Well I made the decision to keep my 1984 Audi 5000. I put it in the shop last Friday and don't have it back yet. When they changed the rack and pinion they broke something on the distributor. Now they have to replace the whole distributor (at their expense i hope). I told them not to give it back to me until everything is right. I hope they fix all the hydaulic leaks. The reason why I am a little concerned about the repairs is because the work is not being done by Audi mechanics. I figured they should be able to change out a rack and pinion, but their 4 hour estimate has turned into 2 days. I'm just hoping they will stick with the estimate.

 

It is difficult finding a shop that's familiar with these cars and treats you square ($). Besides the costs, there are many horror stories regarding dealer service too. These are the main reasons why so many of us have learned to do as much repair work as we can.

Best of luck with your Audi

Tom Serrago

 

I did that to myself once, was able to repair it however. Four hours in mighty short for changing the rack, took me 11 the first time I did one, 5.5 the second.

 

Here is the latest scoop. I went to the shop to pick up my car tonight at 6:00 p.m. They said the car was at their other shop getting an alignment and it would be back shortly. It arrived about 15 minutes later, but it went directly back to the lifts in the shop. I later found out (about 30 minutes later) that the car was still losing hydraulic fluid. They told me that they found a leak in the hose coming out of the top of the hydraulic resevoir. Sure enough, it was split in a half dozen places. They offered to "engineer" it with a piece of hose and I could bring it back later. One end of the old hose was bigger than the other. I told them to just keep the car a while longer and find the right hose. I paid the bill, which came to $469 for the rack and pinion and the brake accumulator. In the process of fixing those items the mechanic could not get the rack and pinion to line up right so he also had to replace the tie rods. When pulling the rack out he broke the wiring connection behind the distributor, so they had to replace the whole distributor. They did all that for no extra charge. I will have to pay for the small hose that they still have to fix, but the labor is free. I think they are losing money on this job. This might be the last Audi they want to work on. My parts books shows tie rods are $26 each. I can't find the cost of the distributor. The saga continues until Thursday at the least.

 

or like you said this is the last Audi they work on. Give them the benefit of the doubt, you may have found a gem in the rough.

Good Luck,

Tom S

 

that distributor can't be cheap. If they have need to change any of the pressure hoses on the hydralic system have them use the Audi parts, strange things can happen (noise and vibration in the steering) if you don't. Those hoses serve as the damping in the hydralic system, and aftermarket just don't work well.