Soot Monster

[rogerguzzi]

1 hour ago, Nick Jones said:

Needed doing

Hello Nick

                 No another few miles in them yet and needs brakes?

Roger

ps  Our Son wants to borrow the Yeti while we are away to go the the Alps to do daft mountain biking(Broke his hand last year and is full of pins!!)

So what do we the the Hiring rate is and the Mileage Rate ?? Ha Ha (Dream on Dad !)

[Nick Jones]

Sooty junior again. Very bouncy drive…. Dampers very probably goosed at 152k, though not leaking. Got some KYB replacements.

Unlike real Sooty where the strut inserts can be swapped in 10 minutes per side, this ‘orrible bugger is, as usual, deeply maintenance-hostile.

Two fasteners actually hold the thing to car. One is easy. The other, for want of a simple access hole in the inner wing, requires huge amounts of dismantling, including the dreaded pinch-bolt of doom….

That 80mm steel bolt passing through the aluminium suspension link with two slots for maximum salty water ingress. So that said NO!! Consequently, through absolute necessity, I have proved it’s possible, though not at all fun, to do the job without disturbing the bolt….

Would have been so much easier with an access hole….. in that up-turned pie dish…. Not that access in the engine bay was particularly easy.

Judging by the state of the bushes at the inner ends of the 4 control arms we’ll be back here before very long. And that bolt will have to come out. On both sides! 

Meanwhile it’s driving manners are improved.

[Escadrille Ecosse]

Entertaining job that.

Working with my face in such close proximity to restrained springs always gives me the heeby jeebies.

Welded in pinch bolt aside the underside looks in remarkably rot free condition.

 

[Nick Jones]

43 minutes ago, Escadrille Ecosse said:

Welded in pinch bolt aside the underside looks in remarkably rot free condition.

Front isn’t bad. Rear, like the A6 is uglier. Rear suspension on this is also seriously over-complex and when bushes start being condemned….. 

[Hamish]

Well done Nick. You are certainly getting to know these cars well - time served I think.

i guess I have all this to look forward too on my ever ageing A5 sport back Quattro 

only diy job on that ( I let a specialist independent do the cam belt/water pump) so far was replacement of the rear shocks and had to buy an electric impact gun for the lower bolts as breaker bar and scaffolding extension was impossible

so much respect. 

[Nick Jones]

Dunno about respect. More likely I’m an idiot for persisting with the bloody thing. It irritates me that so little thought is given to maintainability, resulting in cars being scrapped that otherwise have plenty of life left.

 VAG mechanics have the biggest toolboxes due to needing all the tools in all the sizes to get around the challenges set by thoughtless design.

[Escadrille Ecosse]

Said the VAG Engineering dept...

Much like the people who make Pringles and the packaging to contain them.

[Nick Jones]

MoT time for the Junior Soot monster (A4).

I was anxious about failure (this is very much critical plant for his lordship at present) and it did fail - on tyres. Not completely unexpected, though I thought advisories more likely. At least I didn’t have to mix it with bloody suspension - but I did have track down 4 rather odd sized tyres at short notice. Having seen the wear pattern on the fronts I thought tracking adjustment advisable too - which helpfully was on offer at the same place.  That came back to bite me as of course the track rod ends were seized. So I had to take the car home via the MoT garage to get the retest done, free off the adjusters (not especially difficult with the wheels off in spite of Audis best efforts) the rush back to tyre place before they closed.  Chimpy fitter then claimed they were still stuck (untrue) and refused to let me touch it to prove him wrong. Fortunately the gaffer came out and sorted it without further drama. 

Tracking was something like 5.5mm toe out (!) so it now drives rather better (though wasn’t awful before) and hopefully the tyres will last better too.

I spent a very long time at the tyre place…… While I was there the RR came in with a puncture. It arrived with 12 psi showing on the dash the owner told me, so I was bit surprised when no attempt was made to repair the tyre (maybe 1/3 worn) and they managed to sell him a second one to go with it. At over £250 a corner that was a bloody expensive puncture!

[Escadrille Ecosse]

16 minutes ago, Nick Jones said:

MoT time for the Junior Soot monster (A4).

I was anxious about failure (this is very much critical plant for his lordship at present) and it did fail - on tyres. Not completely unexpected, though I thought advisories more likely. At least I didn’t have to mix it with bloody suspension - but I did have track down 4 rather odd sized tyres at short notice. Having seen the wear pattern on the fronts I thought tracking adjustment advisable too - which helpfully was on offer at the same place.  That came back to bite me as of course the track rod ends were seized. So I had to take the car home via the MoT garage to get the retest done, free off the adjusters (not especially difficult with the wheels off in spite of Audis best efforts) the rush back to tyre place before they closed.  Chimpy fitter then claimed they were still stuck (untrue) and refused to let me touch it to prove him wrong. Fortunately the gaffer came out and sorted it without further drama. 

Tracking was something like 5.5mm toe out (!) so it now drives rather better (though wasn’t awful before) and hopefully the tyres will last better too.

I spent a very long time at the tyre place…… While I was there the RR came in with a puncture. It arrived with 12 psi showing on the dash the owner told me, so I was bit surprised when no attempt was made to repair the tyre (maybe 1/3 worn) and they managed to sell him a second one to go with it. At over £250 a corner that was a bloody expensive puncture!

Glad to hear you got the little beastie sorted.

As for not doing tyre repairs. Bunch of chancers a lot of the time 

[Nick Jones]

Proper Soot Monster is due another MoT shortly. Rusty fuel pipe (the return leg, I’ve already fixed the feed) has been an advisory for a couple of years. Having finally laid hands on a length of 6mm pipe I figured it was time to put an obvious shiny bit on….

The old pipes shiny days are a looong way back in history

In fact it fell apart during removal. I do so love a diesel shower…. Max value extracted…..

Shiny for now….. 

 

[Escadrille Ecosse]

Should keep the smelly stuff in for a bit.

[Nick Jones]

MoT booked and some more pre-checks have revealed

Track rod ends finally thrown in the towel (factory original!). One almost ok, the other definitely done. 
 

It’s managed to “do” one front disc and one rear (corrosion) so I’ve now go to renew all the brakes although less than half worn. The rear especially has a bizarre corrosion pattern which I suspect is actually some kind of casting defect. I’ve spent a bit more on better quality coated discs this time. Similar ones seem to be holding up better on the TT.

Also needs (at least) two new tyres. Avon ZV7s really quite worn and horribly cracked although not very old.  The Toyos on the rear have plenty of tread but are also starting to crack, though they are actually quite old now.

Expensive already…. Hope he doesn’t find anything else!

 

(A saner person would probably just drive to the scrapyard on the last day on the MoT and leave it there…..)

[Mark]

Don't know what it is with tyres nowadays had some a couple of years old showing signs of cracks between the treads, others 8 years old, look fine. Lack of use, UV, I suppose. Would be good to actually wear a set of tyres out before they degrade.

Years ago I did drive a mk2 transit to the breakers, still had MOT, just looking a bit rough, I said he could have it, he told me he didn't want it! Showed him the new set of tyres, and he begrudgingly took it.

Good luck with the MOT

[Escadrille Ecosse]

2 hours ago, Nick Jones said:

Expensive already…. Hope he doesn’t find anything else!

(A saner person would probably just drive to the scrapyard on the last day on the MoT and leave it there…..)

Underwhelmed by modern tyres durability to the world around them tbh.

As for the cost of the rest. How much would a replacement soot monster cost and what else would it bring along with it?

Good luck with the MOT

[Nick Jones]

It’s irreplaceable…. Which is why I still have it. I’ve been out a few times over the years with a £2.5 to 3 k budget and seen nothing I wanted that looked like it might actually outlast it. 
 

It gets progressively more weary and tatty though.

[Nick Jones]

Pass. No advisories. MoT man observed that it’s in remarkably decent condition “considering age and mileage” (!) and also that it is increasingly rare to get to see cars that have actually have any preparation work done for the test!

I was just pleased not to have to any more fixing. Except I do as the bloody tyre place (the same one that put that crappy old valve core in) are apparently incapable of setting the tracking so the steering wheel is straight when driving straight. That really twangs my OCD, so I’ll be applying some “equal and opposite” to the track rod ends to rectify that as I’m not wasting another hour (at best) in that place.

Oh, and I have a turbo to swap….

[John I]

21 minutes ago, Nick Jones said:

Pass. No advisories. MoT man observed that it’s in remarkably decent condition “considering age and mileage” (!) and also that it is increasingly rare to get see cars that have actually have any preparation work done!

I was just pleased not to have to any more fixing. Except I do as the bloody tyre place (the same one that put that crappy old valve core in) are apparently incapable of setting the tracking so the steering wheel is straight when driving straight. That really twangs my OCD, so I’ll be applying some “equal and opposite” to the track rod ends to rectify that as I’m not wasting another hour (at best) in that place.

Oh, and I have a turbo to swap….

That’s good news the pass that is, the rest sounds a bit like painting the forth bridge

[Nick Jones]

To be fair, it’s the original turbo. So it’s done a few revolutions. Still works but there’s an awful lot of radial play in the shaft. Millimetres…..

I may ignore it a bit longer. Crappy access and well-cooked 27 year old fasteners  are not boosting the mojo….

[Nick Jones]

Junior Sooty again. It’s lowered itself quite a lot at the back. I bought replacement rear dampers and bump stops a while back so today, with the thing actually in the drive with a cold engine, I set too. In theory it’s a four fastener per side job. Except for the 12 others that hold the arch liner in place.

Then I noticed this

LH rear spring has lost its lower pigtail. Snapped off and gone….. thst might not be helping the ride height.  Cleaned the spring looking for the colour code. There are many springs listed for these cars. Didn’t find one. Opted not to change the damper just yet.  Though I best check the other side though….

Sure enough, this one has snapped the pigtail off at the top and dropped down inside, complete with rubber pad….

rather pointy top end now chomping on the chassis rail. Nice.

Pair of springs then. And no, they don’t just fall out when you release the damper, not even when busted. It’s much more involved than that.  Much dismantling required including lowering the whole bloody subframe. FFS! Bloody Audi!

Meanwhile, I have three more things on my list.  Coolant temperature gauge stopped working a while back. I bought a new sensor but access….. Also, there’s a random coolant leak where it occasionally dumps about a litre, then doesn’t do it again. It did it again recently, was topped up and has done 300 miles since with no loss.

Removed various covers and pipes to gain “access”. Broke the latch on the plug (working by feel is suboptimal). Discovered that the eBay seller lied when he said a new seal and retaining were included. Managed to remove the clip without busting it (no small achievement, even when you can see it, which I couldn’t). Noticed that it appeared to be leaking even before I messed with it and the sensor literally fell out as soon as the clip was removed. The o-ring however, did not and resisted eviction for some time. Eventually came out in several pieces, absolutely rock hard. If not the leak, certainly a leak. Spent some time hunting through my various O-ring collections until I found something that looked hopeful and put it all back together. No leaks and the plug looks like it might stay on even without the clip. Ran it up and still no leaks and the gauge works too. Quite hopeful I may have got a twofer….. Time will tell.

Finally, since taking up residence in my drive almost 5 years ago, the front left tyre has ALWAYS had a slow puncture. About 6psi/week. That’s with three different tyres on it over the years. I specifically asked the tyre place who fitted the tyres recently to check the bead surfaces very carefully and they assured me all was good.

Err, no, it isn’t .

So I popped the tyre off the bead and slopped some bead sealer gunge in there. Not leaking now. Flippin baboons….

Best hunt down some rear springs I suppose….

[JohnD]

Nick,

Those springs appear to look narrower as they go down.  Does that make them variable or 'progressive ' rate?

And I've checked spring rates by standing on them. Any other heavy load would do, but I'm to hand.   An assistant to measure compression, and a simple calculation gives the rate, but would this apply if they are progressive?

John

[egret]

I'm prety sure this knowledge will be already know to you, but when I had a similar problem with a BMW E46 touring a full set of eibach pro-kit springs were cheaper than maybe even a single BMW one.  German language ebay was also useful for keeping the price down.  The 1" drop made it handle so much better that I started to suspect they may have compromised the run of the mill cars to make the performance ones better by comparison!

[Nick Jones]

Not progressive rate John, just pigtail in form. Presumably to create higher stress areas at the end, the better to snap off .

Pretty high rate too due to the geometry of the semi-trailing arm.

It’s already got the factory sports suspension, which just makes finding the right springs harder. There are three different versions of the sports suspension and about 16 spring variants in total.  I can’t find any after-market springs that match the actual ones on the vehicle (verified by colour code and option codes). Real-OEM, usually accurate, X-refs to KYB springs that KYB say is wrong for the car…. But list a different number one digit different. Same free length but thicker wire so slightly higher rate. That’s ok. It was fairly saggy  even before they broke….

[Nick Jones]

Erratic running reported….. followed a day later by the money light. Awesome.  Symptoms seemed to indicate a sticking VNT mech in the turbo so I was all geared up to dose the the turbo hot side with foaming oven cleaner. But when I read the codes the only one was “air flow meter implausible value” and physical investigation revealed the induction hose had dropped off just after yhe AFM. That’ll do it! Easy fix!

Then this happened. Spring time - on a very wintery day. Not fun at -0.5C.

Rather obvious why they break looking at this as they sit on little rubber pads just bigger than the loop causing localised twisting just where the break is. Outstanding design…. Two opportunities for failure on each spring. The other side was broken at the opposite end.

Something of a wrestling match and a fair bit of dismantling needed. Two new springs and dampers plus bump stops, the old bump stops were totally obliterated.

Tired now….

[thebrookster]

14 hours ago, Nick Jones said:

Then this happened. Spring time - on a very wintery day. Not fun at -0.5C.

Yeah, this reminds me as to why I no longer do my own repairs on the modern cars..........

[Escadrille Ecosse]

1 hour ago, thebrookster said:

Yeah, this reminds me as to why I no longer do my own repairs on the modern cars..........

Quite. On the occasions that force of circumstance compels me I instantly regret it.

16 hours ago, Nick Jones said:

Spring time - on a very wintery day. Not fun at -0.5C.

At least you have no snow

Very glad I have the diesel heater in the garage. Morning temps in there have regularly been well below freezing recently before getting the thing turned on.