raj99

I was wondering if there's any exceptional maintenance events I should be prepared for? FYI, I own a C5 (over 9 years), so am familiar with general maintenance.

The car I'm looking at is approaching 90K miles and is covered under Audi warranty till 100K. I have ALL the maintenance records for the vehicle and know the DRC recall was addressed. I was wondering when I should start worrying about the timing chain or other major cost items?

I'll be looking through the archives as well, but am looking for as much visibility as possible.

Lastly, I know the car has never had the carbon cleaning performed and according the dealer "this is unnecessary if the car is maintained properly", however has anyomne here had success getting their dealer to do the cleaning as covered under the Audi warranty? If so, how were you able to accomplish this? thnx

ELEVENS

It's a great car. These cars stay solid with miles on the odometer where other cars are rattling, wandering down the road with sloppy steering, and falling apart. The carbon MUST be cleaned, it will net you at least 30HP. They're giving you a load of **** but they all do it - it's the company line. If they won't do it under warranty, make a "bet" with them: If they open it up (remove the intake manifold), and it's not carboned up, you pay. If there's carbon, they pay. Don't worry about the degree of carbon, IT WILL BE CHOKING with it. The intake valves will look HORRENDOUS - guaranteed.

Carbon cleaning is simply a must-do maintenance item on these cars. Other than that, the are SOLID. Once the DRC is replaced under the recall, that is.

Looking forward to some pics of your new beast!

CHEERS

raj99

Thanks for the great feedback! I REALLY like the idea of the "bet"...based upon all that i've read I don't think I'm at risk of loosing and even if I do, it's a long-term bet worth making. May be my car is the 1 in 2500 which won't have it, but I doubt I'm that lucky...lol

I'm trying to make the deal with the seller and if comes through I'll have a new ride in 2012 Now, I'll be looking to offload a very good condition C5

swesna

i traded in my c5 vette for my rs4. my car was a 2000 magnetic red 6-spd with 67k on it and they gave me 11K for the trade in. i was happy to get rid of it.

it was a nicer drive back then on my way there. i somewhat like the corvette but the interior does suck on them. i still am not sure which is faster i just know i prefer a classier car over the c5.

raj99

I should have clarified that the C5 is my 00 A6 Audi, no vette for me. But I'll be selling it privately...

BADRS4

Definitely must do the carbon clean at 90k miles..I did mine at about 43k and have all the pics and even video of while the intake was opened up...you wouldn't believe how much gunk was on it at 43k....so at 90k it will be probably almost barely able to breathe....I can't even really imagine how it drives at that much build up compared to clean....you'll thank us after its done!

ELEVENS

Yuppers. Here's mine at around 30K miles. Yes, Audi will tell you that Top Tier gas and a BG cleaning once in a while will prevent this. I have first hand experience that says that's BULL **** !

sakimano

that's pretty awful looking.
Personally I don't think it cripples the car performance wise. I think you lose a bit of top end. My quarter mile TIMES were solid, but my MPH were mediocre. I ran 12.9-13.1 @ 106.8-107.3 mph. This indicates I'm losing some top end as I would expect my mph to be more like 108.5 or so. I'm at 30,000 miles like elevens. I reckon with a carbon cleaning, and good conditions like when I went 12.94, I could probably eek out a 12.80-12.85 @ 108.5. Not the end of the world, but that's about a car length from 0-100 mph.

For me, the carbon issue is a huge concern for one reason and one reason only - cylinder wall damage. The loss of a car length in a race or 10-20 whp on the dyno is no biggie...but a chunk of diamond hard carbon getting between a piston and a cylinder wall at 5000 feet per minute (our piston speed) means destroyed motor. This has happened to 3-4 guys on the forums and who knows how many guys not on forums.

For that reason, if this JHM carbonator works, I'll be one of the first in line to buy one.

raj99

Unfortunately the person sold the rs4 to the dealer before I had a chance to meet up with him. So I'm back in the market for a nice rs4. Thanks for all the advice though.