The £900 Audi 1.8T Sport - What could go wrong?
Discussion
Welcome readers to my new purchase - a £900 2003 Audi 1.8T Sport in grey.
It came in as a trade in at my gf's dad's work and as I am in need of a car he called me to let me know about it. I bought it unseen or tested, but he had a look over it etc (he is a mechanic) and aside from a few issues its not too bad. This is fitted with the BFB 163bhp engine.
The good bits;
110k miles, Sport model, rear blind's, big boot, 4 doors, engine, wheels.
The not so good bits;
The heating system always blows hot air, it needs a new window switch pack (not urgent, its just the rear windows that dont work unless the cut switch is held down), the interior is in dire need of a clean, tyres will need replacing at some point in the next month or so, a few dents and a bit of rust above the rear doors, and a suspension creek, EML light on (Air recirc pump issue)
The plan is to deep clean the interior, give the exterior a good clean, order some tyres, give it a service, find out the source of the suspension creek, sort the air recirc issue and sort the heating system. The window switch pack can wait.
Looking around these seem to fetch upwards of £1500, so even if I have to put £300 or so into it then I've still got a cheap car for the daily duties. I am actually staggered at what I have bought for shed money.
Here are the photo's!
Over all I am pretty happy with it.
It came in as a trade in at my gf's dad's work and as I am in need of a car he called me to let me know about it. I bought it unseen or tested, but he had a look over it etc (he is a mechanic) and aside from a few issues its not too bad. This is fitted with the BFB 163bhp engine.
The good bits;
110k miles, Sport model, rear blind's, big boot, 4 doors, engine, wheels.
The not so good bits;
The heating system always blows hot air, it needs a new window switch pack (not urgent, its just the rear windows that dont work unless the cut switch is held down), the interior is in dire need of a clean, tyres will need replacing at some point in the next month or so, a few dents and a bit of rust above the rear doors, and a suspension creek, EML light on (Air recirc pump issue)
The plan is to deep clean the interior, give the exterior a good clean, order some tyres, give it a service, find out the source of the suspension creek, sort the air recirc issue and sort the heating system. The window switch pack can wait.
Looking around these seem to fetch upwards of £1500, so even if I have to put £300 or so into it then I've still got a cheap car for the daily duties. I am actually staggered at what I have bought for shed money.
Here are the photo's!
Over all I am pretty happy with it.
Looks good, a smart colour and not a high mileage. Some new, decent tyres and a full clean shouldn't take you too much past the magic £1k and then you can see exactly what bits of bodywork need to be sorted and which are just minor battlescars - fingers crossed the heater, windows and EML fixes are just cheap replacement parts to swap over - if so you've won a watch!
Keep in with the gf's dad though, just in case!
Keep in with the gf's dad though, just in case!
bobby_vimto said:
Looks good, a smart colour and not a high mileage. Some new, decent tyres and a full clean shouldn't take you too much past the magic £1k and then you can see exactly what bits of bodywork need to be sorted and which are just minor battlescars - fingers crossed the heater, windows and EML fixes are just cheap replacement parts to swap over - if so you've won a watch!
Keep in with the gf's dad though, just in case!
Its got a few dents on the nsr, probably cost around £200 in paint and dent removal to tidy up. The Air recirc I can get removed and mapped out.Keep in with the gf's dad though, just in case!
Windows work, its just the master switch. The heater is the main annoyance lol.
Gonna give it a clean up tomorrow.
Hahaha, I'm getting him some drinks for getting it so cheap for me!
Seats have been given their first, of what I expect to be many, many cleans.
Discovered that it has an impressive oil leak as well. It will be getting rolling oil changes until I get time to get it looked at. Bought a nee wiper blade for it today that doesn't fit. Hopefully I'll get the right one tomorrow from euros.
The blowers blow cold when the car is cold. I reckon it was sucking in warm air from under the bonnet.
Had my first drive of it today. It's not going to set any records but it wasnt too bad. Clutch is a little high but it doesn't slip.
Shed motoring
Discovered that it has an impressive oil leak as well. It will be getting rolling oil changes until I get time to get it looked at. Bought a nee wiper blade for it today that doesn't fit. Hopefully I'll get the right one tomorrow from euros.
The blowers blow cold when the car is cold. I reckon it was sucking in warm air from under the bonnet.
Had my first drive of it today. It's not going to set any records but it wasnt too bad. Clutch is a little high but it doesn't slip.
Shed motoring
TheAngryDog said:
Discovered that it has an impressive oil leak as well. It will be getting rolling oil changes until I get time to get it looked at.
Have a good look at the dipstick tube as these are plastic and get very brittle when they are older. Mine cracked at the bottom and did a good job of spraying oil all over the engine.This had the knock on effect of running the engine low on oil and the pickup in the sump picked up all the sludge and now the low oil pressure light comes on when the oil is hot.
These engines are known for sludging up so my advice would be to regularly change the oil with a good quality synthetic and use the genuine oil filters as these are a little bit bigger and hold a bit more oil.
To drop the sump is a good 8 hour job as the subframe is in the way....
Has this got Audi's version of climatronic climate control or something along those lines. I had the same symptoms in Passat of roughly that age, it was initially diagnosed as the hot/cold motors but turned out to be the actual control panel in the dash. Got one off of eBay for £30-40 mark and that fixed it.
Joey Deacon said:
TheAngryDog said:
Discovered that it has an impressive oil leak as well. It will be getting rolling oil changes until I get time to get it looked at.
Have a good look at the dipstick tube as these are plastic and get very brittle when they are older. Mine cracked at the bottom and did a good job of spraying oil all over the engine.This had the knock on effect of running the engine low on oil and the pickup in the sump picked up all the sludge and now the low oil pressure light comes on when the oil is hot.
These engines are known for sludging up so my advice would be to regularly change the oil with a good quality synthetic and use the genuine oil filters as these are a little bit bigger and hold a bit more oil.
To drop the sump is a good 8 hour job as the subframe is in the way....
civicduty said:
Has this got Audi's version of climatronic climate control or something along those lines. I had the same symptoms in Passat of roughly that age, it was initially diagnosed as the hot/cold motors but turned out to be the actual control panel in the dash. Got one off of eBay for £30-40 mark and that fixed it.
Yes it does (doesn't say climatronic but it is their version). I thinking of getting the system checked first with a regas and pressure check, make sure that side is all working. Of it is and it's not cold then I'll try replacing the climatronic unit. It switches to auto mode, it just doesn't kick in the ac5potTurbo said:
I thought your GF's dad was a mechanic?
A gasket here and there can't be too much from a factors?
STILL good value.
He is, but I dont want to trouble him just yet with the Exxon Valdez lol.A gasket here and there can't be too much from a factors?
STILL good value.
I think it might be coming from the cam cover gasket. I can smell it burning so it must be running down onto the manifold.
Just fitted a pair of Halfords wiper blades. At least these fit, and less than £18 with my trade card so cheaper than Euro's. Saves pissing about with a set from eBay or such like that also wouldnt fit.
Those seats will never come up good. I had an A2 with all that same fabric and I couldn't get the stains out, tried everything foam cleaners to steam cleaners
In the end I just bought a full leather interior for £100.
A lot easier to keep clean and gave an extra bit of eh... luxury.
In the end I just bought a full leather interior for £100.
A lot easier to keep clean and gave an extra bit of eh... luxury.
Edited by velocefica on Wednesday 19th August 01:03
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