i'm about to buy a 98' A4 turbo with 176k miles, would seafoam be a good idea? Im worried about sludge in the motor because i have heard these 1.8s are very susceptible. how about a cold air intake? how much power will I gain by adding a new intake?

 

i would actually pass on that car. unless maintained near perfectly, its gona have sludge problems, and some seafoam isn't gona fix everything.

im not saying these engines aren't good tho. if you bought one that had around 100k and then put another 70k on it, it should run fine, but thats cause YOU are doing all the maintenance to make sure it stays running. you dont know how the last owner maintained the car and its really risky to buy it at that mileage.

but if you do get the car, a seafoam and tune-up would be a really good idea. but a cold air intake adds nothing. and make sure this car has had the timing belt changed twice and is under $5k

 

Quick question, kinda on topic, kinda off.... I had a friend tell me that his friend (becoming an iffy story allready) seafoamed his engine, then becuase the sludge was gone, the engine started to knock becuase the sludge was holding the pistons steady enough... Is this possible? I have 114,000 or so on my car and would love to get rid of some of that sludge.

 

the car is really fast and seems well maintained. but then again, I have no way of knowing. its only $3800 and its in better shape than 4 other A4's that i have test-driven with significantly less mileage.

 

Texas_Pete- never heard of that. definitely seafoam if you haven't before.

zakario- i'd do a compression check first. if that checks out i'd buy it for that price if the timing belt has been done twice.

 

i have heard that, as we know oil slowly but surely takes shaves metal in out engines so bearings get smaller etc and some times gunk is holding in the worn parts so some times it can help sometimes not so much

 

alright thanks a bunch man, The timing belt was changed 20k miles ago along with clutch, wiring harness, and control arms. i'll definitely do the comp check

 

Texas Pete: often on higher mileage engines seals tend to melt, dissolve, and take on different forms. Holes/leaks are often plugged with crap (dissolved seals, rubber stuffs, grime, sludge, what have you...) and they allow the engine to perform well. Seafoam will remove all the crap, dissolved seals and the other bullsh*t that has accumulated. This is a double edged sword, as your engine will be clean and build up will be removed, but this may (especially in older and higher mileage engines) lead to oil leaks and other problems that were otherwise prevented by the build up. It is better to do it and find the problems and take care of them, but many people (including myself, I have a 96 12v w/ 107k) do not want to have to spend the $$ or time to fix an otherwise perfectly running engine.

 

AlthoughSeafoam contains no Xylene, so it won't destroy seals, there is always that chance that it will remove the gunk that has become a seal.
I seafoam every vehicle I get ahold of, and every one loves it.

 

Hmmm, yeah I have about 114,000 miles, and have never SeaFoamed it up before... So mabye I'll do it this weekend...


EDIT:

Do you think someone could point be in the right direction of a "How to Sea Foam" for my 2.8 because i searched and all I found was a close up picture of some vacume line, I'm not sure where it is, I don't want to suck the stuff into somwhere it's not supposed ot be....

Thanks,
TP