03Nov2014
Audi MMI Repair

Had an interesting project the other day come in on an Audi. Many of the audi’s now are using a multi media interface to control the radio/nav/etc. They place them down around the gear shift lever and also next to the cup holders. This MMI had a protein shake spilled into it, and after everything dried, a bunch of the buttons were no longer working. Once you get it out of the car, it is pretty easy to disassemble down …
08Dec2013
Audi S6 Front Suspension

Had this Audi S6 wagon come in after a visit to the local Audi dealer for a vibration at 75mph. After balancing and aligning the car, it still had the vibration, so they found a few bad bushings and tie rods in the front suspension. A quick quote for about $2500 and the customer walked. This is not an unusual story with the front suspension on Audis. There are 8 control arms with bushings/ball joints, plus the tie rods. My …
18Jun2013
Audi A3 Service RennsportKC
Had this little Audi in the shop last week for some maintenance and general repairs. It was due for an oil change service and such, so that was pretty straight forward. Filters, fluids, etc. It also had a dead interior blower motor that is very common to Audi’s. IMHO, the orientation of the blower fan assembly leads to early failure, as the motor is pointing up, allowing any condensation/etc in the system to end up in the motor, thus seizing …
04Apr2013
Audi A6 Misfires
Had this 06 A6 in the shop the other day for a CEL which turned out to be a cylinder 6 misfire and random cylinder misfires. With 100K miles on the clock, it was past due for spark plugs, so I got started. The plugs and coils are pretty easy to change on the 3.0L, but you do have to be very careful with the coilpack connectors. Do not force them, or you will break the harness connector. If you …
04Apr2013
Audi TT Instrument Cluster Repair
You may remember a few weeks ago I removed a bad instrument cluster from an Audi TT and sent it off for repair. It is very common for these clusters to go haywire, everything from bad LCD panels to dead/erratic gauges. This one was really far gone with pretty much everything dis-functional (LCD’s, tach/speedo were dead, etc), but after some work, we had a good working cluster again.
Had this little TT come into the shop this week for a downpipe replacement and instrument cluster repair. As you can see, something is not right. Actually there are a lot of things not right, including non working LCD screens and non functioning gauges. A fairly common issue on these Audis. So out comes the cluster to be sent out for repair. My hands aren’t steady enough to solder these clusters, it takes a really fine touch, so I’ll let …
Had a little Audi work the other day. Doing a job for some of old man Kaspar’s friends. This is a really nice 01 Allroad. These are bad ass little (ok, its a station wagon, she isn’t little) car. You can get some big hp out of these cars, and tear up the streets with a serious grocery getter. mmm v6 twin turbo power. To change the belt, the car needs to be put into service position. Front bumper removed. …
14Dec2012
Audi RS6 Stasis Suspension Rebuild
I installed this suspension at IA years ago. A nice Audi RS6 that saw the occasional track day, and wanted better handling. It is a nice suspension, but a couple years of daily driver duty, and the right side struts were leaking and clunking. Time for a rebuild. Time that these come out for some re freshening. Yuck. The notorious upper bolt on the steering knuckle. This is one of the worst I have seen in a long time. It …
02Oct2012
Audi A4 1.8t wiring harness repair

So this little Audi ran great, got parked for a bit, then wouldn’t start. After some looking found that the crank sensor, knock sensor and TPS were not communicating. Looking up from below you see: Looks like a mouse moved in under the intake. The Little guy really did some damage. Here’s some of the stuff removed: So after repairing all those wires he had eaten up and replacing a knock sensor and the crank sensor we are back on …
Had this little Audi TT come in the other day with a running issue (bad stumble) and a misfire check engine light. The owner had diagnosed the misfire and put in a couple new coil packs with spark plugs, but there was no change. A lot of times these Audi’s can have issues with low voltage, so I put the charger on the battery to see if anything changed, but the battery was in good shape. I did find a …