Hamfist

I have owned (in the order, from now) an 06 xc70, 2006 mini cooper S, 2009 cooper clubman, SAAB v6 aero, baja turbo, and the list goes on.

I like weird cars, i do my own work.

Recently the Volvo became boring and annoying, so what do i do? Sell it and buy an Audi A8. Found a local one i thought was nice, 1 owner, lots of maintenance records, 120k, nice price. Runs nice, awd worked, unlike the Volvo.

On my assessment i found burnt mirrors, valve cover gaskets bad, the owner said that he goes through coolant like crazy, no prob. I ordered oil cooler gaskets and the metal pipe, mirrors, vcg's and a Bluetooth kit. Handed over cash and drove home.

No start the next day... Jumped it.

No start after work (luckily at my shop), just a loud clunk. Ordered a starter. Wow, thats a crappy, annoying place to put it. But on the plus, ill do the cooler gaskets while im there.

Starters out, cracked the bendix housing (see attached), had to remove pieces from bellhousing. Lets do the cooler now!

Alternator rear bolt will not come out. Allen 10, nope, removed air box, big wrench and pipe, nope.

Anyone have ideas?

Heres the rest of the list big and small:
-locks inop (trunk vac pump)
-P0308, plugs and coil new, vario intake flaps stuck
-fuel gauge inop, tried fuse reset, still dead
-no headrests work, saw the youtube repair, will do

-needs filters, cabin, fuel

-noticed cv boots dry and cracked

-mirror map lights inop

​​-front power outlet inop-cruise "set" works only, nothing else


Help me with the starter removal! Stupid rear bolt. Also, any advice on the fuel gauge?

Hamfist

Anyhoo...

The alternator is stuck, not the starter...

jfrahm

Stuck how? Stripped head? If so maybe you need a 90 degree drill.

Hamfist

It wont turn. Hammered in a hex10 socket, used a wrench on outside, wont turn.

jfrahm

Strip it out with a breaker bar and pipe and then drill the head off.

Hamfist

So, im assuming normally this is a normal bolt that does turn and is threaded?

Makes no sense otherwise.

Hamfist

Sooooo....

Turns out the two bolts i took out of the front of the alternator. Both were short. The top one is supposed to be long. Previous tech got super lazy.

Alternator practically fell out.

Now onto the fuel gauge...

Anyone?

jfrahm

There are two fuel level sensors, a tall one on the RH side (passenger's in the USA) of the tank and another one for the last bit of fuel in the bottom of the tank on the LH side. The RH access cover under the trunk mat will get you to the tall one and you can test it out, see if it's connected. If someone has monkeyed with the fuel pump they were in there. I do not know how to test the fuel level sensor but there is probably a video on it.

Hamfist

Thanks!

Im hoping one is bad cause im not the best finding wiring problems.

However, why the everlasting f*×k is the fuel pump over $1000+? I have never encountered a fuel pump that much, even with Mercedes.

One of the service records is a recent replacment of the cluster. All my display LEDs work, had to buy the car for just that reason!

jfrahm

Fuel pump is $140 for just the pump. Common replacement part. Make sure to get the real one or endure much suffering.