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I had a situation identical to this right around the middle of September, 2001. I remember the date because of the fact that gas stations had lines at the pump leading into the streets. So, my girlfriend at the time had purchased a car from an Acura dealer in the greater Cincinnati area (clears throat) and the car was problematic from the get go. Since I live in NKY and not actually in Ohio, it was a bit of a pain in the neck to constantly have to lug this broken car around to get it “fixed”….
Well, one day, the car was running like hot garbage. At the time, I had pretty much zero experience working on cars. I think the biggest job I had ever done at the time was changing an air filter. I’m going to spare the nonsense, but the people at the dealership had apparently decided that they were tired of us and that we were doing something wrong (we weren’t), so it turned into quite the battle of words when they more or less refused us service on this car. We never got the chance to speak with a tech (who I’m sure were lovely people with an appreciation for their customers), but we did get to speak to everyone else at the dealer. And it was just a rotten, no good, horrible, situation. The problem ended up being something small and stupid- also CHEAP- and I fixed it myself. But, because of the treatment we received there, we wouldn’t go back to them. It was a used car, and it wasn’t an Acura, but there was a warranty on it, and it ended up being useless. Even to this day, I would never consider buying so much as a shirt from that dealer, and my view on Acura was pretty badly skewed as well. We weren’t rude. We were kind, patient, understanding, but frustrated. The dealership acted like we were just a problem that they wanted to get rid of.
But what is interesting about this story is that it is the single reason I began working on cars myself. And, if not for that experience, I wouldn’t be writing this.
Do you professionals really get the heat like that? I thought that was only computer technicians that had to deal with that nonsense. I’d fix someone’s computer, didn’t matter what was wrong, and the second anything went wrong, it was my fault, why couldn’t I keep this virus from coming in, why did the hard drive die 9 months after I had it, etc.
I know that feeling and it is annoying.
Another thing-
Before anyone starts to talk about how Canada did it with minimal opposition and other nations did it well… we need to remember that the US is the 3rd most populous nation on earth. China has 1.36 billion, India has 1.25 billion, and then the US has 322 million. That alone makes for a logistical nightmare. Canada currently has 35 million people, and they had about 21.3 million at the time of the change. It is going to take fewer resources to acclimate 21.3 million people to a new standard than it would 322 million.
Like I said on Facebook-
The main reason we haven’t fully converted is simple-
It is currently cost prohibitive. Immensely expensive. Every single road sign with any marking of distance related measurements- pretty much every sign- will need to be replaced. And if not fully replaced at one time, then additional signs to ease people into the switch will need to be made, and those signs do cost a lot of money. Text books will need to change. Really, when all is said and done, almost everything we use on a regular basis will need to be altered in one form or another. The reluctance to switch is partly psychological, but mostly financial.
NASA says switching will cost around $370,000,000. And that is coming from people that already use metric more than imperial. And I can’t find the exact number estimated to be the total cost of a nation wide adoption of the metric system, but it is well into the billions, and we don’t have the money to spend on that at the moment. When Eric said in his video that they were predicting a complete switch in the 70s, that’s because there was a concerted effort in place to really start the conversion. But as price estimates began to increase to astronomical figures, the idea lost steam.
I’ll try to find the sources to back these claims up later, but I looked into this rather heavily for a while and it begins and ends with the cost.
A friend of mine had a Kia Optima… I believe it was a 2004… and she went through two engines because of premature timing belt failure. She followed the service schedule perfectly and never abused the car… happened anyway. It, too, was under warranty. After the second one went, she just unloaded the car and got a lease. The thing is that it really wasn’t a bad car, but this problem is widespread and obviously catastrophic.
Yeah, there isn’t. I’d love to figure out what this sound is because I want to know if I should focus on it above anything else. I have tried to get it on video before, but nothing picks up the sound the way I’d want.
No shifting issues. Pushing in on the clutch gets rid of the noise. It’s a dual mass flywheel, by the way. There seem to be a number of people with this same issue in their A4s that never could get it figured out.
Just to be sure-
I’m checking these even though the sound only occurs when driving in first gear and completely vanished the second I shift into second?
It’s interesting that you bring that up, because I was going to mention EcoBoost because of the smaller turbo size and all, but I think the two are inherently different in the long run. The 1.8t was designed to be a smoother engine than efficient and I would like to say that it does this very well. But I have no idea how the new Fords drive. I am also horrified by Mercedes’ internal turbo design. The turbos are actually sealed inside the engine.
I think that’s the reason behind the tiny, tiny size of the turbos used in these engines. I’ve never experienced turbo lag and the car, despite being incredibly heavy, does not feel like it is being powered by a 4 cylinder. That tiny little turbo does stay busy, and it is great, but you are correct. I’m a fan of older Volvos, mainly the 740 and 240. I’ve heard of people taking the turbo off of the 740 Turbo and driving it like that because the turbo just turns the car into another bill. So I guess that’s the same as what you’re saying. Is it?
And the PRT… sounds like the exact opposite of the Miller Cycle engine I had in my Mazda.
I know mine has a coolant system for the turbo. One of these days I’ll finally buy a thermometer and see how hot it really gets in there. All I know for sure is that it is somewhat concerning. If I go out and have a really hardcore drive, that little turbo is constantly going. As a result, I let it cool down for some time and then open the hood for a few hours. When you open the hood, it’s like a punch in the face from a volcano. As soon as I get lucky enough to find a K04 turbo for a fair price, (used on the higher HP Audi TT), I’ll throw it on and hope the car doesn’t burn to the ground. It’s still a very small turbo, but it, just like its smaller A4 brother, the K03, is surprisingly powerful. I remember reading the stats on this car before I took it for a drive and thinking how small the numbers were and how boring it was going to be.
Nope. Those numbers mean nothing at all. The 1.8t can provide endless fun. But a much larger front mount intercooler would be a wise investment. The intercooler that comes stock is very small and lodged behind the foglights, behind the bumper. Heatsoak is common.
AMU, BEA, AMB, AUM, AEB, AWM, AGU, AWD, AWW, etc… there are a lot. They span four different car brands over the course of 20 years, all with different revisions and placement. My cousin has a Passat that one would think would be a clone to my A4, but it has a totally different engine design, but it’s still a 1.8t. She’s had hers for over a decade now and she said no one ever told her Castrol. Mobile 1 is what is more often recommended.
I think with your scan tool, it’s picking up the revisions of the overall design. For example, if you put my AMB on there and then go to, say, AWU, it will read as being a different engine because one is transversely mounted and the other is longitudinally mounted. AWU is transversely mounted in the Beetle and Golf while the AMB is longitudinally mounted in an A4.
They ARE very good engines. They really are. But they do require the owner to just take care of them. I somehow lucked out with mine in that I was able to clean the sludge out pretty well and there was minimal damage as a result of it. The cooling system is another story, but we’ll save that fiasco for another day. My friend has had his Jetta for I can’t remember how long now and he has never had an issue outside of his timing belt snapping on him. But that has happened to him on literally every single car he has ever owner, no matter how meticulous he is with them and he follows the service intervals perfectly, also a fan of preventative maintenance. He doesn’t pulverize his cars and he is responsible in every way. And every engine he’s ever had has snapped its timing belt. He just popped a new head on, his pistons were very lightly damaged (no one believes the story, but I promise you that it is the truth. I saw the pictures. He did all the work himself. Head- he didn’t bother with it. Pistons- light damage)………………… but aside from his curse, his 1.8t has taken him across the country many times and I know a lot of other people that can say the same about theirs.
It’s kind of like the infamous Subaru EJ25. Head gasket monster. I’ve seen a TON of those things go over 300,000 miles because the owners took preventative steps and it ran well. People are quick to blame the engine… and while the engine design is a big part of this issue, owners just doing the right thing when the time comes will keep that thing chugging along until the body rusts out.
And, in closing, I am posting this pic because I have absolutely no idea what in the heck to make of it. I was looking for a part number on Google Images and this came up. Remember that my engine is the AMB. And it’s an A4. Not the car in this picture. But oh man, this cracked me up. Possibly a bit more than it should have.
I am going to have to disagree with you. As will the many millions of other people who took care of their 1.8t and can still count on it so many years later to be reliable and fun. Common sense goes a long way. As for the oil… someone got something wrong in that mix. I really can’t say I believe anyone would come out and say that VW says Castrol or nothing, because personally, I have never had one person talk about using Castrol in their car. I can ask, but I think I know the response I’ll get.
There are also more than 5 iterations of the 1.8t. The computer systems are widely the same, and all can be parsed by the exact same VAGCOM computer. The used prices I’ve seen are average. And people want to get these from junk yards because people don’t take care of them. As for the head gasket… again, that’s new to me. I’ve seen and heard of blown head gaskets because of people letting their car overheat, but again… not really the engine’s fault. I have yet to hear someone say “My head gasket is bad”
It’s kind of hard to place blame entirely on an object when it’s the user that ultimately causes the problem.
