Hi everyone,

I have a 2002 2.7T (about 95k miles) that went in the shop the other day. I heard back today that the driveline (I believe that is the word he used) needs to be replaced to the tune of about $1700. He says he rarely see this problem and I am a bit skeptical. Has anyone had this problem before? I don't remember hearing or feeling any symptoms of a worn out driveline. Also, the a-arm bushings are bad, but the whole arm has to be replaced (actually all 4). I was quoted about $975, does this sound about right?

I have been enjoying the car for about two years now. I have the APR chip and piggie pipes, but these are some rather expensive, unexpected repairs that have me questioning how much longer I want to keep the vehicle.

Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

 

Drive line to me means the entire power train. But trust me your not getting that done for $1700. maybe he means both sides, cv joints and axles????

The control arms cost around 600-1000 in parts so 975.00 doesn't make sense to me unless they plan to buy the cheapo's on e bay.

I would use quality control arms I think fibi / bilstein were the better control arms to get I bought Meyle and so far they work. But if I remember correctly the Febi's were better.

I would ask him to tell you exactly what he intends to replace and why. Then ask with what brand parts. Sounds like you have a vague description of what they intend to do.

If they are replacing the front CV joints and axles then the price for the control arms might be a little lower because they are somewhat removing them to begin with...don't know.

 

seriously, get the service writer to explain to you in detail about what needs to be done. ya the arms get replaced with the bushings and ball joints. You could just get the bushings, though they cost as much as the arms and you don't replace the ball joints which go out. under 1000$ is a pretty good price considering its like 6 hours labor IIRC.

 

Did you have to take the car in with a different problem, or for the control arms' bushings?
If you didn't hear any grinding noise resembling bad driveshafts (halfshafts or cv axles), then the guys are trying to make an extra buck.
With the right tools (and a service shop does have them) both halfshafts can be replaced in less than 3 hrs. Even at $ 150/hr in labor, they still charge you $ 1250 for the axles, which is total bs...There's no Cv axle out there to the tune of $ 625/piece , not even the GKN ones...
Unless the dudes are replacing all 4 joints of the axles with the most expensive kits they can find, it sounds like they want to ...driveshaft you pretty good.

 

you have to remember mechanics go off of what alldata specifies the time as, not how long it actually takes. as for the axles, they give you the list price as a starting point which if I looked up on worldpac a few days ago... listed over 500$. you could probably save some on the parts price if you source your parts online and just bring them in. Labor is the real bitch though...

 

The A6 is not the car for you. Say thank you to the nice mechanics then take the car and trade it in.

 

I don't know what sort of parts AllData acquires and sells (Chinese, most likely?), but the top end GKN axles are around $ 330 -the whole halfshaft. And then again you can even go with EMPI - brand new ones around $ 80 (and this is retail price...) even if you buy them as a shop...
In any event, I personally have nothing against mechanics - I was pointing to the fact that the SHOP tries to make some money off of him.
Lastly, it may be that "driveline" may mean something totally different than CV axles and we have "arguments" around prices and labor rates... Who knows the mechanical jargon?

 

I had both control arms on my driver's side replaced last month (at 178k). Parts were $130 and 1.25 hours of labor. It also required an alignment.

 

Ok, I picked the car up today. It was in for the routine maintenance check and some little things seemed to be going wrong and I was hearing a rattle that ended up being the O2 sensor wire hitting the drive shaft (must have started when I had the piggies put on).

The upper control arm bushings are going bad on both sides. I forgot to ask what brand parts would replace them, though. The $975 is the price to replace them on both sides. The shop does include a 2 year warranty on their work with the parts they buy. They said I could probably go until early spring until they had to be replaced.

So it is the actual drive shaft (between transmission and rear axle, just to be clear) that is going bad. They said they will keep checking it every time I bring it in, but it does not have to be replaced immediately. He said these things are usually solid, but I may just have one of the few bad ones. The estimate on this was $1680, but they would have to check the price for the part from the dealer to be sure.

So, does this make more sense to everyone now? Thoughts and advice are greatly appreciated.

I knew the car would be expensive to maintain before I bought it, but it is tough hearing about these major repairs, especially when they come all at once.

 

Is your car Rear wheel drive or quattro?

I assume it's RWD.

Check it yourself does it have play? click or make noise on hard acceleration?

If you can't do that, then read Bob's answer again.

Personally I would get another drive shaft from a junk yard or try Shokan.com
A junk yard would be cheapest.

Also you need to replace the seal on the output shaft of the transmission it goes bad, actually I replace any seal I come close to in these cars while I am there.