I have a huge decision to make in my near future. Right now i have a 96' A4 quattro 2.8 thats the v6, and i have been having a few issues with it. I has some minor oil leaks but i feel like im getting under 10 mpg. I feel like if i wasn't gettin so crapy gas mileage i would love the car. So my dilema is to either sell the car or do a major change like get a new engine installed, but i don't know whereto start with changing the engine, i have a good mechanic but i dont have that much money, plus i have to pay for a lawyer in my near future and i could use the money.

I've shown this car to a couple mechanics but they don't think there is a problem. Also, i am not comfortable selling a car that has problems, what should i do?

 

alright...change your oil (use synthetic) I use 5w-30...Change oil filter, spark plugs and air filter...you should also look into changing the fuel filter (audi considers this a lifetime part, but it may be congested)...after these steps...filler up w premium (91-93 oct.)...then try to cruise through the tank (stop and go in not an efficient way to calculate mpg)...when your gas light turns on go to the gas station (determine exactly how much gas was consumed since your last fill up and divide miles driven by gas consumed)...you should be getting anywhere from 18 to 28 mpg...

besides the fuel filter, if you did all of the other work yourself you are looking at roughly 50$(everything listed above you can easily take care of, if you have questions then search and if you don't come up w the answer you are looking for post a Q with some pics and we'll be able to help you out...I'd bet you would see a dramatic increase, and if not you should look into getting the fuel filter replaced...good luck!

heres a really good do it yourself site http://www.audidiy.com plenty of pics and easy to follow walk throughs on verything listed above!

 

i've tried all that other than the synthetic and the fuel filter. It feels like even on on a row boat and im using the 'sharp' part to try to move and im just not going as fast as i should be. or like a straw with a hole, that makes it so you have to work really hard to go anywhere. i am saying this because the acceleration on the car is horendous, my brother has a saab 93 2005 and it accerates 2-3 times faster usuign less than half the fuel, i know this because of long road trips that would take more than a full tank on the my car and only 1/4 tank on his.

 

does the engine run fine, like is there any noticable problems. cause if not you could have problems with your tranny. maybe your clutch is slipping. this would keep u from putting power on the floor and waste Uber amounts of gas

 

Have your exhaust checked. a partially clogged cat might cause the problems you're having.

 

get your ecu scanned for codes...maybe theres some fault codes stored letting you know about something being faulty

 

Check for codes, and if you haven't changed the fuel filter, do so.
A clogged fuel filter will cause poor power, but not bad mileage.
Dirty injectors will cause bad mileage. Run some good injector cleaner such as techron or redline through the system.
In the winter the combination of cold weather and winter "low smog gas" will cut a bunch of miles off your economy.
Similarly a failing precatalytic o2 sensor will cause bad mileage.

I would not change a perfectly good engine.

 

I can just about guarentee you need to clean/replace the egr valve and the vaccum line, after replacing my vac lines which were deteriorated i immediatly got 10 more mpg up from 14mpg for a grand total of 24 mpg city, i also have a problem with the egr which causes the car to lag every now and then until i clear the codes.

 

^^^Really, what the mileage on your car? I'm getting maybe 15-17mpg. I was thinking maybe its the 02 sensors or a clogged fuel filter. I gotta check that out, about how much does the EGR valve and lines cost?

 

clogged fuel filter will not cause bad gas mileage.

Before you start replacing parts blindly, check for codes that may tell you what to replace