steveu812

'96 12V A4
I've had bad experiences with other cars and separating the boot from the wire on removal, but I don't see any other way to get them out without some special tool to get below that metal hat and allow you to pull that up.

Am I missing something, or do I just give them a yank?

Thanks

turbo510

I always just pull by the ribbed rubber area above the "metal hat", not the wire itself of course. A quick tug should be enough.

HBAudi

A small amount of dielectric grease inside the rubber boots where they contact the spark plug ceramic insulator will help with future removal.

steveu812

Well, I tried the yank technique and no go. Not a one. So I made this tool to grip them better.



It worked well for 4 of them, but partially tore the boot on one, and then mangled the boot on another. Once I'd mangled the second boot, I took the wire out and grabbed the inside of the porcelain insulator with a pair of long nosed vice-grips. Still couldn't remove it. I clamped a second pair of vice-grips on the first - perpendicular to them and with a stiff yank it came off with pop. These were obviously never lubed.

The next day I was looking at the stainless steel part and noticed that there seemed to be a some distinctive design elements to it that may indicate a "special VAG tool" was missing from my equation. Sure enough, there is a tool specifically designed to grab under these ears on the shield



Here it is from ZDMack.


http://www.zdmak.com/wbstore/main.as...CTMP=1&LowCt=0

turbo510

Those wires must have been on for a long time. Sorry to tell you to yank on the ribbed rubber, but in the future they probably won't be so hard to take off.

steveu812

No problem here. That technique worked for you and sounded reasonable since there is a distinct ribbed area. FWIW - the Bentley manual doesn't list that tool either - or even a procedure on how to remove them. I'm quickly realizing that the decision tree for this car always begins.

This job seems:
A) Difficult ----> Check for a special tool
B) Moderately Easy ----> Check for a special tool
C) Simple ----> Check for a special tool

turbo510

I've got a '96 too (just about to turn 200K) and will say that I haven't had to use any special "Audi" tools on it. I've got some hex-drivers, crow's foot wrenches, and torx keys not likely to be used on anything else, but nothing Audi-specific.

Pete@ECSTuning

Your tool is impressive! That put a big smile on my face.

steveu812

You think that's a tool. This is what I resorted to during a timing belt job. I'd made a set of "special tools" when I did timing belt on Porsche 944 so I figured this would be ...cough... on par with that. I was wrong as I was flabbergasted to find there are no keys in the timing gears. Anyhow, this is what I came up with. I had to buy the crank isolator as that was beyond me.

turbo510

Great photos! You obviously know how to light a scene properly. I would never of thought of using a laser level; creative!