-OvO-

I am really disgusted with some of the traits of my 99 A8. This car is only six years old, but...

I pulled off the engine covers and the front breather hose is *completely* rotted. It was split in several places, and it tore away with my bare hands. What kind of material did they use that decays like this? My 15-year-old Honda doesn't have any rubber parts that have rotted that badly.

When I pulled the old spark plugs, I discovered that the two rear plug wells were full of oil. The front six were fine. This is not a normal effect of age, those seals must have been dislodged or damaged during manufacture. It *is* possible that valve covers had been removed and replaced by the PO, but the bolts don't look like they've been touched. And the spark plugs do look like they might be six years old. One was nearly seized - I was definitely nervous I was going to break it off while trying to get it loose.

I have scheduled time to repair the leaky oil pan seal, but have not yet made time to repair the leaky rear diff seals, or to R&R the transmission fluid and filter.

If you haven't had reason to inspect that hose, you might want to. It won't strand you, but it's not good to have oil coating all the other hoses and rubber bits in the front of the engine compartment.

PaulW

I don't think that's crap manufacturing. Ever take an A8 apart? I can't think of a car that is better designed and built. You can take them apart and they go back together. Compare their quality to almost any other quality, and you'll find they are way up on the list.

I don't argue that the breather hose should be replaced, but that's been covered before many times.

Heck, change the plugs, clean the engine compartment occassionally, and you'll be all set!<ul><li><a href="http://www.audipages.com/Tech_Articles/enginemechanical/breatherhose.html">http://www.audipages.com/Tech_Articles/enginemechanical/breatherhose.html</a</li></ul>

-OvO-

a 70 Dodge Coronet (until 130Kmis), an 80 Toyota Corolla (until 135Kmis), an 89 Honda Prelude (until 140Kmis - hm, I'm sensing a pattern) and now a 99 A8 which currently has 92K mis on it. None of those other cars leaked oil or other fluids like this one does. It's worse than a Harley! The Coronet had some electrical problems near the end of its life due to having been totalled three times (twice by me) and somebody did some arc welding on it without d/cing the battery...

But I suppose I overstated - manufacturing can only be blamed for the two deformed valve cover / spark-plug tube seals. The breather hose that rots away at the sight of oil is a design flaw. I'm not sure about the other leaky seals. Do the rear breather hoses rot as badly as the front one? Has anyone replaced them with metal tubing instead, and if so, how did you join them?

I'm scheduling a week this summer to do the rear breather hoses, timing belt, water pump, cam seals, transmission flush, leaking oil pan gasket repair, and rear diff seals.

I know why these cars drop in value so rapidly once they go off warranty. It's not just the cost of getting the repairs done, it's the hassle.

PaulW

Agreed, it's a love/hate relationship

-OvO-

They seem like a real pita to get to.

Also, is there a procedure somewhere for testing the PCV valve? I can't find one in Bentley. I seem to recall that on my other cars, it consisted of sucking on the valve and making sure that it opened, but on this one, it must be more esoteric.

PaulW

I've never replaced the rear one.....but it's a PITA from my understanding

barryl

Hello,

I don't agree that the car is poorly manufactured.

I do agree that the quality of some of the parts is extremely poor. Even more so when you consider that the A8 is supposed to be the top of the line model.

The valve cover gasket is a poor design and requires changing on a regular basis.

The rear hose will rot out too, and requires many things to be removed from the engine before you can change it.

Audis are leakers!

Barry