Possible A6 Avant purchase but EPB fault..

[Tim17]

Hi guys,

Just looking for any words of wisdom you may be able to offer me.

I’ve been looking at a 2.7 Le Mans avant on auto trader - 90k miles, 1 owner, looks good and a very reasonable price, so i thought ok so why is it cheaper than others of the same milage etc.

The guy tells me it has an issue with the EPB, he says the handbrake comes on as normal but does not release, to release it he says you ‘put your foot on the accelerator’ i presume he means to start pulling away and it then releases.

Also the EML is on for ‘inlet manifold bank 2’ but has been like it for a while and doesn’t affect the car, possibly just a sensor of some sort?

So, I’ve been looking in to the handbrake fault of it not releasing, it seems to me that the most common cause is water ingress in to the wiring and it oxidises the cables and can lead to having to replace the cable by soldering in the boot area. Do any of you have any experience or advise for this? Seems a fairly common thing, has anyone on here had the same thing and would like to offer their services to repair it?

Should i just walk away because it’s not worth the hassle? Thanks guys any help appreciated!! Thanks

 

[smog c6]

The handbrake fault sounds more likely to be the hand brake switch in the centre console, there is a common fault where water ingress from the socket of the harness that connects to the EPB on either side can cause corrosion on the wire immediately further up but you should experience intermittent EBP faults and it works sporadically. The inlet manifolds cause no perceivable difference to the running of the car other than the EML, and possibly lower end torque, although I didn’t feel a difference when mine went. It’s an easy fix you can buy replacement manifolds which is expensive. The better option would be to buy a repair kit from eBay for 150~ pounds and install them yourself or a good Indy.


Personally I’d pay more and find a car without the hassle of the EPB, if the current owner can’t be ***** to fix it for some time it tells you what sort of mindset he has towards looking after the car, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there's more faults with the car.

My 2pence.

 

[Tim17]

The handbrake fault sounds more likely to be the hand brake switch in the centre console, there is a common fault where water ingress from the socket of the harness that connects to the EPB on either side can cause corrosion on the wire immediately further up but you should experience intermittent EBP faults and it works sporadically. The inlet manifolds cause no perceivable difference to the running of the car other than the EML, and possibly lower end torque, although I didn’t feel a difference when mine went. It’s an easy fix you can buy replacement manifolds which is expensive. The better option would be to buy a repair kit from eBay for 150~ pounds and install them yourself or a good Indy.


Personally I’d pay more and find a car without the hassle of the EPB, if the current owner can’t be ***** to fix it for some time it tells you what sort of mindset he has towards looking after the car, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there's more faults with the car.

My 2pence.

Thanks for the reply, it’s from a trader so I’m guessing it’s a part exchange. I think with my budget (about £5.5k) the A6 is unfortunately out of my budget to get one with the milage and spec i would like.

So my options are (because i need an estate) - A4 avant (abit on the small side), VW passat (abit boring) or a vauxhall insignia (don’t really like vauxhall)

Any other suggestions lol?

 

[smog c6]

I think you should be able to find one for that price but probably not with full spec, I’d try and get a 2.7 tdi tiptronic quattro or 3.0 tdi quattro tiptronic. Main thing to get would be Xenons and heated seats.

The 530d pre facelifts, very good car although they look butt ugly, quite literally. They will be in your price range.

I think the B7 a4’s are too small the inside feels smaller than a golf.

 

[Tim17]

Yeh I agree, the 530 estates are really ugly!

Is there anything that needs to be done on the A6 2.7 or 3.0 when they hit the 100/150k miles mark? I know they are chain driven, when should the tensioners be renewed?
I presume the auto boxes are fairly bomb proof for the life of the car?

I may have to get one with a few more miles on it than I intended. Had an A4 tdi in the past with high milage and it was solid to be honest.

 

[Tim17]

This one looks nice, don’t think it has the Xenons but I’m not overly concerned about that, can they be retrofitted?

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201711151275899

 

[smog c6]

Hi yes you can retrofit xenon headlights, it’s not plug and play it requires coding and new wires.

That car has the multitronic gearbox it’s nice comfy and smooth but the tiptronic gearbox is what you want, much more reliable. Multitronic don’t come with quattro.

 

[Tim17]

Hi yes you can retrofit xenon headlights, it’s not plug and play it requires coding and new wires.

That car has the multitronic gearbox it’s nice comfy and smooth but the tiptronic gearbox is what you want, much more reliable. Multitronic don’t come with quattro.

To clarify, are you saying to get the the tiptronic box it has to a be quattro model? Quattro models come only with tiptronic?

 

[smog c6]

Yep