I recently decided to start working on my Audi A4 quattro V6 2.8L. The owners manual lead me to believe that it is a 98. So i ordered a oil pan for that specific car. I was pumped when i finally got it. However it didn't fit. Doing some research i saw that the oil pan for a 97 looks more like the oil pan i need to replace. I'm a novice at this so i figured i'll mess up here and there. I'm fine with that. So my question is even tho the manual says 98, when replacing parts should i just buy 97 parts. Any information about anything would be great. I really like this car and although audi's are expensive to take of i wouldn't trade it for anything. Thanks everyone

Find your VIN# and plug it in on this site. That will tell you what year it is. But Audi is good at changing some things during a model year. You'll get burnt sometimes like you did with the oil pan.

VIN Decoder - AudiWorld Forums

this is an easy one. if you have a 97, you have a 12 valve 2.8 v6. If you have a 98, you have a 30 valve 2.8 v6. completely different engines. if you cant tell for yourself, post a pic of the engine and we'll let you know. odds are, if the part you ordered for the 98 didn't work, you have a 97 and it is a 12 valve 2.8 v6

Cody, I have a 1998 30v 2.8 like yours. If you look on the driver's door, it may say manufactured mid 1997. I had the same problem. I ordered a 1998 oil pan for the 2.8 30V the first time my kid cracked the pan and it didn't fit. Mine actually took a 1997 oil pan...and NO it is NOT a 12V....you can try to go by your VIN, or if it's not too dirty under there, jack the car up, put on stands for safety, and you'll see the part number etched in the pan. The VIN decoder works sometimes, but it will tell you it's a 30V 2.8 BUT the oil pan may be different.

Some of the late 97 production year engines had 12v blocks and 30v heads.