relative4

I just bought my first Audi, a 2002 A4 1.8T with 150K miles. I got it as a commuter car for the wife, to save gas & miles on the SUV. I do all my own maintenance and repairs, but most of my experience is with Subarus. I know the typical things to watch out for with those, but I know little about Audis. Where can I get general guidance on maintaining the A4? I'm not interested in performance mods on this car, but I am very interested in reliability and fuel efficiency.

Thanks!

W261w261

The 1.8 is a great motor - you did yourself a favor by not getting the 3.0.
I have 3 of these, an 02 A4 (110k) for my son, a 65k 04 Passat for my wife, and my 03 A4 (125k). I've also had a 92 SVX, and a 96 Outback (ouch).

The good and bad news is that these cars aren't Subarus. When you say you do your own work, do you mean *all* your own work? If not, I would spend a hundred bucks and have someone that knows these cars well go over yours, before you get started. Assuming you paid around $2500 for yours, if there are problems you'll be in a world of financial hurt before you can say "German Engineering." If the PO didn't take care of things as he should have, at 150k you'll be needing suspension components (there are 8 control arms up front), maybe the timing belt, etc. Diff seals leak, there were sludge problems because some people didn't use full synthetic and believed the dealers when they said they could go 10k between changes (5k and absolutely full syn). Thinking of dropping the oil pan and checking out the screen on the oil pickup tube? At least a 6 hour job. Etc.

Buy an extra long #20 star driver and keep it in the trunk along with some tape and spare headlight bulbs. You have to remove the entire headlight assembly to change the bulb (the tape is to protect the paint). It's not a bad job once you know where the bolts are (YouTube is your friend).

If the radio reception sucks it's the powered antenna over the rear window. Audi will happily sell you a new amp for about 5 bills, but there's a fix using alligator clamps.

The sunroof can get crazy. It's the switch.

Be careful - very careful - not to let the glove box door drop down. The hinges break. If yours are not busted you're lucky. Ditto for the storage compartment between the seats. If the hinges are busted and you still have the pieces, Shokan.com will fix them for around 80,or you can buy a crappy repair kit on eBay.

Often overlooked are the nifty storage drawers in the front seats.

Lastly, this forum is virtually dead. Try Audizine for much more material.

Good luck. I love my cars, and once you get them set up they're great.

W261w261

Look here: www.a4mods.com.

The rear coolant flange is a weak point. If you're leaking, this is the usual suspect, a plastic piece too close to the hot parts. Kind of a pita to replace.

Do not let you kid play with the pop-up drink holder above the radio. It breaks easily, and the replacement from Audi is typically breathtakingly expensive. Not many available from yards either. Just don't be slamming and banging it.

relative4

Thanks for all! I was wondering which of the numerous forums to use, I'll focus on Audizine in the future, but I'll take advantage of this thread while I have your ear.

By all my own work, I mean everything except paint & body, mount & balance tires, alignment, and I outsource the brake flushing - too cheap to deal with the hassle & tedium. I've done a few clutches, and the Rover 3.5 from my converted MGB is down to the short block right now. So not a pro, but not afraid to get my hands dirty.

I've only had a chance to eyeball it once, and the suspension looked and felt OK, but I'll definitely re-check that, thanks. There's a minor to moderate PS leak and a dying tie rod boot, otherwise it passed the visual with pretty much flying colors. Oh, except what I assume was a donut flange between the downpipe and the midpipe has been replaced with a welded section. Maybe rusted out, or maybe the aftermath of a hack job custom exhaust. I'm quite certain it's due for a timing belt, last one documented was @ 64K. Possibly why the PO traded it in. I've done several on Subies, are these that easy?

I actually did the rear coolant flange on my '02 Jetta 1.8T, like 8-9 years ago. It was not too hard to get to, cause the engine was transverse in that car. Other than that, I won't have much experience to carry over. The family outgrew that car like 2-3 years after I started working on cars, and the biggest jobs I ever did on that one were a radiator and an alternator. It was a pleasure to work on, though. Looking forward to this one.

The interior breakage sounds exactly like the Jetta. Glove hinges, armrest latch, and cup holder all had to be replaced with crappy Chinese knockoffs.

W261w261

I can't speak to the timing belt, but can say that the one thing you don't want to do is put in an oem water pump with its plastic impeller. An earlier 1.8 of mine had the pump fail at 62k and took the head gasket with it. With the timing belt it was $3100. The Passat I got last year from the orig owner had 51k, so I had the belt replaced because of its age (11 years). The belt itself was fine, but that pos water pump was shedding pieces and was ready to fail! I would change everything asap if I were you. These are interference engines as I'm sure you know. VW says 100k intervals, no one that knows them goes much beyond 80, I personally do it at about 65.

When the 02's came out, some dealers and owners were still using dino oil, and some were changing at 10k intervals. There were sludge problems, lawsuits, and restitution, but that's in the past now. My car, bought from the orig owner almost 3 years ago, had been serviced from new at the dealer. At 82k, the head self-destructed under sludge-like circumstances. Audi didn't admit it, but the gave the owner 50% of the $4500 repair bill after his attorney made noises.

I also don't trust the belt tensioners to last that long.

If you do all your work, probably VagCom would be good for you.

Shokan.com has a ton of Audi wreck parts, but they're pricey. Tomsforeign.com in CT is much more reasonable.

Happy trails.

John535is

The biggest change is that when you read through some of the more major repairs is that the manual talks about removing the front off the car. The Audi is designed for it and it actually makes working on the front of the engine a lot easier. When I got my 1.8T, the water pump went in the first month or so. I did a full timing belt kit replacement, all the tensioners, pump, etc. the car has been very reliable ever since. I dreaded removing the front off the car, but after doing it its actually quite easy. You can also purchase long 'service bolts' which can allow the front clip to move forward without actually taking it completely off, but for the TB project I was happy to be able to get it out of the way instead of bending down to do the work.

You need to get yourself a socket kit with Torx bits and some 12pt spline (I think you guys call them triple square) as Audi love to use these instead of hex key. There are some good on-line stores for Audi parts, a search of these forums everyone has their favourites for differing reasons, but generally better than dealer prices.

Try different forums, I like this one because you tend to get genuine responses but it moves slower than others. Some move quickly but the discussions are not as helpful if you have a specific problem. Each to their own.

relative4

Thanks. Did my diligence on the service position process last night. The best compromise I've found is angling it out a bit and hanging it from the ceiling. Provides more space than standard service position and doesn't stress the refrigerant lines or require disconnecting the radiator like complete removal. The garage bay I use for servicing my daily drivers has wire shelving on the ceiling, perfect for this approach.

I'm all Torxed up already; I've ordered the 19mm 12pt for the crank bolt. I mostly only have 12pts in small sizes, sounds like I may need a full set.

John535is

Audi tends to use Torx for body work and 12pt for mechanical components. With exceptions!
other tools I have found handy:
1. You can get a little device for the electrical connectors (ECS sell them part # 2628676) I am sure others sell them as well. Saves breaking the plastic connectors when you try to unclip them as they are getting a little brittle now.
2. Code scanner. If you check through the posts people have mixed suggestions. The socket will read an OBD2 scanner but a VAG specific scanner will give you lots more info on everything electrical on the car. You can get varying options from $35-$200. You can also get a software package that reads similar to the dealers program from Ross-tech VCDS. The VCDS program is about $350, I had a scanner for the first year or so until I needed to do some more significant repairs to justify the purchase. There are other options as well but the moral is, you need a VAG code scanner not just OBD2, a scanner will generally just scan for codes, more expensive ones will allow service reset, then VCDS will allow you to reset lots of things and do some in depth fault finding. It will not do ECU programming though.

I try to do as much as possible myself, with the help of the code scanning and these sites I now have 4 VAG cars (2 Audi, 2 VW) and have not seen a dealer for the last 3-4 years.

relative4

Thanks for the heads up on the electrical disconnector - that brittle plastic is frequently a problem. Reckon I'll get that sucker.

I use a LaunchTech CRP123, which is pretty good with manufacturer-specific codes, gets updated regularly. Pulled a 17887 and a 17698 from this car, I'll deal with those asap. Chances are I'll need VAG-COM for real eventually.