Audi S6 Avant Quattro Auto 2.2 Litre 5 Cylinder For Sale (1996)
The time has come to sell my beloved Audi S6 frown emoticon
Price: £2,895 – Or near offer
Make: Audi
Model: S6
Model (alt): Audi S6 Avant Quattro (Estate)
Colour: Silver
Year: 1996
Country: UK
Region: Hertfordshire
Town: Kings Langley
Telephone: +447946342906
Telephone 2: +447946342906
Status: Private
E-mail: collins.andy@gmail.com
A 1996 S6 Avant Quattro Auto 2.2 ltr five cylinder classic beast of a car that starts every time with 159,000 mile engine that sounds and pulls as if brand new!
My daily driver that has so much power (and space, as well as being THE car to own in the Snow wink emoticon ) and buckets of character so you can’t help but smile every time you drive….
My S6 has the wonderful 2.226 litre 20 valve turbo-charged AAN engine – derived from the sport engines used in the rally-winning quattros in the 80s. It is tuned for 230 bhp in these S6 cars so is very unstressed and can reach > 300k miles. In fact, one of my other S6s has 198k miles on it and the engine has never had work done on it and is still fine. Sadly, a lot of these cars are now being used as engine donors to put into original 10-valve quattros and other racing Audis. I can see why, as it’s quite a step up on those engines and in my opinion is easily a match for the NA V8 4.2 litre engines that Audi used in the later S6s. Being turbocharged, it pulls very strongly from 2,000 rpm and offers better mpg.
As it’s an automatic, and this S6’s engine has had an easy life. I bought it a year ago with the intention of full restoration, but…. work is so busy I am sadly not going to have time to do this beauty justice.
The previous enthusiast I bought it from purchased it five years ago at 98k miles with no “real” service history apart from an assurance that the cam belt may have been done in the last year or two!
In my ownership I have done/spent on the following:
* New discs and pads front & new coolants system hoses fitted – £450
* New Handbrake cable & wax protected fuel pipes (for MOT Dec 2014) £415
** Genuine notes from previous owner – THIS CAR HAS BEEN very well LOVED **
I replaced the cam belt, tensioner and water pump straight away and then did the oil pressure sensor and cam cover gasket and that sorted out most of the oil leaks. The turbo lower hose showed that the turbo had a small oil weep, but this has never got any worse in my ownership. I have been waiting for the turbo to show signs of wear like excessive oil burning or lack of boost, but it has performed flawlessly for the last four years, so I have never replaced it. If you want to get another 150k miles out of it, you could replace it, but I see no sign why you couldn’t get to > 200k miles with the current turbo – it still pulls like a train, generating 1.9 or 2.0 bar pressure according to the dash boost meter.
The car lost its coolant in November 2013, so I traced and fixed lots of coolant leaks. I replaced all the appropriate components (expansion tank, coolant flange at back of engine, radiator, thermostat, thermostat housing, water pump, timing belt, serpentine belt).
The engine does not overheat in the slightest – it comes up to 87 C in two or three miles and then just sits on the mark on the temperature gauge. I tried to provoke it by running it for 15 minutes at 2,000 rpm with the radiator blanked off with cardboard – it just sat at 87 C.
While I was doing all the work on the cooling system, I thought I would check out the engine’s health so I did a compression test:
#1: 9.8 bar (142 psi)
#2: 10.0 bar (145 psi)
#3: 9.7 bar (141 psi)
#4: 10.1 bar (146 psi)
#5: 8.2 bar (119 psi)
According to the AAN workshop manual, that’s all in specification – lower limit of 7 bar (102 psi) with maximum difference of 3 bar (44 psi).
I also did a leakdown test:
#1: 35%
#2: 4%
#3: 2%
#4: 6%
#5: 2%
The green band indicating low leakage on the leakdown tester goes from 0% to 40%, so the 35% on cylinder 1 is OK. By listening to the escaping air, I can tell that there is a very small leak through the exhaust valve(s). You could leave it and run the car for another few years, or if you plan on putting a lot of miles on it, have the head off and do the guides and valves as part of a top-end service.
I did some major suspension work on the front end a couple of years ago. I replaced shocks, top mountings, bearings, track control arms, tie rod ends and ARB mountings – improved things no end.
Recent maintenance (2014):
• New radiator
• New water pump
• New coolant flange
• New thermostat
• New timing belt
• New serpentine belt
Older maintenance (2010-2013)
• New spark plugs
• New air filter
• New fuel filter
• New cam cover gasket
• New electric coolant pump
• New water pump
• New turbo coolant return line
• New oil pressure sensor
• New brake pads front and rear
• New front outer CV boots
• New tie rod ends
• New track control arms
• New front shock absorbers, top mountings, upper bearing races
• New anti roll bar mounts
• New coil pack
• New power output staqe
• New serpentine belt and tensioner
• New cam belt and tensioner bearing
• New cam position sensor
• New crank position sensors
• Brake fluid replacement
The car gets topped up with oil about once a month and gets an annual oil filter and oil change (usually Castrol or Mobil). There are no blue clouds of smoke out the exhaust. I put the oil consumption down to the usual valve seals and ring blow by you get from a high-mileage engine.
I had a leak from one of the cross plugs on the power steering pump a couple of years ago which I fixed. I have not needed to top up the power steering fluid since then.
The brake pressure accumulator (aka the bomb) is the original.
I haven’t touched the automatic transmission gearbox or fluid. Audi claim that it is ‘lifetime’ and does not need to be replaced. Various Internet ‘experts’ argue for and against changing the filter and fluid. You can decide!
Similarly I haven’t touched the differentials. They work and don’t whine so I’ve left them alone.
The bodywork is OK – about what you’d expect of an 19 year old car. Somebody pushed in a door skin about three years ago so I had to have it pulled out, filled and painted – looks perfect. There are small marks on some panels as you would expect. The photo of the left rear wheel shows where a bit of trim is missing from the wheel arch. There are some cracks on indicator lenses, but they’ve been there since I got the car and have never caused a problem in the MOT.
The wheels are all reasonable – minor marks, no major defects. They’re all in similar condition – see photos . The tyres are all reasonable – the fronts show the usual inner edge wear that all quattros exhibit. I checked the tracking when I did the last tie rod end and adjusted it to be spot on. The spare could probably do with a new tyre.
The interior is quite tidy. The seats are a nice mixture of leather and suede – very comfortable. I think there are car mats all round.
The electronic climate control works perfectly. The compressor/condenser/evaporator system are working fine – never needed a refill in my ownership – blows nice and cold in the summer..
The radio is fine – I presume it is the original one fitted by Audi. It has a tape player, but I’ve never tried it!
The alarm is silent! An extra alarm was fitted by the previous owner which I never use – I have the remote for this but it’s probably got flat batteries now..
The rear luggage cover is present and correct.
Towbar and associated electrics are present – never used in my ownership.
The MOT is valid until mid December 2015
Buyers are welcome to view the car before the end of the auction, and I am happy to take them for a demonstration drive. Note: I plan to terminate my insurance if possible.
I really don’t want any returns on this car. Being an 19 year old car, I obviously cannot offer any warranty. However, if you think I have misrepresented it in the description, let me know and we can sort something out – I’m a reasonable chap!
Forgot to say – as it’s an S6, it’s a quattro of course – Audi’s four-wheel drive with Torsen centre differential. It also has EDL (Electronic Differential Locking) which uses the ABS modulator to brake the wheel that’s lost traction and allows torque to be transferred to any wheel with grip. Fabulous in the snow. Hugely embarrassing for BMW and Mercedes owners to see an Audi with a 20-year old design effortlessly cruise past while they fishtail from side to side!
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On 01-Mar-14 at 21:15:18 GMT, seller added the following information:
Latest news: I spent an hour today taking out the climate control temperature flap motor (more difficult than I remembered). I dismantled it and found that it had the usual problem – the motor commutator was clogged with brush deposits effectively shorting it out. I stripped it down, cleaned it out and lubricated it – it’s now spinning happily, drawing the standard amount of current. If it doesn’t rain tomorrow I’ll refit it to the car. So the climate control should be fully functional again.
Andy Collins 