2004 Audi A4 1.8t, problematic or not?

[ddduke]

So, I have the opportunity to get an 04 Audi A4 1.8t auto for dirt cheap today. Car has about 100k km on it.

The car will not be driven often at all (less then 200km/month) during summer and quite a bit more during the winter. I'm only looking at it because of the deal I'm getting and need to pull the trigger by 8pm today.

Now what I want to know is if these vehicles are as bad as everyone says they are. I've done quite a bit of research and there are hundreds of bad reviews, especially on edmonds, but then again most reviews online are bad and you never hear the good ones.

I want to know from owners/past owners how they feel about these.

[bastardchild]

Depends on how well the vehicle was maintained.

[ddduke]

Originally posted by bastardchild
Depends on how well the vehicle was maintained.

I was told the maintenance was always on time and dealer serviced. But i was also told the headgasket was done as well as a few other things which makes me worry.

This is a general question, maintenance aside there are tons of vehicles that are just flat out problematic and have tons of issues, so it doesnt really depend on how well it was maintained.

[project240]

Timing Belt/Water Pump needs to be done every 80K or so on these cars.

Depends on condition/price... expect repair costs to be higher than other comparable cars

[colinxx235]

i'd stay away from auto personally... tranmission likes to get rough on that car around 100K

[sillysod]

you need more info...

1) why was head gasket done? (timing belt failure?)
2) is it chipped? if not the auto is fine, if so I would avoid it.
3) check to see if the wiper linkage has been rebuilt/replaced (common on these cars).
4) Look on the back of the head (near the firewall) and see if you can see crusty white coolant, common flange goes there - but not an expensive repair.
5) Steering rack shouldnt make any whining noises at all.
6) check all the buttons/switches in the drivers door and make sure they work as the wiring harness sometimes cracks in the hinge area.


and most importantly get it scanned with VAG-COM

[btimbit]

Not much eperiance with the Audi, but quite a bit with the 1.8T and VAG.

sillysod mentioned everything I was going to. Do a VCDS scan before you do anything, if everything's good there then consider it. Check records to make sure that it's synthetic oil that's been used. Even though my car was dealer serviced I have records from the PO of it getting some castrol GTX instead of syntec. Ran into a few issues with that down the road.

-If it's chipped, walk away. Period. Especially with the automatic.
-Check if timing belt and waterpump was done, if not, do it. Easy DIY, or about $1000 at a good shop. Replace w/p with metal impellers and timing belt with Kevlar so you don't just have to do it again in 60k
-Tranny flush worthwhile if it's not done already, some of these autos slow down at around that point

These cars get bad reviews because you can't treat them like crap and expect them to be perfect. You treat it great, and it'll treat you great. If you just want something to beat on then walk away. VAG cars are only as problematic as the people that owned them. Take a look at the owner as well as the car. They are high maintenance, but not necessarily highly problematic.

[ddduke]

thanks guys, I ended up buying some more time and going to go check everything tomorrow. Some good responses and things to look for.

[sillysod]

Just get it checked out ddduke.... I've had my 04 since new and its at almost 250,000kms (with a big turbo for last 100,000kms) - never have had to do any major maintenance on it.

My car has been incredibly reliable, but I have always maintained it. I live in the deep SE and will be back from Vancouver on Friday, if you swing by my place I will Vag scan it for you. PM me if you want

[colinxx235]

Yah sillysod has had good luck with his and pointed out almost all the issues my brother had with his A4's (02, 03 & 04) 1.8T all autos.

He bought most of them in the 80-90K kms range. Two of them had the transmission go around 100. Timing Belts on all three. Steering rack went on two of them at 100-105 range. Wipers went on just one of them. But sod has a manual and those are much better from friends experiences.

[CapnCrunch]

Audi means "problematic" in German. Govern yourself accordingly.

[sillysod]

Originally posted by colinxx235
Yah sillysod has had good luck with his and pointed out almost all the issues my brother had with his A4's (02, 03 & 04) 1.8T all autos.

He bought most of them in the 80-90K kms range. Two of them had the transmission go around 100. Timing Belts on all three. Steering rack went on two of them at 100-105 range. Wipers went on just one of them. But sod has a manual and those are much better from friends experiences.

The issues are very common.

Transmissions just need a flush at a proper shop (tunedub) and they are fine as a rule.

The timing belt should never break unless it hasn't been changed.

Steering rack again needs to get flushed.

The biggest problem is that Audi says "life time fluids" which really means "warranty period fluids".

The wipers on the otherhand are a poor design and they WILL fail. You just need to catch them when they start to get slow othewise it will take out the wiper motor too. $$$$

[Kloubek]

Were there not also sludge issues on these? Especially if the oil was not changed regularly?

[AE92_TreunoSC]

They had oil pump failures from the strains clogging from sludge and carbon. I replaced a few engines due to that failure.

I've replaced hundreds of 1.8T coils.

Seen lots of overheating A4's due to waterpump failure, even the metal ones fail.

The stupid coolant fan control unit fails often stopping a/c from working in the summer. Common again.

Secondary air pumps are common.

Starters chirping on startup is common.

Man do I miss working on Audis.