FLU – it is obvious that you are an educated stickler when it comes to maintaining your vehicle(s). I am like you but to a much lesser degree. The most that I have done was to replace the fuel filter and brakes on my own vehicles.
I don't know of any reputable shops that might be able to help you with your vehicle. My one piece of advice would be to consider selling your Audi/VW and purchasing a vehicle that requires less maintenance.
I've owned both German (Mercedes) and American (Ford) vehicles in my time and both required more repair than I was willing to tackle. After much thought I decided to go with a brand (Honda) that had a much better track record in terms of longevity, reliability, and resale value. Just my $0.02.
Actually, I found that my trusty audi to be extremely reliable once I stopped taking it to the stealerships. The first 4 years had occasional issues. Coincidently, the first 4 years is when I went to the stealership because all maintanence was free. I was convinced that mechanics in the stealerships were intentionally creating problems so that they could bill the manufacturer for warranty work. And I can't count how many times after returning home, I found a mechanic have left a screwdriver, socket, or wrench lying on somewhere in the engine compartment. Nice adds to my tool collection though.
After my free maintenance was over and I stopped going to the stealerships, suddenly all the problems just went away. I've had about 4 years since without any really maintenance, except routine oil changes every 7500 miles (synthetic of course), brakes and tires (which i wear out excessively because the way I drive). Surprisely, I found routine maintenance on this car in many ways to more simple than a japanese car. For instance, replacing brake pads/discs are snap, since they aren't pressed on like Hondas . And since parts are so cheap, I don't even bother to resurface the discs – New rotors every time. I don't understand how stealerships (*cough* miramar) quote $400 for brake pad replacement alone on this car. At most this is a 1 hr job. Must be all the blinker fluid they are adding to the car 🙂
Unfortunately, I need to get the Timing Belts done, which is a routine thing on any car belt driven. And my last acura required the same kind of dismantling to get ths work done. I really was going to tackle this problem, since I bought all the parts, but just ran out of time.
