A friend needs some advice regarding A4's

[Stephen Kormilo]

At 02:58 PM 04/10/01 -0400, you wrote:
>From: Ti Kan <ti at amb.org>
>Subject: Re: A friend needs some advice regarding A4's
>To: Tim.Penasack at storagenetworks.com (Penasack, Tim)
>Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2001 09:30:09 -0700 (PDT)
>Cc: quattro at audifans.com ("Quattro (E-mail)")
>
>Penasack, Tim writes:
> > A friend of mine is considering purchasing either a 98,99 or 2000 A4 Avant.
> > He is looking for reliability issues that he should look for and advantages
> > of one year over another (# miles and remaining warranty are obvious
> > questions). Correct me if I'm wrong but these only came with the 2.8
> > correct?
>
>A4s also came with the 1.8T engine as of the 1997 model year in addition
>to the 2.8.  Get the latest car that he could afford.  The only major issue
>with some A4s (actually the entire Audi line with the 4-link front suspension)
>is the front control arms.  There are also sundry problems some people
>experience with various hoses and the diverter valve failing on the 1.8Ts.
>But overall the A4s are good, reliable cars.

Well..... Besides the noisy control arm issue, there are a few other 
problems that appear to be 'common' enough to warrant listing here:

Fading Trip Computer Display (appears to require replacement of the entire 
instrument cluster).

Oil consumption. Some engines consume virtually no oil, others, such as 
mine, consume in the range of 1 litre every 3200 km or so, which I think is 
a little much for a modern engine with only 40,000 km.

Some have reported premature wheel bearing failure.

The Bottom door mouldings are  prone to separating from the door and the 
steel inserts prone to rusting and potentially spreading the 'cancer ' to 
the door bottoms themselves.

The heating element in the outside mirrors (cold weather package) usually 
burns out.

My A4 has experienced all of the above, except for the wheel bearings.

I am gathering data from A4 Listers to try to determine how 'common' these 
problems are, but haven't organised the data yet.


Stephen Kormilo                            Silver '98.5 Audi A4 2.8QM
Instructor, Electronics Technology
Red River College
Winnipeg, MB
CANADA

email: skormilo at rrc.mb.ca
OR:    stephen at kormilo.ca