1998 A4 V6 Quattros and selling my 1988 90 Quattro

[Stephen Kormilo]

At 08:01 AM 28/03/02 -0500, ricematthews wrote:

>From: "ricematthews" <ricematthews at msn.com>
>To: <njstamper at yahoo.com>
>Cc: <quattro at audifans.com>
>Subject: Re: 1998 A4 V6 Quattros and selling my 1988 90 Quattro
>Date: Thu, 28 Mar 2002 07:28:39 -0500
>
>Nancy:
>
>I have had my '98 A4 Avant Quattro for about 4 months.  Great car!  As for
>the clutch, it does seem "high" whan compared to my 86' 4kcsq.  Actually,
>not much different than the '89 200q though, from what I recall.

I don't find the clutch engagement point on my 98.5 particularly high.  My
son's 2001, OTOH, was noticeably higher.  I'm sure there must be some way
to adjust this.

>I actually
>bought another '98 A4 Avant Q before this one.  I found it had a decent
>number of oil leaks (engine, trans, rear diff) and the dealer (non-Audi
>dealer) bought it back after the refused to have them repaired under their
>warranty.  This one also has a small engine oil leak that needs to be taken
>care of too (hopefully under the Audi Assured Warranty) .  So my suggestion
>would be to check the car out for leaks as it seems to be a common problem.

I haven't noticed any unusual leaks, other than a 'dealer-induced' one that
almost cost me the engine shortly after the car went off warranty :-(

Other points that I would watch out for:

- Oil consumption.  Some of these engines, mine included, are known to burn
oil.
- Cold-start noises. '98 & early '99 (haven't noticed any complaints from
later models) 2.8 30V V6s seem prone to issuing a very annoying 1 to 3
second 'rattling' noise on most cold starts.  Audi claims the noise is
caused by the cam chain tensioners and that it will not damage the engine,
but.....  Only time will tell.  Through Arbitration, Audi Canada agreed to
fix the engine in my car by replacing both heads with new ones from
Germany.  Leads me to believe there has either been a 30V head redesign to
eliminate/minimise the noise, or a known problem with early 30V head
manufacture, but Audi isn't making this well known.
- Check the rubber at the bottom of each of the doors.  The metal inserts
have a tendency to separate from the rubber and rust.  Could cause rust
damage to the door bottoms and the rubber will become loose and fall off.
- Trip computer display prone to fading at the edges.  Particularly
noticeable after long drives in warm weather.  Gets progressively
worse.  Many $$$ to fix.  Entire instrument cluster has to be replaced.
- Heated outside mirrors prone to failure.  If the P.O. has not had them
replaced, they are probably not working.

Other than the problem areas noted above, and excessive engine vibrations
(seem peculiar to my engine), I still like the car very much.

>Any other questions?
>
>-Mark Rice
>'98 A4 Avant q
>ex-'86 4kcsq
>ex,ex-'89 200q
>
>************************************************
>I test drove 3 of the above and on all 3, the clutch
>Command? felt like it let up high.  Anyone have a 98
>A4 V6?  How do you like your 1998?
>I am selling my 14 year old silver (gray leather
>interior) 1988 90 Quattro.  It's in good condition - I
>just want to upgrade.  Kelley Blue book Private Party
>"fair" conditon is $2555, "good" condition $3005 and
>"excellent" condition $3385.  I'm asking $2000 - it
>has new Nokian NRWs, 112k miles, stick, sunroof,
>non-smoker, Mobil 1 oil used for the life.  If
>interested, email me and I can send you a .jpg pic and
>a .xls spreadsheet of maintenance done over the years.
>
>Nancy
>IL LP "QUATTRO"
>(Palatine IL)


Stephen Kormilo                            Silver '98.5 Audi A4 2.8QM
		   Coming Soon :-)  Silver 2002 Audi A4 3.0QM
Instructor, Electronics Technology
Red River College
Winnipeg, MB
CANADA

email: skormilo at rrc.mb.ca
OR
           stephen at kormilo.ca