ocles_inc

Today, my tech and I were working on removing the engine from my 1999 D2 A8. Normally, we remove the oxygen sensors from the exhausts, and leave them dangling from the car. Today, we could not get the passenger side oxygen sensor detached from the exhaust even though we tried the various traditional methods of escalation. It was tempting to cut the wire, but then it occurred to us that Audis tend to be hard to work on only if you don't know the trick to it, so we looked for the easy way.

We found it, hence this article. From now on the approach described here is how I plan to address the issue whenever I need to remove an engine.

We folded back the passenger side floor-mat, inside the foot-well. This exposed a black grommet through which wiring led to the oxygen sensor on one side, and to a large black electrical plug, on the other side.



It was a little tricky to separate the two halves of the plug, but with a smallish flat-bladed screwdriver and some patience, it was done.



The wire and plug on the oxygen sensor side of the connection could then be pushed through the grommet hole, so that they'll accompany the engine as it's being removed ... clean, simple, and easy.

The more I work on these cars, the more impressed I am with their engineering, as specifically intended to make it easier to work on them.

~Tanya