Stranger

how do I know whether my car has ever been serviced? I have no previouse records and do not know who the previous owner was. Are there things I can look for On the car itself?

muhammadc

And it has been filled out and stamped. Otherwise, really there isn't much. You might be able to tell if the belts and water pump were done, if they are tight and the water pump is fairly new. That is a very important service if your car is over 60k.

Other services would be harder to know really. Might be safe to do them all now so you know. Transmission service ($200-$250, every 45k), brake fluid flush ($40-$50, every 24 months), coolant flush ($40-$50, every 24 months), air filter ($15-$25 every 30k), fuel filter ($40-$50, every 24 months), spark plugs ($75-$120, every 60k) and fuel injector cleaning ($30-$100, every 30k). How many miles are on your car? If over 60k and the timing belt hasn't been done... timing belt, serpintine belt, water pump and tensioner pulley ($400-$800, every 60k) should be done.

Stranger

Well my car has 86500 miles on it. I however, dont think that the car has ever been serviced. When I took out the Airfilter, it was black and full of sand. I mean U take it and drop it on the floor and there would be a 2 inch high pile of dirt. The oil filter has a bunch of german words on it. Would it still be german if the car had been serviced in america. i dont think so. The other thing that happened to me yesterday was that at the front of the engine, there is a round whole where a silver "round thing" turns. that thing is making alot of ugly noise whenever i turn the steering wheel. might be the bearings. As far as i can tell. it dosnt seem to have been serviced. the engine runs perfect though. I am making an apointment with my Audi dealer this week to schedule a "MAJOR" service for it. may take a couple of days. thanx for the help. ill let u know when i have it serviced and what happened.
Thanx

muhammadc

I sure hope the oil was changed!!! I don't use Audi filters but some parts have German on them... filters might, I don't know. I don't see how an oil filter could last 86,500 miles.

Air filter sounds scary... I wonder how much was let into the engine... here's mine after about 25k with the same air filter, and before I switched to Amsoil. It wasn't too bad. So yours probably was never even checked.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/AudiWorldPics/2001/a6filterdirt.jpg">

If I were you, I would do all the things I mentioned plus an engine flush.

Good luck...

kotik

get the info from Audi computer. That is what I did when I bought mine in November with 56k miles. All the service records were on the Audi computer.

Good luck.