Looking at a 99 S4 Avant with 63K on the clock.. help

[Phat_S]

Hi !

I´m looking at a 99 S4 avant. It has 63K miles on the clock (100K km´s), and its turbos weren´t replaced yet. What should I look for in the car, and how can I know if I´m in danger of loosing the turbos, thus, having to replace them really soon..

Thanks !

[mikeyquattro]

if you can't hear the turbo's when the windows are shut, and they spool up in a nice whispy noise then the y should be ok!
I would that the cambelt should be on the done sooner than 80k miles as stated in the book, and also change the water pump

[Phat_S]

the cambelt was already done.. he didn´t replace the water pump though..

[Adas]

That's very unusual that the water pump wasn't changed during the cambelt change...I recently had to have my water-pump changed (a 99 Avante with 72k kms) and they recommended doing the belt as they had to basically take it off to get to the pump anyway...it's basically no additional labour to do both at the same time, it's just the cost of the additional part. If the pump isn't making a strange sound (like mine was) then you are probably ok.

As for turbos, it would be interesting to hear other peoples' experience - but I believe the turbos on the B5 S4s are pretty reliable? They are not high-compression turbos, and if you think about it, this car is putting out only 265BHP but it's a 2.7 litre V6 twin-turbo - you would expect a lot more power coming out of such a unit, so I don't think the turbos are under too much strain...I would be surprised if they need replacing before 200k kms...