Considering 98? A4 Avante

[thejimrose]

it's a bit of a conundrum. the older [97/98] 1.8t's are a much stouter
motor. the later cars had some nice upgrades, better turbo, and an egt and
wideband 02 stock. as well as the ability to hack the ecu via lemmiwinks
[revo].

in addition to what mark lists, the VERY common a4 failure points are the
electro-hydraulic abs controller and the airbag system. if there is a dash
light on for either one, then there is an expensive repair pending. if there
isn't a dash light, either/or has already broken and been fixed, the dash
light has been disabled, or they're fine and WILL break on the drive home.
;-) flaws like this can't hide from vagcom however, and having it checked by
an audi specialist is great advice and $ well spent. either can be fixed
fairly easilly and cheaply by a DIY. info is all over audiworld and
audizine.

personally i would be leary of a car with that little mileage. try to buy
something from an audi fanatic, with lots of dcumented service, all recalls
done, etc etc etc.

GL
jim


>
> Others will add to the list.  The break point for the newer dash is
> mid-year
> 1999.  So they're often referred to as "1999.5 cars."  You didn't mention
> if
> it were Quattro (AWD) or not.
>
> On any multi-link suspension Audi, check the suspension.  The various
> links
> can add up to quite a bit of money.
> The 1.8T engines had a lot of sludge problems due to small oil line to the
> turbo and owners who followed Audi's recommended maintenance of
> conventional
> engine oil being changed every 10,000 miles.  Audi later updated the
> specifications to synthetic oil only, but the damage was done.  Every
> 1.8Towner I know changes their oil at least every 5000 miles with
> synthetic.
> Sometimes you can see sludge evidence by looking down the oil filler cap.
>
> Any used car should be checked out and have a full factory scan tool
> assessment completed.   This can yield insight into sporadic issues.  Have
> some knowledge interpreting the results will help.  By "factory" I also
> mean
> "equivalent," such as the VAG-COM from: www.ross-tech.com
>
> Otherwise, it's just like any other used car purchase.  Inspect, don't
> expect.  Also, join the Audi Club!  Being in Maine (from your e-mail
> address), your local chapter is:  http://www.naaclub.org/
>
>