What have you done to your Audi A4 B7 today?

[boffin486]

Start of a new year so a good reason to remove the wheels and give the old bus a good pressure wash underneath, get rid of 2022's mud, crud, and salt buildup.
So off with the alloys and it became pretty clear there is an issue with the offside front outer CV joint, most of the grease from within the joint was plastered around the rim and close proximity to the wheel arch, and the CV boot is split in the center.
That will most likely account for some of the noise if not all that I'm experiencing on the front end, it's probably just rotating in a smear of grease, not ideal and I expect it has worn a bit more as a result.

That's next week's job, I'll fit the repacked OEM drive shafts and new CV boots I have as they are better even as they are than the rubbish auto doc items fitted at present.

Whilst wheels were off and everything was clean I opted to wind back the front coil-overs 25mm, they were at 70mm compression, now at 55mm so in real terms that's about 15mm higher ride height, going up a bit may also helps the top control arm bushes a bit, I'll see how it goes for a week and may wind it up another 15mm.
Rears are fine.
KW's are such an easy setup to adjust, just allen key and 1 c-spanner and caliper and good to go.

All alloys spanking clean again, that front offside was a pig to get grease-free, CV grease can be a right pain to dissolve sometimes so I let it soak in Junk for an hour.

Finished with shampoo and set for the old bus.
Happy days.

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Welcome to the club old boy! Yep, I've had to do the same with my front wheels and inner arches/suspension in the past, thick sticky layer of grease with loadsa road dirt mixed in.
I've usually found an old dish washing brush and a nylon pot scourer along with plenty paraffin will get them clean n shiny again.
Nice shiny suspension bits are always good to see too! Especially when I've got your old bits on my car now.........

 

[Charlie Farley]

Decided to do the rears as well this morning, only a small amount of adjustment required and front to rear ride height is nice and balanced.

off for the alignment check tomorrow.

 

[boffin486]

Well, today i mostly got the b5 out of the garage so that i could put the b7 on the ramp and see what was going on after the wife phoned me today to say the steering wasn’t right after collecting daughter from activity. I went and rescued her, and was very evident straight away that power steering had gone, for whatever reason. Stuck it on the ramp like i said and could see fluid coming out the offside boot on the rack, slight split in the rack and it was dripping out of there. Looks like the fluid is pretty old, brown colour. Perhaps a seal? Anyway, ive managed to source a second hand one from a breaker, from a 3.2, hopefully someone can confirm if they are the same?

pics.. View attachment 263655

Hi there, just thought I'd stick my bit in - You can quickly identify if your car has/hasn't got Servotronic steering - Have a look inside the fuse box cover on drivers side, look and see if you can see a module (behind the fuses) marked with a number 638 or, possibly, it may say Servotronic on it. If it's there, you've got Servotronic, If not, you haven't. Simples!

 

[Charlie Farley]

Also in the code list in the service book front page

1N3 speed-related variable steering assist (Servotronic)

 

[Gmac]

The rack ive got lined up from a breaker is from a 3.2, how can you tell from the rack itself? Just checked the 1N3, and my car has it from the sticker. So I wonder if this other one will. Hmmm more investigating required.. Watched a few youtube videos and removal doesn’t actually look too bad. Pinch bolts on the tie rod ends could be an issue, but hopefully other than that not too bad… famous last words! Haha

 

[Gmac]

This the the rack from the 3.2..

 

[Gmac]

He’s told me there was a plug on the rack that had to disconnect, sounds like it’ll be servotronic.

 

[Charlie Farley]

there will be a p/n on it somewhere.

 

[Gmac]

there will be a p/n on it somewhere.

Yeh, good shout. I’m going to et him to double check before i head down to his to collect it. It’s about 50 minutes drive away, so dont want to waste each others time.

 

[tr7]

Picked it up 6am yesterday morning

Very interesting car.

 

[Charlie Farley]

View attachment 263794

Picked it up 6am yesterday morning

Very interesting car.

what are you first impressions .

 

[boffin486]

View attachment 263794

Picked it up 6am yesterday morning

Very interesting car.

Looks just like my one. Hang about, is it my one.............searching...................searching................... Phew, thats a Nope.......

 

[Pie-eyedpiper]

New clutch and DMF fitted (precautionary, as we tow) at 178k.
Passed her MOT, advisory on CV boots have slight cracking.

 

[Charlie Farley]

Attempted my offside front drive shaft/cv boot only to be let down by ECP idiots once again, I said I was never going to use them after the last fiasco, but stupidly i did after they assured me they had the correct parts, NOT.
They are such a waste of effort and they wasted my time and fuel to collect kit that was wrong.
Arghhhhhh.

 

[Gmac]

Attempted my offside front drive shaft/cv boot only to be let down by ECP idiots once again, I said I was never going to use them after the last fiasco, but stupidly i did after they assured me they had the correct parts, NOT.
They are such a waste of effort and they wasted my time and fuel to collect kit that was wrong.
Arghhhhhh.

What was it that was wrong with the part?

 

[Charlie Farley]

Ok then chaps.
A new day and the sun was out and my mind was calm after yesterday's faff.
I'd been pondering on the snap ring or lack of it situation and decided to just fabricate an alternative .
Not really ideal but needs must sometimes and given the old snap ring was like soft cheese steel whatever I came up with was only going to be an improvement.
Having a bit of toast this morning it came to me, why not use a key ring loop, well half of the loop, they are made from a more than suitable material and will retain their shape when compressed.

So after a rummage through my bits box, a suitable ring was found and of the correct thickness to fit perfectly in the shaft retaining slot, cut in half to just one ring, and then cut to length to allow enough when expanded in the other slot to hold the shaft in nice and snug, probably better than the way it was prior to be honest.

Snap Ring fitted, joints all packed with grease, and decent rubber boots fitted, non of those plastic things, and all ready to refit.

Fitted this afternoon, nice easy hours work and jobs all sorted, no issues with removal, no need to remove the heat shield or anything else, which is always a bonus, just some careful wiggling .

The autodoc shaft I removed was totally shot as you will see in the pics, judging by the state of the bearing and flailing around it was about to fall apart anytime.
Compare the two, the OEM 15 year old one with miles now refurbed and the auto doc one that is just over 12 months old and covered about 3k miles, it's appalling.

Anyway, happy chappy again, nice and quiet from the front end again.

time for tea and biscuits now.

 

[Charlie Farley]

I even contemplated removing one of the CV joints from the nearside outer auto doc item as a spare.
It wasn't coming off full stop , even with a sledgehammer and drift it wasn't moving, god knows how it could be removed if the boots needed doing on that side.
Luckily I didn't need it and the inner joint was shot, so ended up doing this to it....

 

[Sloppy_1]

The above is why i got a used front set of shafts off ebay in excellent condition... huge job saved,

finding decent parts is a nightmare, i did track down the oe supplier off the boots but i cant remember off the top of my head, someone one ebay was selling them.

 

[Charlie Farley]

I'm not even sure why I took my oem ones off and replaced with rubbish autodoc ones.
Anyway , the original ones are back on and operating nicely.

 

[Jamsmoo]

Came to conclude outer cv joints don’t come off without destroying it ,the taper on the inner race allows fitting ,but it’s a one way street ,it’s not there to compress the clip on the way off

 

[Jamsmoo]

Circlip on the end of the drive shaft like the inner cv would and should of been the design


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[Charlie Farley]

In all fairness the CV joint is not that bad a design, given it has to move in multiple directions whilst still providing rotational output it works very well.
The taper is to help the ring compress whilst moving the shaft into its final position within the joint, given the ring recess on the shaft and in the joint race it's only really designed to be a one-time fit, once removal takes place the ring is 9 out of 10 times broken as the recesses don't have a taper and are not designed to have otherwise it would defeat the object of the design and allow the shaft to just pull out with little force.

The snap ring is a good solution for the type of joint, I'm not sure there is any other method that offers ease of disassembly and rebuilds and for the most part a secure method of holding the shaft and joint together.


I don't really mind doing them, what I find annoying is the lack of motor factor info when selling these as there are numerous kits, and worse still the kits are always missing something such as the snap ring, given it is an important part, why don't they ensure the kits are complete and small parts are securely packed in the boxes.

Still, things will never change , and it just makes me that much more the wiser next time .

 

[Luke Smith A4 2.0T]

Gave the interior a quick detail, scrubs up well considering it's an 18 year old car. Need to get my rs4 steering wheel and gearstick re trimmed and fitted.

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[Charlie Farley]

Looks great , you can come round and do my old bus next.

 

[Luke Smith A4 2.0T]

Looks great , you can come round and do my old bus next.

It could be arranged for a small fee mate

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[Charlie Farley]

Weekly oil check etc today and all good, a quick look down and it would appear my nearside drive shaft cv joint inner boot is failing with grease starting to get thrown all over the place, there allways something.
So will be rebuilding that side this weekend.

 

[Sloppy_1]

Gave the interior a quick detail, scrubs up well considering it's an 18 year old car. Need to get my rs4 steering wheel and gearstick re trimmed and fitted.

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is that interior out of an s5?

 

[Charlie Farley]

Factory DTM

 

[Charlie Farley]

Took the old bus down to my local garage that I know I can trust for some possible damage investigation.
Since the pothole incident a week or so ago on the front nearside the front end seems to be shaking, more at a slow speed, almost as if the wheel is buckled or something is loose, really a bit disconcerting.
It cant be the wheel as I've moved it to the rear offside.
I have a suspicion that the impact has damaged more than just the tire and possibly the rim, they are snowed under with work and can't take a good look for at least 10 days, so ill have to put up with it for now and monitor the situation.
I have had a good look myself but without a ramp etc it's not easy to check for damage to linkages etc or maybe worse, everything seems ok but clearly, something is amiss somewhere.

Not good frankly.

 

[Dan_G]

Bought some new floor mats and wind deflector ready for the incoming purchase that arrives Thursday…

 

[Charlie Farley]

Well last night to be exact.
I had a strange dream that I sold the old bus and bought a ford galaxy, what was that all about, I woke up and realized that was more of a nightmare...
maybe something to do with the current problems the old bus is experiencing.

 

[Jamsmoo]

Took the b7 on a little trip to drive something a bit quicker
Gt3 Rs for the day ,the thing defies logic and physics


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[Charlie Farley]

Sun was out today so an ideal opportunity to give the old bus a bit of a clean, I've been a bit busy of late so it has been a bit neglected on the washing front for a fair few weeks.
Before that, another check under the bonnet revealed my nearside inner cv boot has torn and the outer has lost its clip, will need to order new parts tomorrow,no obvious signs of what is causing the shaking either, everything feels tight joint-wise, I'll have to dig further into it.
Ran a vcds scan and all clear so that's always a bonus, will need a pair of new tires shortly but I'm holding back to see what SCC comes back to me regarding my claim for pothole damage.
A few pics of a clean old bus .
It does clean up well for an old bus, almost worth keeping.

 

[NM07]

Sun was out today so an ideal opportunity to give the old bus a bit of a clean, I've been a bit busy of late so it has been a bit neglected on the washing front for a fair few weeks.
Before that, another check under the bonnet revealed my nearside inner cv boot has torn and the outer has lost its clip, will need to order new parts tomorrow,no obvious signs of what is causing the shaking either, everything feels tight joint-wise, I'll have to dig further into it.
Ran a vcds scan and all clear so that's always a bonus, will need a pair of new tires shortly but I'm holding back to see what SCC comes back to me regarding my claim for pothole damage.
A few pics of a clean old bus .
It does clean up well for an old bus, almost worth keeping.

The bus is looking great Rob, hard to believe the B7 platform is getting on for 20 years old now, still looks so fresh and hasn't aged one bit

 

[Charlie Farley]

The bus is looking great Rob, hard to believe the B7 platform is getting on for 20 years old now, still looks so fresh and hasn't aged one bit

For me the B7 shape is just right, it has nicely proportioned curves and contours that just seamlessly blend in, none of this new age angular stuff.
New cars are great any many love the new shapes and angry-looking grilles but for me they have lost the plot, and all just look the same ,maybe its an old guy thing..lol
The B7 platform feels very well constructed and for the most part, the parts used are very good , interior is very good, and puts much newer and more expensive models to shame.
You do not need to slam the doors shut and they have that reassuring clunk, quality.

I like to sit in a car seat, not on it like a stool, B7 Recaros and s-line seats are great, you feel part of the car and part of the experience, not perched on top of the seat swaying from side to side.
Progress is all fine and dandy but not for me, i'll stick with my B7 .

 

[Rob Avant]

Covered it in shaving foam

 

[Charlie Farley]

Covered it in shaving foam View attachment 264834

looks rather funky.

 

[B7Tourer]

The bus is looking great Rob, hard to believe the B7 platform is getting on for 20 years old now, still looks so fresh and hasn't aged one bit

Yes, the B7, particularly the Avant S-Lines, still looks very elegant IMV. I think more so than the later models. It's surprising how many much newer cars want to blow you away at lights, in a way that they wouldn't do if it was an old Mazda or something I always take that as a compliment and never rise to it - just a stately set off ha ha.

 

[Rob Avant]

Drove to Barnsley today to pick up a mint condition set of B7 S4 Recaro's. Hopefully fitting tomorrow if the weather is decent. Will be selling the B6 S4 Recaro fronts and RS4 rear bench off cheap in the next week or so. Along with the S Line seats.

 

[Charlie Farley]

I may be in the market for the b6 ones rob.