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This girl can turn wrenches. I also built and flew experimental airplanes for a few years, lol!
I worked for a time with an aircraft fabric company, doing rib-stitching, paint prep, and so forth. My boss had a Steen Skybolt aerobatic bipe, weighing only about 1K lbs and with 300 HP, plenty of fun! There weren't a whole lot of women participating in the flying hobby at that time (80s), but those that did tended to be excellent pilots, as was one of my flight instructors. One time, while waiting for the two women in our ground school to arrive, a couple of the guys joked about "women pilots". The flight school owner set everyone straight: "those women are probably going to be better pilots than you knuckleheads, because they read the manuals and follow instructions".
2003 Audi A4 Avant 3.0 - Bought from an older owner with 76K on it and full service records. Car has been a dream so far with only minor things that needed to be addressed. So far I've added a VFIZ, S4 rear sway bar and Bilstein Touring Class shocks.
I'm new to this Audi Gang, but not to German cars.
just got this beauty, an '04 A4 B6 quattro 3.0 6mt USP, fully loaded and very well maintained with 170,000 miles on it, a bit over a month ago. paid a whopping $2500 for it, including a second set of aftermarket wheels with snow tires. sold my 99 BMW 323i for $2500 a week before i got this because I was tired of winter driving with only rear wheel drive. Ironically, it snowed here the day after I got my Audi.
Damn nice car for $2,500. 170,000 is low-mileage compared to mine- at over 240,000 now.
If you can get a list of recent maintenance, post it here. The timing belt system (pump, rollers, etc.) is a critical maintenance thing, so if over 60K miles since the last one, put it on the to-do list. If you do your own work, these cars are not particularly expensive to own. The only "upgrade" that I've done, and recommend is to change out the original AM/FM/Cassette/CD (if yours still has it) for a more modern touchscreen NAV system. I also just added a backup camera to go with it.
Damn nice car for $2,500. 170,000 is low-mileage compared to mine- at over 240,000 now.
If you can get a list of recent maintenance, post it here. The timing belt system (pump, rollers, etc.) is a critical maintenance thing, so if over 60K miles since the last one, put it on the to-do list. If you do your own work, these cars are not particularly expensive to own. The only "upgrade" that I've done, and recommend is to change out the original AM/FM/Cassette/CD (if yours still has it) for a more modern touchscreen NAV system. I also just added a backup camera to go with it.
thanks!! I'm the 5th owner. PO had it for 8 years & maintained it at an independent shop in Fort Collins Colorado. Unfortunately, they retired & closed down last year...she didn't get her service records from them before they closed. An independent dealer that I know, did get me a full (super clean!!) Carfax report with a lot of service records on it though. Regardless of the service interval, I plan on doing the full timing kit, water pump, valve cover gaskets, plugs & coils in the spring. A mechanic that I know (I sell auto parts locally.)has quoted me $450 for all that labor if I get the parts together.
Here are some of the things which I've replaced in the time I've owned this car, not including the usual maintenance items:
Wheel bearings
Front control arms (all-in kit)
Fuel pump
Fuel filter
Radiator
AC compressor and expansion orifice
Window regulator (1)
Heater hoses (2; preventative)
Vacuum hoses
Coolant temp sensor
Xenon headlight bulbs
Rotors/pads
Steering rack
Coolant reservoir
Power steering pump
Coolant manifold
Crankcase pressure control valve
Even if you don't do most maintenance on it yourself, I highly suggest that you order a Ross-Tech VCDS scan tool ($199) which will be money well-spent. I've got a new one due to arrive Tuesday, because my older version wasn't compatible with everything on my 2019 A5. I gave the previous one to my son-in-law who is rebuilding an Audi Q5.
Hope that you enjoy that Cabrio. It was interesting to look at my list of maintenance and find several things I've done again. In particular, the front rotors had a tendency for abnormal wear at the outer 1/2" of the surface, both sides and two different brands. I then ordered Zimmerman drilled rotors and pads, but this time also replaced the caliper slide bushings and pins. No more wear like before, so I suspect the old pins/bushings were allowing the caliper to tilt during braking.
Hope that you enjoy that Cabrio. It was interesting to look at my list of maintenance and find several things I've done again. In particular, the front rotors had a tendency for abnormal wear at the outer 1/2" of the surface, both sides and two different brands. I then ordered Zimmerman drilled rotors and pads, but this time also replaced the caliper slide bushings and pins. No more wear like before, so I suspect the old pins/bushings were allowing the caliper to tilt during braking.
Good to know, thank you! Im trying to chase a vibration now, noticed the front rotors look a little darker than they might. Hadn't noticed any increase in harshness with the pedal though. Rotors look odd too, like tiny bits of rust throughout the surface. Wheels Bend easy?
08-25-2020, 01:15 PM
