Hey there I'm new to this forum and new to the audi world in general. I just picked up an a4 with high miles (but lots of aftermarket goodies I just couldn't pass up). I have a couple of questions maybe someone a little more knowledgeable could answer for me. First, with the high mileage on the car, what are the major problems I should be looking for and what kind of work can I do personally to keep up with it. Second, what are the more important home care maintenance things I should be doing to keep this thing in top shape. Also, I have a fuel/air ratio gauge and I'm not sure it's reading right. The gauge read in small increments from lean to stock to rich. How should the light on the gauge be reading while driving? The car has a bigger exhaust and downpipe so I've been attributing the vibrating idle to that but the gauge reading rich as much as it does makes me think maybe the air/ fuel isn't right. Any more information anybody has on here for me would be much appreciated. \

Thanks, J

 

The A/F gauge very likely is not running off a widebsnd O2 sensor which means it's basically decoration only. If it is swinging back and forth from lean to rich to lean then your O2 sensor is working correctly. If you're nervous about problems, scan your car for fault codes.

The vibration may be worn mounts somewhere in the car's drivetrain.

All the other questions you asked are covered in the FAQ at the top of the forum - please PLEASE read that stuff before posting up - chances are the typical new-guy questions are asked enough that they've been covered and made readily available.

 

well said, Jeremy.

JHunt, you know we need pics of the car, right?

https://www.audiforums.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=109459
This is the link to the FAQ thread... a couple days worth of good reading...

 

How high is high miles?

 

Ditch the disco ball narrow band AFR gauge, if you really want a AFR gauge buy a wide band gauge that will come with its own wide band 02 sensor.

 

Its got 180k on it but the engine isn't oe. I'm thinking its not engine mounts or anything because they were swapped with the engine. They are aftermarket mounts though and I would hypothesize that could be one of the culprits. Any experience I've had (hasport and dst) always seemed to create a louder vibration.

 

Ill post pics tomorrow

 

Ill check and see what type of gauge it is. Would like to swap out anyway

 

Unless you run it with a widebsnd, it'll do exactly nothing for you. Even with a widebsnd, with your state of tune it'll do very little for you. I've always been much more of a fan of a EGT gauge for monitoring what's going on in an engine.

 

Personally air and fuel is a better meter than exhaust temp