B5 S4 Avant CEL Troubles

[Miotke]

Hey everyone,

I'm looking at picking up a 2001 B5 S4 Avant which I was really excited about until I received an email from the seller stating that there is a CEL with multiple codes(I'll list them below). I contacted Achtuning(a local VW/Audi tuning shop) and they said repairs will cost about $2500. With your experience and knowledge is this a car I should run away from?

CEL Codes:
17863 Exhaust Gas Temp Sensor 1 Implausible Signal

17866 Exhaust Gas Temp Sensor 2 Implausible Signal

16805 Warm up Catalyst Bank 1 Efficiency Below Threshold

16826 Evap Control System Small Leak


Thanks!
Andrew

[rdcyclist]

Yeah, that's a bummer. The EGT's will run about 500 bucks if you get new ones. I think there's a guy listing a pair on new ones in the classifieds for 300 bucks. The 16805 might go away with new EGT's. It did on one of my cars and didn't on the other. The 16826 Evap is probably a bad vacuum hose some where. Someone else here probably knows more about that one than me.

Is Washington doing smog check now? If not, the car will drive pretty fine with those codes.

[Miotke]

Thanks rdcyclist for the response. We're not doing smog checks, but I don't want the motor to run poorly. He's already asking a premium for the car and with the CELs it doesn't sound worthwhile. I"m just looking for opinions.

[ruiz]

I wouldn't let those codes scare you away if the price is right and the car looks good. You could do those yourself or have a different independent shop do it for much less.

The EGTs will be the costliest from that list. The 16805 could be from an o2 sensor and if its not that then the cat is probably toast or there's an exhaust leak.

[Miotke]

Cool, these responses help a lot.

The car has 120k on the clock, imola yellow, avant, 6speed for $12k asking price.

[quattronation]

The warmup cat fault is nothing to worry about. The O2 sensor placement on these cars makes it so they only measure the precat efficiency. If the fault returns you can space out the rear o2 sensor with a spark plug anit-fouler and that code will never return. The part is like $5 at autozone. As for the EGT sensors, I would just chip the car and have them coded out. Otherwise they aren't a terrible job to do on a car without secondary air. The evap leak could be and most likely is a bad evap purge valve. These are all small things and I wouldnt let it change your purchase decision on a that car but to me 12k is a premium for a 120k b5, avant or not. For that money it shouldnt need a thing.

[Miotke]

The warmup cat fault is nothing to worry about. The O2 sensor placement on these cars makes it so they only measure the precat efficiency. If the fault returns you can space out the rear o2 sensor with a spark plug anit-fouler and that code will never return. The part is like $5 at autozone. As for the EGT sensors, I would just chip the car and have them coded out. Otherwise they aren't a terrible job to do on a car without secondary air. The evap leak could be and most likely is a bad evap purge valve. These are all small things and I wouldnt let it change your purchase decision on a that car but to me 12k is a premium for a 120k b5, avant or not. For that money it shouldnt need a thing.

That's what I'm afraid of, is that the price is really high for what the car currently needs. Lets face it, I'll be replacing the exhaust regardless and probably have a tune done anyways.

[RocksForsSale]

2500 lol, must be nice. Get a tune that codes the egt and rear 02s out and find the egt leak. Probably run you 200 bucks tops.


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[ruiz]

Yeah 12k is most definitely a premium. It's a buyer's market for these cars right now and avants are harder to find for sure but I would hold out. He will come down after a while.

[Miotke]

Yeah 12k is most definitely a premium. It's a buyer's market for these cars right now and avants are harder to find for sure but I would hold out. He will come down after a while.

My thoughts exactly...

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate everyone's input.