I would go with the running 1.8T you mentioned. Sounds like it'd be a much better option.

 

You might be right. The 2.8 is advertised at 2500 or best offer. Started looking at all audi's within 200 miles and found a couple running 1.8T Quats. around 130k that I could probably get for 3k cash. One is advertised as needing a timing belt, which I don't mind changing as long as I can hear the car running first to know what I have to start.

 

Yes ................. er wait .............. no. take your pick. If you think you can make it worth your while for what it would take to repair then go for it. We can only decide if it would be worth it for us.

 

Just going to play it by ear this week and see what kind of price I could get on the V6. As much as it feels 'easy' to buy a running 1.8 with 130k, both of them need a timing belt change. They are running/driving, but have never had a timing belt change. If the 2.8 starts/runs and doesn't have any heavy metal sounds, changing cats and messing with the timing doesn't seem like much more work.

In the end, if I can have under 3k into a 2.8 quattro with under 100k, damn hard to pass that up.

 

If it ran fine for 10 months after the timing belt was changed, i would have to assume thats not the problem. You said it started throwing codes, do you know what they are? Sounds to me like you have a pretty good base for a fun car

 

Codes thrown were misfires and emissions, which led to the new coil packs/wires and o2 sensors. I'm not an Audi/emissions expert, but wondering if it's just a case of cats going bad? He describes the Cats as having overheated and the car shut down.

The guy is taking it to an Audi 'guy', but who knows what that means. Hoping to go look at it on Saturday.

 

I can almost guarantee the shop that did the timing belt didn't have the correct tool to hold the cam sprockets from both heads. I've seen it quite a few times. It leans or richens the air/fuel mixture our literally cooking the exhaust systems and destroying plugs,cats and sensors. I do not think it would hurt the coil packs though. If you could pick the car up for $2200 I would say grab it. Do you have emissions inspections in your town? If not I would say go straight pipe, just delete or add test pipes.

 

No emissions here. Very good tip. That's something I was hoping to hear. So I basically need to redo the timing belt and check alignment? (assuming this is what happened)

 

Thats what I would do, I believe at this point your going to want to take the valve covers off both heads though when checking timing, who knows what this shop did. But if the timing is off, it sure as hell would through those codes and create the damage it has. Good luck

 

Ok. Will make a call to set up a time to look at it Friday, and if I like what I see I'll pick it up Sunday. Any tips on what to look at on that first trip to confirm anything?

Issue I have with this is he's taken it to an 'Audi' guy to work on, he's not mechanical at all, so when he's using terms about what's wrong he really doesn't know what he's talking about, just regurgitating others words.