New to the forum, just would like to say hello

[JimmyJohns]

Howdy folks, my name is Jim and I hail from the lovely area of Western New York. I've constantly read threads on here and thought it might just be time for me to make an account and contribute as much as I can, and gain some valuable knowledge from you wonderful folks.


To start off, I supposed I should share with you the vehicles I own and see after. I currently own a 2001 Audi S4 with 242k miles, and I have a 1997 Ford F-350 7.3 Powerstroke with 227k miles.

My mother has a 2000 Buick century with 85k miles which I will be making a separate topic within the next couple days to figure something out. All good vehicles, bought the ford about 5 months ago, and she bought the Buick about 9 months ago.


The Audi is down until late this year until I can save up to replace the turbos, and I finally got the truck in proper working order and figured out the no start issues. My oil of choice for the Audi is Rotella T6, and last oil change for the truck we went with some Travellers 15w40.


Again, just wanted to introduce myself and say hello, and remember, watch Nascar in February

 

[53' Stude]

Hi Jim and glad to have you here

 

[aquariuscsm]

I had a childhood friend named Jimmy Johns

 

[redhat]

Hey there I think I know this fella.

Your Audi is a super nice car and the truck is a tank. Here's a link to your valvetrain post: 2001 Audi S4 B5, 230k valvetrain pic

Welcome to BITOG and as Ric Flair would say "whoooo".

 

[Hokiefyd]

Jim, welcome to BITOG!

 

[double vanos]

Welcome to our oil drenched asylum!!! Glad to have you on board, and as a DIYer looking forward to hearing more about the horses in your corral!

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Welcome and don;t be shy to send us some of your famous sandwiches.

I really like the #8 sandwich the best...... yum!

 

[Kuato]

Welcome Jim -- how's the Audi been for maintenance? I've driven and always wanted one.....

 

[gilbertsta]

Welcome to the site. The Rotella T6 would be the proper oil for your Audi. Good choice my man.

 

[JimmyJohns]

Let me first say that I love the car and forgive me for what I will say.

In terms of maintenance, the car can be kind of daunting to justify owning. 242k miles, pretty much everything that could have gone wrong would have gone wrong, so I can say with some experience. I owned the car since 229,229 miles, and the previous owner didn't maintain it as they should have. All they did was install Bilstein shocks, and change the timing belt.

These cars love service intervals and I'll explain that last part of the paragraph momentarily.

Every 60-80k miles it is extremely recommended to change the timing belt, water pump, and timing belt tensioner. The water pump has a tendency to leak past that mileage, and you have to remove the front clip of the car to do so, so it's kinda like why not while you're there. Where the previous owner messed up, they didn't replace the timing belt tensioner, so about 3 months ago when I took it to my good friend for top end service and timing belt serivce(found out the turbos were bad), the timing belt had A LOT of slack in it, I'm honestly shocked it didn't skip timing, I'm lucky. Higher mileage we are talking cam seals, caps, timing chain guides on the top of the tensioner(tensioner too if it seems gunked up), and timing chain tensioner seals. These cars also just love to leak out of the valve covers, I didn't get to find out if a catch can would help with blow by and reduce pressure in the top end to reduce pressure forcing out that oil.

But I digress, the 2.7 twin turbo, is an awesome motor, but she is a maintenance queen, and unless you have a hook up with a good mechanic or can do it yourself, then it will get very very costly to own.

The S4 B5 loves front shocks, and the rear calipers don't seem to last. Your rear differential will eventually leak, and you will need to install seals, not the worst job in the world but it is very messy. Also fuel pumps are common, along with coolant temp sensors leaking, and a common no start issue is a crank sensor.


Let me again say, I love my car, parts prices are just on that fine line of expensive and affordable so I can deal with it. With only a stage 1 tune from the late Daz Dillenger on KO3 turbos, the car pulled hard and I was happy, but I want more. With an exhaust, not to pat myself on the back, this is one the best sounding cars I've ever heard. But there are a fair share of downfalls, stock turbos are known to go, there is a 1-2 collar issue in the manual transmission where it becomes increasingly difficult to go into gear, and everything else I mentioned. At this point I'm married to the car, and I'm kind of okay with that, if you found one with a great service history and everything you want done to it for a good price, I would say hop on it before it's gone, but if you buy one as a car to make fast, or as a daily, I wouldn't.


1.8T is a whole different story, those motors are great, not exactly fast for a turbocharged motor, but if you want all wheel drive, with some reliability, and a good look , then this is the motor, B5 is such and ageless model. Timing belt, water pump, and fuel pumps still pertain to this one though.


Those are the only two I have direct experience with, and I am by no means a master, I try to learn as much as I can, but there's only so much you can take in from behind a computer screen and watching and helping your buddy wrench.

One thing I did learn thanks to Redhat pointing it out, is that burning T6 smells like sesame seeds

 

[gregk24]

Welcome to BITOG! You may find yourself spending way too much time here, but we are glad to have you. Nice car by the way, I'm sure its a fun to drive.