Paying $5500 over a year ago for my Zurich warranty was painful, but it is now coming through for me big time. I've already gotten at least 4k in service (cam seals, valve covers, CV boots, etc) and now they have agreed to replace my TC and transmission. It's been ordered and en route. They drove it, tested the tranny oil, and after some back and forth with the shop they decided to do the full replacement. Pretty happy about this. TC and tranny going out at 60k is ridiculous but I knew that this was quite probable going into this car. So with the engine/tranny out I'm going to do handle a bit of preventive maintenance. I've read most of the posts on this so i'm hoping you all can help me with a plan to hit all the most important maintenance issues while they have easy access to them.
Car has 62K on it, so I'm going to do the 70k service early.
-Timing belt kit. How about the ECS tuning kit? Should I get the Blue Gates timing belt? I hear the water pump needs to be of the highest quality. ECS has a full kit w/ fluids for $549. But it only has a "Graft" water pump, never heard of it. Decent? I recently did my cam seals and valve covers (that comes w/ that kit0 so should I just get timing belt and water pump? Or are there alot of small pieces that come with it that need to be there?
-EGT's. The sneaky fix I did recently is still holding but I want to put new ones in there to be on the safe side. ECS has both of them (Genuine Audi) for $514.
-02 sensors. I'm not getting codes from these so I think I just want to do the hard to get to front ones. The shop said the rears are accessible. Is that true or do you think I should do all four (2 front and 2 rear) at this time? ECS has the front 02's for $162 each.
-Bufkin pipe. i'm not having any issues but is this a must do when the engine is out? Since I'm low miles, can I pass on this? I saw one on Ebay for about $30.
-Regulator for alternator. I'm not having any charging issues but I was thinking of replacing the regulator on the alternator. I saw one on Amazon for about $35.
-N75 valves. Not having any issues here but I hear it's a good idea to replace both of these. ECS has them for $113 each.
-While the engine is out I will have them retighten the steering rack bolts. I still get a little noise from the front end, even after I changed the DRC to yellow Koni's and changed sway bar bushings. They said control arms are fine.
-I'll make sure they clean the IC and hoses. Recently they cleaned some oil that was pooling in there. Will make sure the IC's are tight. Should I replace IC hoses? Recent tests showed that the IC was oily but not leaking.
-I'm considering getting an upgraded TC. Through Tozo, ACE, Level 10? The shop (Eurotech in Culver City) where I'm getting this done says that the new tranny and TC are improved (i've got an early VIN car) but I feel like I should upgrade the TC. Isn't only around $500? Can I just order one and have it shipped or do they need to get mine and rebuild it?
If anybody has any suggestions on other maintenance items I should do, please chime in w/feedback.
Once all this is done the car should be well sorted and good for some time. They will begin work this Monday so I'm trying to get all parts in ASAP.
Thanks!
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Originally Posted by s8prtotype
