I have a 2004 Audi A6 Avant with 66K miles. It's been well maintained and just had to replace numerous parts because of check engine light. The valve cover gasket was leaking and therefore had to replace it as well as ignition coil and new spark plugs........all to the tune of $1100. Is this normal for a care with 66K miles that's been well maintained and it seems a bit costly to me. Any advice or thoughts?

 

One of the valve cover gaskets on my 05 4.2 was replaced at 49,000 miles. All 8 of my coil packs were replaced at about 20,000 miles.

 

Yeah valve covers tend to leak in our cars around that mileage. As for the cost of work, if you did it from a dealer, $1100 would be roughly the right cost. Parts would have been about $400-500 and shop rate labor of about 5 hours at +$130... FYI, a typical dealership makes 70% of their income from working on cars, not selling them.

 

I'm seconding what was just said by hxgaser. My A6 had the gaskets done the first time around at, oh, 42k. The wife's A4's first time around was at about 55k, and now (at 110k), the @(#($ passenger bank is due again.

One of those annoying Audi things. You can DIY to save a bunch of the cost; it's not a terriably hard job (just hard keeping track of the million or so fasteners).

-red

 

Doesn't blauparts.com sell a kit that has some "advanced" longer-lasting gaskets?

 

It depends on what your driving climate is like, if you are in hot climates and drive frequent short trips, 40K is about all you can get out of them before they start leaking. If you live in a cold climates and make long trips you could get around 70k out of them. Of course your driving style also affects the life of gaskets as well due to heat from the engine oil.
As for longer lasting gaskets......i haven't found any that last longer than the factory OEM ones.

 

Knock on wood -- 124k and original gaskets. I haven't seen any weeping. But per the comment above, my driving is highway and most of that is during the winter. Also running on original coils. I expect things to start wearing out and failing at some point and then I'll be moaning about repairs, too. The good news is I have a real good local indie shop that charges under $80/hr still.