Hi everyone,

Ive never really been an audi fan but recently purchased an 80 cabriolet (92 2.3) which has converted me to the brand. Its been a pleasure to drive and I love putting the roof down when the weather in the UK allows me to.
However, it has just failed the UK MOT test with quite a few faults and I was wondering if anyone here could give me some pointers as to how easy it will be to fix.
It mainly failed on :

nearside wishbone - has too much play in bush/pin - recommended to replace entire arm !
Both rear wheel bearings
Steering rack gaiter

It also failed on hand brake, emissions etc but Im ok with doing these jobs but I have never attempted anything like wheel bearings or wishbones.

Thanks in advance

Allan.

 

Im very sure nice ppl here will try to answer your question, but its mainly usa based forum, so they wont know what MOT means.

I dont know any good cabriolet forum, but try s2forum.com
Many good/helpful guy there has cabriolet as well and they from UK too

 

Alan,
You will have to translate some of that into USA english. By nearside wishbone, do you refer to the drivers side control arm? Also what is a steering rack gaiter? What part is the gaiter? Is that the damper (black cylinder with a long shiny plunger) on top of the rack? How did the MOT guy diagnose both wheel bearings need replaced? USA/Canada Cabriolets are '94-'98 and 2.8L. Most items are probably similar. The control arm is not too difficult to remove but may be problematic on getting a torque wrench on the nuts for reassembly depending on what is in the way on the 2.3l. You will need to have someone press out the old and press in the new bushings, so you might as well do both sides and get a new alignment. Depending on the type of control arms, you can bend them if you start pounding with a hammer. The bolts and nuts are suppossed to be replaced, but at a minimum replace all lock nuts you remove. That's a start.

 

MoT stands for Ministry of Transportation.

And I would advise the rest of my Yank brethren to pay close attention to the manner in which said "ministry" doles out judgment on whether or not a vehicle is deemed roadworthy.

"Ministry" is a term reserved solely for church here across the pond, oldgeeza. (well... church and Alain Jorgensen.) Our current President would like our government to carry the same type of authority as the "almighty" Himself... but thankfully, he's not quite there yet.

As for your vehicle. Unless you're related to Mike Brewer or Edd China, you're in for bit of a slog.

Wishbones are called control arms over here. Unless you have the equipment to do it yourself, pressing new bushings in might cost you more in labor charges than buying reconditioned units.

Your rear wheel bearings likely just need to be re-packed, as opposed to replaced. That's 1 hour's worth of labor. Not a big deal. No offense intended, mate. But your roads over there are no fun for a tightly tuned suspension. So, pull up yer knickers, grab yer spanners, swap the fiddly bits and Bob's yer Uncle!

Or, pay somebody else to do it and tip a pint of the bitter.

Cheers,
LG

 

You should try this forum

http://audifans.net/forum-45.html

good luck

 

Hi guys,

Firstly apologies I didnt realise this site was more for the US market but anyhow its always nice to talk to people across the pond !

Thanks for all your replies guys - I will take a look at some of those sites as mentioned but in the meantime it looks like I will be taking her off the road for a few weeks and getting my hands greasy.

For reference :

Wishbone - is the bottom control arm that holds the bushes etc - I believe in the UK you can buy it complete with bushes so Im hoping I dont have to try and press in new ones.

Steering Gaitor - its the rubber sleeve that covers the steering rod just by the bulkhead.

Wheel bearings - one of them is very noisy and the other has slight play although it didnt fail on this.

Cheers again and I will be hanging around.

Allan.

 

Leaks in the steering gaitor (5) are indicative of a leaky seal(2) around the steering rack (28). It can either be the seal or wear out of limits in the rack where it is continually wiped by the seal when you steer. Fairly inexpensive to replace as Audi has a seal rebuild kit for the rack. The problem is that the rack is difficult to remove on the 2.8L Cabriolet - maybe easier on the 2.3L. It requires you to remove the master cylinder and brake booster so as to rotate the rack and pull it straight out where the master cyl and booster were. If you do this procedure, mark EVERYTHING for reassembly, otherwise you will not get the rack back together how you want it to be. Where the rotary gear(22) mates in relation to the in/out extension of the rack affects where the spring pin (21) will be in relation to the steering wheel. If this goes together even a couple of teeth off, you will have to reset the steering wheel on its splines and possibly have a front end guy adjust the tie rod ends a couple of turns to take out the few degrees the steering wheel is not quite level. Otherwise, you will constantly be annoyed and the turn signal lever will not shut off correctly. Sure, you can omit the spring pin, but it is a safety item in case the steering column attachment loosens up, thus preventing the steering wheel from rotating and the steering pinion not moving. (loss of control)