RS246.com Forum :: The World's #1 Audi R, S and RS Enthusiast Community

i'm hoping to have a look at a 1999 S4 at the weekend.
Any advice on what to check ?
I know that the turbos are the main thing, but how do you check them ?

Thanks
Nodds

Noise, exhaust smoke and service history is about as far as you can go. IMO

I just bought an S4 a month ago. I found this on AW, it was very helpful: http://forums.audiworld.com/s4/msgs/1407640.phtml

There are a few other things I wished I'd looked out for:

1) Check out the mileage, you may have a big service coming up (I bought mine with 77k so just been through the costly 80k service!)
2) Check that the cambelt has been replaced (I think this is every 40k, but you can search on the forum)
3) If there are any warning lights on the computer, ask about them. I had the washer fluid level warning on mine. Thought the guy was just too lazy to fill up his washer fluid... turned out to be a cracked washer pump. Got quoted £220 labour + parts from Audi! (although you could fix this much cheaper yourself)

I'd also advise that if you're not used to driving a powerful car, take someone along with you that is. It's easy to get over-awed with the power if you aren't used to it, and you may find yourself missing out on even straight forward issues with the ride. I was lucky enough to have a mate who drives an M5 to take it for a spin.

Good luck mate, hope it works out for you like mine did!

a recent MRC check will show the owner has looked after their car, or buy one from the classified section on here, as we tend to look after our cars.

obviously a big fat wad of receipts will also show you that work has been carried out.

whats the spec and mileage of the one your looking at?

Thanks for the info
The mileage is just at 77k so theres a big service around the corner
forgive my stupidity but what is and MRC check

Nodds

An MRC health check. They are a company on oxford who specialise in Audi S4's/Rs4's ect. They advertise in the top right hand corner of this website.

Let us know how you get on...

Quite a common thing people miss is that a cambelt not only needs replacing at 80k but ALSO after 5 years... whichever is sooner. Bear this in mind if you are checking a car that is not near the 80k mark.

I think when checking a car it helps to ask questions from the owner like ahve they ever suffered a boost leak, have they replaced the MAF etc. I think it should be no different when buying an S4 to any other car... the crucial bit is to get it to a 2.7t specialist AFTER you have bought it. If you bought it and it made no funny noises and seems to drive fairly smoothly, all you need to do is get the common faults then checked so you know you have several thousand miles of happy driving ahead of you.

I bought mine from a dealership as an approved used car "as good as new" - yeah they had touched up the odd paint chip and bit of trim that was not great, but the common faults were present. Thanks to RS246.com I paid a visit to MRC only to find my MAF needed replacement (Car was a W reg with 36k on the clock) DV needed replacing and the car had a boost leak. Gauranteed unless you are buying from someone that has recently had common 2.7t faults checked you will have faults to contend with. But this is normal and should not put you off the car. Follow the general rules of car purchase then get the car to a specialist.

THings to check on top of what has been mentioned above is knocking noise coming from the front suspension. Try to drive on a bumpy/pothole ridden road at low speed (10mph) and gently go over dips, bumps and sharp edges in the road. If you get a knocking noise that could result in a £500+ (Dealer) 300+(Specialist) bill replacing front suspension arms. Most cars have one or two... we are lucky enough to have 4 on each of the front wheels. Each of these have 2 ball joins (I think) and these are prone to wear and cause knocking which is HUGELY annoying.

There is also this VERY handy S4 buyers guide here:

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/downloads/ ... _Guide.pdf

You will need to be a member of www.audi-sport.net to access this I think, so sign up to the forums and get reading.

Good luck with the purchase.

Good post, arms have one ball joint but who cares!

Nodds wrote:i'm hoping to have a look at a 1999 S4 at the weekend.
Any advice on what to check ?
I know that the turbos are the main thing, but how do you check them ?

Thanks
Nodds

ive got one for sale its had everthing done to it ..all work done by mrc too much to list pm if you like or anybody whoting one ......

Thanks again for all the info

rjb just in case this one doesn't work out gives some details of your one

Nodds wrote:Thanks again for all the info

rjb just in case this one doesn't work out gives some details of your one

ive got it on a register on this site somewhere.. its got k4s rs4 intercoolers.. i sent over £8000 k on it .pm me for my number,, i can tell lots more,,,,
p.s onley selling it to get a rs4
plus ive got a s3 if anybody wonts it