So my neighbor has a 2000 Audi A4 all wheel drive, and he's having some problems with it. He mumbled something or other about all the seals on the timing chains and belt going bad (it has both??!?) and he had those replaced, and now it's got an incredible vacuum leak somewhere and the car will not idle.

He says he hates the car and regrets buying it. He might put it up for sale soon...cheap. I like it because it looks cool and I love European 4 door saloon cars.

My question is if I were to buy this car, what else can I expect might go wrong with it? Also, are these cars pretty easy to work on for a DIY mechanic? To give you some idea of my mechanical aptitude, I have several new and old Peugeots and an Audi 5000 that I keep running. Clutch changes, fuel injection, computer, and ignition work do not bother me. I've also built up rotary engines and small block Chevy's from scratch, although those are pretty dang different.

What do you guys think a car like this is worth? I do not know the mileage.

 

Its not all that hard if you know where things are and how to fix them. If you get codes in the ecu, its easier to find the problems. As for problems, read the first few pages and you will see the most common ones pop up atleast 2-3times

 

Also, I'd buy a scanner for the car. Do these use the OBD2?

 

You want a ross-tech.com cable. It does alot more than justa regular ob2 scanner. Go there and see for yourself

 

if you are familiar with euro cars, yes, if you arent and dont like to DIY, no...

these cars are fun, great looking, reliable cars but they are very quirky... its just a matter of know how and these forums are a great help! www.ross-tech.com will make your life much easier!

 

I got no problem with Euro cars (I love French cars - and they made some crazy complicated stuff). The newest car I've ever worked on was a 94 Pontiac Grand Prix though and didn't know if a 2000 Audiwould be impossible to work on without dozens of special tools.

The owner of the car is a smart guy who's a good mechanic but he's more like carb and points guy.

 

Get the ross-tech cable and download vagcom software from them, and life will get easier. Read a ton on here, and get a decent Torx assortment, and with that, input from others here, and the mechanical aptitude you have from your other cars, you should be fine.