Well, after mingling a little bit, posting here and there just to get the pulse of the forum, and "ease" myself into the crowd, it is time to share my thoughts and pose a few questions. I hope you guys bear with me, and the same time will offer your generous and keen opinions.

The car is a 1995 2.8L, V6 FWD Sedan, with 150,000+ miles on it. It appears that it only had two previous owners. The second owner purchased it in 1998 at around 30,000 miles. From the maintenance records I have, the guy was the type that takes the car to the shop when something is wrong, leaves it, comes back when is ready, pays only with AmEX credit card, and he's on his way. Also, from what I can gather, he only serviced the car to an Audi dealer the first 2 years. After that, it looks like he serviced it at Jiffy Lube, and Firestone mostly.
He's been ripped-off, and I can give you examples, but that's beside the point. I can see that Quaker State semi-synthetic 10W-30 has been used at one time, then Penzoil semi-synthetic, yet other time I can see a GT-1 High Mileage with SealMax (never heard of this one before - Googled it and is Kendall semi-synthetic). For someone who even repainted the car in March 2006 - no body work whatsoever at the time (Clean CARFAX - no accidents/damages), it seems odd to take the car to "second-hand" shops (excuse me, Firestone and Jiffy Lube), and have oil changes that entail lower-grade/quality oils.

1. What do you think, should I be worried?
Is using full synthetic in the Audi just a "fashion" thing or it is specified in the specs? (Unfortunately I don't have a Service Manual, and the Owner's Manual has no specs as far as what fluids are REQUIRED for the car)
I was reading about someone on a different thread related to oil, and I "quote" from memory: "I use only 0W-40 synthetic, and you can call me **** retentive but I change it every 3,000 miles" .
Well, I'm exactly the same type of person when it comes to MY car. 2. If I change the oil every 3,000 miles (2 times a year! - before the Winter comes, and then again at the "crack" of Spring), do I really need full synthetic ELF, or some other fancy European oil? Is Mobil-1 Full Synthetic within the recommendations?

Going further, I have one more concern regarding the car's history.
About two weeks prior to selling the car to an auto dealer chain that started as an auto-trade, web-based business (C---x), he obviously took the car in to a Firestone shop and got a "QUOTE" for the following:
Clutch assembly
1) Remove & Replace Clutch Pressure Plate labor = $ 695.20
* Remove & Replace Clutch Pilot Bearing labor = $ 8.80
* Remove & Replace Clutch Release Bearing labor = $ 17.60
K70007-01 NEW CLUTCH KIT Generic Part = $ 537.55
Summary
Parts..................... 537.55
Labor..................... 721.60
Shop Supplies........... 25.00
Sub......................1,284.15
Tax......................... 77.05
Total ................... 1,361.20

As said, about two weeks after this quote, he sold the car (or traded it in).

In a prior post, I was expressing some concerns regarding the way it lags in shifting from 1st to second gear on cold starts. I know that someone already pointed out to the fact that this is a common problem in Audis.
However, with nemohm - as a senior poster on this forum- telling me that the 1995 2.8L AT doesn't have a clutch, and also with the aformentioned work quote in mind, I really don't know what to believe anymore. I'm getting even more confused than I was before I joined the forum and started reading.
So the next question is: 3. Do you guys have any thoughts on this? Does a 1995 2.8L FWD Sedan Automatic have a clutch that can be replaced or not?

Lastly, a few quick questions relating to "here and now" (since I already purchased the car, and there's no return):

4. Is this CD-Rom Manual the same as this Paper Manual, and the same as this E-Bahn DVD-Rom Manual ?
Is any of these a must have for DIY repairs/work on the car if trying to avoid taking the car to a dealer?

5. Is this Alldatdiy a good alternative/surrogate to buying the Bentley Manual?

6. What type of silicone for lubing the sunroof channels should I look for? (brand? place to buy?)

I would still have more questions, but would be lucky if you had the patience to read up to here. So I will leave the other questions for a different time.
My apology for the length of this post, but if you read it in its entirety I want to thank you in advance for any advice, answers, concerns, tomatoes you may throw at me, etc.
I appreciate all the help I can get.
chefro

 

looks like u have a clutch

 

Axel, I really appreciate your help. Thanks much!!!


Also,
Kevin, I thank you very much for the indirect answer.

It looks like I got two questions down. Cheers, guys.

 

about oil i go with 5-30 W castroll and i am stick with it, relace every 3k miles. but not sure what secs are for your, an owner manual should tell u what`s good

 

Thanks Axel.
In the Owner's manual they don't give you squat in terms of information. For the 95 A6, I learned that it should have had a SERVICE Manual as well containing Specs and Recommendations, but I cannot locate any.
I called the Audi Brochures branch (800-544-8021); they redirected me to Archives (800-544-3312), yet they neither have any, nor they know if they will be re-printed soon....if ever again.
That's why I am asking all these questions SPECS-related. For some reason I don't see any of the extremely knowledgeable people (from what I was able to gather) like auditech79, hxgaser, NH_USA, Coors, etc offering also their input... Probably I must have twisted someone's arm with some of my previous posts, and became instantly a persona non-grata for the pros. Could have been my occasional remarks geared toward dealerships or "fancy stuff" that tickled someone the wrong way? Who knows?
The fact that some of the questions remained unanswered is a pretty good flag.
Anyway....

I just changed the oil immediately after I purchased it. I used Mobil Clean 5000, 5w-30. Is what I've been using for about 4years now, in all the cars we had/have before the Audi. Never had any engine-related problems. Changes performed like clock-work at 3,000 miles or less.
I used before Castrol GTX, which is pretty good oil. I switched to Mobil because the dealership where I used to service one of the cars at started using it in all of the brand's models. Well, I digress again too much.

Thanks again man. I appreciate the time you took to offer your help.


P.S. By the way, do you know by any chance if in a 2.8 L, 4-speed-Automatic is normal to have around 3200 RPM when doing 70MPH?
Too me that's a bit high comparative with other 4-speed cars I've had.
Thanks again.

 

had 5 speed on mine/auto , is a 2.8/ 2001, at 70mph , i am around 2800rpm , i would say a good maintenance is a must (oil/fuel/air filter, sparkplugs, clean injector )