lol that and the oil sludge recall it's a wonder there are any 1.8t's left.

where is the tensioner located, I want to look at it and see how "new" it looks.

Yeah honestly there is no way around the sludge, no matter how much research you do.

It'll be interesting to see what Audi USA has to say. I should be hearing back from them by Friday.

yeah i hear alot about this sludge deal. Is it occuring in most b5's because of poor preventive maintenece or is it a problem because of poor design?
Also thx for the timing belt info.

It's a bad design. They offset it and ackknowledge it by the TSB telling you to use the new larger capacity oil filter. No rhyme or reason to it, as cars serviced by Audi with all syth oil will still sludge.

Avoid the 1.8t IMO. I have one, and Had to replace the shitty oil pump in it as well (another known issue of these engines). After the ICM went out on it also (70k miles on it)

ya i just got a 98 1.8 so the future is not lookin good for it...[&o]

The whole sludge deal is absolutley related to bad maintence on both the customers end and AOA

It has nothing to do with design its was AOA fault for not requiring synthetic oil

Even though Audi pays for oil changes every 10k that doesnt mean only change your oil every 10k its just means they only pay for it every 10k

Audi recommends oil changes every 10k? Never bothered to check, cuz I've always done mine every 3 to 4 grand. 10k seems way too long.

10k is way too much. I would never go above 3 with this car. So for the timing belt inspection, if they find that the tensioner is causing problems will they(audi) pay for the parts and labor or the only thing they are paying for is the inspection?

No you will still have to pay for it

It says that in the first paragraph