Hello! New 2005 S4 Owner Checking In!
#1
12-18-2010, 01:55 AM
Hello! New 2005 S4 Owner Checking In!
Greetings everyone! I traded my high-miles 2000 A6 4.2 for an '05 S4 today and wanted to say 'hi'! I've been lurking for a few years and haven't posted much. My toy is a Miata and I moderate on one of mazda forums so I know my way around cars and automotive forums. I'll try not to offend anyone...
The A6 had 155k on it and had at least a dozen degenerative, deferred bits wrong with it. A poorly repaired driver's side door with fading paint, scrapes on at least 3 body panels that would require a respray, a buggered up front splash guard (the part under the bumper that hit parking curbs), shocks, fuel pump, oil pump, heater core, mysterious 'cold weather' coolant leak - you name it, I was going to need to fix it so I bailed. The S4 is high mileage too but many of those came from the second owner who put 75k on it in about 2 years. Unless he used it as a taxi cab, those miles had to come on the freeway. The pedals and bolsters on the Recaros look almost new and the car is very clean. It has never been modded judging by the rusty OEM exhaust and the dirt rings around the intake clamps. As you know, modded cars that are returned to stock have nice, clean 'everything', not 5 years of dirt around a part that hasn't ever been removed.
I had been doing a lot of reading about the timing chain guides/tensioners and the related concerns. This particular car (119k miles) sounds like a TDI and I expressed how concerned I was to the sales guy. "It's $5k to $7k to pull the engine and fix that", I said to him, "and we need to consider that in the price." Of course...
Reading here, I also learned that the 'TDI' sound could be a bad serp belt or related wear item. Fixing these is frequently deferred due to the amount of effort it takes to get to the damn thing. I probed the top of the engine with an automotive stethoscope and everything purred. The diesel is just from the passenger front - mostly audible through the grill. I have a belt on order from my FLAPS and will tackle it Monday. With any luck, I will find that to be the whole problem. It doesn't even rattle on a cold start (I took it overnight on a PPI).
I hate car lots and have only purchased two cars from them in my entire life. Likewise, I despise the trade-in scam. In this situation, however, I would not have been able to sell the A6 for more than $2k-$3k and I didn't have enough cash to buy from a private party. Selling the A6 could have taken months to find the right buyer. I once sold a Toyota truck with 300k on the clock but was able to look that buyer in the eye and tell him it would run fine for another 300k (I'm sure it still is). The A6 was going to get messy. In all, I got slightly over book for the A6 ($3800) and paid $13,800 for the S4. As long as the engine doesn't blow up, I'm very happy with the deal.
If I could ask, what wear items are around the serp belt that should be replaced while the front is off the car? I have an idler on order also. Anything else? Also, the passenger side carpet is wet. In the A6, this is common from the sun roof drain plugging but manifests itself behind the driver's seat. Is there a drain for the A/C around the passenger foot well or does this sun roof drain differently than the C5 cars?
Plans for the car? Keep it bone stock for the most part. My Miata weighs 1,500 pounds less and puts down the similar HP/TQ so if I need to go fast on a track (and I do as often as I can get out), I will drive it. The Miata is a great car and the consumables won't bankrupt an enthusiast as quickly as tracking an Audi. I'll be 40 next year, am divorced with two teenage daughters in the house and love cars. I'm sure I'll have a million more questions and all but a few will be answered by reading. As I learn more about the platform, I will help out others as much as I can. Thanks for listening!
-hyde
P.S. I noticed another member with some derivative of 'hyde' and I apologize. I've been using 'mr_hyde' online for well over a decade and I would be very confused if I had to be some else (although I have ghost-registered a few places as Dr. Jekyll )
The A6 had 155k on it and had at least a dozen degenerative, deferred bits wrong with it. A poorly repaired driver's side door with fading paint, scrapes on at least 3 body panels that would require a respray, a buggered up front splash guard (the part under the bumper that hit parking curbs), shocks, fuel pump, oil pump, heater core, mysterious 'cold weather' coolant leak - you name it, I was going to need to fix it so I bailed. The S4 is high mileage too but many of those came from the second owner who put 75k on it in about 2 years. Unless he used it as a taxi cab, those miles had to come on the freeway. The pedals and bolsters on the Recaros look almost new and the car is very clean. It has never been modded judging by the rusty OEM exhaust and the dirt rings around the intake clamps. As you know, modded cars that are returned to stock have nice, clean 'everything', not 5 years of dirt around a part that hasn't ever been removed.
I had been doing a lot of reading about the timing chain guides/tensioners and the related concerns. This particular car (119k miles) sounds like a TDI and I expressed how concerned I was to the sales guy. "It's $5k to $7k to pull the engine and fix that", I said to him, "and we need to consider that in the price." Of course...
Reading here, I also learned that the 'TDI' sound could be a bad serp belt or related wear item. Fixing these is frequently deferred due to the amount of effort it takes to get to the damn thing. I probed the top of the engine with an automotive stethoscope and everything purred. The diesel is just from the passenger front - mostly audible through the grill. I have a belt on order from my FLAPS and will tackle it Monday. With any luck, I will find that to be the whole problem. It doesn't even rattle on a cold start (I took it overnight on a PPI).
I hate car lots and have only purchased two cars from them in my entire life. Likewise, I despise the trade-in scam. In this situation, however, I would not have been able to sell the A6 for more than $2k-$3k and I didn't have enough cash to buy from a private party. Selling the A6 could have taken months to find the right buyer. I once sold a Toyota truck with 300k on the clock but was able to look that buyer in the eye and tell him it would run fine for another 300k (I'm sure it still is). The A6 was going to get messy. In all, I got slightly over book for the A6 ($3800) and paid $13,800 for the S4. As long as the engine doesn't blow up, I'm very happy with the deal.
If I could ask, what wear items are around the serp belt that should be replaced while the front is off the car? I have an idler on order also. Anything else? Also, the passenger side carpet is wet. In the A6, this is common from the sun roof drain plugging but manifests itself behind the driver's seat. Is there a drain for the A/C around the passenger foot well or does this sun roof drain differently than the C5 cars?
Plans for the car? Keep it bone stock for the most part. My Miata weighs 1,500 pounds less and puts down the similar HP/TQ so if I need to go fast on a track (and I do as often as I can get out), I will drive it. The Miata is a great car and the consumables won't bankrupt an enthusiast as quickly as tracking an Audi. I'll be 40 next year, am divorced with two teenage daughters in the house and love cars. I'm sure I'll have a million more questions and all but a few will be answered by reading. As I learn more about the platform, I will help out others as much as I can. Thanks for listening!
-hyde
P.S. I noticed another member with some derivative of 'hyde' and I apologize. I've been using 'mr_hyde' online for well over a decade and I would be very confused if I had to be some else (although I have ghost-registered a few places as Dr. Jekyll )
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