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Well here ya go folks! My wonderful 1991 Avant, complete with a one of a kind story.
This specific Avant was purchased by a man out in Missouri, whose family owned an Audi dealership. Once he heard of a few of these coming to the states, he jumped at the chance and got one. He owned it for many years but passed away in 07. At that time, his wife had wrecked it a few years earlier in the front drivers corner and the replacement radioator had a very slight leak, so eventually, the inevitable happened....the head went. And so from 2007 until 2012 it sat in his garage untouched. His son finally decided to fix up Daddy's Audi, but couldn't get it quite right, so he roped in his uncle, who is an Audi mechanic. After finally getting it right, the son decided he didn't want the car and enlisted his uncle to sell it. That's where my friend steps in
He bought the car from the uncle and enlisted me to go pick it up back in August (he was in training for the Marines at the time) I picked it up from Missouri and drove it back to Utah and fell in love with it. Sadly, after training and assignment, he wasn't able to take the car with me, so after several months, he agreed to sell it to me and so, here it is.
Now, it is very clean for how old it is, but there are many little problems, for instance we have no clue how many miles it has as the odometer never worked. Many of these problems are specific to this car, which is why I've come here to ask some questions
Here's the first couple:
1. The dash lights either have just the center display lit up and no other lights at all, or the center display not lit up and everything else lighted red. Is there a common short in these dash's with this problem?
2. The gauges were working when it was parked, but now the only ones that work are the tach and speedo. Any ideas?
I will as more later, but here's a couple pictures
Thanks Yoda! The only problem I haven't been able to find an answer for is the gauges that aren't working. The only ones that work are the speedo and Tach, none of the others work even though they worked before it was parked.
Check the fuses. Remove the cluster after properly learning how to remove it without damaging it (see pic) you want to remove the 4mm allens holding the dash pad down behind the vents on either side of the cluster to aid in removal. There is a strip of trim in front of the cluster that needs to be removed 3 + screws from below the cluster is held in with 3 3mm allens
Removing the cluster is so you can check the connections it's possible one is loose.
You'll also probably want to remove the steering wheel disconnect the battery two T30 torx hold the airbag on a 24mm nut secures the the wheel. You'll need to remove the upper column cover two + screws from below. Be careful of the clock spring on the back of the wheel try not to turn it with the wheel removed. You could have other issues too a bad ign. switch is known to cause funky issues. Make sure the battery light is coming on with the key in the "on" position if not check the small blue exciter wire off the alternator.
I have replaced the air filter, charge tubes and several other small bits and bobs so far. But there is an elephant in the corner that has yet to be addressed.
The car is burning oil....quite a fair amount. I've driven the car roughly 800 miles of mixed driving and have dumped about three quarts over that time so far. It isn't leaking (No spots on driveway or wherever I park). So I know it is consuming oil, the questions is how. I pulled two codes out of the engine.
2144 (Blink Fault Code), 00540 VAG1551/2 Fault Code Number
Knock Sensor #2, (G66) (Cylinders 3, 4, 5)
Open or short circuit, Defective sensor or wiring
4442, (Blink Fault Code) 01262 VAG1551/2 Fault Code Number
Waste Gate Frequency Valve, (N75)
Open or short circuit, sticking valve, malfunctioning valve
Symptom: Boost pressure too high or too low, Severe misfiring during full throttle due to high boost
When I replaced the charge tubes, there was also some oil in them, so the turbo is also loosing some oil I believe.
Some oil in the turbo hoses and intercooler is normal. That's a heck of a lot of oil to be loosing though.
Does it smoke at all can you smell it burning? I would think piston rings and valve stem seals unless it's poring out of the turbo? Time for a leak down test and a compression test.
Fault codes indicate you may need a new knock sensor might as well replace both you want 1 with a blue connector 0261231036 and 1 with green connector 0261231038 to replace the 1 original brown sensor which is NLA or $$$ they are around $25-35 ea. from autohausaz.com for bosch
The other fault is for the N75 valve does the car make full boost 1.7-1.8 on the stock gauge if working?
Some oil in the turbo hoses and intercooler is normal. That's a heck of a lot of oil to be loosing though.
Does it smoke at all can you smell it burning? I would think piston rings and valve stem seals unless it's poring out of the turbo? Time for a leak down test and a compression test.
Fault codes indicate you may need a new knock sensor might as well replace both you want 1 with a blue connector 0261231036 and 1 with green connector 0261231038 to replace the 1 original brown sensor which is NLA or $$$ they are around $25-35 ea. from autohausaz.com for bosch
The other fault is for the N75 valve does the car make full boost 1.7-1.8 on the stock gauge if working?
Yep. Results...thought of things I could do AFTER I posted so sorry for my Idiocy.
Compression test yielded 165 psi exactly on all cylinders. Didn't do a leakdown, but with the symptoms, it is valve stem seals. If I sit and idle for more than five minutes it smokes when starting off and after sitting for more than thirty minutes with the engine off.
So the question is Yoda, are they the 7mm or 8mm valve stem seals?
The stock boost gauge works. The most I've ever seen it hit is 1.6, but usually it really lags under boost after warming up and it'll only get to 1.2
Well the valve stem seals can technically be done without removing the head. But the guides can not that's a job for a competent machine shop lucky for you Jeff Gerner is in Missouri Four Ring Performance Engineering There is a school of thought that doing only the exhaust valve guides is sufficient but you might as well do them all if you are fully rebuilding the head. The seals are 7mm pn# 027109675 but if doing a head rebuild they come with the HG set. Low boost issue is likely the N75 needing to be replaced. Also try unplugging the MFTS big coolant sensor on the water manifold and see if the boost comes back when warm.
08-04-2014, 11:07 PM
My new find...91 20V avant...with questions
