new to audi's need help!!!, please

[spiceweasel]

hi
go easy on me first post here!
just bought audi a4 2.4se t reg
got a few problems with it and as i bought it privately i have to make the best of it.
here goes.....
1) knocking on steering when i turn both ways( im having new cv joints fitted) is there anything else it could be im pretty much taking the garages word for this?
2) lots of wind noise inside cabin at motorway speeds?
3) cant get any radio reception at all?
4) volume control but having read through some posts it seems to be common, is there a head unt anyone reccomends that doesn't alter the look of the fascia too much?
5) heavy clutch pedal... is this normal for audi,s?
6) car seems nice and smooth but not sure if cambelts been changed, is there any indications of when its going to go?
7) car seems very high up, any way of lowering it and not altering the way it drives too much?
think thats it for now !!!
any help or advice on these or any other issues with this car would be greatly appreciated

[anthonyendsor]

I can't help with much of that, my only advice would be get the belt done asap, you won't know if it's going to fail, and it's certainly wise to do it as a precautionary measure, I wouldn't want the bill for rebuilding or replacing that engine.

Age of the belt is as relevant as mileage. There's a good chance knocking is CV joints if the garage say so but it could be bits of suspension and steering too. As long as the garage is half decent they're probably right. The track rod ends (I think) had to be replaced on my quattro before I took over it.

Wouldn't imagine they have particularly heavy clutches but my only experience of manual Audis are A3 1.6 and 1.8's. What kind of mileage has the car done? The clutch may be a little long in the tooth- how far up the travel of the pedal is the bite?

For suspension perhaps look to another fwd sportier model, someone else will probably know. I'd imagine shocks and springs are different for quattros since the rear end itself is. Also may need to carry over an anti-roll bar from such a model to make it drive the way it was intended.

Volume seems to be a problem with those concert head units. I looked into replacing my head unit, only I can't because someone has kindly wrecked the cage and locking mechanism so it's jammed, but I was looking at the Pioneer DEH4000UB that you can get in argos and 5000 that crops up on the web. Check argos for the exact name since there are a million with the similar name, anyway it lights up reasonably similar and looks quite discreet, no OTT flashy bits or silver plastic. Be aware though you need an aerial adapter, a VAG>ISO harness adapter and on most you need to bypass the amplifier because you have active rear speakers (or something to that effect) and you will blow them up without the bypass. And of course the DIN facia adapter since a DIN unit is some 30mm narrower than the concert headunit. You will also lose the display in the dashboard. If I were you I'd swap like for like and save a huge bill, and if you haven't already go a changer, pick one up or go for one of these alternative solutions with ipod leads and so on.

Edit:
Just to add, the aerial is heated rear screen element I believe- so check condition and make sure it's properly connected, not sure if it's a common problem, may be worth seeing how another headunit does.

Regards,

Tone

[spiceweasel]

thanks for the advice, think i'll look for a direct replacement for the stereo.
the car has 103000 miles not that much for an audi im led to believe?
the clutch bites about half way up, if i can sort the radio probs and the knocking at the front i'd be still fairly happy with the car,
i'll get a quote for a cambelt, any ideas wat sort of figure i should be looking for would be helpful?

[anthonyendsor]

Properly maintained the cars will go on and on, the engine should be in fine shape, but the truth is like any car, they need looking after and servicing, my car has been meticulously kept and still has had to have some TLC here and there. I think the thing with buying a 'prestige' car is that it's probably been looked after and had more spent on servicing than people would with a more throw-away run-about kind of car, but any car properly looked after can reach these mileages with no issues, and when you spread 100k over nearing 10 years, it's not a lot at all. If you don't know when it was last serviced I'd see about some fresh oil and a new filter too, not expensive really for the piece of mind. I don't really know how much a cam belt would be, obviously it depends where you take it and it'll be the north-side of £100 I'm sure. Being a clever vee six engine it's more complicated itself than on a inline four but in these cars the engine is longtitudinal meaning it is on the front and in theory is easier to work on than your average transverse (across the engine bay) engined car, where the cambelt is on the side and fighting for space with the inner wing, strut and various other bits and bobs.

[spiceweasel]

thanks very much for taking your time to answer, you certainly know your stuff, having drove the car for a few days i love it and feel its well worth spending the money on getting the things you said done, thanks again as i say any advice however trivial it may seem about this car i am interested in, thank you

[lonky]

Cam belts on the 2.4 are a bit of a pain to fit.

Make sure you change the water pump, tensioner and themostat at the same time.

the pump is driven by the belt, if it fails it will cost as much as the belt to change.

Belts last 4years or 80K on that engine from memory

will cost £4 - 500 to change by a decent specialist, who will tend to use decent OEM parts.

If the belt fails, then the bill to repair will match the value of the car

[anthonyendsor]

Ouch! Bit more than I anticipated! But then you'll be doing all those other bits at the same time. Just glad mine was all done before I had it, poor ol' Dad!

Glad you're enjoying the car, and if you look after it, it'll more than pay for itself. What kind of economy does that 2.4 return?

[spiceweasel]

thanks again guys, only had it for about a week and 2 days of that were in garage for new cv joints but rougly about 30 mpg, which i know isn't great but it isnt any worse than my old 2.0 litre vectra so i cant complain.
also noticed drivers door seems a bit out of line ( sticking out a bit when shut) is there an easy fix i could do or is it back to mr garage?

[anthonyendsor]

30's pretty impressive for normal driving, nearly all my driving is on the motorway although in awful M6 and M42 stand still and I got 28.2mpg measuring miles versus litres of fuel used, and the on board computer read 24.4! What's worse is the instantaneous economy is usually mid 30's at around 60mph depending on traffic and being light on the throttle, so the most damage is done when it's warming up! Have a look on here for other door alignment issues, it doesn't seem uncommon, our latch had to be lubricated because it didn't shut properly for a time but it appears to be out of alignment at some point...

[lonky]

2.4 Autos can do about 25 round town, 30 on a run. Obviously if you boot them then it's easy to drop that to low twentys all the time.

If the thermostat's gone then you can reduce the figures by another 3 - 4 mpg.

For some reason these engines run very rich when warming up