Lifter noise in a '88 80q...

[Scott Fisher]

--- ORSOPERS <orsopers at attbi.com> wrote:
> Hello all, I have been lurking on the list for
> several months since I bought
> my first Quattro.  It is an '88 80q in very nice
> shape.

Rand,

That's got the 5-cylinder, right?  I've got an '83
Coupe GT with the I-5 (but with solid lifters; yours
are hydraulic, the changeover was in '84), and have
had lifter noise precisely once, when I let my local
Oil Can Henry do an oil and filter change for me right
before my DEQ (there, now you know we're neighbors
:-).  They used something like 10W-40 Castrol and a
Fram filter (I normally use 20W-50 GTX and a Genuine
Audi filter -- pick 'em up at Sunset in Beaverton).

I drove the car to San Francisco later that week and
burned through three of the four quarts of oil that
Henry's put in.  By the time I headed for home, I'd
put four quarts of my usual 20W-50 back in (two, then
one, then another), and the oil burning stopped on
that trip.  However, I had the lifter noise on startup
till I got home and replaced the Fram with a genuine
Audi.

The issue appears to be that the Audi filters have an
anti-drainback valve that keeps the oil in the lifter
gallery when you shut the car off.  To see how it
works, fill the filter and turn it on its side -- none
of the oil drips out when you put it on the engine
with a standard Audi filter, whereas I remember it
making a big mess when I've done that with other
filters.

My standard for oil and filter change is now two trips
(Tualatin, OR to Mt View, CA), then change.  I use no
oil at all on the first trip, and usually have to add
a half-quart to a quart on the way home on the second.
 It's about a 1500-mile round trip, so burning a quart
every 200 miles on Oil Can Henry's "iced tea" was
really alarming.

Enjoy the car!

--Scott Fisher
  Tualatin, Oregon



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