Long story but please help me out!!!

I am looking to buy a 2003 AUDI A4 3.0 Quattro from a Lexus dealer on my area with mileage (54,490). I drove it today and came to an agreement with the sales person on the price. 12K out the dealer. We I first turned on the car the coolant light turned on, and there was a beeping noise that beeped 3 times. Me not knowing anything about it, I asked the sales lady if I had to wait for the car to warm up and she said no, for me to go ahead and drive off, so I did. The car handles great, has more power than I need, the breaks are ok too. When ever we got back to the dealer she told me to pull up to the service department and have them take a look at it. The technician came up to the car opened the hood and said the problem was that they had put coolant passed the MAX line. So he took some off, closed the coolant tank and turned the car back on. Same light comes up(coolant), same beeping noise and now the check engine light is on. He plugged a computer to the car and said that his software couldnt detect any codes, he was able to turn off the check engine light but coolant warning continues to come up. He then told me that Ill have to take it to the Audi dealer and have them check it out because the Audi dealer has the right program to get more information on the issue. I then asked the sales person if they could do that for me and she said they couldnt, that they can not take any of their cars to another dealer. So basically its my resposability to get that taken care of when I purchase the car. Which I think is bs because they should be able to take care of all this issues before putting a car for sale. Anyways, back at the office I grab the owners manual and looked for the coolant light warning. and according to the manual two things can be the cause of this light coming on, 1st the tank might be low on coolant! and 2nd The car might be running at high temperatures and if its the second one the beeping noise will come on! The whole time I ran the car which wasnt more than 25 mins the temperature gauge stayed normal. I am worried about this, I dont want to get the car and then find out the car has a major engine problem. The car has only had one owner. What do you guys think? can the issue be something small and easy to fix or something to actually worry about? Also is the price right?

Thanks alot! Sorry for the long story!

 

Its probably either low on coolant, or has a bad coolant level sensor. It is probably something simple to fix, but it could easily become a $500 bill at a dealer. This should definitely be something to renegotiate the price on. Otherwise, that seems like a good price.

 

Thanks alor for your reply. I dont think is low on coolant because I did see the coolant tank full over the max line and was there too when he removed the excess. Also the price I really doubt it that they will bring it lower, the car was priced at $14900, when I first walked in there. But its the end of the month so they wanted to get the car out so that it can come up on their sales for January. Point is that I doubt they will bring the price any lower.

Anybody else had this issue?

 

 

Hey pro11, I thought I'd offer my $.02. I would not purchase the car before having it inspected by an authorized audi dealer. Tell the Lexus dealer you want it inspected by Audi. If they try to tell you it can't happen (they could easily let you take the car there yourself, on a test-drive) take your business elsewhere. The car is alerting you that there is a problem. You without having it properly inspected do not know if it is the only problem the car has. The V6's are considerably more difficult than the 1.8t's to work on and the labor to do engine repairs clearly reflects that.

I'd check into a 1.8t. They easily produce more power are quicker and faster than the V6 when chipped, get much better fuel economy (1.8t= 30-35mpg hwy, 3.0v6 = 22-25mpg hwy) and are less expensive to repair. You'd notice most of the posts on this forum deal with the 1.8t. Thats because they are easily modded to outperform the v6(which has very little potential from stock), easier to work on and cost less to repair. For a quick reference contact an audi service department and ask them to quote you a timing belt replacement on both cars and compare for yourself the price difference(at 54,000 the t-belt has not yet been changed on the car but you should have it done around 70k-80k).

I think if you research and compare the 1.8t to the 3.0 v6 you'll soon understand what i'm trying to impress upon you.

 

probly ect sensor. the only thing thats bothering me is what the tech told you when he scanned the car. any obd2 scan tool would be able to get the code. he might have seen something bad and not wanted to admit it.

either way, i'd try and find a 1.8t anyways

 

Thanks for your reply krystallbluea4, heres the thing with me Im not looking for performance, Im interested in fuel economy and knew that the 1.8 does have better mpg. What frustrates me is that I can be missing out on what I do believe its a deal just because I dont know much about the issue with the coolant light. I did not like that they didnt want to let me that the car to the AUDI dealer, The way I see it now is more like if the dealer is not able to fix the problem and is not willing to let me take the car to a specialist with all the right tools to at least tell me what the issue is, is because something is wrong and they are hiding something. I think I will have to wait on this.

All the audis here in the area are above the 14s or 15k...

 

well personal suggestion get then to let you take it to the Audi dealer for check up or ne other mechanic that specialzes in german cars. if not then just walk away. if you do decide to buy the car either way get them to drop the price, they will.
last year i bought an 2002 acura with 15K miles on it for 14K they had it listed at 19,900
so they are plenty flexible on the price specially on used cars

 

Just offered the suggestion if you were to next drive a 1.8t and possibly find the performance lacking. I'm no streetracer, but I do like a responsive car and the 1.8t with a simple<$500 ECM flash is enough for many owners.

Also I beleive a great deal is a relative term when it comes to these cars, the grand or two you save on the car due to a few glitches can easily turn into a grand or two at the shop.

 

Getting a chip in the 1.8t would it affect the engine? do you have to change anyting or is it basically plug in and play type of thing?