Thanks for the CVT explanation. Are they notorious for failure? The lady I purchased the car from claimed she never replaced the trans.

 

yeah from what i hear theyre pretty much destined for the bone yard.im not sure what the design flaw was in them but thats amazing if its the original tranny. best of luck to you with it

 

There was a guy that was asking for advice with his transmission, had the car since new, an 02, and now with 225K on the clock, needed a TCM, never changed anything else other than oil on the car.

 

I have taken some better pictures of the car, check them out.

 

looks pretty good. I say is a really good deal for 1200 bucks. Even if the tranny or engine don't work. You can part it out and get as much maybe a bit more.

 

Older model CVT's have major design flaws, and there is 6 related TSB's covering all sorts of repairs. Its like a jet ski, there are no gears, audi just programs in "burps" from the engine to feel like gears.
The list of possible failures includes:
TCM replacement (internal of the trans on the CVT)
Changes from a 6 plate clutch pack to a 7 plate pack.
Reversing the transmission's input shaft
Transmission replacement
Harness replacement
Fluid replacement if no metal particles are in the fluid.

Pray you're as lucky as the previous owner.......
I wouldn't have bought that car for $100 personally.

 

After doing a compression check and driving the car for the past few days, I come to find out that there is nothing wrong with the car. The dealer was trying to make $6000 dollars off this lady.

 

I bet you that $6,000 quote was for the trans not the engine, old lady's don't have the sharpest ears. A standard quote for replacing a 1.8T engine is usually over $10,000, $6,000 sounds spot on for a CVT replacement, it will make the engine buck, or seem like the RPM's bounce, look out for that. Its all covered in the TSB's.

 

Well at this point, I am happy. I have been driving it for 3 days, and dont notice any problems. Either way, I got a Steal of a Deal!

 

i talk crap about the cvt but for 1200 it really is worth it. good find!