Hi; my wife's '00 A4 1.8 Turbo/Quatr is just about at 100K miles and her Audi Certified warranty will soon expire. She loves the car big time, but I am afraid of repair costs without a warranty. We don't know what to do. Are these cars good for well over 100K, and if we keep it, what should we have done to ensure peace of mind? Also, What replacement tires should we get (205/55-16) if we keep it? And, the CD doesn't work (radio does, but not the cd-she gets Err reading all the time). What should we do? Audi says $1000 to replace the radio.
Your thoughts would be highly appreciated; we need experienced owners' expertise as we are unsure what to do. Thanks so much.

 

Hey Howard, got your email. Here goes. As for your A4, mine has 110,000 and still drives like it did when I got it. Couple things to keep an eye on as far as preventative maintainence. If you have not had the timing belt changed, do that immediately. There is an issue with the oil sump screens on the 1.8T's. I had an oil pressure warning light come on at about 100,000 miles. The oil pump was still putting out spec pressure and I change my oil at least every 5,000 miles, so I took it to my mechanic and this is what he told me. The oil pump is mechanically driven and picks up oil through about a six inch angled pipe with a screen at one end. That is what clogged on mine. I have an ATW engine (you can tell which one you have by calling a dealer and giving them your VIN number) and unfortunately I could not find just that little pipe and had to replace the enire pump assembly. Actually a good idea to replace the whole thing while your there. The pump assembly for the ATW A4 1.8T is about $250.00 give or take. Labor is where you can make the difference. I was quoted anywhere from $650.00 to $1500.00. Just make sure you have someone do it who has done them before. You have to remove quite a bit just to get to the oil pan. Other thing I can think of off the top of my head are plugs, wires, direverter valve for the turbo, vacuum hoses (check and see if you have any cracked vac hoses) and the O2 sensors. The oxygen sensors can cause fuel air mixture errors and make the car run and idle roughly. There is an upstream and a downstream and you should replace them both at the same time. My experience has been very good with regards to reliability, the turbo Audi's just require a little bit more TLC than the normally aspirated engines. The only other thing I have had done (other than mods) is the Mass Airflow Sensor. Don't worry about that unless you are getting long term fuel trim errors. Long story short, I'd buy another one in a heartbeat, but fully expect to get at least 200,000 niles out of this one before I do. What kind of oil do you use? I use Royal Purple, not cheap, but very good. Mobile one and Amsoil are very good oils as well. Turbos are pretty hard on oil, so changing oil more frequently and using high quality sythetics helps protect your investment. With regards to the radio, your dealer probably won't offer this up, but just ask and they should take care of you. I had mine replaced for a $250.00 core charge. They just swapped it out with a refurbished one for me. Do you have the Symphony version? That's what I've got. Hope this info helps.

 

Ditto what Doose said.

I'd only add that the coolant sensor should be upgraded to the latest OE version. It's a $5 DIY that takes about 5 minutes.