Just bought a 2000 A6 with 250k on it. Maintenance questions.

[HoboWithApricot]

Hey everyone, took my first step into the euro world and bought a 2000 A6 with the 2.7t and a 6 speed. The car has pretty high miles but I got it for $2000 so I figure it probably has potential to be a really fun car. I have a lot of service records from the first 160k of its life but little to nothing from the last 90k or so. The original owner was very regular on his maintenance, but I'm iffy on the previous two owners. I do know that both water pumps, cam seals, and timing belt were replaced within the last 20k miles.

Since I've had the car I have replaced the valve cover gaskets, the ECT sensor on the passenger side, spark plugs, coolant expansion tank, front lower control arms, ABS module, fabricated my own spider hose, and replaced most of the hoses with silicone ones as they become easy to get to. I think the driver's side turbo is on its way out the door, I smell burning oil when the car is warming up but not so much after its been run for a while. Also is making what I think is the "dentist drill" sound I have read a lot of people talking about. I'm currently in the process of making a set of piggie pipes and plan to go the K04 route when one or both of the turbos go.

Some things I plan to do in the next 2 months for maintenance are:
Change rear differential fluid
Change Transmission Fluid
Replace after run switch with lower temp version
replace snub mount and engine mounts


Basically I would like to know if there is anything else that I should probably check out as a precaution or anything I may have missed. I have read some people talking about cleaning out drain holes or channels? But I haven't been able to find very much information on them. Sorry if this subject is beat to death. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[4rings2turbos]

Hello! Welcome! Post up some pics when you get a chance so we can see what you're working with!

The drains to clear are the sunroof drains and the drain underneath the battery, armed with that info you should be able too google the pertinent DIY. Just post here if you come up empty handed.

If you have the dentist drill you will KNOW it. The turbo lady sings loudly. There are many common leaks near the turbo and exhaust manifold that will burn and smell. Unless of course your exhaust is smoking.

Other items to check out are the clutch fan, it likes to start with hairline cracks and then grenade taking out various items with it. Fuel filter is often overlooked and should be swapped out, nice cheap maintenance. If the MAF is original you could probably unlock quick a bit of performance by replacing that with new. Check for boost leaks, there's a DIY boost leak tester you an assemble with cheap hardware store parts. The throttle body boot ((tbb) stubby Y shaped boot in the top front of the engine) likes to tear, the diverter valves (on either side of the tbb) like to develop leaks, a nice upgrade is the TT 710n diverter valves. And the F hose (exclusive to early 2.7Ts-to the right, just behind and kind of under the tbb)

There's other stuff, but you're off to a really good start. Hope it's good to you!

[HoboWithApricot]

Cool! Ill check out the drains in the morning. and Thanks for the response. I'll be sure to post some pictures when it gets a bath! I did replace the fuel filter, that thing was disgusting. I think mine had definitely been neglected for some time. I replaced the TBB with a samco when I first got the car and 710N's are on my list for this spring. I also replaced the F hose when I redid the spider hose. I was reading about replacing the maf with the hitachi model because of problems with the bosch ones. Is that accurate?

Does the drill noise occur all the time? If so then I don't think that's my issue. I can hear the turbo squeal when I get above maybe 2000 RPMs so what I'm hearing could be normal turbo whistle. Only other experience I have with turbos is my 240 and everything on that car is loud so I wasn't sure what to expect from a much nicer car like the A6. No smoke from the exhaust thankfully. I've been holding out on a Stage 1 APR tune until I get the piggie pipes done so I can get some more longevity from the turbos.

Ill definitely check out the Clutch fan next time I have the bumper off, I wondered about that because its obnoxiously loud which made me think it may have a broken vane.

The car has been pretty great so far, I think I'll be sticking with the C5 chassis for a while.

Thanks again for all the information!

[4rings2turbos]

You bet, happy to help. I don't mean to be belittling with my description of parts and locations but I don't like to assume a certain level of familiarity and confuse newcomers. You obviously know your way around the motor already a bit.

I can't answer the MAF question as I don't have any experience, but it should be easy to find info.

The turbolady is LOUD and only in boost the whistle is noticeable, but subtle.

I'm 7 years deep in the C5 chassis and I'm still in love :)

[HoboWithApricot]

No worries, I completely understand. The extent of my knowledge ends at the valve covers, because that's really the deepest I've dug into it so far. I picked up the Bentley manual for the C5 chassis and that book has been an absolute godsend. I was skeptical with the price but this things outshines any other service manual I've seen before. Vagcom is a must this summer.

And I can see why you like it. This car amazes me, Its really hard to believe its 16 years old. I'm glad I went for the A6 over the S4. This engine bay seems a little cramped as it is in this car, can't imagine what working on the S4 is like.

[HoboWithApricot]

Thanks for the information yesterday! I checked this morning for S&G's and it looks like my oil leak is actually the rear camshaft plug on the driver's side. I thought when he said the seals were replaced me meant all of them, but I think it was just the ones on the front when they did the timing belt. Called up O'reilly's and ordered two seals and two plugs that will be there this afternoon. I really appreciate the insight and look forward to learning more from everyone on the forums!

[NuGGet_PuFFer]

Welcome! When u say 240....Volvo or Nissan? I ask because I'm now a c5 guy, and used to be a 240sx guy....

[HoboWithApricot]

Nissan! That's awesome! My brother and I are still pretty pretty big into the japanese imports but just got into Audis and VWs in the last year and a half or so. What did you used to have??? Right now I've got a 1995 S14 with a blacktop SR20, not too much for upgrades I really just wanted a clean body and had to go down to Alabama to get it. I would love to go the 2JZ route, huge fan of the engine and I think it'd be fun to have two I6's in our garage pushing more boost than a diesel pickup, but LS1 is a bit friendlier on the wallet for what you get from it so that's probably what I'll do especially now that all I want to do is throw more and more money at this A6 haha. My brother has a 1995 with a kouki front end conversion and an Rb25 that's just about finished. Should be making right around a 550hp when its finished.

Glad to see another S chassis guy on the forums!

[HoboWithApricot]

Just took the A6 out for a spin to make sure the oil leak was gone and I'm happy to report that I'm now leak free! Also decided to unplug the MAF to see if that's going bad. Wow. What a difference. Very noticeable difference in power and the power delivery was much smoother. So I guess the MAF is on the list to get replaced soon as well! I'm gonna do some reading on the whole Hitachi vs Bosch thing and see what I can find out.