86 Gt commem.

Hey Guys,

I picked up a rescue 2002 allroad with the 2.7 and a tiptronic with about 140k miles on it. I'm looking for some advice.. and to start off i know these things need LOTS of attention/ money /repairs and are a pain to work on and some of you are going to tell me to junk it. This car is going to be a winter project for me, something to tinker with and keep me busy during the long Wisconsin winter this year so i'm not afraid (yet) of how much time i'm going to spend busting my knuckles, i would like to keep the parts cost to a reasonable level so i don't want to be getting parts from the dealer.

Currently the motor runs well but the car needs a lot of work. These are the things that need to be addressed at this time..

1. As far as i can tell the timing belt has never been changed so this is my first project.. I've searched the forums and there seems to be a lot of disagreement on a decent aftermarket kit. Can anyone point me in the right direction? What have you guys used that has held up well?

2. The air suspension is of course in need of work. The front bags are shot, I currently have them sealed with tire slime so i can at least move/drive the car. I plan to keep the air suspension and replace with arnott bags, my question is can i get rid of the automode on the ride height? This is a 2002 so its fully automatic without a manual mode, I'd like to have the ride height be manual, i know some other years had this option; can i just swap out the control for it or could i make that change with Vag com software?

3. The front end needs quite a bit of work, tierod ends, balljoints, etc.. what are my best options for replacing with something that going to hold up for awhile?

4. The big question.. whats the most economical way to bump up the horsepower.. I'd like to get to the 290-300HP range? The car has 140k on it, as far as i know it still has the original turbos, any chance these will hold on for awhile or am i better off just pulling the motor and upgrading them?

Thanks for any advice, i'm happy to have an audi in the garage again!

transman

I use all dealer level parts on TB/components to be sure its direct replacement. There are so many after market companies that have such a wide range of prices that I was just more comfortable with dealer level stuff. I have had cars where I did a cheaper alternative, and one of the timing belt idler pulleys blew a bearing within a few months, leaving me stranded in the snow.

As for more power, I am pretty sure others would agree that the best place to start is with a tune, and a nice exhaust system. Some guys really like what APR has to offer, because it has some modes to switch between, like valet mode for when you take your car to get aligned or something. I think GIAC has a package where they flash all their tune levels with transmission tune for like only $1100 (correct me if I am wrong)...


IDK about converting your air suspension to the 03-04 adjustable style, because it is on the CAN BUS line. Someone probably knows more about it than I do.

PaperToast

1. depends on your budget. if money aint an issue, head to the dealer. for a non-dealer kit, i like blauparts TB kit. all OE parts from europe.

2. dont think its possible, but if you get a dash button assembly off an 01, why not give it a shot.

3. very important here. you have to get allroad lower c-arms. there is a difference from those and the ones that go on a6/passat. head over to rmeuopean to pick up trw arms.
the uppers and TRE's, many go with meyle hd's. can get those from several online vendors

4. A tune. ive been running an APR 91 octane tune for about 120k miles. original turbos, tip, motor internals, ect. im at 220k miles currently

SCBlaufuss

I have a 2001 Allroad 2.7T. I bought it last year. Yes, there is much work to be done on mine, too. I went to ECS Tuning for tuneup parts and water pump and timing chain. I went to BlauParts an bought an aftermarket spring sup kit to replace the air sup. Fortunately, I had a good mechanic do this for me. I recently retired and moved out of the Greater Portland area and trying to do some of the maintenance myself. To date I have not been much of a gearhead, but I am looking fwd to learning new things. I need to fix my passenger doors as the window motor apparently is not getting the windows to move up or down. The Passenger front door latch does not work, and the message center in the dash is toast.

Anyway, yes, my Allroad needs a bunch of TLC.

Matthew Cioffi

thats pretty impressive, of course the idea of putting the 91 octane tune has crossed my mind but i always thought it would cause an issue with the turbos or the tip trans.

86 Gt commem.

Hey guys, it's been awhile so here is a quick update.

Here is what I've done to the car to this point

1. full timing belt kit with water pump, thermostat with new aluminum housing, idlers etc.
2. valve cover gaskets
3. Spark plugs
4. cam bore plugs
5. cam chain tensioner gaskets
6. rebuilt the secondary air pump (new bearings in the motor as they were shot)
7. rebuilt the air compressor for the suspension
8. new inner/outer tie Rod ends on passenger side
9. installed used rear hatch, the old one was in bad shape
10. Replaced the turn signal relay in the hazard switch
11. new filter/fluid in transmission
12. New brake pads in front and turned rotors

So I got all that done and the car ran great.. for about a month. Then it started leaking a profuse amount of gas out of the injectors so I pulled the fuel rail and put in all new o rings on the injectors.. back in business for a bit until the flex pipe on the passenger side downpipe let go last week.

so my question.. I can't seem to find a solid answer on how much of a pain is it to pull the downpipes with the tiptronic and could I put in after market downpipes and keep the cat back stock for now ?

Also at 75 on the highway I'm running 3200 rpm. I Can't feel it go into lockup but I don't have any codes. Is this normal rpm range?

i was hoping to get ahead of the problems and be able to drive it for 6 months without a code or a breakdown but this thing is testing my patience .

PetrolBear

" Also at 75 on the highway I'm running 3200 rpm. I Can't feel it go into lockup but I don't have any codes. Is this normal rpm range?"
Yes. You do not feel going into lockup. If the engine is warm it happens immediately at gearing up. Mine has ~3280...3300rpm @ 130km/h with fine tiptronic and 235/55 wheels.

The flex pipe is not a big deal. You can pull down the pipe within 10 minutes. The flex part needs to be cut from the catalisator and to be welded back. Aftermarket downpipes can be a pita and they are always costy. My oem downpipe, cat, and exhaust has at least 260.000km (or more?) and it is still sound and healthy. The flex parts were already changed once at the previous owner but nothing else.

86 Gt commem.

Thanks for the info, how do you get the downpipes out so easy. Every other place I've seen says 4 hours if you're lucky, have to drop the transmission mounts, crossbar, and remove the axles?

PetrolBear

Sorry maybe I remembered wrong and the flex part is together with the downpipe.