Infra

iTrader: (1)

I should revise to say they "telescope" rather than "extend". Not the one in the A3 though, unless it was stuck.

Infra

iTrader: (1)

If you're talking about STaSIS... they closed, and the warranty was never there to begin with. STaSIS offered the warranty, and they often wouldn't pay when things went wrong.

http://www.wvgazette.com/article/201...GZ01/140439989

bagwell

saw that....but I was looking more at GIAC/APR....already discussed with service manager.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

what a boring car.

wouldn't a vw golf have a similar drivetrain and be more useful? also way better looking imo!

Fizzboy7

Just curious, with all the pros of Audis 2.0T, was the carbon build-up issue related to that engine? If so, has it been resolved? I would think by now, after being out for seven+ years, there would have been a fix. Or maybe it was related to their 3.0T?

LexBob2

The 2.0t had some carbon build up as well as oil consumption issues. I'm not sure how widespread either was, but they seem to have a handle on it now with the newer models.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

I do like this 'doctored' picture. I agree it's boring looking compared to other hatches, but I don't find it offensive, just a stalwart hatch sort of like the Camry of it's segment and the little thing sells.

mmarshall

If you are referring to the A3, outside of a couple of low-speed drivability quirks with the 1.8L/twin-clutch combo, it was actually a fairly nice car to drive. I can think of lots worse cars I've sampled (or even owned).


Well, that's Audi marketing for you. They are the ones that made the no-hatchback decision for the A3 this year.

mmarshall

Carbon build-up can be limited by using a good name-brand of fuel (Chevron and Shell generally have the best detergent packages), getting the engine good and warm on your trips instead of short-trip warm-up/cool-downs all the time, and by periodically using a good fuel-system/engine cleaner like BG44K. I do not, and never have, recommended the use of cheap cut-rate gas brands, because their (often) lack of good detergent packages encourages the build-up of carbon and other contaminants in the engine and fuel-system.

bagwell

The top-tier gas thing cleaning the valves is only good if the fuel hits the valve - Direct Injection is where the injector puts the fuel directly into the cylinder, so it never hits the valve to clean it in the first place - hence the carbon buildup issues. From the B8 and newer, they have altered engine cooling to allow the oil temps to go about 10 degrees F higher. If this is enough to manage buildup remains to be seen.

The other factor (also relating to temps) is that cars which do not regularly get up to operating temps for a few minutes every so often have much higher buildup issues - namely those which are owned by people with very short and low speed commutes.

an oil catch can is also a tool to help prevent carbon build-up.

mmarshall

That is one reason (among several) why many new vehicles now use semi or full-synthetic oil instead of the regular dino stuff.....more resistance to viscosity loss from heat. My Verano, for instance, with a direct-injected non-turbo, needs semi-synthetic. Turbos usually run full-synthetic nowadays.

Infra

iTrader: (1)

I don't want to side track this discussion, but you absolutely do not retain any powertrain warranty if you flash your ECU. There are tons of stories about Audi flagging a car for its life through auto-detection methods when they read fault codes from the car's computer and see that the checksum is different.

Audi's new EA888 (2.0T) has both direct and port injection, which will eliminate the carbon buildup issue. It was an issue in most of their engines using FSI (fuel stratified injection, aka direct inejction). The B7 RS4's V8 is notorious for it. The 2.0T also had issues, as did the 3.2L V6 (although not as severe).

The fuel used has no effect, as it's caused by exhaust gas re-circulation for emissions standards. Exhaust gas blows by the piston, mixes with oil in the crank case, and then is injected upstream of the intake valves. Carbon buildup is very different from engine sludge, or buildup from cheap fuel.

The best way to alleviate the problem is to run the engine to redline fairly regularly. The velocity of the valves at high engine RPM, as well as the different thermal expansion rate between carbon & the metal valves, help the most to removes whatever deposits may be there... but eventually, all engines with the issue will need to be taken apart and cleaned.

The IS250 shares this issue, although doesn't seem to be quite as severe.

mmarshall

Might be a minor sidetrack, but you still bring up a good point. Service Managers usually only have a limited amount of say in what is warranty-covered and what is not.



That might be true from a carbon standpoint. but regularly running the tach to redline has other negative effects......more wear on the engine's moving parts, more fuel use, quicker oil-deterioration, and more noise.

mmarshall

Next planned reviews:

Acura RLX
Lincoln MKC
Audi S3 (test-drive)
Honda HR-V