Audi A6 1.8T Avant (aka "look at this pile of crap...")

[Toaster Pilot]

So, the trees in fellow PHer MuffDaddy's garden had an Audi growing in them and he wanted rid



Pic taken post removal - it's a 1999 A6 1.8T Avant with 192k miles. Exactly zero pounds were exchanged and it was mine. Complete with new forms of life growing in the interior:



Never fear, the Eastern European car wash is here!



Paintwork is gleaming too, it has a few battle scars but what 14 year old 192k mile car doesn't?? Stacks of history including a turbo at 160k.

Couple of part worn tyres sorted out the punctured and damaged rears.

What best to do with an unknown car? Why, take it on an 850 mile round trip! It has been to Scotland and back with me this weekend and performed utterly flawlessly. 38MPG too which I'm shocked with, better than my 1.4 Kia Rio!

Few niggles:

Temperature gauge only works when it feels like it, sometimes going back to 0 whilst driving.

Headlights are woeful. They are cloudy and need polishing or replacing if that doesn't work.

Armrest and load cover are both stuck. Passenger seatbelt locks itself randomly.

Rear speakers and subwoofer are inop / poor

Manifold gasket is leaking badly.

Nothing major really and I'm really happy with the car! More pics soon, and updates of how it's going!

Edited by Toaster Pilot on Sunday 19th January 23:44

[Toaster Pilot]

The seats are 100000x better now and to be fair the lighting was poor when I took the after photo. I'm going to steam clean / shampoo them shortly though

[Toaster Pilot]

It's not slow (although walking is faster than a 1.9D Felicia it's replacing) but it's not exactly an S3 either

[Toaster Pilot]

Manifold leak appears to be where it joins to the turbo rather than the head. Either a gasket or it's cracked (cue "danger to manifold" pics), not enough access to tell without taking it off.

Might need to find a garage for this one.

[Toaster Pilot]

Tiberius said:

Use toothpaste as polish on the headlights, brings em up like new

Way ahead of you - armed with some 25p Tesco Value toothpaste they're looking better after one quick pass. Will have another go soon.

[Toaster Pilot]

[Toaster Pilot]

Going to an Audi dealer this afternoon to pick up a turbo to manifold gasket - £3.30 which considering I can't be 100% sure the factors are ordering the right part, isn't bad for a genuine one!

Decided to grow a pair and strip it down myself, can't justify getting a mechanic to do much to a free car really can I?

Ordered a new set of number plates and a windscreen chip repair kit (don't have glass cover and there's a chip on the passenger side that'll at least be an advisory on a MOT)

[Toaster Pilot]

I changed the one on my Felicia and that was pretty easy apart from the coolant loss, I assume it's similar. Not quite sure where it's located mind

[Toaster Pilot]

I looked a bit out of place in my knackered old Felicia at the Audi dealership earlier (the A6 is off the road until I sell the Felicia later this week and change the insurance over)

Got the gasket (was actually £3.85 inc vat) so I'm hoping to get the exhaust leak sorted this weekend. Need to start investigating the other little niggles too (speakers, load cover, armrest, etc) - looking forward to driving it again once it's back on the road, it's a shock going back to the Felicia!

[Toaster Pilot]

I seem to have brightened up the lights a fair bit using toothpaste, I'm going to keep polishing away with it and then fit a set of brighter bulbs (I have Bosch "+90%" bulbs in my Felicia and they are noticeably better than standard, so I will get those again if ECP have them on offer, sure they were £9 or something)

The headlights do steam up a bit inside too which can't be helping, so I might need to take them out and try to reseal them with something.

[Toaster Pilot]

What kind of condition is it in, where are you and how much are you after for it? Might be easier than cleaning it!

[Toaster Pilot]

Cheers - I'll have a look and a think.

The seats have electric height adjustment, the rest is manual. Are the seats held in with stupid Torx or Hex head bolts? Utter pain in the ass every time I've ever tried to change seats in a car because of them!

[Toaster Pilot]

Does your A6 have cruise control btw? I'm investigating a retrofit....

[Toaster Pilot]

As far as I can tell, as long as your car has a fly by wire throttle and EPC, you need this http://www.kufatec.co.uk/shop/en/audi/a6/a6-4b/cru... , a cruise control stalk and turning it on via VAGCOM - still trying to confirm that though before I start buying stuff!

[Toaster Pilot]

It seems that this age of A6 needs wiring to be added, as it's not present in cars that don't have CC, but the function is there in the ECU, so after fitting additional wiring, you are correct.

Shame I can't find a UK source of the wiring, mind.

[Toaster Pilot]

Vince70 said:

If you can't fit cruise control I would send it back and ask for a refund or at least threaten SOGA lol.

.

Interesting point about trying Audi for parts, will bear it in mind

[Toaster Pilot]

Removal of the manifold was going well until one of the studs holding it to the turbo refused to come out - it's not broken (yet!) but it's now pissing down with rain so I've had to stop for a bit

[Toaster Pilot]

I'll have a look at how hard that'd be

Still not got the stud out - bought a set of stud puller sockets from halfords and all they did was damage the thread and not move it.

Heat and violence tomorrow I fear. Drunk time now.

[Toaster Pilot]

teejay212 said:

TP - how did you get rid of the interior musty smell with the seats like that ?? TJ

The hand car wash guys used some kind of stuff that made it much better, I'm not sure. It's not perfect but far better!

Manifold is off! Used heat from a crappy gas soldering iron and got it moving using mole grips. Then whacked the smallest of my Irwin Bolt Grip sockets over the top of the stud and off it came!

Need new studs and a couple of manifold nuts so I'll call Audi tomorrow. Can't imagine them being stupidly expensive.

The gasket is a bit crispy but I'm not 100% sure a leak that bad was coming from there - might need to change the turbo to cat gasket too . Manifold isn't cracked

[Toaster Pilot]

The studs used are discontinued and the parts catalog now lists a bolt instead. £7.58 each for a M10x50 bolt

Went to a local hardware place and bought 3 bolts, washers and some replacements for the manifold-head connection for £3 all in. Refitting tonight hopefully if the weather stays dry!