My car: 1999.5 A4 2.8Q US model, will pass 75k miles tomorrow. Runs
great.

I love my car. But there are a few reasons I wish I had gotten a 2000
or 01. One is xenons (took care of that anyway). Another is digital
clock (yes, minor). Another is electric locks vs pneumatic. My 2000
Jetta had electric, and when I upgraded to the 99.5 A4, I was
surprised to learn I had pneumatic locking.

Does anyone have a really high mileage A4 from 1996 or 1997 or 1998?
How's your pneumatic locking system holding up?
Any known problems?
Preventive maintenance?

Any advice appreciated.

Danke.

 

There are a lot of type 44 owners (1984 - 1991) that have pneumatic
locking systems. They rarely have problems and seem to last the life of
the car which on some of these is now around 300K miles. Once in a while
there is a question on the forums but it is rare.

Tony
'91 100Q 5spd
107K and locks are just fine.

Avantium wrote:
> My car: 1999.5 A4 2.8Q US model, will pass 75k miles tomorrow. Runs
> great.
>
> I love my car. But there are a few reasons I wish I had gotten a 2000
> or 01. One is xenons (took care of that anyway). Another is digital
> clock (yes, minor). Another is electric locks vs pneumatic. My 2000
> Jetta had electric, and when I upgraded to the 99.5 A4, I was
> surprised to learn I had pneumatic locking.
>
> Does anyone have a really high mileage A4 from 1996 or 1997 or 1998?
> How's your pneumatic locking system holding up?
> Any known problems?
> Preventive maintenance?
>
> Any advice appreciated.
>
> Danke.

 

They last forever. If it develops a leak, the pump runs for 30
seconds and shuts off. A couple of years of this neglect seems to
wipe out the pumps.
It is a maintenance-free, very reliable design. I rarely change
parts on a car under 10 years old. Mercedes used a similar system,
same results. It's a non-issue.
At 75K, I'd worry about the timing belt, not the locks.
While you're there. fix that damned oil leak at the timing adjusters.


On 28 Oct 2003 20:41:17 -0800, avantium@munich.com (Avantium) wrote:

>My car: 1999.5 A4 2.8Q US model, will pass 75k miles tomorrow. Runs
>great.
>
>I love my car...............

 

Good news. Whoops, I passed 74k today, not 75k.
And top posting rules.

TonyJ <tonyjNOSPAM@NOSPAMvisi.com> wrote in message news:<3f9f4948$0$75900$a1866201@newsreader.visi.co m>...
> There are a lot of type 44 owners (1984 - 1991) that have pneumatic
> locking systems. They rarely have problems and seem to last the life of
> the car which on some of these is now around 300K miles. Once in a while
> there is a question on the forums but it is rare.
>
> Tony
> '91 100Q 5spd
> 107K and locks are just fine.
>
> Avantium wrote:
> > My car: 1999.5 A4 2.8Q US model, will pass 75k miles tomorrow. Runs
> > great.
> >
> > I love my car. But there are a few reasons I wish I had gotten a 2000
> > or 01. One is xenons (took care of that anyway). Another is digital
> > clock (yes, minor). Another is electric locks vs pneumatic. My 2000
> > Jetta had electric, and when I upgraded to the 99.5 A4, I was
> > surprised to learn I had pneumatic locking.
> >
> > Does anyone have a really high mileage A4 from 1996 or 1997 or 1998?
> > How's your pneumatic locking system holding up?
> > Any known problems?
> > Preventive maintenance?
> >
> > Any advice appreciated.
> >
> > Danke.

 

My '85 4000Q had 315,000 miles on it when I sold it. The pneumatic
locks still
worked great. Any trouble I did have could easily be located by finding the
hissing noise. I don't think it gave me any trouble in the 10 years I had
the car.

My wife's 94 jetta had the same system. It's only trouble was that the
hose in
the rear door-jam came pulled out of the connector once. So, I had to glue
it back
in.

I would much rather splice a split hose in a door jam than repair or
replace a bundle of
broken, shorting wiring harness!

From and engeering perspective, the pneumatic system is much less
complicated, much, much
lighter and more reliable than big clunky solenoids and switch contacts!


Gene


"Avantium" <avantium@munich.com> wrote in message
news:ad68da8c.0310282041.29f73a8d@posting.google.c om...
> My car: 1999.5 A4 2.8Q US model, will pass 75k miles tomorrow. Runs
> great.
>
> I love my car. But there are a few reasons I wish I had gotten a 2000
> or 01. One is xenons (took care of that anyway). Another is digital
> clock (yes, minor). Another is electric locks vs pneumatic. My 2000
> Jetta had electric, and when I upgraded to the 99.5 A4, I was
> surprised to learn I had pneumatic locking.
>
> Does anyone have a really high mileage A4 from 1996 or 1997 or 1998?
> How's your pneumatic locking system holding up?
> Any known problems?
> Preventive maintenance?
>
> Any advice appreciated.
>
> Danke.