New to Audis...Again

[cobram at juno.com]

 Kent McLean <kentmclean at mindspring.com> writes:

> > Also, the blower motor is incredibly loud, and I would like to 
>> replace it.  
 
> Big job (~8-10 hours), as most of the dash has to come apart.

No, dash does not have to come apart, the blower motor is changed by
removing the heater core box on the outside of the fire wall.  Plenty in
the archives on the procedure.  Pretty straight forward, can be done in
2-3 hours, I would HIGHLY recommend removing the hood first.  That being
said, pull the duct off and check the impeller, failure mode of the
blower on a type 44 usually does not involve strange noises, but brush
failure-strange smells and dead blower. 

> > The guy I bought this car from has amazing records on it and has 
>> rebuilt the 
> > tranny twice.  The last time at 180k.  
 
> What does that tell you?

There was an update or bulletin on the seal between the diff and
transmission.  I don't know if the fix added any extra longevity to the
transmission or not. 

> 
> > What are some things I can do to extend the tranny life between 
>> rebuilds?
> 
> Flush the transmission fluid yearly. Maybe use one of those
> powered-flush services offered by transmission places. Some
> people will drain what they can (on the V8s, it is about
> 4 qts), refill, drive, and repeat until you have changed
> out 12 qts; not perfect, but better than doing nothing.

Synthetic might help too, but keeping in mind that no amount of fluid
change will keep the transmission from cross contamination failure. 
Again, I have no idea if Audi's fix to the problem has held up over time.

 
> > Finally, the car is hard to start when its cold, requiring that I 
>> crank 
>> it for about 10 seconds and hold the gas pedal part way down.

> It may be the check valve by the fuel pump (in the tank). Bad 
> injectors can also leak-down.

I'd go with the second one first.
 
>  > Once it starts, it runs rough for a few minute and will die if I 
> let
> > off the gas.
> 
> That sounds like it may be a bad sensor.  Pull the codes. :)

If no codes, check for false air, should be plenty in the archives,
probably under "dipstick test".  

Yeah, he should have known better, but it's too late now.  ;-(
 

BCNU,
http://www.geocities.com/cobramsri/
Health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.