David@ecodetuning

1997 4.2 with 61K on the dial. The car has been kept extremely well, however 10 years will cause parts to fail even with the low miles. The owner had kept all service records, and all the service work was preformed at the dealership. This isn't necessarily a good or bad thing, as the work performed on any car is only as good as the tech performing the work. Later on we found out that one or more sloppy techs had their hands on this baby.

Drove the car around for a few days after the purchase, and fell in love with it even more. An amazing car indeed, even with its weight and early Gen 2 valve head this sucker moves. So 2 weeks ago I decided to show the car some TLC, and we went to town and made a list of every part that had either failed or was headed for failure.


Glove box lock (wasn't opening any more :-( )
New plugs
Coil packs (few had gone bad)
Valve cover gaskets (they had started to leak)
Transmission service (New filter, gasket & fluid)
Oil pan gasket (was leaking)
Oil & filter change
Both exhaust clamps (you could hear the leak at idle and part throttle)
Both front O2 sensors (had a fault for one but decided to do both)
Both PCV hoses (connecting the crank case to of the valve cover)
Various vacuum lines that had cracked and fallen apart
Serpentine belt and rollers (belt was cracking and you could hear a squeak from the roller)
Front outer CV boots
All 4 upper control arms
Front lower control arms on both sides
Both tie rod ends (the ball joints were toast)
Rear brake pads
New shock OE replacement (with 60K and 10 years on them it was time to go)
Eibach lowering springs (to alter the ride height, but obviously not a necessary repair lol)
A set of 19" D3 A8 (The stock tires were cracked due to age and we had a set laying around so perfect time to put the to use)

Almost all the work has been completed, but I'm still waiting on a rear bose speaker and intake manifold gaskets (both were out of stock).

Here are some random pics of the car under the knife.

<img src="http://www.ecodetuning.com/gallery/A8/1.JPG">

<img src="http://www.ecodetuning.com/gallery/A8/2.JPG">

<img src="http://www.ecodetuning.com/gallery/A8/3.JPG">

<img src="http://www.ecodetuning.com/gallery/A8/4.JPG">

<img src="http://www.ecodetuning.com/gallery/A8/5.JPG">

<img src="http://www.ecodetuning.com/gallery/A8/6.JPG">

<img src="http://www.ecodetuning.com/gallery/A8/7.JPG">

<img src="http://www.ecodetuning.com/gallery/A8/8.JPG">

<img src="http://www.ecodetuning.com/gallery/A8/9.JPG">

<img src="http://www.ecodetuning.com/gallery/A8/10.JPG">

<img src="http://www.ecodetuning.com/gallery/A8/11.JPG">

<img src="http://www.ecodetuning.com/gallery/A8/12.JPG">

<img src="http://www.ecodetuning.com/gallery/A8/13.JPG">

<img src="http://www.ecodetuning.com/gallery/A8/14.JPG">

<img src="http://www.ecodetuning.com/gallery/A8/15.JPG">

<img src="http://www.ecodetuning.com/gallery/A8/16.JPG">

<img src="http://www.ecodetuning.com/gallery/A8/17.JPG">

<img src="http://www.ecodetuning.com/gallery/A8/18.JPG">


Cheers,

David Sarabi

tozoM8

Welcome! Are you sure about the 2 valves?

Always Overcharged

great pics -welcolme in

David@ecodetuning

clear about that.

David@ecodetuning

Thanks!

Dan McBoost

Greetings!

QuickA8

be careful I said OLD on this forum and I dont think I have ever recovered

Dr. Jitter

First seals "lives" 60-80K miles or 6-7 years, second (after replacing) "lives" 40K . Do you see oiled black holes in intake mainflood ? - it means two things: bad oil stem seals, valve guides or bad head ventilation tubes (you already replaced it). Pay attention on oil consumption after your work. I have '95 year D2 and have some practice with this car.

David@ecodetuning

I will keep an eye on oil consumption, many thanks for the heads up. I would hate to have the pull the heads off for valve guides :-(.

Dr. Jitter

By the way, oil steam seals changed without taking off heads (only camshafts)
if your car has small mileage your valve guides probably "alive".
First symptom of dead oil stem seals is light puff of oil smoke out of exaust when you start engine after a short stop (shopping, for example) or accelerate after long idling (traffic problems). Many says that is "normal", but sometimes it means completely dead engine (rings, pistons etc)