Hi guys, I'm curious about this. Back in the early '90s I had an Audi 5000 diesel. This car, boy it was something. It was like a big extra-plus VW Rabbit, and I actually liked it really well but it had a James Bond-type feature, a smokescreen that was activated by upshifting and lugging the engine. Boy, it could put it out.

I've never seen a Merc diesel smoking like that ... and I haven't seen an Audi diesel on the road (in the Rebel Colonies) since the turn of the millennium. What's the deal with those motors? They must have been lousy -- mine had 110k and obviously was pretty long in the tooth. Didn't they put them in Volvos, too? I saw (smelled) one of those the other day, it seemed pretty bad.

Yet those old Rabbit diesels have a great reputation, so obviously the VW/Audi/Porsche folks knew how to build an engine. What's the deal with that 5-cylinder job?

Just curious. Thanks!

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Finn John -- Albany, Ore.
www.offbeatoregon.com
76 Merc 300D, sky-blue, *86k, for driving
84 Jaguar XJ6, black, 245k, for restoring someday
71 Merc 408, 2.3 petrol 4, Avon caravan conversion (UK), RHD

I've got a 1.6 4cyl Jetta, 225k and it runs strong. I've never seen a 5000 diesel.

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68 280SL - 70 280SL - 70 300SEL 3.5 - 72 350SL - 72 280SEL 4.5 - 72 220 - 72 220D - 73 450SL - 84 230GE - 87 200TD - 90 190E 2.0 - 03 G500

Nissan GTR - Nissan Skyline GTS25T - Toyota GTFour - Rover Mini - Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60 - Cadillac Eldorado - BMW E30 - BMW 135i

Probably the IP was set to give max fuel so it had max go !! I have a ISUZU turbo diesel, it has a 2 stage IP, When it has a little boost & you floor it, I can do the bond thing too.

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Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club group

I no longer question authority, I annoy authority. More effect, less effort....

1967 230-6 auto parts car. rust bucket.
1980 300D now parts car 800k miles
1984 300D 500k miles
1987 250td 160k miles English import
2001 jeep turbo diesel 130k miles
1998 jeep tdi ~ followed me home. Needs a turbo.
1968 Ford F750 truck. 6-354 diesel conversion.
Other toys ~J.D.,Cat & GM ~ mainly earth moving

I have a Jetta engine it's waiting for it's transplant into something unexpected. but It's an older one... still runs good. I cant say much about them though... I've only had experience with this one

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hum.....
1987 300TD 311,000M Stolen. Presumed destroyed

I had an Audi 400o in the early '90s. It was an '83 model, I think. Had a 5-spd. in it & what I assumed was a 4-cyl turbo Rabbit diesel in it. Loved that car! Even tho it was turbo, it still got around 40 mpg, even with my heavy right foot. Wish I still had it...

The Audi diesel engines originated from the VW 1.6L 4 cylinder engine. Essentially the 5 and 6 cylinder versions were a 1.6 4 with additional cylinders. It made components easy to produce and applied to all NA engines. The turbo versions used different pistons due to location of the oil squirters but that's a minor point.

The 1.6 was the best of the lot, the 2.0 and 2.4 each suffered their own little problems. The 6 cylinder was renowned for oil starvation on top if driven only on short trips and the 2.0 was overly complicated in the way the belt drove the IP. They were however pretty robust for what they were, Volvo used both the 5 and 6 cylinder versions in turbo and non-turbo form over the course of several years.

Audi used the 4 and 5 cylinder versions in the 4k and 5k, in turbo and non-turbo form. The 1.6 was the same engine as the Rabbit / Golf / Jetta but turned longitudinally driving the front wheels as was the 2.0L 5 cylinder in the 5k. A 5k with manual trans and the NA 2.0 diesel could achieve about 43mpg at highway cruising, which was good for a car of that size.

You don't see many of these around anymore. The cylinder heads of the 2.0L turbo were vulnerable to cracks and there weren't many sold to begin with. The 5k was available with diesel from 79-83 and the 4k was available with diesel from 81-83, a very limited number of years considering that VW installed the 1.6 in the Rabbit / Golf / Jetta from 1980-1992.

They're easy to work on but are less elegant in their sound, the comparison between my W140 and my (several) Golf diesels is no contest. The challenger would be my 97 Jetta TDI, which is more subdued but still not as beautiful as the W140.

I had a Datsun Maxima diesel wagon for a couple years, it had a nice 2.8 diesel, cast iron head, chain driven camshaft, belt driven IP, and it was nice but not nearly as nice as the W140 diesel.

Steve a

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Steve A
92 W140 OM603
97 VW Jetta TDI
90 Passat variant TDI 6 speed MT
94 Chevy K1500 6.5TD
05 E320 CDI
+ others

Holden Jackaroo?

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BENZ THERE DONE THAThttp://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...c/progress.gif
15 VW Passat TDI
00 E420
98 E300 DT
97 E420 Donor Car - NEED PARTS? PM ME!
97 S500
97 E300D
86 Holden Jackaroo Turbo D
86 300SDL
(o\|/o)

Either that, or the motor was worn out, as so many of them were, due to people driving them too hard before the engine had warmed up. Those 5 and 6 cyl diesels, as fitted to Audis and Volvos, have an automatic timing advance. Know how your benz diesel has no power when it's cold? The old VW IDIs have full power when cold due to the extra timing advance. But use it and it tears the motor up.

-Jason

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1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.

The timing advance on the 4 cylinder was manual, and I would hope that people would be smart enough to disengage the advance after the engine was somewhat warm. You're right though, the 2.0 and 2.4 had water connections at the pump that activated the advance. I've got a 5 cyl TD pump around here somewhere with the contraption attached to it. Same thing Peugeot did with some of their TD engines.

steve a

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Steve A
92 W140 OM603
97 VW Jetta TDI
90 Passat variant TDI 6 speed MT
94 Chevy K1500 6.5TD
05 E320 CDI
+ others

TX,
its an imported motor, 4FB1 Turbo. I fitted it in an old Datsun 1ton pickup.

__________________
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club group

I no longer question authority, I annoy authority. More effect, less effort....

1967 230-6 auto parts car. rust bucket.
1980 300D now parts car 800k miles
1984 300D 500k miles
1987 250td 160k miles English import
2001 jeep turbo diesel 130k miles
1998 jeep tdi ~ followed me home. Needs a turbo.
1968 Ford F750 truck. 6-354 diesel conversion.
Other toys ~J.D.,Cat & GM ~ mainly earth moving

Found magazine ad for Audi 5000 diesel......

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_L8BTRutV0uk/RowsRSEt8kI/AAAAAAAABMM/u_SMBppuJVQ/s1600-h/Audi+5000+Ad+1980.jpg

Had a friend who owned a 5000 TD at one time, but that was years ago. Can't really say what happened to it, she didn't take very good care of it IIRC. That was probably 18 years ago and back then I wasn't paying too much attention to cars in general.

I posted an ad up on CL a few years ago looking to buy one and did get a response from someone. When I went to look it became obvious that it hadn't run in a long time and that someone had installed the timing belt incorrectly. That and there was a huge hole in the right rear inner fender, one big enough to stick my head through. The owner wanted too much money to make ownership practical and used parts for the 2.0 are non-existent. It was however, a manual trans car which is somewhat rare in a 5k.

The 5 cyl VE IP I have came from a junked TD with few miles on it. I talked to the prior owner and he said that work on it stopped when a used head couldn't be found and the original had already been welded a couple times. Too bad really, the car was in really pretty nice shape for its age.

The 5k diesel disappeared from the US after the 1984 redesign but it was still available in Canada and a few have leaked over from there over the years. I remember having seen at least two 84's for sale in the US.

steve a

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Steve A
92 W140 OM603
97 VW Jetta TDI
90 Passat variant TDI 6 speed MT
94 Chevy K1500 6.5TD
05 E320 CDI
+ others

Here are two ads for audi 5000 diesels in the Seattle area, one of the ads is actually for 2 cars, the first ad says the car has a blown head-

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/pts/1742179335.html

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/cto/1737508229.html

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1984 300D, 228k, Light Ivory, Java MB-Tex