Well I've posted a few questions, and yesterday I bought my first German car, a 1999.5 A4 1.8t Quattro, with 5-speed, sport package, cold weather package, and 110k miles. Pretty happy with it. $4650.

After it got dark on the way home to Ohio, from North Carolina where I bought it, I noticed that the passenger side low beam is not bright. It shines, but like a light bulb instead of like a beam of light. I suspect the bulb isn't firmly fixed in place to react with the reflective properties inside the headlight housing. I played with it today, I'll see tonight if its shining properly. I also need to buff that lens - though that's not what is causing the dimness.

The cruise control doesn't work, but the stalk control has a piece broken off, so hopefully that is the only problem there. The dealer dropped the price from what we had agreed on previously when that was discovered.

The speedometer turns out to be temperamental. It ticks up and down by increments instead of a smooth motion. And at times it has settled at 10 - 20 mph lower than actual speed. Not sure what the issue is there.

Last issue is the coolant temp gauge. It's showing almost completely over to the cold end all the time -- but the car is able to heat the interior just fine, so I'm not sure what's up with that. Any ideas?

Otherwise, everything else works and is in VERY good condition. I got to talk with the previous owner. They traded for a newer Audi convertible, and they own / have owned multiple Audis. They also have a VW Phaeton. He seems to have kept good maintenance on the car, which is one of the things that pulled me to this particular A4 even though it was 7 hours away from me.

I think I may take it into German Autowerks here in Ohio for them to look the whole thing over.

On to the pics!!








The dealer ^decal will be coming off ASAP. I mean, they were really good folks (I don't often enjoy spending time with used car salesmen), but that decal doesn't belong there.

And on the Blue Ridge Parkway....


By the way, I had been told that these are "the regular old wheels, standard equipment for that year" - turns out, they are the Sport wheels for years 1998-1999.5. Thanks to **BaseDrifter** for the link with that info ( http://ctny.audiworld.com/mark/a4/diff/ ). I then found that confirmed elsewhere, and the car's original window sticker confirms it has the Sport Package.

 

Very nice! But I must say the price is a tad high, oh well, you usually get what you pay for! If you're having multiple problems with you're cluster, it might be the cluster itself, you could also check out the wiring. I have a cruise/headlight stalk if you find that you do need it!

 

Yeah I was interested in what forum members would say about the price. Knowing some history of the previous owner, and the overall condition, is what made me okay with it. But interested in hearing more opinions as well.

 

The price is very high for the mileage but considering the car has a clean interior and surprisingly nice exterior, you can argue it was worth it.

The search feature on the forum is gift from the Audi gods. Just type in a few keywords and tons of threads will pop up with similar if not identical problems that members have already found a solution for.

Goodluck.

 

Always loved Jaspis Green. Congrats on the buy - not sure if you know but the 1999.5 was the first year US A4 B5s had the projector one-piece headlights, "newest" taillights, updated interior...

I put one-piece e-code projectors into my 1999.0 and found the passenger side headlamp was also more dim. Maybe someone else can chime in but it could be an electrical issue. Annoying nonetheless.

Google for the cruise control issue. It's likely the stalk switch needs to be cleaned up, or the board needs to be resoldered (it's behind the glovebox).

The coolant temp sensor probably needs to be replaced. Not sure how easy it is on a 1.8T, but on the 2.8 you might want to pay a child $10 to help you unless you have small hands. The part is $30ish. Check ecstuning for the part, and make sure you get more than 1 new O-ring or you will hate yourself if you drop it..

Car looks nice

 

Thanks for all the input, folks! Skythe, I've just now bookmarked several pages discussing re-soldering the control board for the cruise, I hope to have time for that next week. And I found a couple pages about the coolant temp sensor as well.

On the headlight, I think it was a combination of the bulb being loose, and the headlight being aimed too low. I'm waiting til tonight when it gets dark to be sure I've got it fixed.

I'm still clueless on the speedometer. The other posts I'm finding on the speedo are mostly dealing with dead speedo and odometer. My odometer is fine and the speedo isn't dead, just ticking incrementally and sometimes inaccurate. So far I haven't found anyone with those symptoms. I may do a new post titled just for that.

 

Don't take my word on those, but that's where I'd look next.

Also, when your headlights have been on for an extended period of time, there's a high chance they won't turn back on once turned off. The combi switch has a tendency to get hot as there's no relay for that particular circuit. The plastic melts and the spring-loaded contacts aren't able to move freely.

So you know this is more than likely going to happen, check this out really quick:
AudiWorld Tech Articles
Then this:
https://www.audiforums.com/forum/diy...cement-178973/

You can get the cleaning and basic reassmbly down to about 20 minutes. I actually did it in a gas station parking lot once. You could also buy a new switch with new plastic. The problem might not come back for a while, but it's also $130.

 

HA!! Thanks for the heads up, I'll read up and get myself ready!