itzed

Hi,
This is my first of what I hope to be many posts in a new community. I've been a VW owner and fan for some time, and it's really likely that I might buy my first Audi tomorrow: A 1997 A6 with 118K. The car drives very well, and everything works at the present time. Body is in pretty good shape. It's been serviced by a local dealership and I have a printout of just about everything that has been done since 35K. I really WANT the car, but I'm just a little afraid of major $$$ in repairs. I'm pretty handy with cars, on my Jetta I changed my clutch, struts, tie rods, AC dryer, and some other stuff. I just don't know much about Audi. I guess I'm looking for some information about what most frequently goes wrong with these cars and some reassurance that fixing them is something within the means of a reasonable person (myself) who is willing to try. Vortex has been a great support for me with VW, but there's no real interest or help with Audi over there. I'm hoping this forum will be my Audi "crutch".

Ed

Audi Logic

I felt the same way you did making the switch form VW to audi, I have come to realize that these audi's are easier to work on than the passats I had they seem similar to the MKII VW's in some strange way. the suspension is pretty much the same but things like ignition switches timing belts water pumps are easier on the audi's, but then again I had the VR6 engine in my passat so that may have been my problem..

ignition switch is one problem but an easy fix
blown bulbs in the cluster is another.

the rest will be taken care of with proper maintainance..
invest in a vag-com if you don't already have one..

eR-quattro? (rob)

transmissions are about the only "weak point" that the average mechanically inclined human would have to turn over to a pro, but even they can be preserved with proper maintenance, and they DO shift very nicely when working properly. you WILL learn how to replace an ignition switch - which is neither hard nor expensive, and things generally go together in a pretty sensible way once you get used to the way the engineers were thinking when the made the decisions in the first place. i'm on C4 audi #4, and had a C5 2.7t thrown in in the middle. the C4 A6s serve their intended purpose in a safe, comfortable and predictable (if not exactly sporting) european way - and yes... this forum is AT LEAST a crutch... sometimes more like a wheelchair for me. welcome. r.

itzed

Thanks. I feel better already. I don't currently have a VAG-COM, nd it makes sence with the more electronics on the Audi I might need one. Is ebay the best place to find them?

Ed

itzed

Wow, nice people here! Speaking of trannies, when I test drove the A6 the only issue I could find at all was a very (and I mean VERY) slight "chatter" in the 1-2 upshift. It's an automatic. Only I would notice this - certainly no pasenger would. Everything else was a perfect and inperceptably smooth shift. Since this is my first quattro drive, I wasn't sure if this was the actual shift or the quattro mechanics. It didn't chatter bad or feel like a problem, it was just there ever so little.

Ed

eR-quattro? (rob)

at full lock turn (as in a u-turn from a red light). i would think that anything that you feel in a straight line would be more likely related to something else. it could be in the transmission itself, or SoOO many other possibilities. was it consistently the same 1/2 shift after 1/2 shift?

itzed

Yeah, only the 1-2 shift, pretty consistent. I'm probably making too much of it. Really, it was almost impreceptable.

islingtonaudi

online suppliers like blauparts and europeanautomotive.com for parts, you'll save a bundle and it won't make ownership such an ordeal.

Brdman*

i thought it was the transmission, but new spark plugs, wires and fuel filter fixed the problem.

Audicted

Do NOT buy your Vag-com on Ebay. You will get what U pay for. Use Ross Tech.