Hi,
New to the forum. Just purchase a 1998 2.8 V6 Quattro and planing in doing most of the repair work myself. Please advise what should I be checking on the car in order to avoid expensive repairs in the future, and which is the best Service Manual. Is there a web site I can download????
Thanks

 

for the service manual part, there is a thread running on the B5 forums about those

https://www.audiforums.com/m_833143/tm.htm

 

Trevor,
Thanks for the reply. I guess you have the same car as me. What are some of the issues with the car I should be looking at? How reliable is the car? Any recommendation?
Thanks
Andrew

 

i wish i could be more helpful, but i've only had mine about a month and a half, and only been part of these forums for about half that

but from what i've picked up, one of the biggest issues to look at would be the timing belt
as far as reliablilty, from what ive read, the 2.8 is known to be more reliable than the 1.8, but you have almost no options in the form of engine modifications/improvements short of a supercharger (i wish...)

i'm sure there are more knowledgeable people floating around here somewhere who know more about all of this than i do though

EDIT:almost forgot :P good read that was linked to me when i first joined here https://www.audiforums.com/m_700266/tm.htm

 

2.8 is probably the most reliable older motor Audi makes...

cam seals and the plastic vent tubes... are the only issues i've really seen

 

Thank you... Can you tell me how to change the oil? How may quarts? Oil filter part number? should i use syntetic oil?... I have done oil changes in the past, but not on an Audi... Is ther a diy on this?
Regards,
Andrew

 

Hi, I have a '98 A4 2.8 w/5 speed. It has 120,000 miles (I got it with 40,000), which dopesn't seem like much but it's now 10 years old. I don't know the mileage on yours, but here is the work I have had done over time, much of it being typical maintenance:

Struts @ 75K
Brakes (pads and rotors) These cars seem to eat front rotors
Clutch@ 85K
Timing belt, water pump, belt tensioner @ 80K. You must do all three are done at the same time
Upper control arms of front suspension @ 50K. Many cars require them sooner and/or all control arms done. I've been lucky.
Secondary air pump @105K. This is an air pump for the emissions system. It is located behind the front bumper on the right. You will hear it growlif it goes.
Cam cover andtiming control gaskets @ various times (one pending). These ate $5 gaskets that require the removal of the camshaft to replace. They should make betterr gaskets!
Rear wheel bearings @ 105K and 120K. Both bearing went about a year ago about 2 weeks apart. My mechanic said there was a whole rash of these gone bad. Well, one of those replacements just failed. Even though these are totally sealed I have an idea the road salt
we have up here in Mass. isn't helping the situation.

This sounds like alot but the car gets driven fairly hard (my fault...the car just begs for it!) and the years take a toll as well as the mileage. Many things are really what it takes to maintain a car over 100K and more.

Enjoy the ride.

 

I use Mobil 1 10-30 full synthetic and it takes about 5.8 quarts. A little more then recommended in the manual to hit the mid mark.