Guys, sorry to post a thread like this, and will continue to search through the sticky's and threads for more info, but hoping someone has some expierience with something like this and can give me some tips on buy/run.

It's a 99.5 A4 Sport 2.8/5spd quatro. Under 100k. Appears to have a decent body/interior/drivetrain.

Background is this, year ago timing belt was changed. Ran fine until about 2 months ago when it started throwing codes. Coil packs/wires/02 sensors were all changed, and as things were being changed it started running worse each time. Seemed to be more of an issue at the 'bottom end' as the car ran decent at highway speeds.

Couple weeks back, 'cats overheated' and car shut down. So he's selling it as trashed cats and cat. sensors, not really sure what's wrong.

My first inkling is it could be an interesting project for the right price, but also wonder how hard it would be to troubleshoot the issues? Had a 96 A4 FWD a couple years back and thought it was fun, changed the power steering rack (NEVER want to do that again), so I'm not against wrenching. Wasn't crazy about the 96 because of the lock system, some other issues, but just figured out via sticky's that it's a 99.5 which seems to be a decent year for this gen.

Gut feeling, what do you think? Also, any questions you would suggest I ask the seller?

 

well how much does he want for the car?

 

Price can be negotiated, but at this point, I can pay asking, pay for a trailer rental, and have under 3k into it.

Talked to him and seems like it's needs new cats right of the bat. Had the timing changed last year and it kicked up a trouble code right away, audi tech told him that was normal to give it a couple days to reset itself, and it did go off.

Said that when it started acting up, it would hesitate/stutter when driving. To me it sounds like new cats and probably take another look at the timing on it, but wonder if driving it that long would mess anything else up.

 

well if they replaced the belt and all that **** and didnt line up the timing marks properly then u might be looking at a lot more touble than a cat.. ive seen them a couple teeth off before and the car run but rugged... lots of crap could happen if thats the case

 

That's why I thought I'd ask. Hoping for some incite because my gut feeling is it was off enough to screw with emissions, but if it would have done some engine damage he wouldn't have had been able to run it for so long.

To me, seems like something isn't right with the car timing. When he talked about changing coil packs, said it would run better initially, but then start to get worse.

It's different, still not sure if I want to tackle it and have 3 grand into a yard ornament. If it looks like it could turn into 5k and a lot of swearing to quickly, I'll just buy something that is in better shape. Hard to pass up a quattro up here with under 100k though.

 

If the other stuff in the car is fine (tie rods, control arms, CV joints - check the boots) then it's probably worth it if you can put a little time into it. You can drill a hole in front of the cat to let it run a little bit better as a temporary solution if the cat's not fully clogged. Of course, it'll be louder. Take it to a custom exhaust shop when you can for the installation of a Magnaflow or Random Tech or whatever brand universal cat.

 

It seems as though he's changed all the suspension compoenents outside of the front struts, which he thought would need to be changed. Not overly concerned about that since he's changed the rest already.

If it's a matter of cats/sensors and tweaking the timing I will probably go for it. Just wish I could find an instance of someone else on here who's had a similar issue to know the full extent. Found an 01 Quattro 1.8 for 3500 with 131k on it that I can drive home, so want to make sure I don't end up putting a boat load into it since the difference in mileage isn't a big deal to me. I drive less then 3k a year .

 

Also check what kind of spark plugs it has and what the gap is. He might have put some crap brand or gapped them wrong or something.

But, still, it's likely timing-related. But it could be many things. If you can get the car for cheap, it's probably worth it if you don't need to drive it ASAP.

 

3k a year? Do you commute via helicopter?! I'm curious why that number is so low.

 

lol. I have a work vehicle that I drive all week, sits in the driveway on the weekend. If I have errands to run, I usually do it on the way home from work, so really only drive on the weekends. We are literally 5 minutes from anything we need.

Even if I take the work vehicle back to the office, and drive in to get it every week, it's 8 miles round trip, and the personal vehicle would sit there m-f.

Sold my lower mileage 4x4 truck because I thought it was stupid to pay higher insurance/payments on something to sit there. Thinking if I could have a fun car to drive for under 4k by the time it was all said and done, why not?

Looked at an Eagle Talon TSI AWD, but think the Audi would be more fun. If I don't find anything I don't care, since I really don't need a personal vehicle.