Fixing the Audi

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Minidave
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Fixing the Audi

Post by Minidave »

My wife drives a nice 2004 Audi Allroad, one of the features of this car is its air suspension that not only gives a very smooth ride but also allows you to change the ride height up to 8" for all different road conditions. It came in very handy a few winters ago when our neighborhood got 14" of snow and she had to get to work - she raised it all the way up and got enough ground clearance to not get high centered on the snow and was able to clear the neighborhood.

About 5 years ago one of the air suspension bags failed so I replaced them with some American made bags from a company in Florida, they came with a lifetime warranty (they never say who's lifetime tho, do they?) so last week when one of hers went down I called the company and they sent me a new one. Yesterday I got after it....the install is not that hard, just a few bolts here and there - as long as things go right, which of course, they didn't! It was no fault of the car, just my fumble fingers....

So, on to the job......since I've done it before I figured it would be a pretty quick and easy swap - they're not hard to change - when everything goes to plan, which of course it didn't. Getting it out wasn't hard, just a matter of undoing the appropriate bolts and lifting the assembly out. Once out you remove the top cap........erm, remove the top cap..........uh, Houston we have a problem........

It did finally come off with a judicious application of a 3 lb hammer - but it was supposed to just slip off. Putting it back together was easy peasy and then I went to put it back in the car - where the hell's that damn bolt?

1/2 hour later Rose found it in the driveway where it had rolled under the garage door and out.....

OK, we're moving along now, lower ball joint back in the control arm, shock bolt in, upper ball joints back in the hub, pinch bolt in, all that's left are the three bolts that hold the cap to the tower. Got the wife to raise the jack while I guide it into place....good, now where's that damn bolt?

It had fallen under the battery tray......OK I'll take that out. Crap, there's a strut tower brace in the way, OK, I'll take that out......crap there's something zip tied to it under the........crap can't get cutters in there and it won't move till I do. OK, razor knife will get it........done! Now why won't the damn brace come out? OK, just got to finagle it just right.....and out. Battery tray out - there's the damn bolt. OK, good news, there's a plenum drain under the battery tray that's plugged up too, I'll clean that out while I'm in there.

Meanwhile....got all the bolts back in, struts all tightened up.....

All that's left now is to put the battery tray back in, the strut brace back in, zip tie the cable to it again, recheck all the bolt, put the battery back in, then connect the air line and see if I fixed it.

Once it was all together I fired it up and "YAY" it raised right up, I checked it on all levels and the pump kicked off at each stop just as it should - but...........

After I shut it off it slowly dropped again on the right front corner, the one with the new bag. I traced the leak to the air line fitting but could not find anything wrong with it, so I took the fitting back out and reinstalled it. This time the line went in and did not leak, so raised it up again and "Viola" she stayed up.

I'm calling that good!

Pics of the battery tray, shock and air bag in situ, air line fitting and the final result.
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Hi! My name's Dave!

'09 LB/LB Clubman S - "Max"
89 Mini "Racing Green"
94 SPi Project (The Hot Rod)
davester
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Re: Fixing the Audi

Post by davester »

Good job Dave :D
2015 F56 S hatchback-Electric Blue/Black, Cold Weather Package,Premium Package, Sport Package and a lot of other crap. "BRUISER"

They call me David
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Re: Fixing the Audi

Post by Minidave »

Danko!
Hi! My name's Dave!

'09 LB/LB Clubman S - "Max"
89 Mini "Racing Green"
94 SPi Project (The Hot Rod)
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Re: Fixing the Audi

Post by MiniManiac »

As always, I am impressed!
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Re: Fixing the Audi

Post by Minidave »

A few weeks ago we had planned a holiday trip to North Carolina, so I thought I'd get the car ready with a fresh oil change and a quick look over - I found two cracked and leaking outer CV boots - so I ordered the parts and made arrangements to use the shop at school as there's a lot more room to work there than in my tiny little garage/shop.

According to the book, removing the axles is fairly straightforward as long as you have all the right tools - which I do - at home, but the school was missing a few key items, so I would up driving back home and getting the special ones and then back to school. As with most of these jobs, the first one took 3 hours, the second one less than an hour! I cleaned and repacked the outer CV's, replaced the boots and fortunately I have the special tool needed to crimp those PITA clamps.

Happy to report that we had no issues on our trip, the car ran perfectly as always.
Hi! My name's Dave!

'09 LB/LB Clubman S - "Max"
89 Mini "Racing Green"
94 SPi Project (The Hot Rod)
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Re: Fixing the Audi

Post by MiniManiac »

Minidave wrote:A few weeks ago we had planned a holiday trip to North Carolina, so I thought I'd get the car ready with a fresh oil change and a quick look over - I found two cracked and leaking outer CV boots - so I ordered the parts and made arrangements to use the shop at school as there's a lot more room to work there than in my tiny little garage/shop.

According to the book, removing the axles is fairly straightforward as long as you have all the right tools - which I do - at home, but the school was missing a few key items, so I would up driving back home and getting the special ones and then back to school. As with most of these jobs, the first one took 3 hours, the second one less than an hour! I cleaned and repacked the outer CV's, replaced the boots and fortunately I have the special tool needed to crimp those PITA clamps.

Happy to report that we had no issues on our trip, the car ran perfectly as always.
Good work!!!
Seth
08 MCS - JCW
1974/1993 Classic Mini - 70 WHP!
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Re: Fixing the Audi

Post by CreamSoda »

Very thorough indeed. :!:
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