Can anyone tell me what this is?

[stevieyid]

I just had a look under the car to see what the knocking noise is. I found some little thing that is just swigning loose and looks as though it has snapped off at one end. It attaches to a little black box and the wire from the box runs up into the body. Heres some pics of of it:

I think this is knocking against the car and causing the knocking noise. Anyone know what it is? Also how much is it to replace. Thanks

 

[j4jon]

Do you have xenons?
If you do its proably the sensor for the self leveling, sorry don't know how much though.

 

[HTC]

I'm not too familiar with the S3 rear suspension, but it sounds like the leveling system connection for the headlights.

 

[HTC]

Beat me to it.

 

[stevieyid]

Thanks for your help. That would make sense as there is not ne on the other side. I taped it up to see if the knocking stopped.

 

[HTC]

Yeah, I'm mostly sure that there is one at the front and one at the back.

 

[NHN]

It is for the self levelling motors for xenons, its only usually on one side of the car.

 

[NHN]

I just had a closer look & the reason why its knocking noise is its broken of or come out of its attachment at the top which is a swing arm, can you see the bit above it, so when you go over a bump its jumping up & then falling clonking on the rear track control arm, just see if its just come of or needs a new bracket to fix in place mate, just make sure you fix/mark where it was positioned before changing the bracket fella so you get proper levelling, should be a self fix job.

 

[stevieyid]

Thanks mate. Just checked and it seems as though it has broken off the bracket on the top. The plastic bracket is still attached to the little black box but has snapped at other end. Anyone got a part number for the bracket? Thanks

 

[NHN]

Just detach the bracket but mark with a stanley a slight groove in the metal to advise where it sat & then you can get part number of it, its gotta come of anyway.

What year is your car & is it an S3?

 

[NHN]

Well from what I can see you can reuse the arm but the little black box has the sprung loaded adjuster on it has to be replaced, maybe need a new bolt, on an 01 A3/S3 the sensor is 4b0907503 & the nut shows +N 01118312

Always check with Audi parts when ordering it is definitely the part for your car, but the part numbers should point them squarely to what you need then they will match against your chassis.

Not being funy mate but if its snapped of as it appears I would remove the sensor/arm & use some epoxy glue like araldite & glue it back on thats if the other small piece that broke of is on the arm still which I doubt but worth a look as I cant see with the arm dropped & faced away from us, but if its there then spray **** loads of WD40 on the arm so it freely flows back/forth & leave the epoxy to set then see if that works, could save you few quid as I've done many a time on little plastic jobs & its always held, just an idea but when that epoxy sets its fecking hard as long as you do it in the right places when bonding, just make sure the outside edges of the break are well glued & the inside is still round so the arm spins easily round inside.

Anythings worth a try fella.

 

[NHN]

I had another idea which if the other small broken part is missing, get 2 metal washers big enough for the arm to fit inside & spin easily round, then glue these washers with epoxy on both sides of the end of the sensor arm in exactly the same place as the plastic hole would be so this re-creates the hole for the arm, make sure the arm isnt blocked in anyway to move freely within the sensor arm with the washers as this would then just snap of again, this is a quick cheap fix for now & could last longer than original if done right.