My daily 01 avant

[speedydtp247]

I'm back in a B5 A4 as I finally found the Santorin blue avant (totally stock) that I've been looking for. It's a 2001 with a manual transmission and a 2.8 V6, yeah yeah I know it's not the 1.8t but oh well, can't have everything you want. I'm not a fan of the interior color as I rather have black interior. I'm a long time Audi enthusiast as I bought my very 1st Audi on Dec 31, 2003 which was a 98.5 A4 quattro sedan with a manual transmission and 2.8 V6. Here is the rest of my Audi rides that I've bought in order: 91 CQ, 93 S4, 95.5 S6 avant, 93 S4, 97 A6 quattro avant (1st and last auto trans Audi I'll ever own) and 92 100CS quattro avant that had a 5 speed manual and ABZ swapped in.

My A4 sedan that I had, I installed a G1 supercharger kit with a front mount intercooler. Here are a few pics of that car.


91 CQ


93 S4


95.5 S6


93 S4


97 A6


92 100CS





Now here is a picture of my 01 A4 avant which I bought today.

[speedydtp247]

Here are some more pics of my A4


OMG do these seats suck! I eventually want to replace them with S4 seats. My question is, are the S4 seats Recaros and are the rear seats between the avant and sedans interchangeable? I eventually want to do a black interior swap as I hate this color.

[cactus_cars]

Rear bench is the only interchangeable part between avants and sedans. The back must be from an avant unless you do a lot of modification. Not worth it really. Very jealous of the 2.8 01. Probably the best B5 besides the S4 and RS4. Nice, torquey, high revving V6. Also I must say I think the chrome looks good. (just 2.8 things).

I should probably go buy another avant.


Looks like you had a pretty sweet fleet.

[Blazius]

btw the 2.8 uses the same rotating assembly except for the pistons as the 2.7TT blocks :) 2.8 is very meh stock, go single turbo it :)

[Portlandareae28]

Congrats!! pretty car! I would love to own an avant one day, though not sure if it will be B5 or B6, I love B5's but I really like the look of B6 Avants.

[speedydtp247]

Rear bench is the only interchangeable part between avants and sedans. The back must be from an avant unless you do a lot of modification. Not worth it really. Very jealous of the 2.8 01. Probably the best B5 besides the S4 and RS4. Nice, torquey, high revving V6. Also I must say I think the chrome looks good. (just 2.8 things).

I should probably go buy another avant.


Looks like you had a pretty sweet fleet.

Thanks for the info. I figured the rear seats between the avants and sedans weren't interchangeable. Yeah I think you should buy another avant.

btw the 2.8 uses the same rotating assembly except for the pistons as the 2.7TT blocks :) 2.8 is very meh stock, go single turbo it :)

I didn't know that (sold my A4 Apr '08). Interesting..........

Congrats!! pretty car! I would love to own an avant one day, though not sure if it will be B5 or B6, I love B5's but I really like the look of B6 Avants.

Thanks. I've been looking to get back into a B5 A4 since Feb of '21 and at time when I looking, I was looking to get a black or blue avant. Then as time passed, I decided that I didn't want to get another black avant and had my heart set on only finding a blue one. I'm happy I waited to find the right color I wanted.

[speedydtp247]

My avant is missing the belly pan and not much rust on the subframe.



The isn't much rust back here either, mainly the exhaust is rusty.



So much gunk and it took a quite a while to clean this all out.



Took a look at the air filter and seen this. WTF!?! Is this the wrong air filter? This air duct is missing a screw and doesn't fit correctly. I'm guessing this isn't the correct duct?



Not happy about this interior trim coming apart.



My avant had Bilstein shocks installed before my ownership.



Both front springs have this paint code of yellow and two orange.




Both rear springs have this paint code of orange and two white.

Not sure why this avant has different paint codes for the springs, front and rear?

[speedydtp247]

Can this part of the upper door frame be adjusted so this part of the door seals tightly?

This is my passenger rear door and it's leaking water when taken through a car wash.


Here is a picture I took of the check engine light codes.

How difficult is it to replace the down stream O2 sensors? Also what is the correct part number for the down stream O2 sensors?
For some odd reasons when I searching for O2 sensors I kept getting same part numbers for both up stream and down stream (Bosch 16073) sensors

So the P1606 code is because of a faulty ABS control module? Where is this control module located?

[clapincd]

Image1665936220.885463.jpg

Your new daily looks a little like mine…but the blue’s a little different.


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[speedydtp247]

Your new daily looks a little like mine…but the blue’s a little different.


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine

Your blue avant looks like its a darker shade of blue then mine. I like it! What is the paint code of your avant? Nice wheels.

[speedydtp247]

The cup holders in these cars are worthless esp the one that pops out of the dash! I got sick of lifting up my arm rest to use the center console cup holders so I swapped it out for the B5.5 Passat rear center console. It looks like I need to replace my hand brake to a B5.5 Passat hand brake because how close the handle is to the console.




Doesn't exactly fit 100% esp the passenger side.





I also swapped out the steering wheel but the air bag that I had lying around doesn't sit flush.


I'm slooooowly swapping to black interior.

[speedydtp247]

I ended up buy the TYC Euro taillights. These taillights don't fit perfectly like the OEM ones as seen below.


OEM US all red taillight vs. TYC Euro taillight


OEM US taillight vs. TYC Euro taillight. There is small gap with these Euro lights and the body.

[AlCapwn072]

I ended up buy the TYC Euro taillights. These taillights don't fit perfectly like the OEM ones as seen below.

Good to know, I was looking at getting the euro tailights for my avant as the lack of orange turn signal bugs me, but this makes me reconsider. Anybody had better experiences with Depo euro tailights?

[speedydtp247]

I have no experience with the Depo ones but I'd suggest looking for used OEM ones from Europe.

[speedydtp247]

update time.

back in Feb I bought the hard to find rear cargo cover and bought these hook repair kit

also bought a set of forged C5 A6 fat fives


early April I bought S4 headlights and black S4 front seats for a hack of a deal

one of the headlight was missing a mounting tab so I broke off one from the halogen headlights that I removed and I also reinforced all the mounting tabs with metal mesh.


Got the S4 seats installed. These are way more comfortable then the worthless non sport seats this avant originally had.



I'm using these wheels for winter duty so I bought a set of Blizzak tires


I saved these swing wheels that I bought when I had my C4 V8 100CSQ avant which are being used when winter is over so I bought a set of all season tires.


I'm currently rocking the C5 A6 fat fives

I also have a set of UrS6 Avus wheels but no tires, 3 loose wheels, 1 set of aftermarket wheels without tires and another set of wheels (I haven't checked to see if they are OEM wheels or replica wheels) with tires

a couple of months ago my avant developed a starting issue and here is what I've replaced so far, the voltage regulator, the fuel pump, fuel pressure regulator and fuel filter. after replacing those parts, the starting issue improved but in the last couple of weeks the starting issue came back. I ordered a fuel pressure gauge and t fitting, got it installed and after shutting off the engine I can see it's loosing fuel pressure.

this was my pressure reading after about 10 mins shutting the engine off. yesterday I installed a new FPR and still have the same problem where it's not holding fuel pressure

looking for help please with trying to solve my loosing fuel pressure issue

[WtA4WtQ5]

Injectors leaking down if there isn't gas leaking externally elsewhere. I would it give a strong shot of Techron. (1) bottle for less than half a tank of gas and see if the fuel pressure leak down improves. Have seen that work on many injector issues at least for a while anyway. If it changes anything you know it is injector related.

[speedydtp247]

I have no record when the timing belt was last serviced so I did the timing belt job (my first time ever doing a t-belt job) last weekend and found some items that were cobbled together before my ownership.

The corner of the bumper has been screwed together but it was at such a bad angle I wasn't able to get to it to unscrew it out, so I had to get my dremel tool out and cut the two screws in order to remove my bumper.


After I removed the bumper, I noticed these brackets have small screws installed and I'm guessing these screws aren't normally there?


I hand turn the engine over to get the timing mark of the crank pulley lined up and noticed the cam gears aren't lined up correctly .


Next I get cylinder #3 at TDC and the cam gears a lined correctly but as you can see the timing mark on the crank pulley isn't correct.


With the engine at TDC and the crank locking pin installed I started removing the timing belt components.

I removed the bolts from the crank pulley and noticed something doesn't look right . Apparently some knucklehead installed the crank pulley incorrectly.


After getting the new timing belt parts installed and get the timing covers reinstalled which doesn't fit quite right but good enough for now.


I noticed my core support has a cut out here and I'm guessing this isn't normally cut out?


This is what coolant looked like when I drained it (all the floating debris is from the catch pan sitting out in the garage and I didn't bother cleaning it out before using it).


Finished the timing belt job and now I have a record when it was completed.

[zksb5a4]

Great job, I am glad your enjoying it.

[RallyeBourne]

If it helps, the guys that had my car before me plugged the hose for the headlight washers into the radiator. So, that was an interesting find. My rebuild is taking significantly longer than I originally wanted, but, like you, knowing when everything was done and that it was done right is a peace of mind I really needed.


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[speedydtp247]

Great job, I am glad your enjoying it.

Thanks. I do enjoy this avant even with the 2.8

If it helps, the guys that had my car before me plugged the hose for the headlight washers into the radiator. So, that was an interesting find. My rebuild is taking significantly longer than I originally wanted, but, like you, knowing when everything was done and that it was done right is a peace of mind I really needed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

What the heck, connecting the headlight washer hoses into the radiator!?! LOL! That's for sure, it's hard to trust people now a days.

[speedydtp247]

I did some updating to my interior and used carbon fiber wrap on my wood interior trim as I hate the wood trim but didn't want to shell out a small fortune for real deal carbon fiber trim. I've always bought real carbon fiber trim in the past but I figured this vivid wrap is a good alternative.







this is the C5 ashtray that I bought because it has a 12V outlet built inside




got the dash trim installed


not sure what this black plastic bracket is used for but I had to cut it out so I could get my hand behind the dash to reinstall the trim retaining clip


while I was working on the trim pieces, I replaced the hand brake handle with a B5.5 Passat hand brake handle.


this part of the trans tunnel needed to be notched out for the B5.5 Passat unit


I had to cut out part of this section of the front center console for the C5 ashtray to fit


as you can see here the mounting tabs for the C5 ashtray isn't wide enough


so I ended up using zip ties for the time being


the C5 ashtray is wired up and looks good but ran into a bit of a problem


as the shifter trim wasn't able to be reinstalled




this is the reason why I can't install the shifter trim as this section of the ashtray is too thick compared to the B5 ashtray.


I ended removing the C5 ashtray so I could finish reinstalling the rest of interior


the interior all back together


this is the rear panel of the B5.5 Passat center console which has a ashtray but the one that came with the center console that I bought months ago has some damage to it. also the 12V outlet has some damage to it. so eventually I'll have to revisit fixing this at a later time.


for those who have missed it, I installed this B5.5 Passat center console last November because I hate the worthless in the dash cup holder and also hate the center console cup holders under the folding arm rest. unfortunately switching to this center console you lose the 12V outlet that was mounted in the B5 center console which is why I was hoping the C5 ashtray would work.

[speedydtp247]

I bought a dual socket outlet panel for my B5.5 Passat center console and get everything mounted up.


got the holes cut out


installed the panel with 12V socket and USB socket. I didn't use the supplied mounting screws for the panel as I don't think its really necessary


finally got the dual power sockets wired up and reinstalled the center console

[speedydtp247]

Update time.


My front suspension was getting tired so it was time to replace the control arms. As you can see in the close up pic that the bushing was cracked.





I ended up buying the 034 street density control arm kit and 034 street density shock mount, Solo Werks S1 coilover kit, Apikol rear diff mount and diff carrier bushings.



Got everything completed. If your wondering what's on the threaded body of the coilovers, thats anti-seize.






Got the rear diff mount and carrier bushings installed.



The old rear diff mount. It looks someone in the past before my ownership did a poor job of trying to fix the mount. LOL!



I took this pic after I got an alignment done. Too low for my liking, so I raised it since then.



I ended up buying the Solo Werks S1 coilovers because how affordable it is. Also I ended up buying the 034 control arm kit because of it's price point. Now my opinion on this setup, my avant rides stiff up front vs. the rear. That's a given since I didn't replace any of the suspension bushings in the rear. I will eventually replace the front control arms because the ride is too firm for my liking. I will also replace the rear suspension bushings.

Another reason why I ended up buying coilovers instead of just replacing the control arms is because I decided to keep my avant. I was mulling the idea of replacing my avant for a B8 avant but since they don't offer them with a manual transmission, it made it easy to decide to keep my avant. I don't want to do a manual swap into a B8 avant because I eventually want to buy myself a sports car in the near future, so funds will go towards that.

[hawaiian punch]

Just got a new avant daily and just did all front end stuff and got it new coilovers too looks good bro


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[speedydtp247]

Thanks. Congrats on the new avant.