Hi everyone, I hope you can help.
Last weekend I felt some nasty vibrations through the steering wheel every time the wheels turned, along with a clonking noise. Shortly after there was an awful knocking / banging from the front left wheel. The steering wheel was going all over the place and I honestly thought the wheel was going to fall off.
I managed to limp the car home (only a few minutes away luckily), and since then an Audi mechanic came over to check it out. Turns out a plate attached to the gearbox had worked itself loose somehow. I am unsure as to exactly what this place is called or even connected to, but think it may be the driveshaft? The plate itself is circular, slightly domed and has 6 bolts holding it in. So, I ordered the replacement parts, and last night the mechanic returned with the new bits to put it right.
Unfortunately the new bolts are slightly different to the old ones and wouldnt go in at all. We resorted to using the old bolts, however 2 of these would not go in either, as they just wouldnt catch the thread.
Can anyone suggest anything to help me out here? I really dont want to shell out on a replacement gearbox, but Im not sure what other options there are. The mechanic suggested an engineering firm might be able to make a new thread, which would allow us to put the bolts in. I really like the sound of this as it should be much more cost-effective, has anyone tried something similar?
Thanks in advance for any help / advice. If it helps I can upload some pictures of the plate in question, sorry for the terrible descriptions.
Cheers,
Adrian
Last weekend I felt some nasty vibrations through the steering wheel every time the wheels turned, along with a clonking noise. Shortly after there was an awful knocking / banging from the front left wheel. The steering wheel was going all over the place and I honestly thought the wheel was going to fall off.
I managed to limp the car home (only a few minutes away luckily), and since then an Audi mechanic came over to check it out. Turns out a plate attached to the gearbox had worked itself loose somehow. I am unsure as to exactly what this place is called or even connected to, but think it may be the driveshaft? The plate itself is circular, slightly domed and has 6 bolts holding it in. So, I ordered the replacement parts, and last night the mechanic returned with the new bits to put it right.
Unfortunately the new bolts are slightly different to the old ones and wouldnt go in at all. We resorted to using the old bolts, however 2 of these would not go in either, as they just wouldnt catch the thread.
Can anyone suggest anything to help me out here? I really dont want to shell out on a replacement gearbox, but Im not sure what other options there are. The mechanic suggested an engineering firm might be able to make a new thread, which would allow us to put the bolts in. I really like the sound of this as it should be much more cost-effective, has anyone tried something similar?
Thanks in advance for any help / advice. If it helps I can upload some pictures of the plate in question, sorry for the terrible descriptions.
Cheers,
Adrian