JWG

Well guys, today, I got the news on a couple of issues that I have wanted my mechanic to investigate but never had the time.

The wobble on straight-aways that did not feel like wheel balance or alignment and went away on turns: Steering Rack w/ fluid in the column boot with seals and worm gear going away after 210,000 miles. Cure: remanufactured steering rack.

The clunk when shifting that has gotten progressively worse the last month: Drive shaft mount molded rubber retainer tearing and forward rear differential mount molded rubber broken. Cure: remanufactured drive shaft (because you cannot remove the center mount without taking apart the drive shaft which would itself upset the drive shaft balance (which has great importance at high speeds) and new (dealer-available-only) differential mount.

Interesting notes:
(1) VW vehicles which use the same steering rack lack a hydraulic steering damper, which makes the rack much more difficult to remove from the car.
(2) Audi made a cut-out through the entire engine bay so one may access the third bolt that holds the steering rack from the bottom (the other two bolts come down from the area between the primary and secondary firewalls).
(3) Beware of smaller driveshaft rebuilders who may not have high speed driveshaft balancers due to their cost (Morale of the story: you get what you pay for).
(4) Audi asks about $1500 for a new driveshaft, while a good driveshaft rebuilder asks about $750 plus core for our carbon fiber units.
(5) I still find it crazy that one has to replace the entire drive shaft to replace the central mount due to the need to have the central mount on the drive shaft during balancing, but Audi lists the drive shaft mount as a non-serviceable part and no parts places list the mount.
(6) After 210,000 miles on mostly poor Los Angeles County roads, my control arms remain in good shape--worst problem is one lower fore control arm ball-joint boot has come loose on the bottom. (Hail the urethane bushings I installed about 100,000 miles ago for saving the ball joints).
(7) As hard as I looked for the source of both these problems by myself, we needed two people and a lift to diagnose the steering rack problem. Also, you will find it difficult to diagnose problems with the drive shaft mounts without a lift and a newer B5 A4 on another lift to which you may compare the play in the mounts.

I should get the car back next week--will the remanufactured units last 200,000 miles? Let's see. ;-)

Off 12v Topic #1: Rhetorical Question: Why do some 1.8t owners upgrade their exhaust before upgrading their software/turbo and servicing their timing belt? I guess a $4000 valve job sounds appealing ($70 per valve x 20 valves + labor + other parts + . . . = $4000).

Off 12v Topic #2: VW's 1.9 TDI diesel with a mere $600 in mods (larger fuel injectors and software) can become a torque monster that moves the RPM needle almost faster than you can shift to more sane diesel RPMs.

Jretal

I def had some colorful things to call audi when doing the P/S rack on my A4... but after pulling one from the old Type 44 body style (5000 and 200), the A4 was a walk in the park. With the motor out of the 200, it was still a b!tch to redo the rack... I can't even imagine what it would be like w/ the motor in!!!

Also, not sure if it holds true with the A4s, but the older 4000, 80/90 driveshaft center bearings can be replaced with a BMW center mount. You just have to index the drive shaft and reassemble it like it was taken apart.

Glad to see the 'ol girl is still up and kicking! I'm about to roll 145k miles on mine, and still lovin' it.