As the subject says, I'm new to the forum and looking for some advice on a potential purchase I might make on a 2002 A4. A small local lot / body shop near me has an 02 A4 1.8t quattro on their lot for $4500, has ~98k miles on it, and the engine "needs new valves."

Battery was dead when I saw the car, but they claim (in somewhat broken English, place is run by 2 guys right off the boat from Germany, yaaah) that the engine "spins over very free, no compression." They also claim you can "hear the piston hitting something."

So I'm guessing the timing belt broke, bent up the valves, hence the zero compression. How bad does the 1.8t get damaged by a broken belt? Are 1.8t heads normally repairable? I actually have a good friend with an engine machine shop, so I can have the work done for basically parts and a case of beer. I guess that depends on if the 20v head doesn't require any special tricks or tools.

I am fully aware of the 1.8t sludging issue on b6's (my wife's uncle was an Audi mechanic, told me about it when a friend of mine was shopping for a b6 avant), so perhaps that's in the mix too.

Aside from the dead engine, a scrape on the front fender, and a busted rear bumper, the car is actually in really good shape, inside and out. Just wondering if I should even bother with this project, or just keep searching for what we were originally looking for, a 99-01 A4 Avant 1.8t quattro for ~$5k.

Well, thanks for any tips.

James
Chicago

(a couple pics of the car in question)

 

With that mileage, sounds like lack of maintaince. My guess while giving it gas, TB snapped and bent some internals. Maybe lost control and got the damage. I would say low ball it and if the price is right, get the B6. Good project car, and time to upgrade to USP bumpers. Is it stickshift?

 

My mechanic told me that on these interference motors when the belt breaks and the valves go it also blows the rings which tear up the cylinder walls, effectively trashing the whole motor.

Could def be a good deal though, especially with an uncle that was an audi mechanic.

 

Car is an auto, and sadly, that's what I'm shopping for. Wife refuses to learn stick, so if we get a "nice" car, it needs to be auto. What-ever.

I'll have to ask the Audi uncle what he thinks, surely he saw his share of idiots that let their timing belts go. He'd likely know if that requires a new engine or if a rebuild head and new belt would do the trick. But of course, nothing is certain until the head comes off and you can see what sort of damage has been done. I was just glad to hear that it does at least turn over.

USP bumpers? Obviously I have yet to learn the lingo and know what are the hot items to get on a b6.

Thanks for the info, guys.

James

 

USP stands for ultra sport. IMO(in my opinion) USP front bumper with S4 rear bumper is the best combo out there.

GL

 

Cool, thanks for the info. A friend of mine with a body shop in the family looked up a stock rear bumper price... ~$450. Ouch. I doubt the USP is any cheaper, unless there's some kinda group buy or special deal somewhere...

This car as-is is already near the top of my whole car budget, so cosmetic items are pretty low on the list. Rear bumper is a must though, the wife wouldn't allow that to stay like that for long. Pretty much just get it fixed as cheap as possible, as fast as possible.

 

Well if this car is near the top of your whole budget already you may want to steer clear of audis all together. They like to break and drain wallets.

 

Well, just near the top of what I have on hand at the moment. I can handle the occasional fixes down the road, plus I do everything myself.

I do have the warning of my one good friend, who is on his 2nd Audi. "I would never own one if it weren't under warranty." He tried enjoying his 2000 A4 for a while after it was paid off, but when it needed repair after repair, he got a 2004 S4, still under warranty. That one needed a $10k transmission job at around 40k miles. Good times.