audi B5 help

[blighty]

hi, im new here. i registered as im currently selling my 1988 VW jetta, and i have been looking at BMW 3 series, and audi a4s as they seem to be going for fair prices at the mo, i think i would rather have the audi (although have read somewhere that handling isnt as good as the 3 series, but that doesnt matter) i have seen an estate with 180k on the clock, and was just wandering how many miles they generally are able to go on for before encountering any real problems as it would be used as our daily driver. the engine is a 1.8 avant SE on a 1996 plate. it does say it has a tow bar, so wondering if its had a hard life of pulling things all the time. i wouldnt mind knowing also what the fuel consumption is like on this engine? and how much bhp they have.

if anyone has any other suggestions for auids with pretty big bootspace for under £1k then please feel free to suggest them

thanks.

 

[aragorn]

the main issue with a car of that mileage is usually oil pump failure causing low oil pressure and damaging the engine as a result

Our 1.8T has just rolled over 170k and its exhibiting signs of a weak oil pump, (ticking lifters if left at idle when hot for example)

The rest of the parts that wear out are usually picked up with routine maintenance and MOT's anyway like the bushes on the front suspension arms, brake lines, hoses etc.

If the oil pump has been changed recently then i wouldnt worry too much about it, if it hasnt then i'd be budgeting £3-400 to get the pump changed at a garage or £100ish if you do it yourself.

 

[olds_kool]

the 1.8 is 125 bhp i beleive, but ive seen 1.8t/2.6 avants on ebay go for £700-£1000, ive got a tdi avant with 209k on it, and it still drives pretty well but has cost me a fair bit in parts this year, bought it as a replacement for a bmw 318 tourer which only had 130k on the clock before oil pump failed, was fun on wet roundabouts though

 

[ALPINE]

in my experience.. beemas are more juicy on the go go, dashes are grim... parts are as expensive if not more than a Audi. only thing i would rather have on the beema is the RWD for those slipery days. i have never owned a non turbo Audi but my 1.8T i fill up once a month (maybe a £20 top up near end of month) i drive quite hard so i dont think thats bad. my car is getting close to 160k and i need to change the front bushes and my turbo is on its last legs. other bits i have replaced have been small parts like sensors etc.

Audi FTW imo... leave the beemas for the wanabe rude boys!

 

[Oranoco]

What's your budget? Theer are a lot of cars out there with significantly less miles for sensible cash.

 

[blighty]

wow some ace info here! thanks

my budget really depends on what i can get for my jetta, but probably around 6-800 quid, and if i get asking price then £1000 but people always knock down on prices. so realistically around 800 tops i would have thought. i may go and view the audi estate, see what service its got, see whats been done etc. i dont have any mechanical knowlege, but my mate does, as hes got a unit he does work from and he wouldnt charge me too much

 

[brendan]

no-one answered the mpg question so i'll jump in - my 1.8 fwd saloon averages about 35 with 'keen' driving . on motorways it sees the better side of 40mpg according to the computer thing.

my engine is coming up to 170,000 miles and the only real problem i have is the cam chain tensioner, which can be expensive depending on where you get the part from and who you get to change it (i imported my replacement from the usa at a cost of £160 - half the uk price - and i'll need about £175 for fitting, which is cheap, imho). will probably sort out the oil pump as well, to be on the safe side, at about £60 for the pump and £120 for fitting.

 

[blighty]

ah right, how long does the oil pump and chain take to change then? 350-40ish mpg seems pretty reasonable to me!

thanks for the info

 

[dieselfitter251]

If you're not to bothered about power (initially) get a 1.9tdi or 2.5tdi (if you can find one for that money). I've got a 1.9tdi quattro avant. Just turned 225K... If you get a repesctable one that's been looked after you could get it remapped or chiped from 110bhp up 140bhp (the 1.9).... although the 140bhp would be a push. I'm getting about 50mpg. If you you keep on top of the service items I believe they go for ever... In fact, I think the four horsemen of the apocolypsewere considering trading in their nags for vags.... Ha! get it? or maybe.... or maybe the 4rings of the apocolypse

 

[blighty]

i havent seen any tdis for respectable money its ideally what i want though, but i dont really mind if its petrol. and bodywork doesnt bother me. i have a mate who does bodywork and resprays etc

 

[blighty]

hi again, i have found a b5 chassis audi a4 saloon, with 110k miles (pretty low for ones around here) it has no tax or mot on it, and has a problem with the immobiliser, apparently it will let you start the car once, then when you next need to start it, you have to disconnect the battery and reconnect it to be able to start the car again, anyone know what could be causeing this? im really tempted to buy it as it seems in pretty good nick other than this fault.

oh its the 1.8 non turbo on an n plate.

cheers

 

[auroan]

Walk away. Immo faults on Audis can be a big expensive pain to fix.... ie new ecus / instrument clusters / ignition barrels / keys etc etc

 

[blighty]

oh! even though its only something like the immobiliser?

 

[aragorn]

if its an N plate it will have immo1 which isnt too complicated.

There is a little cream box behind the steering wheel in the dash which basically does everything. At most you'd need the immo box, engine ECU and keys from another (working) car.

You'd really need to put vagcom on there and see what exactly the fault is though before changing things

 

[blighty]

ahh so could be costly then? no way of just bypassing the immobiliser and not having one on the car at all?

 

[Siena]

IMMO1 can be coded out.

 

[blighty]

any idea how costly that can be to get sorted that way?

 

[aragorn]

siena: is it a simple vagcom process or does it require special kit?

 

[Siena]

If IMMO1 is working, it can be coded out via VAG-COM.

If not, it can be deactivated by an ECU specialist.

 

[aragorn]

just thinking that seen as it does start it might be working enough for it to be easily disabled?

Do you have any docs on this? Would be quite useful to know for the ABZ, not sure how easy its going to be to integrate a useable audi key into the landrover and if i cant then i may as well disable the system completely...

 

[blighty]

hi thanks for the info siena. so if immo1 isnt working then steer clear of it? or is it still cheap enough to fix? by cheap i mean upto £50 lol anymore than that and i might as well look for an a4 with tax and mot and all working fine