Obvious or Not?

[Apodman]

Simple Question: if my 280E, M110 powered W123 were running only on 5 cylinders, would it be obvious?

My ol' gal, she's running OK, but sometimes I start to wonder if 5 cylinders could masquerade for 6. Hey, Audi ran 5's for years.

The compression test is coming up next week for the scientific approach, but I was just wondering what you all think.

Waiting for warmer weather to get back under her to address the winter's deferred maintenance.

Thanks, Alex

[Mark DiSilvestro]

Those 5 cylinder Audis were designed and balanced to run on 5 and they weren't all that smooth anyway. They certainly were not as smooth as a straight 6. If your M110 6 is only running on 5, you will definitely notice it, especially in drive (I assume yours is an automatic) and/or under any kind of load.

Happy Motoring, Mark

[300SDog]

With the twincam 6 you've gotta suspect the valve train first - timing chain stretch, cam lobes & rocker arm adjust, etc - assuming loss of power is what you've got.

And those are self torquing adjustment bolts under the acorns. Their self torque threads usually begin to wear out at/near 125k miles.

Btw, surfaces of rockers should be ONE color metal, if they are worn exposing patches of darker metal underneath then replace them immediately, even with good used rockers, before they eat the camshaft lobes.

Hell yes, if you want something to do - inspect the camshaft and rockers - critical items on the TC 6 cyl.

(edit: wait a minute - 58k miles in 25 yrs huh? Take a long haul road trip at 85-90mph with injector cleaner.... FI system is probably varnished with 1/16" of shellac.