Scott_boston

No worries, thanks for any advice you can give me. I bought the gasket kit from blauparts.com. It has all the cam gaskets and the valve cover gaskets as well. I plan on doing it all at the same time. I've been rebuilding car engines for a few years now. Although it has always been on old hot rods. THis is more technical I'm sure but I should be able to get through it. Any advice on oil and a filter? I've always been a fan of Royal Purple, but should I go with motul or another in this case? The car was recently serviced so I'm not to concerned with it now, but the leak makes me want to do an oil change at the same time. I'll probably drain the tranny and change the filter there as well. I have ordered the service book for the car as well but I'm sure I'll be along to bother you with some more questions. Thanks again.

cheers

elmcitizen

Where were you looking at 1999 A4 Avant? The dealer in NH that lists on Craigslist?

I asked about the cra myself, but it was too far of a drive, so I continue to search for my B5 Avant!

4Driver4

I run dino oil in our 2.8's. So far so good. If you are going to do the trans fluid, you should probably check the gear oil in the diffs too (3 diffs).

Scott_boston

yeah, elmcitizen. It was a place in NH called Corey motors. I'm not to sure I would suggest dealing with them. They aren't very professional. I sell motorcycles for a living, so I think I know more than most about the process. They had been giving me the runaround with that car. Otherwise I'd have it already. Its for the best though, I found my A6 which is in much better condition. I will say that the A4 they have there is very clean. It has window, rear hatch and rear strut issues. It drove fine and the engine felt strong. Where are you coming from? I will be back up there on Saurday to try and get my deposit back on that car. Shouldn't be too hard they where supposed to have it ready for me tuesday. They haven't even touched it yet. Oh well.

Gomer

I thought there was a 3 day time limit before they could keep your deposit or you could back out of deal. Pretty sure it is a law in NY.Or ask them if they want good or bad reviews about them as you talk to your customers and friends over there unwillingness to give you back your deposit. I am sure you have been in a similiar situtation in your field, what did you do?

Scott_boston

Well in my experience, customer experience is key. The motorcycle market was rough this year, so making the customers I had happy was a huge priority. Plus this is the first time I've ever worked in sales, so I treated people the way I would want to be. To be honest this caused problems with my superiors, because I was bluntly honest with people. If I thought a bike was too much for someone or was a piece of crap, I let them know rather than just make the sale. Some people appreciated this, some got pissed.
Anyway, I had people, weeks after leaving a deposit come back for their money. Done, I never made anyone beg, crawl or make excuses. If you don't want a bike or can't afford it, then have it back. Its their money. These guys are "pros" if you ask me. Meaning they have been in sales either too long to care, or not long enough to know the benefits of good customer service.
Now, not be too harsh, the are giving me my money back so tragedy adverted. Good luck with the search, and if you ever need something on 2 wheels let me know. We are a BMW dealer as well as the big 4, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha.

Cheers

Audi for life 1987

I bought my car from Corey motors. They are a joke I work at a New GMC dealer and i found the car on craigslist.It was what i wanted so i took the trip down and looked at the car. Not as clean as they told me. The guy down there didnt know anything about Audis or any car for that matter. I laughed at him. I have had 5 A4s and know a little about them. I bought the car for less had to do some work on it. Its a 2001 A4 2.8 5spd quattro sport package with the sport seats and rs4 17s One owner with 95k. Just a heads up. I wouldnt buy anything from them.

reinstone79

Good luck Scott... but be prepared for maintenance. I bought a 96 A4 2.8L V6 Quattro with 116k miles for a whopping $1500. Looks great, drove really nice. Almost $3500 later in repairs and now I find myself having to replace the Oil Pump. It's been one BAD issue after another, and nothing comes cheap or easy in fixing these things. Nice cars, but I'll never try to own a used one again. I'd be better off driving this thing off a cliff and calling the insurance company.

turbo510

Reinstone, what have you had go wrong? My '96 has 187K miles, and I basically just do lubricants and filters. It gets tached to redline several times a day, and haven't had any drivetrain problems. Like 4Driver4's 2.8 cars, this one usually gets dino (5W-30), and I use Valvoline MaxLife ATF. Why do you think your car needs an oil pump?

reinstone79

Well let's see.... what has gone wrong with this Audi A4 so far in the 4 months that I've owned it and driven mostly highway miles? Mind you the car drives nice and looks great in and out... but..

1. ABS pump (typical problem - they always go out)
2. Rear brake pads were shot (ok, not a big deal, did them myself)
3. Timing Belt, Water Pump, Pulleys (prev. maintenance there)
4. Oil cooler cracked - replaced
5. Power steering rack and pinion failed - replaced, big $$$!
6. HVAC control unit flakes out with the lights and controls at times (known issue with cold solder joints)
7. Radio locked up and display unit went out, had to replace with a JVC new radio
8. Dash bulbs have gone out and gages acting up
9. Power windows up/down are slow as molasses
10. Front passenger side lower grill fell off
11. Lower air intake shroud for alternator went out
12. Battery died (go figure)
13. Replaced oil pressure switch - didn't solve the low oil pressure light, also cleaned out pressure plate and new oil pan gasket.
14. New valve cover gaskets.
15. Vacuum lines were disintegrating, so I replaced them.
16. Cracked vacuum reservoir leading to check engine/vacuum leak.
16. Last but not least, low oil pressure not fixed, and failure is most likely the very $$$ OIL PUMP.

But hey, all in all, these cars are MUCH better than Domestics. NOT. I've had GM trucks and Pontiac cars for years that never had this kind of maintenance and ran for ALOT of miles with great performance. But to each their own. I would think this car would run a long time after replacing all that stuff, but I really doubt I'm going to hold onto it long enough to find out and take that risk! All in all, I like the car or I wouldn't be fixing it. But I'm finally getting fed up with all the crap that breaks and how darn hard it is to fix it yourself!