Should I buy a B5 A4?!

[Mellis46]

Originally Posted by spink

or it could be the connections on the connector that goes into the immobilzer box

Got home from work, raining but thought I'd have a quick look for the box. White with a black plug? Took the circuit board out of the box, looked well, like a circuit board..! plugged the plug back in and held the 2 together firmly while turning the key... Light went out! Every subsequent time the same, Was only about 50% success rate before. Tentatively, spink you are a genius!

[Mellis46]

Originally Posted by Flying Frank

hope there aren't too many surprises lurking away out of sight.

Thought I'd update this thread as its been a torrid time with the A4, albeit I think there is light at the end of the tunnel now. This car was never meant to be any kind of restoration, but with hindsight it should have been apparent that it would need time and money spent on it!

Following the apparent success with the immobiliser problem I thought we might be home free. We weren't! The light started to come on again at random intervals. Also the turbo seemed to disappear when on the motorway, only re-appearing following switch off. Also the heater still wasn't working and there was an apparent lack of coolant in the header tank, along with a sort of splatter underneath the vent.

Problem One! After much googling and you-tubing I diagnosed "sticky vane" - basically the turbo was full of crap and needed taking apart / replacing. Or did it?! I happened across a cracking video involving a £3.25 can of Mr Muscle...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbUAfzi5BdM

Different engine orientation, but after much reading was convinced enough that it may work... And it did! On to

Problem Two I have come across the heater not working on both my 90s. Not a pleasant job on that car and certainly not one I wanted to attempt on the A4. But with winter looming and the prospect of some severe ribbing over selling a perfectly serviceable Peugeot in favour of a FUBARed A4:



The matrix was goosed, leaking and rusty.




Thankfully it was cheap enough for a Nissens replacement. Would have gone genuine but for

Problem Three This was a head scratcher. The coolant pipes would pressurise very quickly following startup, and there was always a ton of pressure in the header tank, which had turned black. I tried a different pressure cap as that had worked on the KA years ago, put a tank on it at the same time as the plastic was completely opaque.

While I was diagnosing the heater I tried flushing the cooling system and flushed every area through including the oil cooler, radiator, engine etc, the blackness seemed to be tiny particles. Exhaust soot! When the pressure increased too much the car would blow this soot / coolant mixture out of the header tank vent, causing coolant loss. Crap. There was only one explanation albeit it took me a couple of weeks to accept it. Head gasket failure.

I was really considering fooking the car off, there is no love lost between me and the A4, we have only had it since July. I was not going to admit defeat though, I called in a friend and we got the engine dismantled, head sent away and skimmed and rebuilt within a week. I replaced the timing belt, water pump, head bolts and fitted a fatter gasket to make up for the skim.

The thing was a bugger to bleed! We got it going though.

While the thing was off the road I replaced the seriously worn and ripped carpet. Out with the old:



In with the new:



I even treated myself to a fischer cassette box for the centre console as I figured I needed cheering up:





So after all that, and paying out probably the purchase price of the car again, the A4 is back on the road....!

Some more pics:






Hopefully now it will repay us by being fairly reliable...he says as the immobiliser light flashes...!

[Kenquattro]

Fair play for cracking on with it, Mark. I still have nightmares over my A4.

[vorsprung durch technik]

Sorry to hear of your woes with the A4. You've done well persevering despite the huge setback.
Fingers crossed it repays you with spades and spades of reliability here on in.

[slacky]

A couple of very well sorted cars

[Flying Frank]

Yup, I'll second and third the two above remarks....you certainly have stuck with it and I take my hat off to you. The Mr Muscle trick I also read about and was thinking of trying on a TDI Golf I had a while back. However, it got sold ( to a dealer actually via eBay ) and the tin of Mr Muscle is still on a shelf in my garage.
I too really hope your efforts are rewarded by some trouble free motoring now, you deserve it.

My final comment is it would almost seem that all second hand cars being sold have some gremlin ( s ) coming with them and its a bit of a lottery just how evil the gremlins are and how honest the sellers are about the potential problems lurking in wait.

As always, Caveat Emptor...and I should know.

[Mellis46]

Cheers for the kind words gents, has been a real trial especially with the 90 and its hall sender being in the mix as well!!

I think the answer to my question in the thread title may however be "NO!!"

[quattrostyle]

Well done for keeping at it I know I wouldn't, but then I wouldn't have bought an A4 in the first place

Hope it does well for you from now on.

[John.]

Originally Posted by Mellis46

I happened across a cracking video involving a £3.25 can of Mr Muscle...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbUAfzi5BdM

Tried this as well on wife's old Octavia, thought nothing to loose......and result Wonder how many turbos have been unnecessarily replaced?
(to be fair I think I had to do it maybe 3 times?)

[Mellis46]

Twice for me, either wasnt brave enough the first time or it was the better pipe i crafted to go over the end of the nozzle second time around!!