dwengi

1988 5000 CS Turbo Quattro. Purchased October 1994 with 109,451 miles. Original California car delivered to Berkey Audi in Pleasanton. California emissions, heated seats, and destination charges brought the sticker to $34,600. I purchased from the second owner but he had all paperwork from the original owner. He was religious with Red Line synthetic oil changes as well as all factory recommended maintenance. He added sheepskin seat covers, H4 headlights, and Intended Acceleration chip. Recent timing belt service. He had also "enhanced" the sound system with various components of dubious value and function. Car had been refinished on the left side and had a bit of alligator effect going on the paint, but overall it was in excellent condition. He also disclosed that the clutch was making some noise. When I took the sheepskins off the seats looked new. I bought the car for $7000 which I thought was a steal. Still do.

For oil changes I stuck with the program that was successful with my previous high mileage car - 85 5000S turbo. 5W50 Castrol Syntec every 10,000 miles with a (German) filter change every 5,000 miles. Oil analysis confirmed that the oil remained quite serviceable after 10,000 miles; in terms of volatility, additive content, contaminants. Oil analysis is cheap and extremely useful in my opinion.

I did all of the maintenance on this car myself and relied heavily on 2 sources for parts and technical assistance: Sonnen Motors in San Rafael and Blaufergnugen.

OK I will skip the BS items and hit the major repairs:

125,000 - New radiator, water hoses, heater core, blower.
134,000 - Throwout bearing is toast. I did a full proper clutch job and, as I would discover again at a later date, the clutch disk looks new.
147,000 - New front + rear brake shoes and rotors
170,000 - Throttle cable snaps on Highway 17 between Los Gatos and Santa Cruz. No shoulder! I used my radar detector power cord to operate the throttle and get off the road.
171,000 - Timing belt, water pump, idler. Change trans/final drive/rear diff gear oil.
173,000 - Replace left front wheel bearing.
176,000 - Replace right front wheel bearing
176,790 - New front brake shoes and rotors
184,000 - New windshield
196,900 - Replace tappets and camshaft seal
O2 sensor
Multi function temp sender
198,900 - New front + rear struts + alignment
215,000 - New battery

217,300 - Fire! For whatever reason I am running nearly 100% Pentosin and I develop a leak where the turbo cooling line enters the block near the turbo. Driving to Lake Tahoe on highway 80 I have my foot well into the boost ascending Blue Canyon. I pull off at Nyack for fuel and smell coolant. I start fueling and notice smoke from under the hood as well as fluid dripping. I get the hood open to discover the turbo, air filter housing, and various wires are on fire. FIRE! Apparently Pentosin on a hot turbo is flammable. Fortunately I have a fire extinguisher mounted ahead of the front seat and the car is saved.

220,000 - Replace clutch master and slave cylinders and the hose connecting the two. For the first time the clutch seems to operate properly.
229,900 - Fault codes are telling me to replace hall effect sensor and knock sensor. I replace both and codes go away.
232,000 - timing belt, water pump, idler, seals.
240,000 - front brake pads + rotors.
247,300 - replace hydraulic pump with rebuilt unit

247,975 - Head gasket blew due to deteriorated wastegate hose and subsequent overboost. While the head was off I took the opportunity to do the steering rack.
- New head gasket
-Rebuilt steering rack
-New exh manifold studs
-Weld exh manifold cracks
-New injector seals
260,270 - front brake pads + rotors
275,500 - rear brake pads + rotors
281,000 - New alternator
282,000 - Timing belt, water pump, idler, seals

283,630 - This is a biggie. OK, I've learned that the key to maintaining sanity while maintaining an Audi is to work smart. Consolidate tasks. Here we go:
-Replace front + rear struts
-Install H&R lowering springs
-New front control arms
-New strut mounts/bearings
-New sway bar bushings
-New rear tie rods
-Replace all suspension bushings
-4 new wheel bearings
-8 new CV boots
-4 wheel alignment
-center driveshaft support
293,000 - Replace accumulator "bomb"
297,000 - Replace center IP LCD display
297,000 - Replace starter
304,000 - Replace radiator fan
308,000 - Replace hydraulic hose - pump to rack
314,507 - Change trans/final drive gear oil.
- timing belt, water pump, idler, seals
317,440 - Replace coil
317,620 - Replace master cylinder
332,000 - New windshield
335,000 - Replace rear flex brake hose
335,000 - Repair odometer
- New hydraulic return hose
-New right headlight lens
338,000 - New Alternator
356,000 - timing belt, water pump, idler, seals
362,000 - New battery
370,000 - New heater core
- replace all hoses
373,100 - New right headlight lens
New head gasket
Weld exhaust manifold cracks
Heli-coil head at exhaust manifold stud locations
375,200 - Rebuilt hydraulic pump
381,000 - New catalytic converter
383,000 - New front brakes + rotors
388,000 - New front control arms
389,000 - New ignition switch
398,900 - New idle/full throttle switch
- New fuel injectors
- Compression test:115,120,135,130,120
- New fuel pump
400,400 - New clutch - once again the clutch disk looks new, after 270,000 miles! I measure it and compare to the new disk. It measures .023" under. Unbelievable.
400,600 - Still fighting general poor running as well as really difficult cold start. I finally conclude that fuel is escaping from the fuel distributor due to worn seals. The rebuilt fuel distributor fixes the cold start but I still cannot get consistent smooth running, CO readings, etc.
402,283 - Head gasket finally gives up on Highway 17 - yes the road with no shoulder. Gasket blew out between cylinder 4 and 5 and took a bit of the aluminum head along with it.
-Tig weld and surface head
-New head gasket
- New motor mounts
-02 sensor
-adjust CO

Which brings us to today. It remains strong, reliable, and eminently useful. The car is driven hard but not abused. What I find fascinating is after 400,000 miles the major components - engine, transmission, rear differential, ABS system, TURBO - are basically untouched and completely functional.

With the repaired head gasket, relatively new fuel injectors, and rebuilt fuel distributor it has never run smoother. 500,000 miles is now in my sights.

To the engineers in Ingolstadt I have to say this was a job well done.

qpower

wow, you have done a lot of work there, any idea how much you've spent in parts? just curious

rooster 2

does Audi recognize high milage cars with honors? I know Volvo does, how about Audi? Your car deserves to be in the Hall of Fame!

SteveAngry

Interesting read.

anb957

Would be fascinating to see a total cost of ownership analysis on this vehicle.

BSK

WOW

dwengi

My receipts folder is about 3" thick so this will take some time.

Randolph

Excellent reading and very motivating for me to keep mine. Thx!

tpierce

But i hope to keep my S4 until at least 250,000 miles. Where do you drive that you put so many miles on the car? Do you live far from your job? just curious. I usually end up driving 25-30,000 miles a year at home, as i try to travel as much as i can.

Mister Bally

I had an '87 5000 cs tq, bought new, it had 286,000 on the clock when I donated it to charity. It was no longer fun to work on-everything was rusted or corroded.

Just curious, did you just have one fuel pump? I replaced mine three times. I never had to replace even one wheel bearing nor any front control arms. Both tie rod though because the adjusters froze and was discovered at alignment time around 210,000 miles. I did have to replace the "trapezoidal link (I think) thing" twice on the passenger rear side twice due to a very annoying squeak from the ball joint.

I noticed 4 or 5 timing belts for you so far. I only replaced mine once, when the water pump was replaced as I had it off anyway. In no maintenance schedule anywhere is it called out to replace it for my 1987 w/MC engine. Does the 1988 owners manual-maintenance schedule call out a replacement interval? My maintenance schedule, the Bentley manual I purchased as soon as it was published in mid-1988 both said nothing about a replacement interval. Even calls to the dealer service department said it should last for life. They did say that eventually the water pump will leak and you have to repmove the belt to get at the pump, so, it's a good idea to replace the $15 timing belt at that time. That was 15 years ago so I'm sure the timing belts ar $40 or $50 these days.

Also, when the throwout bearing failed, I bought a Sachs clutch kit (all three pieces). Once I opened it up, the clutch itself had well over half it's life left and this was around 190,000 miles. Alas I relaced it anyway since I already bought it. Surprisingly, the pressure plate diaphram springs were still very good as well. Earlier, I had a 1981 4000 5+5 and the diaphram springs wore through at around 100k miles. I did buy that car used with 28,000 miles though.

Awhile back, I posted my diary although it was not as extensive as yours.

Keep those "Big Audi's" alive! Glad you're still having fun with yours. Once my wife & I stared a family, my patience for extensive car repairs dropped. At least I still have fun washing & waxing as well as doing oil changes and routine maintenance on newer vehicles.