FR500C

Hey AudiWorld!

Been a long time car enthusiast and have always loved the audi allroad. Traded in my 2008 Toyota Tacoma yesterday for a 2004 allroad 2.7 6spd with 90k. It has Hotchkis sway bars and Milltek exhaust system (from what I have discovered) and new tires. Got the Audi for 10.5k and a nice check for the difference

So far I am loving this car. Owned many cars before (E46 M3, 997 Carrera S, 10' GT500, etc, but this is a perfect blend of performance and usability. I climb a lot and need a car to sleep in the back and this works perfectly for all.

Now for my questions:

The suspension squeaks in the rear over rough road and pretty much any small bumps. I saw the car up on the rack yesterday and thought the Hotchkis sway bar may be rubbing a bit. I have searched around but haven't found much yet. Does anyone have advice on how to lube/grease these to see if that is a quick fix?

Also.. I am currently scared to drive this car aggressively as I don't want to put unnecessary wear on her and end up with expensive maintenance. Someone please tell me these cars can be pushed a bit without breaking and ease my mind

Thanks all!!

FR500C

Installed Blinder laser jammers and hardwired the Passport today. Getting through the firewall to the fuse box is NOT easy! (unless you know a trick I don't )

As mentioned earlier in the thread, my end link for my rear Hotchkis sway bar is completely snapped in half. Test driving the vehicle I heard a noise in the right rear (now I know the cause). This was a Toyota dealer and they happened to have an Audi certified mechanic on staff who apparently had completely looked the car over. He took a drive in it and then PUT IT UP ON THE RACK and told me nothing was wrong and the bushings just needed grease. Not even a day later I look and they are completely snapped. It's not an expensive part, but should I go back and bring light to either their blatant lies or oblivious mechanic skills?

GTA_Driver

Go back and have them replace the part. The car won't pass the safety certificate checklist with that issue.

Some other things I would do, put synthetic oil, and put the car on alignment (use Audi dealership for alignment).

Since it's a 6-speed, the drivetrain is pretty bulletproof. You can push it hard. With the 6-spd it is a fairly quick car, but you can put a stage 1 tune to make it even faster. Right now it should run 14.9 in the 1/4 mile, with the tune you'll get to low 14s.

Plenty of people modified to stage 3 with over 500 crank HP on stock engine internals, just upgraded turbos and some components (injectors, fuel pump). That shows you what these engines are capable of.

One tool you will need is VCDS (also known as VAG-COM). To diagnose issueson this car, hook up your laptop and you'll have same access to your car as the Audi dealer. Also, Bentley repair manual.

Great car, and welcome!

DoubleA4

The 2.7tt engine is historically one of the best production engines, ever. The engine is over-engineered which makes tuning it relatively simple as several have already mentioned. The same goes for the tranny, your 6-speed will last and removes one of the achilles-heels of this vehicle, the tiptronic. The other achilles-heel, if you don't know it already, is the air suspension. Some have removed it entirely and installed a coil-over instead. Others will tell you its the very reason they bought the car and so, will keep it and deal with issues as they arise. You have a great car, congrats. You should enjoy doing some modest upgrades that will further broaden the performance envelope of the car. Oh, not sure what you have for brakes but do take a hard look at them. The OEM brakes are not great but with a switch to aftermarket rotors and pads you will have better performance and durability (I think the OEM rotors wore out/warped quickly).

So, drive it like you stole it! This forum is loaded with good info and some very knowledgeable people. Others, just have a place to share experiences with their car. Welcome.

YKallroad

Welcome, I'm new here too. Having the forums (and AW seems to be the most helpful) has meant that I have some idea of what is going on with my car. I bought a 2002 6-spd with 190k km on it last month. It's had its share of problems, but overall I am happy with it.

I did the stage one "chip" (really a computer reflash) to get more boost (turbos had been replaced a few years ago, so no worries about reliability I hope.) I am happy with the performance: 315hp and 350 lb/ft of torque.

I also took the leap and replaced a functioning air suspension with Arnott coil-overs. $1400 for the kit, and about six hours labour for the shop to install them. Now I have some air struts to sell, should you need one! (one front, one rear. Already sold the others and the compressor)

Enjoy!

FR500C

Went into the dealership this morning. Toyotas "Audi Tech" is out today as well as their sales manager but they said they will replace it so will be going back in in the morning. Appreciate the advice to go back in.

I will look into the VCDS and thanks for the rec on the repair manual!

FR500C

Glad the 6spd is without major issues! Not sure why anyone would drive this thing without a manual, but then again I said that even with my Tacoma I will take a look at the brakes on the car. Seeing as the previous owner dropped the money on a MIlltek exhaust system, sway bars, and nice tires, I can only imagine he also opted for nicer pads.. but you never know.

Look forward to learning lots on these forums!

FR500C

I will look into the chip and will keep the coil overs in mind if I run into further suspension issues. Thanks for the reply and hello to another new guy!

DoubleA4

The best bang for your buck upgrade on these cars is in the engine tuning department. I have a mild GAIC tune and it has done me right. I have registered a 1/10 of a mile decrease in gas mileage since installing it and I definitely open it up more (the wave of torque is addictive). I think I paid $500 for the new chip.

Yeah, wish I had a 6sp. I even looked at doing a swap-out for a manual but its cost prohibitive by my estimates (~$3,500+).

Bonus that you already have a nice aftermarket exhaust. Well done.

FR500C

Here are pics of the front laser jammers and the radar detector.






Here is the sway bar I just pulled out. How on earth did they not realize this thing was the issue when they had it up in the rack!?!?