Our New 1.8TQS Avant

Popped into Preston Audi yesterday to get them to look at some bubbling paint on the lower sections of all four doors. The service guy was like "clearly this isnt the original color, so the warranty doesnt apply".

After some insistence on my part, he looked up his computer and it called it "Berry Pearl Effect" to which he said hmm i've never heard of that color before, nor have i ever seen an Audi that color.

He got a bod round from the local bodyshop who looked the car over, agreed with me that it had never been painted bar the offside rear quarter, and reconned the bubbles were coming from the inside and that it probably was a valid defect. They took some photos, and were going to write up a report and send it to Audi UK. I'm hoping they'll get it sorted out, as although its minor its annoying now that i've noticed it!
 
ive seen an a3 and a tt in that colour but rare as rocking horse poo as you say
 
how long is the warranty for Audi paint defect?
 
Its worth checking the ABS sensor connections under the rear seat.ive had problems with my A4 in the past.clean the connections an see if that helps.??
 
I recon i will have to try my local Stealer as i too have some of the same "BLOBS" as you, lets hope they are as ameanable as your lot.

Hybrided her yet?

Frankenturbo?
 
Well its been a particularly hopeless weekend.

I had a couple of things i wanted to sort, ABS sensor needed replaced on the rear, diff needs some oil, and i wanted to change the thermostat, as its running at 75c.

ABS sensor was being stubborn, so ended up coming out with a varied selection of hammers, chisels, drills, screwdrivers and swearing, in many small pieces. Finally got it out, and discovered the reluctor on the CV joint was broken and flapping around. So its quite likely the sensor was working perfectly, and i've just smashed up £130's worth of sensor for nothing.

I decided then to top up the diff oil. Level plug was a bit rusty looking, so i dug all the crap out and hammered the 10mm hex key into the hole. Leaned on it with the ratchet and it turned... far too easily. 10mm hex key is now a loose fit in the hole, and it hasnt budged. I've ordered an 11mm hex key, so i'm hoping that i can hammer that into the hole and get enough grip on it to get it loose. I really dont fancy having to get the welder into it, but my luck so far seems to suggest thats whats going to end up happening.

Then today i decided i'd tackle an easy job that cant possibly go wrong, and change the thermostat. A few months ago I had fitted a new stat to the FWD, which seemed to stick open after about a week, so i replaced it with a new one. However upon removing the stuck one, i discovered a bit of plastic stuck in it. So i removed the plastic and sat in on the shelf as a spare. That was the stat i decided i'd fit to the Quattro. So i fit it and the missus runs the motor round the block to get it warmed up. It quickly comes up to 90c so i decide to leave it idling to ensure the stat opens etc. After a few minutes the bottom hose was still cold, and vagcom was saying the temp was at 97c and slowly climbing... i gave up at 99c, left it for half an hour to cool and refitted the original broken stat, so we're back down at 75c :(

Also discovered the NSF track rod end has some play, so that'll need done for the MOT

:(
 
aragorn said:
12 years!
Click to expand...

what does the warranty cover exactly, noticed a spot of rust on one of the front wheel arches of mine, only 2-3 inches, but still . . .. ahh just checked when the car was registered, Jan 1998 therefore its 12 years and 5 months old booooo
 
Nice car! impressed with the polishing
everyone is getting avant my wife got one my mate just got a quattro avant too feel a little left out now
but might get a polisher now
 
The plug in my diff is rounded as well so im just going to fill it from the drive flange hole when i change the leaking seal.
 
The diff drain plug on mine was a bastardo too. Luckily I got it loose! Good luck with that mate. Hope that 11mm works. Ref your advice regarding the horn wires, spot on worked first time! Thanks again for that, extremely helpfull!
 
Well set to today with some new parts.

Picked up a driveshaft on ebay for £40 delivered, so decided to swap it over complete. Picked up some new driveshaft bolts, and a side shaft seal for the rear diff to fit while it was in bits.

Stripped the inner CV down yestarday, as it looked a bit claggy, cleaned it all out and filled it with nice new grease, ready to go on.

Everything came apart without too many problems. Getting the shaft off required a bit of thaught, ended up getting the missus to pull it as hard as she could from the wheelarch, while i belted it with a hammer from underneath.

I tried again to get the plug out, but failed miserably. 11mm wouldnt fit, so i ground it down to 10.7mm and battered it into the hole, 1/2" ratchet wouldnt shift it, and when i got the breaker bar onto it, the bit just twisted out the fastener. I even tried welding the 10mm key into the hole, however clearly my welding leaves a lot to be desired, or i wasnt using enough power, because the weld penetration was rubbish, and the welds cracked as soon as i leant on it with the breaker bar.

Would probably be less hassle to drop the diff out and attack it on the floor. :(

I also tried ians suggestion of filling the oil thru the shaft hole when i had the drive flange off, just seemed to pour back out onto the floor though :(

Gave up on that for now, and threw it all back together. Facelift cars have bolt on rear sensors, and after smashing up the old one, i decided to see if i could get the old style push in sensor to work. Copper sleeve didnt push all the way in, but it mostly seated properly. Again the sensor went in ok, bit long but otherwise fine. Shonked the wires together with some of the worst soldering evar and finished assembling everything.

It works!! :) ABS light out finally!

Got a pair of track rod ends to fit, as well as a new stat, so will tackle that at the weekend, along with modifying the other rear spring if i get the time, then it should be ready for the MOT.
 
Good work mate.

Is there no way you can get a drill on the plug? I presume if the head deformed so easily it's not the hardest metal?
 
Not with the diff on the car.

It doesnt apear to be hardened metal (although the 10mm hex bit i welded on probably was which wouldnt have helped weld strength)

My worry about drilling it is the swarf ends up inside the diff... I think the next stage would be to drop the diff out, and try and get a nut or similar welded onto the plug nice and securely, but thats sounding like ****** major surgery...

Primary Goal at the moment is to get it thru its MOT, being a new car there might be surprises in store etc. Once its got its ticket then i can have another look at sorting the diff. Not sure if it would be easier to get another diff, replace all the seals etc and have it ready to swap over. No doubt people will want eleventybillion pounds for a rear diff though.
 
There is a breather on the top of the diff and i think you might be able to fill it from there with a small oil can and some small rubber hose. Am i foock taking the diff off to get the plug out. If you get a nut welded on take the car out and thrash the crap out it so the rear diff igets some heat in it then try undoing it.
 
It's always the jobs that should 'only take 15 minutes' that turn out to give the biggest headaches hey?!

Hopefully she'll sail through the MOT anyway mate.
 
Foxmeister: there are two issues, one is it needs to be from a B5, those are C4 platform by the looks of it. So a B5 S4 diff would physically fit, however the ratios are different.

Looking thru ELSA suggests i need either another 1.8TQ diff, or one from a 2.8 V6.

Ian, i didnt see any breather, and space up there is pretty tight, so it might just be tucked away. Plus you cant really just jam oil in, it needs to be at the right level. The heat from the welder should be more than enough to shift the bolt, and certainly is more than you'll get into it ragging it around. I suspect it might be easier on a ramp, but then its a choice between paying a garage £100 or whatever to **** around with it, or spend a day of my time stripping it out for free.

The problem is i wouldnt want to spend half a day pulling the diff out to find that once its on the floor its STILL stuck fast. I suspect that getting proper access and being able to swing off the breaker bar nice and streight will make all the difference, but what if it doesnt... At least if i had another unit i would know i can fit that to the car, and then if i can get the plug outta this one i can always sell it on etc.

If i'm going to pull the rear end apart again though, i'd really like to have replacement bearings, bushes and things, so that once it goes back together its done for good.
 
The swarf should come out away from the diff, one way of doing it without taking the diff off is to drill it out as far as you dare, then using a reverse thread tap and finally a bolt. as you do it up, it will tighten, then undo the plug. Well that's the way i would do it anyway.
I drill and tap machines in food factories all the time, i always protect the boards inside by isolating them and putting a cover over, but i have found that the only swarf i get inside is if i knock it in. Also are the plugs magnetic? if not, could you use one such as is commonly found in the sump?
 
More progress.

Set about doing my track rod ends today, and everything had a much more pleasing Audi feel about it. Nuts all came undone nicely, bolts came out and nothing was siezed! Two new shiney Lemforder rod ends installed without any problems!

Drained the coolant for the third time in a week, and fitted the new stat, and while that was settling, i pulled the battery and tray out to clear the drain plugs in the scuttle. Modified them to hopefully stop them blocking up again, then vacuumed out the cruft in the bottom before refitting everything, then took a trip to macdonalds with the laptop so i could watch the coolant temp. Seems to be working nicely, coming up to 93c and settling there. Woop, another success.

Decided when i was on a roll i'd fit my headunit and sub, however things stopped going in my favour! The FWD had a simple stereo system, with all four speakers driven from the head unit. The Quattro has a rear sub, and like the saloons the rear speakers appear to be driven from this. Sooo i'll need to get the proper adaptors and see what to do about amping the rear speakers before i can do any more. Not only that, the fascia adaptors i baught dont fit properly, so i need to see what the hell is going on there!
 
audi upgrades
Good Work at least its Mechanically sound now!
 
Soo had a trip to scotland this week. Car made it fine, although it became apparent there was something unusual going on with the handbrake. Had a look and it seemed that the offside rear calipers handbrake linkage was siezed and sticking on. I ended up wedging the mechanism off and leaving the handbrake off until we got home.

Picked up craigs old calipers from the S4 when we were up north and swapped the sticking one over on thursday evening after we got back. It bled up fine without any trouble too which was nice. Noticed that the front tyres were showing heavy shoulder wear, so nipped down to kwikfit this morning to get the tracking done, as i hadnt done it after having changed the track rod ends at the weekend.

Took the car for an MOT today, and it passed :) Needed a sidelight bulb and got an advisory for the tyre wear on the front. Otherwise all good, which i'm glad for because i'm properly skint now!
 
So are you glad you went for a quattro sport? Deffo the best b5 after the rs4 and s4 i say.
 
Yep, but it basically is an S4 bar the engine. All the S4 suspension upgrades are present on the TQS too, they're not just a normal A4 Quattro, its been tweaked about by Quattro Gmbh.

The only downside so far was the fuel economy on the trip was a bit dissapointing.

29mpg on the way up running normal fuel and 30.5 on the way back down on super unleaded. I'm hoping the wonky tracking had played a part though, so need to see how it fares now with things streightened up, as that seems quite low to me for a motorway trip sitting at an indicated 80mph, which is about 73 on the gps.
 
Last edited:
Aragorn, you should try tapping a splined socket into that rounded sump plug, never failed me yet! Can't believe you were gonna swap diff's because of a sump plug!Very nice Avant though, the wheels look really well, brave colour choice that pink though, lol.
 
Aragorn.
If you fancy a run to Ellesmere Port one weekend, I'll get the diff plug out for you. As you know I have a workshop to play in.;)
It shouldn't take long to do. Let me know if I can help.

Paul.
 
kwik fit? i would not trust them to even change a tyre
 
Its just getting access to the plug. Its not the one on the bottom, its the one on the side. I had the 11mm wedged in pretty good after shaving it down with the grinder but even still, as soon as i leant on it with the breaker bar it just twisted out.

Paul: Cheers for the offer. I'll get another plug ordered and see if i can get down one weekend. Having it up on a ramp might well make all the difference.

It may seem drastic to pull the Diff, but tbh, its half a days work, and i'd much prefer to just unbolt nice big lumps, and drop out the whole thing, than **** around scrabbling on the floor under the car trying to get it free (i've probably already wasted more time trying to get it out than it would have taken to just drop the diff out), and then if i'm dropping the whole thing out, i can see my luck meaning it'd get it on the floor and still be unable to move the ****** thing, so having another unit to throw in just seemed like a good idea!

As for kwikfit, yeh i know, but the garage doing the MOT couldnt fit it in, and i couldnt be ***** phoning round half the world. Kwikfits at the bottom of the road so i just went there.
 
aragorn said:
Paul: Cheers for the offer. I'll get another plug ordered and see if i can get down one weekend. Having it up on a ramp might well make all the difference.
Click to expand...

I've got ramps and and a clean and exceptionally well lit pit to play in.;)
Just let me know if you want to pop over and we can get it sorted.

Paul.
 
rasA4 said:
kwik fit? i would not trust them to even change a tyre
Click to expand...

Yep one of their monkeys in Slough (a 17 year old chav with one of those silly elma fud hats on) couldnt even jack my car up so I had to do it for them. Little ***** tried telling me that A4's pre 2000 didnt have jacking points. What a ****!! Anyway It was so funny I let the car down and left. Amateurs is a massive compliment for those idiots. Extortionate too.
 
Sooo, thaught i'd update this thread with todays efforts!

Since some time last year i've been collecting parts to rebuild the rear suspension. As well as the aforementioned Diff Plug issues, i wanted to replace all the bushes and generally freshen everything up.

The cars used daily, so having it off the road while i dismantle half the car and slowly replace bushes is a non-starter. As such i collected up spares of each component and over the last month have slowly been fitting new bushes, as well as new bearings and suchlike on these spare parts, ready to swap in. I also baught new droplinks and new tie rods, as well as HEL flexis and some facelift S4 calipers disks and pads.

I decided to pop down to marks (ByzanA4) to do the work, as having a helping hand is always useful for things like this, and means i can make a weekend of it with the missus etc.

So today we set to, wheels off, exhaust off and stripped out the whole rear end, handbrake cables, brake lines, subframe, shocks/springs etc. Was no major issues, and in typical Audi style everything unbolted with minimal effort, bar one of the lower camber bolts, which ended up being removed with the grinder after dropping the wishbone and upright off the car together. Fitted a tigerseal-filled front diff mount before dropping the subframe.

by the end of play today, we had this:

100_8093.jpg


IMG_1281.jpg


IMG_1282.jpg


More to follow tomorrow!
 
  • Like
Reactions: rasA4
audi upgrades
Good stuff mate, looks like a lot of work but will definately be worth it i think.

Fancy doing this too with new bushes etc to tighten up the feel of the car, but seeing as its spent all of its life with me(2 yrs now) in the garage being built so far, i think i'll leave this till next year as i want to get it on the road soon.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

ALPINE
1.8tqs avant
Replies
2
Views
946
Siena
S
Sandip
New Daily 1.8TQS
Replies
8
Views
2K
Sandip
Sandip
dieselfitter251
1.8tqs Avant anyone. Looks nice!
Replies
6
Views
1K
dieselfitter251
dieselfitter251
M
A4 1.8TQS - New owner & a few questions
Replies
8
Views
3K
aragorn
A
dogger
B5 Nogaro Blue 1.8TQS Avant, A rare thing?
Replies
24
Views
3K
Rallyman
Rallyman
Top
Back