The Baby - long

[Motor Sport Visions Photography]

I'm sorry to hear of your difficulties with "Baby" Dee. Your obvious
enjoyment and enthusiasm of Baby has resulted in some wonderful posts
over the past four years (pearl white nail polish for example).

I would strongly suggest getting a second opinion on the condition of
your engine. Even though you trust the present shop/mechanic, people,
situations, and repair shops change. (And one thing I was told years ago
is to be very careful with shops owned by racers--never know when they
need a cash infusion towards their racing addiction ;-)...this does not
mean to imply anything or disparage anyone who races and owns a repair
shop--just something I was told years ago.) I would find engine wear as
you describe to be very unusual in a modern European engine, especially
an Audi engine with frequent Mobil 1 oil changes.

Blaming Mobil 1 for your problems is not a very wise thing for your
mechanic to do either IMO. At best it is a real shot in the dark (and
did he condone it over the course of maintenance history and just now
change his mind?!) At worst it is an opinion that could easily get him
sued by Mobil if conveyed far and wide enough. There needs to be
something substantial to back this statement up. (Please, no dino vs
synth threads because of this.)

I do know from personal experience that really strange things can happen
with modern engines, after all I just went through getting a (third) new
head put on our 1994 ovloV 850 turbo wagon at 138k miles, covered mostly
by ovloV thank goodness, for a fifth time recurring valve failure going
back to around 50k miles. Unexplainable too.

The 2.8L V6 Audi engine does have some history of oil consumption. Past
threads here support that. However I don't recall hearing of premature
engine wear being at all common on these engines. My hope is some of the
long time list members who have owned 2.8L V6 Audis a while (Sean???)
will chime in with their experiences. I was under the impression that
the excess consumption is due to some kind of gasket failure, not engine
wear.

How is Baby running? Does she feel as smooth and powerful as ever? Is
there any blue smoke at start-up? These are better indicators of engine
health than oil consumption. (Compression and leak down numbers aside,
that is.)

I would also suggest getting AoA involved if you do confirm the engine
wear is significant (perhaps a good Audi dealer--if there is such a
thing--should be the second opinion).

Even if you do find that this engine has worn unusually fast, I would
not let is sway you from your love of Audis. Rather I would chalk it up
as an aberration, not the norm. (Easy for me to say as I struggle to try
and regain trust and confidence in my wife's ovloV 850 turbo wagon now.)
Good luck and keep us posted on how this gets resolved. (BTW, I have to
believe there are a lot of good salvage 2.8L V6 Audi engines available
for less than the cost of a rebuild--when I was investigating what to do
with our ovloV I found one place that had over 20 low miles 850t engines
for me to choose from for $1500.00 each, thankfully I didn't need to buy
one.)

Mike Veglia
Motor Sport Visions Photography
http://www.motorsportvisions.com