Brought my car to the dealer to have them look at the car, the custom exhaust work the previous owner had done disconnected fromthe turbo and was making a shitload of noise. Anyway, they found all these problems and gave me estimates for all the work. Just looking for advice, how important the repairs are and how much they should cost. any advice would be appreciated.

Needs Rear Diff. Reseal - $1000.90 plus tax
Center Diff. - $375.30
Valve cover gasket - $600.50
Front and rear rotors - $700

These prices seem accurate? Also, are the diff. seals important repairs...just sick of putting money into the car.

 

Wow. The rear diff one seems way high. I'm pretty sure that's the seal my dealer was talking about when they told me about my rear diff leaking a bit. They quoted me $160 something for install. I was also quoted $500 for the rear brake work. New rotors and pads. So the brake deal sounds good. This was all on a B6 though.

 

Those prices are high, take it to an independent shop...

 

dealer is always too expensive.

 

PS my rear diff has been leaking since I got the car and I'm not concerned, one it leaves fluid on the ground I'll be concerned a little, but not before that..

 

I would get a second opinion the stealership doesnt care about your car and they will charge you an arm and a leg to fix things.... They charged my friend 300 JUST to replace the hazard switch... He didnt know at the time what he was doing so he took it to the stealer

 

lol, same here.

 

If the rear and center differential leaks aren't bad, then you just need to check and top up the gear oil every 6 months or so. Cost 10 dollars for synthetic gear oil. Valve cover gasket if a DIY, parts about 20 dollars or so.

Brakes at a shop would be 250 for rotors and pads and 200 for labor, or if you are mechanically inclined, it is a DIY.

 

INDEPENDENT AUDI MECHANICS

http://1.8t.org/tuners/

http://www.audifans.com/mechanic.php

http://www.goapr.com/Audi/dealer/locator.php

http://www.giacusa.com/dealers.php?sregion=

 

$700 for rotors? I don't know what an independent shop would charge you, but keep in mind that an OEM rotor only costs around $60 each. You can buy crossdrilled or slotted rotors for around $100 each. $700 sounds like a lot for ~$250 in parts and maybe an hour of work. For that much money, you should get slotted/crossdrilled rotors and ceramic brake pads on all four corners installed.

If you want to DIY, it really isn't too hard. Each caliper has 4 bolts. The rotor comes right off (no tools). The only thing you will need (other than standard tools) is a way to push the caliper piston back in. This can be done with a C-clamp on the fronts, but you need a tool that pushes and rotates the piston for the rear. You can rent this tool from AutoZone/AdvancedAuto for free. You can prob find a write up on it, but if not, I can give you the details and copy the pages out of the Bentley manual. It really is pretty easy (I have done it several times) and you would save yourself a lot of money.