Hello,

I brought my Audi back in November and ever since I have had non stop problems. I am not sure if its because of maintenance or because the car is crap. It does ride smoothly. It currently has 140,000 miles (brought it at 125,000) and I do not know what to do any more. I went to the dealership and they told me I needed to replace my coolant tank/reservoir for $700. So I did that. Than they told me I needed to change my cam seal adjusters and valve cover gaskets. Another $1200. I was told that my trans fluid was change, coolant was full yet the coolant sensor keeps coming on!!! help!!!! I do not know what else is wrong with my car :-( It does not over heat but my air conditioner doesnt work either :-(

 

I have a 2.7T as well and am pretty familiar with the quirks associated with them when they get up in miles. For 140,000 miles on the clock, the repairs that you have indicated are pretty routine, and the prices seem normal coming from a dealership. Although you can snag a 2002/3 2.7T for around $6000, the up keep and maintenance is where the real expenses begin with this engine.

In regards to your coolant issue, I would first ensure that the float is plugged in on the bottom of the new expansion tank that the dealer installed. Although it seems odd that they would forget to plug it it, stranger things have happened. However, it sounds to me that either one or both of your coolant temperature sensors are faulty. They are pretty cheap to buy. The bad news is that they will still charge you a decent amount to swap them out even though no tools are really required to swap either sensor out. If you can find a reputable shop around town that you trust, you can probably have them do the sensors for less than half the price a dealer would charge you.

To further determine what could be wrong with your air conditioning, I would check and see if you hear the compression "kick on" when the air conditioning is started. You may have to have someone turn it on while you listen for the jolt outside the car. If it kicks on you know it's at least turning on and can probably have it pressure tested. If the timing belt and water pump have been changed and the person doing it wasn't careful, it's pretty easy to discharge the AC system as a result of reckless behavior when doing a timing belt job.

I wouldn't say the 2.7T is crap; It's a pretty powerful engine that can be modded to be a pretty mean car. The engine compartment is tight, there are more parts that can (and will) break, and not many places aside from dealerships and independent Audi/VW shops will do much with it in the way of repairs. With the amount of money you have invested into the car I would fix the remaining issues and drive it until a turbo blows. The 2.7T isn't for the faint of heart.

Let us know if you need more info or help.

 

Hello,


Thank you for all of your help! I live in Michigan and I am a female so I have been looking around for some one to repair my car but I simply do not trust everyone with it. I am going to look into those problems and ask around for some great Audi mechanics in Michigan. How many miles would you say this car typically last for? I sincerely thank you for taking out the time to respond to my problem! I love my car soo much its just that every other week, their is a new problem. And like all of these "guys" around town who claim to know about cars always calls mine junk or the unreliable year for Audis. But I feel like it actually rides smoothly. I was thinking about upgrading eventually to a 2005 and up Audi A6. How would you rate those?

 

Mine is a 2000 2.7 with 183k and those repairs seems normal for the amount of miles u have. I have mine for 3+ years now n I have done timing belt, valve cover gaskets, whole control arms kit, a bunch of sensors, tranny fluid, trunk struts, etc i mean that's what happens when u have an old high mileage car but when right nothin rides better than my car lol
I'm thinking of replacing it with an 05+ model but is hard to get rid of it when nothing wrong with her

 

It's hard to say just how long you will get out of the car before it won't go anymore. You always have the option of replacing whatever part it is that is broken. If a turbo blew, I would say that would be a deal breaker for you based on the amount of money you say you've spent (And the fact that you have noted you didn't like paying that much already!) A blown turbo is about 1300 for just the turbo (Might as well do both so 2600!) plus installation. $5000 at a dealer? Idk, I've actually never read anyone on the forums here going to the dealer for a turbo swap. Probably because of that price tag!

I've heard of stock turbos going into the 200k range so you have some time before you need to think about swapping turbos or getting a new car.

I wouldn't listen to random car guys who say they know about Audis. From experience, it takes a certain kind of patience and skill to work on our cars without writing them off as over engineered pieces of crap. If you know how to work on them, they're great. If you don't, then they are your worst nightmare because it'll hold up a mechanic for hours wasting their time and garage bay.

Keep looking for a good German car shop and use them for all of your future needs.

 

thanks so much! Its good to know that other people who have Audi's because its hard to know whether or not its actually just maintenance/typical repairs or if its because its a lemon lol

 

Thank you so much for all of your help @Nebuchadnezzar! What are the signs of a turbo that is possibly going to blow? So I got the G12 coolant from the dealership and everyday my coolant sensor comes on and it beeps until add more coolant. I presume their must be some leak because my car is slightly over heating? If I replaced the coolant tank before how could it possibly start to leak again?

I was also looking into replacing my brakes again. Their starting to squeak again and I brought them from Auto Zone, which I would never do again because I think they were cheap. What are some good brake brands for Audi's? I was also looking into quality windshield wipers since I still have the ones that came with the car and I want to change those.

My car doesnt have an automatic starter and I was thinking about getting one. I spoke to my cousin and she told me that most foreign cars end up having some type of problem after those are installed and its a deal breaker, especially depending on the person who installs it. Do you think its a bad idea to get a automatic starter?

 

You will normally start to see oil being "spit" back up into your intake when the seals begin to go on the turbos, as well as being able to visually see the turbos wet with oil from below the car as the seals begin to go.

As far as your coolant problem is concerned, if your car is overheating you should not be driving it as severe damage could result. Even if your expansion tank has been replaced recently there are still MANY other areas from where coolant can escape. Do you see coolant on the ground when you move the car? Has the water pump and timing belt been changed recently? I ask because you haven't mentioned a water pump swap in previous posts nor have you indicated seeing coolant on the ground, so I suspect water pump impeller failure as the culprit of your mysterious coolant loss. Either that or the secondary coolant pump is leaking and it's burning up on the exhaust on the way down.

As far as break pads, I would recommend any type of pad by EBC. I have the EBC Red Stuff pads on my BMW M6 and they are a pretty good balance between a racing pad and a street pad. You might as well do the rotors too because I'm guessing they're getting pretty chewed up if you're hear squeeling as you apply the breaks.

I believe the OEM windshield wipers are made by Bosch and they're fairly costly. I only know this because when I had the dealer do the inspection one year it wouldn't pass without them. Figures.

Personally, I wouldn't bother with an automatic starter as the money seems like it would be better spent elsewhere at this point in time on that car.

 

Luckily, I do not have any signs of blown turbos. I finally took it to a trusted mechanic and I figured out the culprit! The coolant tank that the dealership changed apparently wasnt raised up high enough and it was near my engine or whatever (according to my mechanic) and the coolant tank ended up getting cracks in it, causing the coolant to leak! So he changed it and added coolant again for $80 and it drives well again! Thanks again for all of your advice. I have decided to not get the automatic starter in my car unless I have a great deal, which I highly doubt. I am going to replace all of the brakes and tires.

 

I'm glad you found the problem and fixed it. These are great cars when they run well and pita when they do not. Not sure where you are in MI, but I am in Holland and have a great indie shop here. Also, I am still running original turbos at 216k and while there is leakage, I expect (pray) to get a lot more miles out of them. My recent issues were the cats (replaced about 18 months ago but did not solve the cels so that was a wasted $2500) and the AC compressor just failed (not fixing it as this is primarily a winter driver).