[V8] Audi

Thu Dec 15 23:13:45 PST 2011

Don,

Welcome.  I live in Colorado Springs and have a fairly serious Audi V8
affliction.  I'm in Denver at least a couple days a week for work.

First course of business is to get the hood up.  If the end of the release
cable is still visible inside the drivers footwell, you can use some
channel-lock pliers to pull on it.  If the cable ends aren't releasing (one
or both), you can release them with a screwdriver, a flashlight and some
patience.  The hood pins are right around the inner edge of the headlights
or possibly a bit inboard of that.  The release cable pulls on them from the
drivers side so if you can find it, you can jimmy the release lever to get
the hood to pop.

1st order of business is trans fluid.  Easiest way without worrying about
fluid level checking procedure or proper dipstick (which many never had from
the factory) is to pull the plug on the trans drain pan to drain whatever
comes out and refill with 1 gallon of trans fluid through the dipstick tube.
This method has proven to assure proper fluid capacity, unless, I suppose,
if no fluid drains out, but then I doubt it would drive at all with it that
low.  Anyway, this drain/refill method is easy and reliable and I have used
it to "flush" the trans fluid over time with 2-3 drain/refills.  Ultimately,
you'll want to pull the trans pan and replace the mesh filter, but that's
not necessary until you determine how viable the car is on the whole.

These tend to have some leaking/seepage if they sit for even mildly extended
times.  When I liberate one from storage, it smokes for a little while the
first time it runs but not after that.  If it smokes during regular
daily/weekly usage then you probably have a pretty good hydraulic assist
leak.  If it only smokes a bit after long usage, then it's probably just the
distributor seals leaking and is not really a concern, in my opinion.

One trick that I have used regarding hydraulic fluid leaks on more than one
Audi is to use Mobil-1 Synthetic ATF instead of Pentosin.  This is not
something that many are comfortable with, but I haven't had any problem
doing so.  The "hydraulic system" the power assist that is used for both
braking and steering.  Using M1 Synthetic ATF seems to cause rubber seals
and hose material in the system to swell a bit which solves a lot of nagging
smaller leaks.  It won't fix a bad o-ring in the pump (BTDT), but I have
seen it dry up just about every other leak I've experienced.  

Aside from the inconvenience, the only operational thing to be concerned
with regarding the instrument cluster is the temp gauge.  It and the fuel
gauge typically "opt out" together and when the temp gauge is not
registering, the electric fan will not be triggered if the engine gets too
hot.  Probably not much of an issue right now, but good info nevertheless.
Also there's a fuse for the electric rad fan that often is blown with age or
high mileage or even poor/toasted fan bearings.  I have replaced a couple of
those with very inexpensive 80 amp fuses from Autozone or whoever, even
though they aren't the "right" part, they can be used just fine.

I've bought two "beater" V8s and have been through the process you're
starting to go through.  It is not necessarily as daunting as it might seem,
depending on your expectations and ability/willingness to DIY.  

The V8 list is an excellent resource if not the best available for the basic
task of keeping them running and on the road.

Good luck!
Ed

-----Original Message-----
From: v8-bounces at audifans.com [mailto:v8-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf Of
Don Wasley
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2011 8:39 PM
To: V8 at audifans.com
Subject: Re: [V8] Audi

Tom, Paul, Jason, Thanks for the info and the Welcome!
As to where I'm at in Colorado, I live in Georgetown off of I-70 halfway
between Golden/Lakewood and Loveland/Arapahoe Basin ski areas. Good place to
have a quattro car! 
The only reason it's been sitting is, from what I can gather, the car
apparently front-ended something or someone. So the car was probably totaled
to the original owner, insurance wrote a check and took the car. The car was
probably sold at auction to the next owner, who did some work on it like
replace the RH headlight and then he passed away. His brother apparently
chucked the title accidentally while going through his papers and didn't
realize it when he decided to keep the car. I guess he rebuilt the entire
brake system and then sold the car to his buddy who drove it a couple of
miles each day to work for almost a year, he lived close by to his work at
the time and I guess it quit running. He diag'd a fuel pump and had one
installed and since he didn't have a title he posted the car on CL to sell
as a parts car. Since he'd moved up towards Thornton (north Denver) he
couldn't drive the car with exp'd plates to where he moved so it sat for
about 4-5 months at his old apartment building until they told him to move
it and it got moved to a cul-de-sac street right next to the apartments and
sat again for another 2-3 months until I bought it. It needed a jump to
start but it started up immediately with no noises and a pegged oil pressure
gauge and I drove it up and down the street and then onto a trailer to get
it moved out of there. Now it's sitting at a friend's shop in the foothills
just west of Chatfield reservoir while I do the title search paperwork.
Thankfully he does body work. This info was given to me by the last owner as
best to his recollection since his friend and his brother were work
acquaintances and not friends in the true sense of the word and my
guestimation on stuff he didn't supply like the original owner scenario and
the shape of the car. It does smoke a little from under the hood when
running but I can't get the hood up since the damage to the front bumper/RH
side has unlatched the hood at that side but the LH side is still latched.
The release handle inside is missing/broken so I suspect that the
cable(s)are bound. Haven't been able to spend a few hours with the car to
find out what's leaking. I suspect v/c gaskets and dist o-rings/plate
gaskets, hopefully. Other than the front bumper damage the paint is in great
shape for the age of the car and the interior needs some serious cleaning
but it's all there, except the Delta radio. It's 'Purlmutter', Mother of
Pearl White with a Gray leather interior and 203k on the clock.... BTW I
have 20+ years in dealership auto parts experience including 4+ years with
VW/Audi... I just wish I had a job to go with the experience.... After Gov't
bailed out GM and Chrysler in 08-09, the parts jobs just evaporated and I
was laid off from Medved Chrysler (they shuttered the dealership). Sorry so
long-winded...

Don

-----Original Message-----
From: toml99 at todomundo.com [mailto:toml99 at todomundo.com] 
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2011 7:16 PM
To: dswasley at hotmail.com
Subject: Audi

Hey, if you don't have the manual, you can download one here......

http://www.motorgeek.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=37944

If that doesn't work for some reason....I can post/burn you a copy.   
If your hydraulic system doesn't leak somewhere, you are way ahead of the
rest of us....It takes Pentosin 11S.  The hoses can be rebuilt by a
reputable hydraulic shop for a fraction of what they go for new, and the
pump rebuild kit is around $7 and I've rebuilt 3 now.  Since our
Knowlegebase has been down for months now for unknown reasons.....

www.sjmautotechnik.com is an incredible wealth of knowlege.

The tranny came with a "lifetime filled" tranny, hence the lack of dipstick.
A few years later, after replacing a bunch of warranty tranny's, they
amended that to change fluid every 60K or in "extreme environments" such as
the Mtns of Colorado....30K.  My first car came from Denver and my ex's dad
had the tranny replaced under extended warranty, and they gave him that
piece of paper after replacing the tranny.  Since most never knew about the
service bulletin, all 6 cars I've had in my possession had never had the
filter replaced(and a few still had the 20yo original fluid in them). Soooo,
as long as the rest of the car seems fine enough to throw money at, I'd do
what I just did with my parts car.  I drained the pan(got about 1/2 quart of

black goo)....put in 4 quarts and it shifted but still slipped.   
Pulled the cooler lines at the radiator and started the car and  
pumped all the fluid out of the system(10.2 quarts by the book).   
Dropped the pan(have to drop the exhaust) and replace the filter/pan gasket
then refill with 9.5 quarts and hope all's well.  From your description, I'm
guessing some thin new fresh fluid will solve the cold problem.  If the
tranny's bad, then the car is possibly worth more in parts then a running
vehicle so all is not lost, and there are a lot of people needing some of
the unobtainable parts....Be thankful that some of the parts that
aftermarket people have made over the years are actually getting cheaper.

Where are you at in Colorado?....I spent a lot of winters in Breckenridge,
and my ex is from Denver so it's my old stomping grounds......Good
luck...Sincerely, Tom

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