Audi itch, LOL !

[Tony Hoffman]

I've had to desludge both transverse and longitudinal 1.8T's, in
Passats, A4's, Jetta's, Golfs, and New Beetles. I've also had to do
the same to 30V 2.8's, as well as a couple of Honda and Toyota V6's. I
believe there are a combination of factors that cause these problems,
incliding lack of proper oil changes (preferably with synthetic),
never running the cars long and warm enough to break down the
particles, and improper cool down procedures in the turbo cars.

As for the rest of your question, as mentioned the V6's tend to be
lower on maintenance, but the TB job is expensive, as is the cam
tensioner gasket service. I recall quoting about $900 for the TB, and
about $500 for the gaskets. The gaskets will undoubtly be leaking by
100k on nearly every car I worked on (including the 1.8T, but it's a
easier job on that car, and only about $275). The way to tell is to
take it out and run it hard. If there is any smoke coming from the
back side of the engine on the right (pass) side, it's leaking. The
other one (left side) is on the front of the engine, and therefore
will leave a trail down the front on the left side of the engine,
usually dripping off the oil filter, sway bar, etc. Also the oil
filter cooler oring will leak, and is about $30 plus labor.

I've replaced automatic transmissions in several A4's and Passat's, as
well as one A6 4.2. There is not necessarily a pattern to these
troubles, and were a small percentage of the cars I worked on. If it
were mine or a close friends car, I would have pulled the valve body
and cleaned it first, as this has cured about 80% of transmission
problems in my experience. But, none of my customers wanted to take
the chance, and just asked to replace them.

The biggest thing to check right from the start, in addition to what
I've mentioned, is that the sunroof drains and AC drain gets clogged,
and the passenger floor will flood. In this event, the transmission
control unit gets drowned, and you will be spending some money to get
that fixed. In the Passats you have to pull the passenger side seat,
along with all the trim and carpet to get at it. It's actually under
the passenger seat.

I don't have a lot of experience with the A8's, other than I know
there are some transmissions that have failed. And, TB's are once
again more expensive.

On all of these cars, I'd recommend TB's at 60k intervals. Plenty of
people have made the 105k recommendation, but I personally have seen
them fail at 76k, 82k, 85k, 96k, and 102k. These were all 2001 and
newer cars which have the 105k recommendation. The earlier cars (I
don't recall if the cutoff is 2000 or 01) were 60k. And, it's about
$2000 for the 1.8T's if they go. More for the V6's and V8's. Compare
that to a $650 or so TB service, and it seems a no-brainer. BTW, it's
the hydraulic tensioner that I've seen fail on all these incidents,
not the belt itself.

Tony