so a 98 , 189k miles , manual , quattro - so far drives great (owned it for 6 months) , the only thing i have noticed , is that in higher rpms there is some audible chatter coming from the engine at about 3,5 k rpms - easier to reproduce when the engine is cold (when the engine is cold - 1st grear and up , when worm its hard to hear until u get to 3rd.)- should i worry ? Aside from the noise there is no other side effects - the 'yngin pulls great ...

- other observations - oil has been changed at 5k intervals (at an audi approved shop - documented)
- mostly driven on regular , but i started to feed it premium (didn't notice much of a diff power wise)

thanx for any help ...

 

I hear this is typical but don't quote me on it(a small tick). You may want to check your oil level isn't a bit low- my last Audi ticked too and it sounded louder when it needed more oil.

AND you should definitely be feeding that thing Premium, never Regular.

Are there any check engine lights on? Is there a bulb in the cluster for it(guy that sold me my last Audi removed it completely so I wouldn't know there were problems)? Typically if you run regular the check engine light should come on.

Maybe try an octane booster or higher octane to clean things up and see. My car runs like a champ when I do.

I'm no tech but this is the best I have to offer.

 

oil is exactly half way betwn max and min , cold . the check engine light is def. operational (it goes on during ignition instrument light check) - like i said - aside from the ticking everything is kewl .

 

ow - just one more thing - running reg gas would occasionally cause misfires or a knock or 2 , depending how crappy the gas was that day - and yes that would cause an occasional ses light , that would clear within 60 miles (given that it did not happen again)

 

Could be sticky lifters, I've heard that'll sometimes cause a chatter. I would say when you're approaching your next oil change- about 300 miles before you plan to change it- dump a half a can of seafoam into the crankcase and the other half in a half a tank of premium gas. In the crankcase, it'll help break up carbon deposits and other nasty goo that causes problems, and in the gas tank it'll run through and clean up the injectors and such. Typically, you'd put a full can in a full tank of gas, but to avoid having to buy two cans (unless you want to go through with the full seafoam procedure of running it through the intake mani as well, then you'd do half in the crankcase, the other half in the vac system, and a full can in a full tank of gas) just do half a can in a half a tank.

Also, definitely never run regular. Ever. There is a reason they recommend premium. Premium doesn't ignite as easily as regular, which seems illogical I know, but its because these cars have a fairly high compression ratio and what happens is under high compression, the temperature of the engine and the pressure of the piston just before it fires is sufficient enough to ignite the fuel without a spark- the same way a diesel engine works. That is why you get misfires and all sorts of other problems so never under any circumstance run less than 91 octane outside of stranded status. IF and ONLY if it is the absolute only thing available to you and you have hit the reserve.

 

yah , after i read that these engines have a 10.3:1 ratio (or around there) i figured that I should overcome my cheapness and start givin'er some higher octane juice .. I'm still 2k miles from the next change - I'll let u know how the clean out goes when i get there (should be no more than 3 months of driving ) ...

 

Sounds like a plan brothaman.

On a side note, you must have a very small commute to take 3 months to get 2k miles on the clock... Takes me about a month and some change to go that far lol. I've had my car ~16 months and have put 23k miles on it since the day I bought it.

 

well having a commute that consists of a 15 min walk helps most of my driving is on the weekends and that rarely is over 200 mi (so i'm pretty free to screw around with the car).. I'm actually thinking of upgrading the suspension and the clutch and autocrossing next year - i hear a4's are decent beginner cars ..

 

Haha very nice. If I were to walk my commute, it'd take me 3 hours lol.

I've heard the same about autoXing the 2.8, lots of success stories too; people that have owned the track with basic clutch and suspension upgrades and stock everything else against people that have several thousands of dollars on suspension, power, clutch etc. I would love to get into autoX, I think it'd be a blast, but alas, I can't hardly afford to eat much less afford a good enough suspension upgrade to handle the brutal stresses put on the car by autoX.

 

I must say upgrading the suspension is the best/funnest mod you can do to these cars IMO. With original sway bar links(mine's are sport) and a decent coilover kit my car feels like a Go-kart. I got my set of used Vogtlands off of Craigslist for $600, retail is $1299. They ride great even here in pot-hole forsaken Chicago. Yeah 2.8's aren't the fastest on a straight away but, when I can take a corner at 25mph(conservatively) or stop on a dime without jerking forward, the handling is rewarding. Plus any rims look great with less wheel gap.