Hello all, welcome to my first post!

I'll be in the market for a new vehicle in the next few months, and there appear to be plenty of A4's with the 1.8T available in my price range (2003-2005 model year). This car also just happens to rank WAY HIGH on all the sorts of things I am looking for!

So I started to do my internet research... Find lots of people who LOOOOVE their A4's! Also find lots of complaints, like "whine whine, my driver's power window stopped working and I had to take the car to the dealer! BASTARDS, I WILL NEVER BUY AN AUDI AGAIN!!!" Standard stuff... Sometimes makes me lose faith in humanity as a whole, but what are you gonna do? In any case I didn't really see anything that would put me off of buying an A4, until I came across the DREADED 1.8T SLUDGE CONSPIRACY!

I am the current proud owner of another sludge monster, the horrific 2.7L Chrysler V6 (2001). Bought the car with 80K km, have put another 100K on it with zero engine trouble. Change oil 2 x a year with quality group IV synthetic (Mobil 1 or Esso XD3) and a good filter and all has been well. No evidence of sludge, at least from what I can tell in my drained oil, in the filler neck and around the drain plug. I attribute the sludge hype on this engine to 1) running regular dino oil too long, 2) antifreeze leakage from the water pump. Diligent oil changes with synthetic solve #1, and #2 is crap luck, unless the mileage is high.

So what I am wondering - is the sludge hype on the 1.8T enough to discourage me from one of these vehicles? Sure there is a warranty from Audi, but from what I understand you really have to have your maintenance paperwork in order for that, and with a used car I may not have that luxury. How much of this is just hype (like, what's the proportion of engine failures to ones on the road that have lots of healthy miles on them?) What is the ROOT cause of the sludge issues (is the engine very suceptible to maintenance intervals? plain dino oil? pcv system maintenance?) If I am looking over a used A4, can I tell if it has a sludge issue by looking into the filler neck or dipstick tube, or would the sludge be hidden deeper within? What's the recommended procedure to keep a 1.8T healthy (will my formula for the 2.7L Mopar work for the VAG 1.8T also?) Any personal experiences with 1.8T's being grenaded by sludge?

I have done a search on this A4 board and found only a few posts with "sludge" in the topic, so I take that as a good sign for starters! Any other info, opinions or insight would really be appreciated (since I like everything else about the A4 so much, that sludge or no sludge I could really throw logic out the window and just buy one!!)

Thanks!
KP

 

Search:SEAFOAM

 

^ Seafoam is awesome

If you're good about using the right synthetic oil and doing regular oil changes then you should be aok. You shouldnt let it stop you from buying an audi. just make sure to check out the maintenance history.

 

search "facts about oil sludge" by auditech79 on here. You will get tons of info. But basically seafoam and syn oil is your best friends.

 

Dude, as one of those whiners I'd like to say buy and enjoy. I've owned my '03 for 8 months, purchased from dealer used with low miles and have spent just about $6000 on repairs. So laugh when you spend $700 on window regulator, $1500 on a moon roof, $600 when your doors dont lock..and the list goes on and on not to mention the two times my car wouldnt start. My last car was BMW and i drove it like I stole it and never had any issues till i sold it at 130,000 kms, why can't audi make the A4 with the same quaility?

 

ive heard terrible things about BMW, my friend is a service manager there and he will bet u when it gets hot, they get busy... but im sure thats true for more than BMW

ive had one problem with my audi, fuel pump, DIY for $220
my dads 98 1.8t a6 (in greece) has over 500,000km, no problems


you are looking at new model b6's, they will generally have lower mileage, making sure u do oil changes with synthetic and a large filter every 5k is pretty important for keeping sludge away... i always let my car warm up for a few seconds and let it cool for one minute plus i drive it easy the last few miles

i have 77k and just did my valve cover gasket and its clean as a whistle in there...

ive only seen two b6s with sludge in the two years ive been on these forums, one guy bought the car used with 65k and he noticed it had the small oil filter, no telling if the last owner used dino oil and he probably did changes every 10k...

 

just use mobil 1 and forget the sludge.

 

I have 136K mi. and change the oil every 10K mi. with Mobil 1 10W-40.
I had a small amount of grit in the oil at 130K mi. I put 6 fl. oz. of
Seafoam in the crankcase 75 mi. before my last oil change, and all
is well now.