2004 S4 Avant

[Kent McLean]

Jeff Mruss wrote:
 > I'm looking into buying a used S4 Avant.  There are two for sale in Toronto,
 > so I'm looking into flying there from Winnipeg and then driving one back.
 > One is a 2004 with 160,000 km, asking $19K and another is a 2005 with
 > 104,000, asking $23K.

I'd be more concerned with maintenance receipts. Google says the timing chain 
tensioner should be replaced every 75K miles. [1] The timing chain itself is
a "lifetime" item, but googling also finds that if oil changes were neglected
and the car was beat on, then 100K is a lifetime. Replacing the chain is an
expensive, engine-out job. I don't know about the tensioner.

[1] I originally was thinking timing belt, but the V8 doesn't have one.
That's the good news. The bad news is the timing chain is at the rear
of the engine, which is why it has to come out for a timing chain repair.
Ka-Ching!!! $$$

-- 
Kent McLean
1999 A4 Avant, V6 Tiptronic
1990 200 Avant mit V8 conversion
gone: too many to count, including my first, "Bad Puppy"