Big freaking vent against Audi

[Tihol Tiholov]

>=A0 Lot of issues with t-belt, control arms, ignition switches etc.=A0 Wou=
ld'nt
>mind hearing some feel good >stories about the A4 to restore my confidence
>in this beast.

The devil isn't so black. (insert John Clesse's from Life of Brian) Apart of
issues with t-belt, control arms, turbos, ign. switches, air bags, etc.
what's wrong with the A4?  No need to panic, whatever car you buy, there's
something not quite right.  The t-belts don't break as often as in the
campfire stories - mind you I don't have a shop to see them all.  I had a
944 (1986 engine in a 1983) and replaced the t-belt at 100k miles.  DK if it
was done before (had it for 30k miles) but doubt it because the tensioner
didn't have any bearing left inside - wobbly like a 'murican U-joint.  The
front main seal was leaking a bit, too.  The t-belt didn't seem to care
much.  The scariest stories are about using a $400 special tensioning tool,
if you don't it'll break in the most inoportune time and it'll be $3000 and
such.  Guess what, on a 1978 to 1981 928 you can adjust by hand, later,
after the invention of the tool, nah - it'll break!  I've done it twice by
hand and it's been fine.  Porsche themselves couldn't decide what milage to
recommend for the t-belt, oscillating between 30k and 60 k miles.  I guess
they decided on the conservative average.   VW recommends on the Diesel's
now 40k miles, too - "because some have been breaking".  If you race or
drive on the autobahn, change it often.  If you're an aspiring racer,
practicing on the streets and like to beat on the rev limiter, change it
often, too.  If you don't get carried away often, it'll last for 60k.  I did
change a t-belt on a 1999 New Beetle at the recommended 100k miles - looks
great, the tensioner, however, seems designed to get noisy at 100k plus very
little.
Now I'll get flamed by the shop owners, well ... they've seen more.

Tihol

_________________________________________________________________
MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*.
http://join.msn.com/?page=3Dfeatures/virus