S2 Avant: Back to Life or move her on?

[Michel]

Morning...
I'm hoping to get a bit of a feel for what to do with my S2 ABY Avant...
A ruby red 148,000 miler, chipped at aosme point in her life and since I bought her back in 2002 I used AmD towork on her.

About three years ago, having had the turbo rebuilt, case timecerted as a coil was ejected the re-map ensured that the combustion gases were no longer stayinhg topside and she failed teh MOt on emissions. AmD were proposing a complete new engine at the time ($+++++) asthey didn't fancy a rebuild.

For various reasons I decieded to store her instead of getting it sorted....big mistake. She was stored in a nice garage...and run regularly toensure all was still working. Due to another car needing the space she was moved outside around Christmas.

I'm now looking to see if its a realistic proposition to get her back running and on the road or whether to let her go. I don't need a car day to day (hence why she was parked up at the time) and even when restored would be a weekend trip car.

Other than engine trouble she is in pretty good condition considering her age (M plate, 1995 model, non airbag) and I certainly enjoyed having such a effortlessly rapid car.

So... what to do.. not certain of engine rebuild costs these days and if MRC are still donig them, they are the closest to me in Oxford and values seems quite variable... good low mileage cars are high but others seem to be in a big range. I am about as handy mechanically as a blind man with no hands so it would all need to be done for me.

My heart says restore her and enjoy the ride again.. part of my head say pass on onto somebody here who can do the work and get her back on the road and get a 'sensible' car instead (something that has a 30+ mpg capability!!!)

If anyone has a great idea I'd love to hear it..

Thanks again.

[Acidburn]

worth keeping hold of, don't loose the faith, cheapest thing to get it on the road is take it to someone like quattronutter on here and ask him to check it over and let you know if/whats needed then go from there. If it is a rebuild then depending if its top end or complete that can be sorted and advised.

Avants are getting rarer as more and more are getting broken so finding one you know the history of won't be cheap.

[s2_bo]

Sounds like the car may just need a remap, take it to mrc and have them look it over, they can put it on the rollers and remap it for you with the current hardware and that may save the engine needing a rebouild.

Just because one AMD retailers says the engine needs a rebuild or even replacing doesnt mean that its true!!
Always worth getting an opinion from an expert.

Good luck.

[Michel]

Cheers,

I'm leaning towards getting it to mrc.
The clouds of white smoke on the over run were a hint that something was amiss and I'm notsure a remap is enough.

Thanks again.

[dunstan]

Im in london too. I was thinking of a car to swap the engine into my '84 80 quattro.

I dont mind if the engine needs work as id be doing a build anyhow. If you were to sell it what sort of money were you thinking?

[S2central.net]

You dont need to go anywhere 'fancy' like AMD or MRC - any decent mechanic will be able to determine if cylinder compression and/or headgasket is good.

White smoke could be a headgasket issue allowing water to get into the chambers. Outside chance it could be turbo related.

Even if the car needs a new headgasket - a good independent Audi place with experience on these engines will not charge the earth... get new water pump, belts & tensioners at the same time.

If one or more of the spark plug threads are not airtight - then again - plenty of machine shops should be able to repair for decent money.

In both cases - get a few quotes and try to get some referrals from the forum to trusted local places if possible.

Ballpark I would suggest the head gasket & belt renewal would be in £400-500 range all in... price would increase if anything nasty was found and/or you wanted to upgrade to ARP headbolts for example.

You will not need to open / rebuild the bottom end of the engine unless something really dramatic has happened like some metal ingress that has scored the piston bore - or a knackered oil pump - or worn bearings.