, 4"maf, godspeed fmic, apr turboback, atp hiflow manifold, and d2 coilovers sitting on 18" rims. Now the bad, aparently the cam chain tensioner was replaced and now there is a small noise coming from the back of the head. They had the car looked at by a mechanic and the mechanic said it was nothing major, maybe a lifter or the tensioner isnt seated right or something. I will be picking it up for about $5500. Now I dont know the first thing about these cars and want to make sure Im not gettin in over my head. Im pretty well mechanically inclined so pulling the head to fix this problem wouldnt be a big deal for me, I just want to make sure Im getting a fair deal and what to expect with the car.

 

with all those mods and considering the car runs i would say its not too bad of a deal. what does concern me is that, although you say you are mechanically inclined, it is never really a good idea to buy a modded car, especially one thats modded as much as that one. you have no idea how the previous owner treated it. lets say you did buy it though you could easily get your money back by parting it. that noise could be an issue so i would definately fix it before you drive it extensively. and fyi, there is no lifters in a ohc engine

 

Yeah I have a Kid on the way so a 4dr car thats fast would be great. Its been modded for 3k miles is what I was told but you know how that goes plus Im sure I am going to put it thru as much abuse if not more then the previous owner has lol. The car is eurodyne tuned on 20psi so Im sure it was beat on but what car hasnt been beat on. I was going to trailer the car home and didnt plan on driving it til the noise was fixed. Ive wanted and s4 for sometime now but I have 3 other vehicles and I would have to sell one to afford the s4 which Im not ready to do. Yeah Im a honda guy and never heard of lifters on an ohc engine but then again Ive never had any experience with an audi

 

Anyone have ideas on what the sound could be or what to look for when I go to check the car out?

 

When are you planning on checking the car out?

 

Mid next week or the weekend.

 

the noise, more than likely, is in fact the valve lifters. Now, I don't claim to be anywhere near a mechanic nor do I claim to know hardly anything about cars or how engines work extensively.

However, I just started hearing a ticking from the top of my engine as well in the last couple of days, and after talks with 4 different import mechanics around town, including an audi dealer service manager, they have all come to the conclusion that it's the lifters.

In addition to that, everyone said that if the lifters are stuck or bad, it's almost guaranteed there's damage to the respective camshaft. Audi told me worst scenario is a 5500$ fix, best case 2500$. I'm waiting to hear other quotes from the other mechanics before I make a decision on what to do.

The only difference between my car and yours is I have a 2002 A4, and it's the 3.0L V6. Anyways, if you're hearing a ticking coming from the engine, I'd put my money on it being the lifters, and it is apparently a VERY costly fix.

 

^ That's assuming anything is wrong. I have a 2.8 with 120,xxx and I got the car last late last July w/ 96,500 miles. I have lifter tick and my engine still runs like a swiss watch.

 

I was looking at buying the same car, the noise is a lot louder than your standard valve tick... a lot. I was all set to buy it but someone else got to it before me. *grumbles*

 

wow thats an expensive fix for the lifters.. when my engine blew up i didnt even look into how much a rebuild would cost because i knew it would be rediculous. so the route i went has worked out really well for me. i searched craigslist for a wrecked audi with the same engine code as mine that didnt have any damage to the engine. my car had 122,xxx miles on it when it broke (crappy spark plug broke off into one of the cylinders and went in and out of the valves) i found a guy with a 98 A4 1.8TQ with 96,000 miles on it. bought the complete engine for $675 and swapped it at my house myself in around 3 days while working around school. ive never owned an audi before let alone swapped an engine before. anyway the car runs great the swap wasnt that difficult and it didnt cost a lot at all. if there was any little broken parts i had my old motor to use for spares.