80 K maintenance

[jputer]

I have a '99 A4 Coupe that will hit 80k miles soon. I am collecting the parts to do a cooling system and belt and pulley preventive maintenance using AC/Delco and Gates parts. I will be replacing the following parts:

Water pump
Thermostat and housing
Accessory and A/C belt tensioners
2 idler pulleys
both serpentine belts
all cooling system hoses and clamps
Dex/Cool coolant
new surge tank pressure cap

I do have a set of factory shop manuals for reference.

Does anyone have any suggestions for anything else I need to do or replace while I am in the areas I am already working on? The car has no "issues" now relating to engine performance or cooling, I just like to do the preventive stuff on my DD at my leisure.

[vettex2]

why change the waterpump ?
or the t-stat
or the pulleys?

serious overkill if you haven't had problems

[LLC5]

Originally Posted by vettex2

why change the waterpump ?
or the t-stat
or the pulleys?

serious overkill if you haven't had problems

I agree. Sometimes you can create problems that weren't there before. Coolant and drive belts are a good idea for maintenance.

[jputer]

The reason I was going to change the pump while I was there is because I have very little service history on the vehicle. The orginal hoses (dated 09/98) are still on the car. The vehicle was a leased for the first 3 years, sold at auction and then repoed once before the friend I bought it from only drove it 4K miles in 3 years.

While it has no perfomance issues now, I really don't want to put fresh coolant in it and then have the water pump seals start leaking 2 weeks later, slinging Dexcool everywhere. If I knew that the coolant had been changed at regular intervals then I would not be worried about the WP seals.

[jputer]

As a follow up to the service. The only problems I had were involving replacing the idler pulleys. I had bought Gates idlers from RockAuto.com (#38008) which listed the same idler for both the main and A/C belts. As I removed the idlers I checked them against the replacement parts I had and found that dust shields from the original pulleys could not be used with the Gates pulleys and that the A/C idler was smaller in diameter than the main idler.

Off to the parts store and what do I find? The only listing any of the parts stores have (Carquest, AutoZone, Advance) is the Gates idler pulleys that don't even appear the same. Then, grudgingly I go to the closest dealer (Classic Chevrolet in Altamonte Springs, FL) and the parts department computer is down (4 pm on a Tuesday) so they are no help at all.

I decide to give up for the day and do some research on the "correct" GM pulleys and get the part numbers from my parts Cd.

The next morning I head for Courtesy Chevrolet in Orlando and order the pulleys (the main is in stock but the A/C idler is on order from Jacksonville, with none in any area dealer stock and will be here TOMORROW morning). Great! The 3 hour job is turning into a 3 day job. I take the main idler and install it and the old A/C idler pulley back on the car.

Thursday I pick up the pulley that had traveled from Jacksonville and it takes about 10 minutes to slip both belts loose and install the pulley.

Now we are a happy Vette! New water pump, new thermosat and housing, new belts, new pulleys and tensioners, new dex-cool, new hoses.

BTW the old dex-cool was as clear as the new fluid after 80K and over 8 years, a testament to the quality of the original fill and lack of electrolisis in the system.

[ToolGuy]

Anther area altogether but I would do these if you have not done so:

Plugs & wires
PCV
Fuel Filter
Run a bottle of Chevron Techron fuel system cleaner in it
Change the brake fluid and power steering fluid
Auto trans; drain and change the filter
Change out the diff fluid

[jputer]

I have already have done the plugs, wires, PCV , Techron, brake fluid, pads, rotors, headlight gears and passenger window motor.

Fuel filter is next, then trans and diff fluids and trans filter. I need to pull the console and cluster to fix some burned out light bulbs and some dash noises that are bothersome. Drivers door panel has a impact foam rattle I need to bond better.

Then there is the front windshield weatherstrip prodject and maybe a fresh windshield......

At least it is paid for....

[ToolGuy]

Originally Posted by jputer

At least it is paid for....

Yep me too! That is one of the best parts about my car!