Hi all
I'm looking for a bit of advise if you'd be so kind. But first allow me to regale you with the tale of my new car.
After a lengthy history of 80s, 90s, and 00s super-minis a couple of weeks ago I took out a small credit building loan, and found a sweet '04 A4 s-line on Autotrader. It's a 1.8T with 190bhp, which I believe means it has a BEX engine. The price was a bit too good to be true (£2k ish) with a long MOT, but after a test drive it felt sweet, and I couldn't bring myself to walk away.
A couple of days later I heard an intermittent screech at low speeds and idle, which became worse, quickly reaching a constant crescendo after 3 days of short trips. To cut a long story short I urgently dropped it with my local mechanic, and he ultimately, upon finding that the issue was a failed a/c compressor, fitted a smaller timing belt which was the right size to bypass the a/c, saving me several hundred pounds for the time being. Also, who needs a/c in the winter in the UK? The car feels absolutely sweet now, pulls strongly, and the noise has completely gone.
That brings me to my request for advice. The car has just over 100k on it, and a full service history indicating the timing belt was last changed about 14k miles ago. I'd like to think that it can last me a few years, but I also understand the engine has greater potential with a remap. So how should I proceed? Is bypassing the a/c likely to cause me any long term problems? Is 100k too old to consider remapping the engine without significantly compromising reliability? What parts should I be looking at replacing and/or upgrading first?
Many thanks in advance for any advice you can give.
I'm looking for a bit of advise if you'd be so kind. But first allow me to regale you with the tale of my new car.
After a lengthy history of 80s, 90s, and 00s super-minis a couple of weeks ago I took out a small credit building loan, and found a sweet '04 A4 s-line on Autotrader. It's a 1.8T with 190bhp, which I believe means it has a BEX engine. The price was a bit too good to be true (£2k ish) with a long MOT, but after a test drive it felt sweet, and I couldn't bring myself to walk away.
A couple of days later I heard an intermittent screech at low speeds and idle, which became worse, quickly reaching a constant crescendo after 3 days of short trips. To cut a long story short I urgently dropped it with my local mechanic, and he ultimately, upon finding that the issue was a failed a/c compressor, fitted a smaller timing belt which was the right size to bypass the a/c, saving me several hundred pounds for the time being. Also, who needs a/c in the winter in the UK? The car feels absolutely sweet now, pulls strongly, and the noise has completely gone.
That brings me to my request for advice. The car has just over 100k on it, and a full service history indicating the timing belt was last changed about 14k miles ago. I'd like to think that it can last me a few years, but I also understand the engine has greater potential with a remap. So how should I proceed? Is bypassing the a/c likely to cause me any long term problems? Is 100k too old to consider remapping the engine without significantly compromising reliability? What parts should I be looking at replacing and/or upgrading first?
Many thanks in advance for any advice you can give.
