raj99

As a long time C5 owner, I'm potentially looking at a 06 4.2 and had some general questions re: maintenance.

The model is question has a fair number of miles (over 150K) and from what i'm aware has NEVER had the following major services done to it:

timing belt, water pump, struts, O2 sensors, serpentine belt, oil cooler pipe, etc

I was wondering if that's typical. Since there is NO WAY my C5 would be at that mileage and NOT have those addressed. I assume the 4.2 is pretty well the same, if not similar, to the C5 4.2 and therefore requiring similar maintenance.

Can folks share with me what they think of this and also, any major caveats I should be aware of on the C6 4.2? thnx

MainlandMig

4.2 has no belt it has a chain
chain prob should be replace about now and prob water pump too
struts should be replaced every 50 k... i doubt they r original ones bc i doubt they lasted 150k
o2 sensors should be easy n cheap DIY


if u replace the struts go with KONIs ..they are better then OEM

ALSO ..i love my 05 4.2

raj99

Sorry mis-typed on the belt vs. chain. But the water pump and all the other parts I'd be surprised last the 150K range. I recently did the struts on my C5 myself, and although they were a bit of a PITA not an entirely too difficult of a job. However, if I go forth with the C6 I really don't want to do a lot of the work myself...at least not initially and would just prefer to be a 'driver' vs. 'mechanic'

I'll find out what it would take to do the chain, water pump, idle pulleys, etc...

The original owner (not a car guy) said that he had never seen a need to do any of the work I stated since they hadn't failed. My comment back was that, had some of those things failed he would not have had an engine left...

Any other thoughts on 'must do maintenance' for a car with this type of mileage?

ClassicA6

Make sure you check for the seals...they leak oil or the car just burns excessive amounts of oil. The interior also may rattle and make noises especially from the air vents and console ie dashboard...other than that, a very fun car...

rvt1000

If you are not settled on that specific vehicle I would look at other examples, maybe on the board or somewhere else. Any vehicle with that many miles and no maintaince history would be a no brainer to pass up. If it has extensive history then it is fine to go with it miles do not matter then. Great condition vehicles & cheap price do not go hand in hand. You are better off paying a premium price for a vehicle with history & higher miles. I recently purchased a C6 4.2 fully loaded, single owner all history from the day purchased. Same dealership Bought, sold to original owner and resold to me all maintaince was also done at same dealership, made a big difference in my decission to buy from that dealer. I would keep looking.

njblue82

What is a 150k A6 4.2 worth?

MainlandMig

without checking.. i bet nada prob has it for ~$13k clean retail
maybe ~$8k rough trade in

but dealers use Galves and they prob have an avg trade for ~$6k

raj99

Since, it does have full records and has been serviced...just not any of the 'major' service items. Furthermore, it seems to be in great shape and has all the options (Premium, Cold weather, Nav, etc...)

It's somewhat depressing to notice the depreciation on A6s...considering my C5 cost WAY more than twice what this C6 will cost. But i'm in a different financial position and honestly realize I can do much more of the work than I ever thought...and am willing to live with that.

KnappAttack

I have over 155,000 on my 05 4.2 with sport suspension and it has been fantastic.

I've done all the maintenance after 50,000 miles myself. Including valve cover gaskets that were leaking. I plan to run it till it dies. It still drives and looks like a car with 20,000 miles on it. People can not believe it has this kind of miles on it nor can I. My C5 2.7t was a hunk of crap, surprised I even bought another Audi after that thing. This one has been a dream. I'd buy another 4.2 without FSI in a heartbeat. The FSI engines like to carbon the intakes all the time.

For what its worth, I have no plans to change all the timing chains in this engine. That is why they have chains and not belts. My oil samples show incredibly low wear metals! I use Mobil 1 at 10,000 intervals. They want me to go further than 10,000 miles, but I see no reason to mess with a good thing.

raj99

for a 06 4.2 with 150K miles? It has ALL the service records, however has never had any major maintenance (e.g., timing chain, water pump, idler, etc...). I'll also need to do the transmission fluid.