Audi A3 1.6 SE, what to check for?

[DelBoyUK]

I have just agreed to buy a late 2000 X Audi A3 1.6 (facelift model) with 60k on the clock. (Yes there are faster ones, but I have insurance to consider /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif )

What should I look out for as a final check before I hand over the cash?

Main things such as, are there 2 chassis numbers on the car (ive seen the one under the bonnet), but where is the one of the floorpan in an A3?).

Also I know about spotting accident damage/paint work and im bringing someone along who knows their engines /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Also where is the engine number stamped?

The dash shouldnt show any warning lights.

Anything else?

Also does anyone have a copy of the A3 manual, to show what all the lights mean and which should extinguish e.t.c

One last question the 1.6 was revised in late 2000 and gained an extra 2bhp, is that really noticable over the older model?

 

[rickparmar]

how much u payin 4 it ?

 

[DelBoyUK]

£6.2k /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Which I think is a good price in Ming Blue

 

[Naresh]

Which lights do you need the manual for? I have the 1.6i Sport but not for long, and its done 64,000 miles which is below average for a P-plate! None of the warning lights stay on when the car is running and I've not had any problems with it to date. The brakes/pads were changed at 50,000 miles so check if thats been done, the engine should be mint as Audi engines are pretty much bomb proof. Other than that I'm not sure what else to look out for! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[Khufu]

I guess that all the 'toys' work. No squeaks off of the suspension on bumpy roads. SE - check aircon is all working and blowing cold air.

 

[DelBoyUK]

[ QUOTE ]
Naresh said:
Which lights do you need the manual for? I have the 1.6i Sport but not for long, and its done 64,000 miles which is below average for a P-plate! None of the warning lights stay on when the car is running and I've not had any problems with it to date. The brakes/pads were changed at 50,000 miles so check if thats been done, the engine should be mint as Audi engines are pretty much bomb proof. Other than that I'm not sure what else to look out for! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Just all the ones on the dash, though none show up, so I guess its fine /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif (im just impatient and wanted a quick copy of the pages before I go down there again) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[DelBoyUK]

Just found this post by HTC, very useful (obviously meant for the turbo, but still a lot applies)

* Bodywork should be spotless. They are guarenteed for 10 years so any corrosion is bad.
* Check panel gaps are uniform and look for overspray between panels.
* Check the data sticker is still in the spare wheel well and compare the chassis number with the one on the windscreen and in under the bonnet.
* Look underneath for obvious signs of damage or missing underseal which could indicate trouble.
* There shouldn't be any play in the steering. If there is, then it'll be the tie rods that are worn.
* Suspension should be fine on that age car. If you get any creaking from the suspension it'll just be the antiroll bar bushes in this cold weather. But if it pulls heavily to one side or tramlines then walk away.
* Also look for unever tire wear.
* Do the usual check inside, but make sure all the check lights on the dash go out when the ignition is switched on and that you get the "OK" display on the dash.
* The mileometer cannot be hacked easily on these cars so the milage should be genuine. The only way is to buy a complete new dash insert and reprogram it which I doubt would have happened.
* If it has an audi alarm, check that the indicators and LEDs flash when the car is locked via the doors or remote keyfob. If it doesn't it can indicate a faulty door or boot/bonnet switch.
* Make sure the interior light comes on and goes out okay. Some A3 have trouble with the door switch which involves replacing the complete lock assembly.
* Check for regular servicing either from Audi or a reputable garage.
* Cambelt on the 1.8T A3 is about 90,000 miles, but it can depend on the dearship when they advise to change it. I wouldn't personally want to drive any further than 80,000 miles on the original.
* Engine oil should be in the hatched area on the dipstick and be a honey colour or darker if nearing a service.
* Engine coolant should be pink in colour and between the max and min mark on the expansion tank.
* Power steering fluid should be within the max and min marks to.
* Brake fluid should be a light translucent colour and not brown.
* When driving, check the idle is steady at junctions and that the power is smooth. These cars can suffer from MAF (mass air flow) meter problems which are indicated by bad idle and lack of power or possible surging.
* Also whilst driving, crack the window open a bit and listen to the engine on gear changes. If you can hear a fluttering noise then the diverter valve for the turbo has had it. If you hear this noise and everything else with the car is fine then don't worry. This will be a good bargaining tool. A new one will only cost about £25 from a dealer and a faulty one doesn't damage the engine anyway, it just makes the car a little slower.
* Obviously any knocking or grinding noises are bad and a car with this should be left.

 

[jpda4]

£6.2k is that private or trade

mines a 2001 51 plate with 37k miles may be looking to sell in the summer if price is similar to that

so far only problems have been solved under warrenty
temp sensor
driver electric window motor
sender unit (it took them 2 goes to fix that 1)
and i put 4 new tyres all round
apparently my front pads need replacing as well
otherwise all is well
well almost apart from an intermittant eps/esp light never know which order those letters go in

 

[DelBoyUK]

[ QUOTE ]
jpda3 said:
£6.2k is that private or trade

mines a 2001 51 plate with 37k miles may be looking to sell in the summer if price is similar to that

so far only problems have been solved under warrenty
temp sensor
driver electric window motor
sender unit (it took them 2 goes to fix that 1)
and i put 4 new tyres all round
apparently my front pads need replacing as well
otherwise all is well
well almost apart from an intermittant eps/esp light never know which order those letters go in

[/ QUOTE ]

Thats private (though that price is what trade would actually pay without the extras /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif), but also has 6 cd changer, driver display and fog lights from factory.

Want to sell now and is it a 3 door? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[LeeW]

I have a 1.6se (2000 W pre-facelift) and apparently there's a common problem with the 1.6 model:

When you take it for a test drive, hold the car at the bite and see if the accelerator pedal starts moving on its own. Mine does it and it can be annoying when you're sat at the lights and the pedal is tapping away like a Morse Code operators finger under your foot!

 

[DelBoyUK]

[ QUOTE ]
LeeW said:
I have a 1.6se (2000 W pre-facelift) and apparently there's a common problem with the 1.6 model:

When you take it for a test drive, hold the car at the bite and see if the accelerator pedal starts moving on its own. Mine does it and it can be annoying when you're sat at the lights and the pedal is tapping away like a Morse Code operators finger under your foot!

[/ QUOTE ]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/lol.gif "morse code finger under your foot", will certainly check that out.

Do you know what the solution is or is it a "characteristic" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[FactionOne]

[ QUOTE ]
DelBoyUK said:
[ QUOTE ]
LeeW said:
I have a 1.6se (2000 W pre-facelift) and apparently there's a common problem with the 1.6 model:

When you take it for a test drive, hold the car at the bite and see if the accelerator pedal starts moving on its own. Mine does it and it can be annoying when you're sat at the lights and the pedal is tapping away like a Morse Code operators finger under your foot!

[/ QUOTE ]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/lol.gif "morse code finger under your foot", will certainly check that out.

Do you know what the solution is or is it a "characteristic" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

My 1.6 Sport was doing this a little while ago; it would even do it in neutral now and then. It seems to be sorted out after a new MAF, battery and throttle body alignment (which is advised after a flat/new battery and you can do yourself in under 60 seconds if you have access to a laptop and VAG-COM).

I have heard that in some cases a good clean of the throttle body can fix/help too.

Regards,

Rob.

 

[DelBoyUK]

[ QUOTE ]

My 1.6 Sport was doing this a little while ago; it would even do it in neutral now and then. It seems to be sorted out after a new MAF, battery and throttle body alignment (which is advised after a flat/new battery and you can do yourself in under 60 seconds if you have access to a laptop and VAG-COM).

I have heard that in some cases a good clean of the throttle body can fix/help too.

Regards,

Rob.

[/ QUOTE ]

How much was that lot /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[FactionOne]

[ QUOTE ]
DelBoyUK said:
[ QUOTE ]

My 1.6 Sport was doing this a little while ago; it would even do it in neutral now and then. It seems to be sorted out after a new MAF, battery and throttle body alignment (which is advised after a flat/new battery and you can do yourself in under 60 seconds if you have access to a laptop and VAG-COM).

I have heard that in some cases a good clean of the throttle body can fix/help too.

Regards,

Rob.

[/ QUOTE ]

How much was that lot /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

[/ QUOTE ]
An exchange MAF costs about £80 from a main dealer, the battery is a heavy-duty calcium based one (to replace the smoke alarm battery that was in there (I wasn't confident of running my stereo for longer than about 30 minutes without the engine running)) - which IIRC came in at about £60; and as mentioned I did the TBA myself which cost me nothing but a minute of my time and some chilling to my digits while outside!

I've not actually cleaned my throttle-body yet, but I've requested it be done for my peace of mind while she's in for a service next week.

Regards,

Rob.

 

[DelBoyUK]

[ QUOTE ]


An exchange MAF costs about £80 from a main dealer, the battery is a heavy-duty calcium based one (to replace the smoke alarm battery that was in there (I wasn't confident of running my stereo for longer than about 30 minutes without the engine running)) - which IIRC came in at about £60; and as mentioned I did the TBA myself which cost me nothing but a minute of my time and some chilling to my digits while outside!

I've not actually cleaned my throttle-body yet, but I've requested it be done for my peace of mind while she's in for a service next week.

Regards,

Rob.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ahhh not too bad, thought it would be £300-400! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/lol.gif

Still surprised it needs doing! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[LeeW]

[/ QUOTE ]

My 1.6 Sport was doing this a little while ago; it would even do it in neutral now and then. It seems to be sorted out after a new MAF, battery and throttle body alignment (which is advised after a flat/new battery and you can do yourself in under 60 seconds if you have access to a laptop and VAG-COM).

I have heard that in some cases a good clean of the throttle body can fix/help too.

Regards,

Rob.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was gonna give the MAF a clean and see if that improved things, if not then replace it. Also will have to try and get hold of VAG-COM, any advice on where to get hold of it?

 

[jpda4]

sorry unless you want to settle the finance on it i cant sell till the summer lol
may have possitive equity in it tho
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif if the price holds
and it a 5 door so you wont want it

have no problems with my throttle or not noticed it will pay more atention next time im

 

[FactionOne]

[ QUOTE ]
DelBoyUK said:
[ QUOTE ]


An exchange MAF costs about £80 from a main dealer, the battery is a heavy-duty calcium based one (to replace the smoke alarm battery that was in there (I wasn't confident of running my stereo for longer than about 30 minutes without the engine running)) - which IIRC came in at about £60; and as mentioned I did the TBA myself which cost me nothing but a minute of my time and some chilling to my digits while outside!

I've not actually cleaned my throttle-body yet, but I've requested it be done for my peace of mind while she's in for a service next week.

Regards,

Rob.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ahhh not too bad, thought it would be £300-400! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/lol.gif

Still surprised it needs doing! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

[/ QUOTE ]
Don't get me wrong, it might not be a definative fix for every car which suffers the pedal hunting; it just sorted mine out.

A MAF clean might do it (that did vastly improve mine), a TBA alone might do it, or it might be a combination. I certainly don't think my battery was a root cause of the weirdness with the pedal, it was just goosed and aggrevating things.

MAF (cleanliness/operability) and throttle body (both alignment and cleanliness) are I'd say high on the list of suspects though, along with coolant temperature sensor (that seems to make an upset idle worse too)... It's just a case of horses for courses... But as originally said, keep an eye out for it when shopping for new vehicles. I wouldn't let it put me off a car that I thought was otherwise right for me, because the items above are the most serious I've ever heard of to be the cause; but I'd certainly use it as a bargaining tool and arrange to have it checked-out properly before making a final decision.

Regards,

Rob.

 

[FactionOne]

[ QUOTE ]
LeeW said:


[/ QUOTE ]

My 1.6 Sport was doing this a little while ago; it would even do it in neutral now and then. It seems to be sorted out after a new MAF, battery and throttle body alignment (which is advised after a flat/new battery and you can do yourself in under 60 seconds if you have access to a laptop and VAG-COM).

I have heard that in some cases a good clean of the throttle body can fix/help too.

Regards,

Rob.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was gonna give the MAF a clean and see if that improved things, if not then replace it. Also will have to try and get hold of VAG-COM, any advice on where to get hold of it?

[/ QUOTE ]
There is a limited-functionality shareware version available from http://www.ross-tech.com, and the UK Distributor for the software and the kits can be found at http://www.vag-com.co.uk

Some less-scrupulous people use dodgy-versions, but obviously you get no support, updates and they're normally old versions.

You can also just buy the software (or use the shareware) and get a compatible interface like the ones from http://www.skpang.co.uk/ - I bought a semi-kit form non-optocoupled dual K-Line serial-interface from eBay for about £45 delivered

Regards,

Rob.

 

[LeeW]

Cheers for the advice Rob, i'll look into the pedal problem in the new year and many thanks for the links for the VAG-COM which I'll also look into.

 

[DelBoyUK]

[ QUOTE ]
jpda3 said:
sorry unless you want to settle the finance on it i cant sell till the summer lol
may have possitive equity in it tho
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif if the price holds
and it a 5 door so you wont want it

have no problems with my throttle or not noticed it will pay more atention next time im

[/ QUOTE ]

They should do!

As 1998/99 cars with slightly more miles normally go for £5500-5800!. Normal private price on the car im getting is £7.2k and about 8k dealer according to parkers (and normally even those are underpriced). £6.2k is basically trade price. I think you are underestimating the demand for the cars! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

According to parkers, your car privately with 30k miles should be worth £8965 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

How did you manage to get it for less than 6.2k! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[DelBoyUK]

Also, just came across another thread and they mentioned it should come with the


2x flippy keys (has these)

Didnt look for these!
1 X Service Key
1 X Black Plastic key
1 X Data tag.

They are probably there, but if they arent, how important are they? (would you buy a car without them?)

 

[FactionOne]

[ QUOTE ]
DelBoyUK said:
Also, just came across another thread and they mentioned it should come with the


2x flippy keys (has these)

Didnt look for these!
1 X Service Key
1 X Black Plastic key
1 X Data tag.

They are probably there, but if they arent, how important are they? (would you buy a car without them?)

[/ QUOTE ]
I wouldn't worry too much about the Service Key - as you may know all that does is enable you to leave a key with service/valet that just opens the doors and starts the engine, giving no access to glove compartment etc. I suppose it depends on how regularly you think you'd use it, or how bothered you are about removing valuables etc. from locked compartments when required.

I'd certainly want to see both the plastic key and the data tag, as IIRC they are both required to have new keys cut should you lose the ones you have.

Hope that helps,

Regards,

Rob.

 

[neversaydie]

The car pedal in the 1.6i does this as explained by an VAG tech:

When the car is idle and the car puter thinks it is about to cut out / stall the car puter adjusts the throtle for you so it does not conk out on you.

This is not a problem and is as someone said above a characteristic.

 

[Khufu]

my 1.8 does it too, mostly while reversing - get you lazy as when you get into other cars you stall it because it doesnt blip it for you LOL

 

[DelBoyUK]

It doesnt look like the car comes with
1 X Black Plastic key
1 X Data tag.

I phoned audi and they say I can get a black plastic key (apparently they are very small and regularly get lost) for about £30-40 but they no longer do the tags, but all they show is the chassis number e.t.c which you can find elsewhere :s