Cruton135

Hi all,
I am a student and car enthusiast and am thinking about purchasing a B7 3.2. As I am a student, I cannot work much and my funds are limited. I am not worried about the initial price of the car, I can afford a low mileage one (30-50k). My worry is Maintenance costs.
A. What has been your yearly maintenance over the past few years?
b. I have heard of horror stories with cam replacements etc.. what major problems am I likely to have?

thanks so much! Any info would be extremely helpful. I know that there are others threads on this topic, but not many if any in 2017.

Dwes

Not too familiar with the 3.2, I've got a 2.0T and it's been very reliable, 150,000 miles and counting. I got 140,000 miles on the original brake rotors and pads. Guess I don't brake much. Big ticket items seem to be:
- Oil Consumption (check the engine bay for cleanliness, leaks on valve covers, vacuum pump seals, if you want to get involved try pull a spark plug or two and check in the hole with a flashlight)
- PCV Valve (I've had to replace 3x only once was under warranty but it's an easy diy, once the car warms up the idle will be all over the place, you'll be stopped and idling and the RPMS with start increasing from 800 to 2-3,000
- Timing Belt (Needs to be done every 75K-100K if that fails you'll def have lots of issues, diy is possible but it's pretty involved bout $1,000 to get it done at a shop)
- HP Fuel Pump Cam Follower (Should be done with the timing belt, older cam followers weren't hardened and wore through damaging the intake cam lobe)
- Ball Joints/Tie Rods (My inner seals and outer tie rods needed replacement at 120K, upper and lower ball joints are now cracking and will have to be done next few thousand miles)

As long as you keep up with regular maintenance and don't go crazy on cheap parts, either get the OE Audi stuff or at least a made in Germany OEM, stay away from the chinese stuff you shouldn't have any problems. Oil changes are every 10K or yearly, make sure to use synthetic (probably $60 for the oil and filter). The 40K mile kit from ECS with fuel filter, spark plugs and air filters is $160 or $220 if you use Audi parts.

Best advice I have is find a mechanic or friend you trust and get it on a lift and check everything top to bottom so you know what you're getting, $100 for a thorough look over may save you thousands in the long run.

Cruton135

Thanks so much I appreciate the speedy reply!

Dwes

No problem, happy hunting.