Good car? I am looking at one for $5500, it just had a $3500 service, head
redone, new belts and water pump. It's silver w/black nice shape w/174k,
good deal or pass?

 

Curt,
Hmmmm..."head redone"....Blown t-belt? What kind of records does it come
with? Has it been modified (ie: chipped?)?
If the t-belt went, the engine would have bashed the valves - depending on
what the car and engine was doing at the time (static idle vs. high rpm
freeway driving), you could be looking at a car where the owner had the
service facility just slap it together to recoup some of the cost of a
super-expensive servicing. Those S4 engines are not cheap to fix...and are
even more expensive to fix properly.
If you are set on the car, have the engine thoroughly checked out - pressure
test the coolant system, and pressure test (both compression and leakdown)
the cylinders. Check (what little you can see of) the piston crowns to see
if there are any places where the valves struck. If the engine truly
ingested some of the valves, the hot side of the turbocharger is next
downstream (possible damage) and the resultant filings may gave migrated
into the cat (you might be able to have the cat pulled to verify this).
Does it have a K&N? Plan on replacing the MAF sensor.
They (like most of our older Audis) are great cars if maintained properly -
but money pits if treated poorly. You might be better to buy one with a
known history from an "enthusiast" (note that I don't mean a "boy racer")at
www.s-cars.org - higher entry fee, but years of worry-free motoring ahead.
Cheers!
Steve Sears
1987 Audi 5kTQ - DIY S-Car....not.
1980 Audi 5k - 5000S...hey, it's an "S" car!
1962 and '64 Auto Union DKW Junior deLuxes - S(low) car......
(SPAM Blocker NOTE: Remove SHOES to reply)
"CB" <brown.curt@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:HgnYb.204756$U%5.1127153@attbi_s03...
> Good car? I am looking at one for $5500, it just had a $3500 service, head
> redone, new belts and water pump. It's silver w/black nice shape w/174k,
> good deal or pass?
>
>

 

CB writes:

>Good car? I am looking at one for $5500, it just had a $3500 service, head
>redone, new belts and water pump. It's silver w/black nice shape w/174k,
>good deal or pass?

I had a 94 S4 - basically the same car. I hit a deer one dark night in
Western Mass. Blew all 20 valves and bent the cam shaft. They replaced
everything from the head gasket on up. New head, new valves and all the
hardware, new cams (both). When I got it back, it had cost the insurance
company around $20K. The car is still running fine (belt changed again) in the
hands of my 20 yo grandson.

Take the 93 to a mechanic (technician) and pull the plugs and have a look see.
Also, do a compression test. If everything looks ok, well....... I'd probably
buy it just to fool around in. It's a great car and at $5.5k I should think a
bargain.
Dave

http://hometown.aol.com/davplac/myhomepage/index.html