I am looking at buying a 1995 A4, can anyone tell me what to look for. (My poor BMW was unfortunately T-boned) so I need a car asap.
I have test driven it, but upon starting the engine it instantly dies. It does this a few times. It is also jerky with the throttle response.
Are there any other faults I need to be aware of that are common.
TIA
Start with front suspension arms and the cambelts - what engine does it have in it & what's the mileage?
It has done 104000miles, and it is a 1.8. The cambelt was done at 85,000
As long as the tensioners were replaced as well then the cambelt should be good to go.
The only other thing then to be looking at specific to A4s is therefore the front bearing arms - there are 4 on each side - 2 upper & 2 lower. There is currently a recall out on front lower bearing arms so you should get those checked because they do wear out quicker than they should. I have a 96 A4 Avant & I had to have two upper arms and a front lower arm replaced last year (at 78K miles) the upper arms are not covered by the recall.
Look at the service logs & see how regularly it has had its oil changed. If there are signs that its been done infrequently then I'd be wary. Listen for noise from the Cam chain at the back of the head - you'll tend to get a bit of a rattle on start up but that should be it. If its persistently noisy/rattling then its a long job to replace the tensioner.
The only other things I can think of are that the Catalytic convertor may not have long to live if its the original - I just had to replace mine at
82K miles. Audi part £270+ VAT, GSF part £175 - noisier than the Audi part but it works. The rest of the exhaust is pretty bombproof. Check the AC works if it has it - its expensive to put right if it doesn't.Other than that you are into the same stuff you would be on any 104K car - i..e condition of disks & pads etc. Listen for odd noises from the engine, gearbox, suspension, steering & brakes. Check the bodywork is straight and get it HPI checked.
HTH I.
[Snip]
If it's got a cambelt (at the front of the engine), what's this cam chain at the back?
Startup rattle usually comes from the hydraulic tappets as the oil pressure builds up - not normally a problem.
The Cambelt on the front of the engine drives the exhaust cam only - there is then a chain at the back of the head that links the exhaust cam to the intake cam. That has a tensioner on it which isn't indestructable sadly - and a big old job to replace (you have to remove both the cams).
pressure builds up - not normally a problem.
Exactly why I said that a bit of rattle on startup is OK but if it persists once the thing is running it's likely to be the cam chain tensioner. The hydraulic tappets are self adjusting so there should be no issue with clearences on them once its running - unless you have very weak oil pressure caused by an oil pump on its way out or alternatively a sludging problem blocking the pump intake screen (they've had a bundle of problems with that in the states - particularly on the 1.8T engines.
I.
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