generic A4 questions

[Alex Cagann]

Grant, I am no tech, and if you are correct...I still have to offer up this
opinion: Taken as a whole, the general public is lazy, and don't want a car
they have to take 'special' care of to keep running. What do you mean by
'careful warm up'. Sounds to me like an inconvenience...and, at least in the
US, we don't like any of those! :-)

Alex 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Grant Lenahan [mailto:glenahan at vfemail.net] 
> Sent: Sunday, February 04, 2007 2:44 PM
> To: Alex Cagann
> Cc: 'Tom Love'; 'Q-list'
> Subject: Re: generic A4 questions
> 
> Nah, Its lack of maintenance.  Those motors require 
> synthetic, regular (5k or less) changes, and careful warm up. 
> The vast majority of owners do none of the 3.  Sludge can be 
> a problem if oil remains too long - note that AOA issued a 
> TSB and lowered the change interval. Turbos and the oil 
> return lines can fail if synthetic is not used (the oil cokes 
> and coagulates on the inside of the return line - same as 
> S4s).  These risks are well known - although Audi as usual 
> tried to ignore them and did not warn customers (long oil 
> change intervals, blah, blah). The head gasket issue I'm 
> unaware of. The lower main bearing is quite rare, but would 
> be tied to sludge buildup, whcih is well documented - even with TSBs.
> 
> This is maybe VW's most proven motor - dating in part back to 
> the 1980s VW 16V.
> 
> Don't believe that these issues were not 100% foreseen.  I 
> called these problems ages back, as did many others.  In 
> fact, its amazing that people dont anticipate these issues in 
> any turbocharged motor. Temps are high at the impeller, and 
> this has a ripple effect if you dont keep fresh oil with a 
> high flash point.
> 
> Take care of it and it will take care of you.  And reduce 
> polar moment of inertia, along the way.  And deliver better 
> fuel economy.  And take added boost happily.
> 
> Grant
> On Feb 4, 2007, at 3:35 PM, Alex Cagann wrote:
> 
> > I agree completely here.  The V6 is very smooth, IMO, much 
> more than 
> > the 1.8t. Also, and I brought up a topic on this late last 
> year, but 
> > the
> > 1.8
> > engine is showing problems arise. Most didn't agree with me 
> at all and 
> > said they were all due to user errors (no preventative maintenance) 
> > but I am going to have to disagree here. While some may be 
> the case, I 
> > am seeing and hearing the stories build up. I visited my 
> tech friend 
> > the other day, and he had 3 of them just come in. I had 
> another talk 
> > about these engines with him, asked him about it. He said among his 
> > peers, they are seeing these come in like crazy. I asked him if he 
> > thinks it is due to lack of proper maintenance...he said no, not in 
> > most cases. He told me they are blowing head gaskets quite 
> a bit, and 
> > he is seeing a lot of them with lower crank bearing 
> failure. There has 
> > to be something here, or these tech's wouldn't be seeing so many of 
> > them.
> >
> > Alex
> >
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Tom Love [mailto:theloves at localaccess.com]
> >> Sent: Sunday, February 04, 2007 1:24 PM
> >> To: Grant Lenahan; Alex Cagann
> >> Cc: 'Q-list'; kf21857 at comcast.net
> >> Subject: Re: generic A4 questions
> >>
> >> The refresh was 99.5 and still had a throttle cable.
> >> IMO the NA 2.8 30v is about as fast as the stock 1.8T  (drive them 
> >> both) but smoother and far more trouble free. You can get 
> a lot more 
> >> power out of the 1.8T with mods but again, you are open for more 
> >> problems down the road.
> >> If I bought another Avant I would be looking at a B6 if 
> not another 
> >> 99.5 B5 and still stick with the V6 and sport suspension.  
> My 2 cents
> >
> >
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