Is it easy to work on the A4 1.8t awd. i am really thinking of getting one but i don't know crap about them. are they really expensive to work on? will i have to take to a dealer or someone who knows alot about them? it looks like there is really no space to work on these from top. will i have to work on it from bottom or rip the motor out to change a water pump. any info will help thanks

 

Depends on what you wanna do. There really isn't much you can't do by yourself IF your mechanically inclined and have the right tools. Say you wanna change the water pump, you'll have to remove the bumper and the front end just to get to it. There are plenty of do it yourself (DIY) articles to learn from, check the DIY section or go to Audiworld.com and check out the tech section. If your still not sure about something just ask the guys here, most of us would rather DIY than deal with the stealerships.

 

+ 1 a4mods.com has pretty good tutorials also.

 

Im pretty mechanically inclined i worked on my hondas for years but these are different and i just want to make sure i can work on them my self. also i looked at these on cardomain to see what people do to them and i never see any blow off valves. do they not use one. also when you say the front end do you mean the radiator support and all the other junk or just the front bumper. sorry

 

A4s don't use blow off valves (BOV), they use diverter valves (DV) because the turbo system is a closed loop (BOVs vent to the atmosphere). You will find lots of articles about this if you do a search on it.

When he says take off the front, he means the whole deal, not just the bumper. The timing belt is a real pain to do, but lots of people have done it themselves. This repair is very expensive on the Audi compared to say you old Hondas. Thats why people have done such a big project on their own. Stealership price is around $1500, but you can DIY for a few hundered bucks.

If you want to do some DIY stuff, a Bentley manual is a good investment. They have fully exploded views of assemblies, torque values for all the bolts, and instructions for tons of repair work that you may want to do. You can pick one up for $60 - $80.

 

The cars are not hard to work on. you just have to give your self time and buy a bentley manual.

 

where can i buy a bentley manual and is the timing belt something that breaks alot on these cars? sorry for asking a bunch of noob questions but, i really have no clue about these. im used to jdm honda crap but, i really want to get out of it and learn some other stuff. also do the diverter valves make the same kind of noise as the bov or are they queit? i just love my BOV on my civic and i really want that in my next project. thats one reason i like the A4 cause it comes turbo stock so there is not so much tuning. i really want to focus on the out side and the inside of the car and not so much the motor but i want it to run good. i am a big stickler on perfomance. i really just want to keep the motor stock except for a dress up kit and some carbon fiber stuff. and i also want to focus on the suspension too. on the civic it rides ok but i could have spent a little more on it. also is there anything that commonly goes out on the car or anything i should look out for when looking at used A4? thanks

 

Check out ebay or amazon.com for a cheap bentley manual. The timing belt and related parts should be changed around every 75k. Its not the belt thats usually faulty its the tensioner or roller, so the belt snaps and your looking at a $5000+ repair. So before you buy ask if the timing belt has been recently replaced, that'll save you some cash. You won't get the noticeable BOV sound, its not there for the sound right. The 1.8t has plenty of tuning potential which is only limited by your budget, check out the sponsor links. You'll find that an A4 with a stock sport suspension may ride even better than a civic with coilovers, and then theres the Quattro factor. Apart from the timing belt typical problems are...depending on the year the instrument cluster may have bad pixels, over 100k the control arms may get worn really bad and begin to squeak...can't think of anything else right now. As long as you properly maintain the car it'll run great.

 

$5000 for a timing belt. thats nuts. someone just said the dealer does it for $1500. these seem like pretty pricey cars to work on. i mean i can afford one and to mod it out but i don't know if i can afford it if it breaks. that is the only thing that is keeping me from getting one of these is the fear of it breaking. anyone who reads this let me know how many times your A4 1.8T has broke down, what broke on it and how much it cost you to get it fixed or fixed your self. thanks for answering all my noob questions

 

He is pointing out that if it breaks, it could cost $5k to fix the belt, in addition to the damaged parts that will also need to be replaced. This is why it's worth the investment to replace it BEFORE it breaks.