re:V6 owners: reliability so far?

[steve@ipecac.engr.sgi.com (Steve Valin)]

 Carl DeSousa <desousa@cisco.com> asks:

> To all Audi V6 owners, how has reliability been with your cars?

not too bad.  I've had to replace the power steering hose, which
self destructed.  This I tried to do myself, but I couldn't 
figure out the trick of getting to the fitting behind the rack.
A real pain in these cars.  I also had to replace the fuel line from
the filter to the rails as it started leaking in the connection
between the braided hose and steel line.

Other problems were related to mechanic error (me!).  When I 
replaced the timing belt, I had it too tight.  It eventually
split the tensioner in half and ruined the water pump.  I noticed
this when I was wondering where all the fibers strewn around the
engine compartment were coming from.  The broken tensioner was
pushing the belt forward, where it has shredded itself against
the plastic shrouding.  Luckily I found this problem when the 
belt had worn itself down to about 1/2 inch width.

Since then, Carlsen Audi recommends tightening the belt tight
enough so that you can twist the longest side of the belt 90
degrees.

> The reason I ask is cause a friends 92 100CS just broke a lifter
> after just having a power steering pump replaced.   Their car only has
> 65K miles on it so I'm dissappointed to see failures of this magnitude
> so early in the cars life.  
> 
> Can you tell me what your experiences are so far, especially for
> higher milaege cars?

mine has 91K.

> How many V6 owners are reading this?

At least two: myself and Anthony Chan...

-steve