RARE Audi Abandoned in a Forest...for 15 YEARS?? (PHAD Christmas Marathon - Part 1)

This year we're starting Christmas early at PHAD :)
Set the time machine back to 1991...
A classic European car enthusiast bought this RARE 1991 Audi 200 Quattro Avant on Facebook Marketplace. Less than 150 of these were imported into the USA!
This was the top-of-the-line 20V Turbo Performance Wagon of 1991.
220hp...150mph top speed...Quattro AWD...5-speed manual...and a rear DIFF LOCK?! WOW!
After a month of working on the car, including rebuilding the original starter and alternator, the Audi still REFUSED TO CRANK.
He reached out to PHAD and asked if I would take on this cool project of getting the classic Audi Turbo back on the road.
I said YES YES YES!!
I take a brief look at the Euro wagon on the trailer, but it quickly becomes obvious that NOTHING works on the car. Apparently it sat OUTSIDE IN A FOREST FOR 15 YEARS!!!
So the owner drops it off and I get to work on this classic German Beached Whale.
This is going to take a while...a fuel-injected complicated European car that's too old to plug in a scanner...Bring on the track-style wiring diagrams and flash codes!
Only 150 of this Audi model was imported into the USA, so basically it's an EXOTIC car!
barnfinds.com/...
And yes, parts are UNOBTANIUM.
Enjoy the awesome ride!
And MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Ivan

[@wyattoneable]

As soon as I saw the wires hanging out of the dash I knew thing would be a marathon. Here we go!

[@PineHollowAutoDiagnostics]

Haha enjoy the Audi Marathon, Wyatt!

[@LaLaLand.Germany]

Mate, even in Germany these are unseen for decades! It´s a real Unicorn in this variant, the Quattro drivetrain (if it still works) is awsome and the engine is lovely. Please do it right, tell the owner I said "Hi", he has a real Unicorn and should bring this car up to spec- it is worth it. In the commercial to promote the Quattro in the Audi 100/200 (as they were named in Germany) the car drove up a ski jump ramp. Maybe this is an original German car what makes it even rarer in the US. I could help with finding parts as I live in Germany and love this special variant as it didn´t sell often (but looks beautiful).

[@michaelannecelli6129]

I old one, listening to you talk about it I guess I shouldn’t of sold it, best off-road vehicle ever love the fact he kept the UFO breaks. Mine was a black sedan with a 3B motor, believes 227 hp. It was German version the front UFO writers back in the day cost me 600 bucks and I had a really good parts guy that said don’t change them they were actually pretty awesome meant for endurance race quick change pads

[@davidraezer5937]

A Audi 200 that has not run in 15 years will give you enough material to make a holiday series that spans into the new year! I cut my teeth on the Audi 5000, 100 and 200 models. When you were sitting in the car I remembered the Audi interior smell. I’m thinking about all the things this car will need to make it roadworthy again. Hopefully the timing belt will be one of the items replaced early on. Makes me nervous because these are valve blenders if the belt fails.

[@nosurfenougheddie]

Reading the comments is classic! The positive comments are from viewers about how the car looks, it's size, and overall aesthetics. The negative comments are all from mechanics that are familiar with this vehicle after having worked on them and know this will be a nightmare. LOL!!

[@daveunbranded]

To bad the company that makes door dingers or seatbelt minders don't make all the electronics in a car. There would be no issues ever.

[@cbrbruce7161]

The 2 metal brackets on the sunroof are from a wind deflector that no longer exists (aftermarket).

[@zenonsiczek1162]

Was gonna say the same thing 😂

[@RobbieHerrera]

Yup! Really popular back then.

[@Nakkilauta]

So without knowing it was aftermarket Ivan removed some aftermarket junk and fixed it with less parts required. :)

[@throttlebottle5906]

wind (aka wallet) deflector.. 🤣

[@Stoney3K]

Which would be useless given that they break the built-in wind deflector.

[@Knight_of_NI]

Coffee and an Ivan video, it's gonna be a great day

[@Vespastendert]

20V turbo quattro manual. Makes even a hardened mercedes guy excited.

[@Nemesis-yn5wv]

Chances are most of it will come back to life. Cars and parts were mostly made much better back then. I’d be checking the main engine ground on it myself especially given how long its sat. Just because it can pass test lamp current doesn’t mean it can pass starter level current.

[@jfv65]

This a desireable car in Europe! 20V turbo Quattro. Sweet! The Avant is rare all on it's own but the engine is sometimes used to swap into a 10 Valve UrQuattro coupe.

[@MultiBuilder123]

Cant beat old school cars and a test light.

[@pinecone01]

You know a video that started in spring/summer that becomes the Christmas special is gonna be good!

[@cypeman8037]

That’s an absolute classic and well worth spending money on.

[@candicebeebe6688]

That thing looks like it was born with a birth defect

[@danr1920]

You will be spending mosey on it, lots of it. It's not like owning a mid '60's car.

[@calholli]

I agree.. The Quatro's are pretty legendary; and the fact that it's a manual and looks like a fairly clean body.. It's a nice foundation

[@cypeman8037]

@@danr1920 It definitely is nothing like owning a mid 60's car because its a 1980+ car.

[@111-c7x2t]

Many say Ivan is a magician with cars, not only that, he also gets away with wearing sandals and a t-shirt mid December in PA! Shhhhh

[@pauly.205]

I had VW Passat Wagon GL5 with the Audi 5 cylinder right hand drive while stationed in the U.K.. Awesome motor, miss the wagon.

[@titaniumman_22]

I gots to say, every time I watch a PHAD video, I’m hoping for bonus footage! 🇺🇸

[@austenj4539]

PHAD v Audi ... Sweet! Add "Sweet" to your merchandise logos.

[@lloydguenther6102]

I had the sedan version of the 200. Loved it. The faster you went the faster it wanted to go. But, it started to cost C$1000 a quarter and used parts were hard to find as what failed was endemic to the vehicle.

[@michaelannecelli6129]

OMG I had a black metallic of the same thing with the 3B motor. I was fortunate to have a really good parts guy. He talked me into keeping the UFO breaks which I came to love. Oh my gosh I’m starting to look for another one parts got back in the day made all the difference Front rotors back then were like 600 bucks remember the spark plugs were expensive I did all the work myself though lucky to work at a Audi VW dealership

[@dosgos]

Still looks like a spaceship from a different galaxy!

[@yamaha37776]

Oh yeah!!! 🎉 Christmas is 10 days away though. 🤔 This is gonna be interesting!

[@steveb6371]

I had a 1986 Audi. CS Turbo. Rare car. I had it pretty much figured by out. That said, you do find yourself working on various issues, usually minor, to keep it going. From a technology standpoint, it was ahead of its time . I got to a point that I could pull out a transmission in this car in about two hours and install a transmission in about two and a half hours. I do miss that car. I should have kept it.

[@mrjsv4935]

Wow, certainly interesting car, Audi 200 Avant! These weren't too common sight here in Europe either, even when new. The Audi 100 was more common, 200 was the fanciest one. This will be another extremely interesting video series :)

[@michael47lamb]

Reminds me of my "fixing up" a 1986 VW Golf for my girlfriends father a couple years ago: The windshield had been cracked and leaking water for many years by then. Everything inside was a rusty mess. Took many months to work out most of the issues. Happily a local junkyard had a similar model, and there was something of a VW car club in the area for odd parts like fuel injectors and an ashtray. LOL Eventually I got it into a good enough condition to drive around in. Took loads of patience! Best of luck Ivan!

[@ToyotatechDK]

It´s nothing short of a gem. Gorgeous car

[@CedroCron]

Ivan, I love that nothing phases you... 15 year old Forest car, no problem. "Let's look at a wiring diagram" ... My hat off to you sir. Really awesome!

[@PineHollowAutoDiagnostics]

I have a soft spot for reanimating quirky old vehicles haha

[@lvsqcsl]

@@PineHollowAutoDiagnostics Didn't that ZAZ-966 sit from 1992-2017? That Triumph TR-4 sat for how long in storage? You reanimated that Maserati and it could indeed do 185? Just to name three?

[@AKChryslertech]

I love this. Ivan we found your new catch phrase! Lol

[@CedroCron]

@@PineHollowAutoDiagnostics "It's alive, it's alive!" ... I know what you mean.

[@seymourcake752]

Your a genius. Thank you for opening my mind to all these different types to problem solving procedures.

[@advancedleveldiagnostics]

I got a late start in this series. There is lots of catching up to do! Great diag, as always.

[@lemmykilmister450]

That's a super classy car. With the right pipe, they sound awesome

[@mrkttrdr2919]

nothing like a christmas special done in the summer!, u take on the wildest vehicle repairs. parts will be required!, thanks for posting

[@vgbr88]

Wish they still made cars this way; great to see her coming back to life :)

[@mh70ss]

Very interesting. My bet is Ivan will have this running in a short period of time.

[@PineHollowAutoDiagnostics]

Getting it running is just the tip of the iceberg LOL....Getting it DRIVING is a whole different story ;)

[@htownblue11]

Oh wow. Christmas comes early this year! PHAD marathon baby! That Audi is quite the unique find. Thanks Ivan!

[@Norseman220]

Sweet car. I remember those from the 80's and 90's. But here in Norway most of them were the 100 version. That is without the turbo. Great sounding engines . I used to have a 77 sedan with the same engine.

[@dustcommander100]

I know you'll get it goin'! I didn't realize those cars had a 5 cylinder engine or that it wasn't transversely mounted!

[@stephen7mgte]

Audi does that a lot, the later 80's and A4's as well as other models had in line engines even tho they could be just front wheel drive. The reason Audi gave for doing this was the longer power path thru the transmission as they fitted a rwd style tranny, the longer the path the power has to travel thru, the more reliable the 'box

[@PineHollowAutoDiagnostics]

EVERYTHING is "Quirky" on this Unicorn :)

[@stephenpulley6597]

Those brackets on sun roof may have been for a extra wind deflector that was fitted to roof panel.

[@tomgroenbeck7620]

I had many 100 and 200 Audis back until the 90s in Germany. Usually the state inspector said "no more" after about 10 years and the frame crumbled into rust pieces. I had to run a jumper wire between battery - and the engine. Cleaning up the ground wire connection fixed it again. The switches for the power windows were a constant problem, they just wouldn't make reliable contact. And the engine would give smoke signs after about 100k mi, need the valve shaft seals replaced. Otherwise a nice car. After coming to the USA I bought Japanese, my Nissan Pathfinder is 23 years old and has 390k mi on the odometer.

[@JoseSilveira-newhandleforYT]

That brought back memories of Michele Mouton in her rally Audi Quattro :-) I guess you should replace the clutch / brake fluid, after so many years collecting moisture. Curious to see it crank.

[@vadim7590]

Christmas came early this year, is this a 10-part? 😂 😂

[@LSmiata]

One of my favorite cars of all time! I owned an 89 200TQ in same color scheme and mis it a lot! This one is the 20v....even better! And a wagon with manual and AWD with Torsen center and locking rear diff. Looking forward to more videos in this series!

[@GarnConstructionInc]

Thanks Ivan for the relay extract! Nice to see a step by step diag testing all possibilities. May the crust be without you!

[@johndoyle4723]

Thanks, definitely worth saving, does not look too bad corrosion wise, but a whole host of problems to sort. I will watch with interest.

[@agostinodibella9939]

Looking good so far Ivan!

[@marty0715yt]

9:29 I'm yelling at the screen--"ohm the wire to the starter from where your standing at the relay box" to see if you can see the solenoid. No you want to crawl down there and see the wire detached at the starter. Funny You are sooo logical. Great video again. Happy Holidays

[@mjmcomputers]

I hit like button while the opening ads were still playing. Looking forward to this one.

[@Land2020-w6w]

Ivan, I am 100% sure you will get this classic car going again. With your knowledge this will be like the Triumph TR4 you did. Dave in Guernsey, Channel Islands.

[@PineHollowAutoDiagnostics]

Hey Dave! This Audi is the exact opposite of the simple nuts-and-bolts TR4...space-age technology! Keep watching ;)

[@Grayhook1]

I’d call it a worthy project. Also be looking for every spare part I could find.

[@brianw8963]

This is going to be great ! Already is. Many of the horns from that era have a row of screws around the edge that enables disassembly and access to the corroded points. Just did an Ivan NPR on one a couple weeks ago. Happy Holidays! 👍👍🇺🇸

[@lvsqcsl]

Christmas Marathon? It is going to take a 10 part video to fully repair this car and make it roadworthy? With no-parts-required? I want to see this......GREAT VIDEO!

[@seagullsbtn]

This has all the signs of Princess Leia's famous line " Help me Obi-on Pine Hollow, you're my only hope"

[@engineeringpunk]

Aww man I used to have one of those. it was such a cool car.

[@zoidberg444]

Very surprised that the clutch disc wasn't seized to the flywheel and would be even more shocked if the master cylinder wasn't corroded and full of sludge! Nuts!

[@baxrok2.]

Cool project Ivan. Thanks!

[@tonep3168]

Great stuff Ivan! Looking forward to the rest of this series!

[@nevillegoddard4966]

Lightning progressive diagnosis from the master, as usual! 😀👍

[@RandyInouye]

I bought a car for $100. Winched it up on to my trailer and brought it home. The owner replaced the starter, battery, cables, ignition switch , and alternator. No crank. I applied power directly to the starter. No crank. He gave me receipts for everything. I took the starter back to the store and got another one. Bingo! I drove it to work with a for sale sign. Sold it for $500. I had it for about a month. I took it out to the country and let my kids drive it. Before they had licenses. Very young. Good practice. My youngest son could barely see over the dash. In an empty parking lot in the snow I had them go about 10 mph. Turn and I would pull the parking brake. Yee haw! Well it was a Chevette. At work I told my car guy friends I bought a vette. 😂

[@montehammons7917]

got a good laugh with that. A chevette, I owned a lot of cheap cars but never a chevette. I would have sold it quick, too. Ivan is the neatest nerd I know.

[@mikekolasinski8782]

Got a love it , I was watching you use that flailing tool you said you got at Autozone 15 years ago,I was working at Autozone back then, and emailed , great neck who made that tool , which was a piece of crap and told them how bad it was , and the guy from great neck called back and said he tried it and it was a piece of crap , so they reworked it retooled the line , and sent me the first reworked tool off the line ,and asked me to try it out, and it worked so much better, I hope you got one of the good ones

[@steelwheels327]

Love this channel ....You are master at what you do !!! i hope to pick up a shred of knowledge watching you at work !You can only appreciate this if you dabble in this sort of thing

[@PineHollowAutoDiagnostics]

Hands on experience is the best way to retain what you learn in the videos... Now go fix a car in need! 😀

[@kraschsclassics]

I was thinking clutch pedal switch. Does it have one? Didn't see one.

[@flatdaddio]

Very cool! I love the holiday video series!

[@MsDenisejoyce]

Wow going to watch this now and I am already excited ❤

[@glenharper3136]

Thanks for the video Ivan.

[@carlosanzola2938]

I'm not a huge fan of the German cars, but I did own a 5000 and a 200 sedan. I really like this car too!

[@alfmv75]

Perhaps I can shed some light on those "mystery" clips in the sunroof track. I once owned a Toyota SR5 with a similar sunroof. I installed a plastic aftermarket wind deflector along the leading edge that was retained by very similar metal brackets. Cheers from Atlantic Canada, Robert.

[@TheWwbartman354]

Are you pushing the clutch in when you try to start it? Might be a safety switch?

[@Sandmansa]

You weren't kidding when you said that you had a treat coming up. I haven't seen one of those in so long. Hey Ivan, do you have a relay tester and a set of bypass relays? Those might come in handy for a job like this.

[@roberthickey1465]

The little clips hold a plastic 'spoiler' that goes in front of the sunroof for wind noise. We used to put them on BMW's at the dealer in the '80's.

[@tomblobasjamesc.mccollum1740]

"Beached Whale" 😂 put that on a t-shirt.

[@Pillers4Momoms]

Another video. Good to see you again.

[@a_w_bukhari7579]

Good morning Ivan. Thanks for the upload

[@PineHollowAutoDiagnostics]

This is just the tip of the Audi Iceberg haha

[@stuffilike4498]

I have a 1985 90 quattro rotting away. I bought it with a floppy clutch pedal, fixed it but parked it up 10 years later when the same issue returned. Hydraulic clutch actuation seemed a bit OTT after owning Golfs prior.

[@jakew9653]

The key chime lol. Awesome little wagon.

[@colchronic]

Very cool car

[@randy1ization]

the supposed new and rebuilt parts send you down the long path,, next time, check for power directly to the starter, then work backwards to the ignition switch... this would have saved you alot of time.

[@calholli]

There is usually a safety switch tied to the clutch pedal also on a lot of manuals. I'm surprised you didn't give the starter a good "tap" test and bang on it a bit. On a no crank- I like to drag a jumper cable down there and just stick it right to the internal lug on the starter and bypass everything.. just to verify that the motor itself is working, and then work back from there, typically. Just because it's so fast and easy to do.. Then I clamp it to the other lug on the starter and jump a short over to the little signal terminal and verify that the solenoid is working.. So within seconds, you confirm a dead starter or not-- right off the bat; since that is typically what is wrong in most cases.... This car looks like a basket case though. :)

[@throttlebottle5906]

yeah, he just married a "problem child", we'll be seeing that slug more often than not. 😬 shuld have left it in the forrest

[@calholli]

@@throttlebottle5906 Yeah.. seeing moisture and corrosion everywhere is not a good sig.. This is going to be the 12 parts of Christmas. :)

[@rkan2]

My kind of euro content!

[@slashermcgurk2191]

Looks hella warm for Christmas 😆

[@reloadernorway1042]

Nice work 👌

[@logicalguy488]

Ivan do me a favor ...put a magnet to the body and if it doesn't stick that is a very very sort after vehicle. If it has the aluminum body they were for many years rated as the fastest production car. And so rare to find even in Germany.

[@PineHollowAutoDiagnostics]

150mph top speed on this German Rocket :)

[@needadate]

The pieces of scrap metal by the sunroof are brackets for a wind deflector - IIRC they had three mounting points, either side and the middle.

[@roxanneabbott8424]

Hope part 2 is tomorrow!! Nice work Ivan!!

[@PineHollowAutoDiagnostics]

One video per day through Christmas, Roxanne! Enjoy! ;)

[@andrewwmacfadyen6958]

Remember those models going through auctions in the UK in the 1990's unwanted trade-ins being disposed by the VW-Audi dealers.

[@dustyrhodes2717]

That car is only 1 of approximately 150 imported in the 20v DOHC version and Avant (wagon). Now throw in that it’s red it’s probably 1 of less than 10.

[@PineHollowAutoDiagnostics]

#UNICORN

[@mikesvirtualgarage9917]

After seeing this in the background of one of your other videos I've been dying to see content on this one. I owned one of these for a bit (in Lago Blue). Very special and rare car from an interesting time in Audi's history. Still coveted by enthusiasts today. In terms of the starter, did you try the other posts on the starter for the control wire? Thats a common issue, especially with "unknown" type cars. I know we will find out, but just curious. Anxious to see if this car has the odd UFO brakes or if it was updated to regular G60 calipers. STOKED! Love this one, Ivan :D 20vt ftw!

[@50zoomie]

20 valve TQA Love it! Years ago there was a webite devoted to this model with a lot of how to's.

[@The_Redkween]

Those sunroof-metal things are mounts for a plastic shield that goes in front of her sunroof hole

[@chekelley6861]

It would be cool if someone invented something you could hook to the leads which would allow you to instantly give a power or ground to a circuit. It would eliminate having to constantly use jumpers. They could even combine it with a volt meter built in. It would save so much time. 🤔

[@joeyt6089]

It’s called a Power Probe.

[@chekelley6861]

@@joeyt6089 🤣🤣

[@christianbattestin9747]

There was a 5000 wagon in my old town ( Douglaston. Queens) that was light brown, good condition, for many years, on my block.

[@additudeobx]

The starter will need to be removed as well. Maybe the starter can be repaired? Possibly a simple broken wire inside behind the connector? Be worth looking inside to see....

[@2muchy2]

Man I wish it was 90 and sunny over here in Wisconsin 😉

[@demcomp]

@20:20 those clips are for a Moonroof/Sunroof wind deflector. Aftermarket like a good bug deflector. Had one on my Ford Fusion and that's what those clips are.

[@AP9311]

Wow, 91 audi? Haven't seen those in years lol. So simple, but to many relays lol. Hahaha hopefully no NPR in this series video! Nice job getting the car all working again after years of sitting!

[@PineHollowAutoDiagnostics]

This German Creation is the OPPOSITE of simple...even by today's standards haha!

[@mikechiodetti4482]

Got a ways to go with this one Ivan. It's gonna need some or a lot of electrical and mechanical work.

[@jeffreysmith2223]

Those clips in the sunroof ae for a coloured air dam that cuts wind noise and sun glare inside the car.

[@MarzNet256]

Is there suppossed to be a cover for that relay/fuse box? That would help with things getting wet

[@brianmcglynn9732]

Not second guessing. My 91 Chevy has 2 switches on the clutch. One enables start the other disables the cruse control. Just a thought.

[@billsmith5166]

This will be fun.

[@frankvoynar6427]

should be interesting series . from my 25+yrs of dealer audi experence seeing the bad an ugly, corrosion issues will be paramount. IMO audi's relays\switches were really never robust back in that era. oxidation was always an electrical issue to look for. it didnt help they mounted major control units [ eng,\ trans ]on or near floor. what were audi engineers thinking?

[@sspnugen]

Great video old school Audi

[@paulburroughs1313]

Gonna take a lotta love baby....

[@RJTC]

Did the starter refurb people use a two-terminal solenoid, that needs a coil ground wire?