Hello all,

This is my first post here not necessarily the best one to be making either, but i figure it is the best place for me to get advice on my current situation. First a bit of necessary background info, i drive a 98 A4 1.8T, with about 64k miles on it. I have been noticing a hum from the rear passenger side tire at speeds of 40mph or greater over the past couple of weeks, and after doing some research i figured it was most likely a bad wheel bearing. I had not driven it on the highway in a while but i thought i noticed a similar albeit different pitch and frequency humming noise from the front of the car at speeds of about 60-65 mpg, although i was unable to confirm this ( the speed limit was no where near 60 at the time ) Then today i took the car in to get the oil changed, and had the mechanic give it a once over to see if he could figure out for sure what was causing these odd noises. And the results don't make me very happy

The official list of things given to me by the mechanic:
Heavy leaking from oil pan gasket
Passenger rear wheel bearing bad ( i had already expected this )
Driver front upper ball joint bad

Plus i have been driving for months with my ABS light on (abs totally not working) and the mechanic also recommended that i have my rear breaks done.

Being a college student who is currently out of work i certainly need to avoid the dealership like the plague, and i would prefer to fix as much of this as i can. However i don't have the facilities at all to do any sort of work, and working in my driveway is out of the question due to weather (upstate NY). I can however get the work done back home ( ~300 miles away in NJ ) without a problem but i wont be able to make that trip for quite some time. So i am really wondering what the severity of all these problems is, and if i can get away with driving my car for another few months before anything gets fixed. If its going to cause more harm then its worth i will have to bite the bullet and figure something out, but as i have said that is something i would like to avoid.

So..... sorry for the dissertation, what does everyone think [sm=smiley25.gif]

 

The rear sounds like a wheel bearing issue, and to be honest, so does the front. I just received my new rear wheel bearing from PureMS.com for $57 shipped, and with basic tools and a press, you can do the job yourself. If you don't have a press, you could remove the whole hub assembly and take it to a shop to have them press out the old one and install the new one. Probably run you $20 or so to do this. Then you can bring it home, reinstall it, and have the car aligned (do both bearings first though so you don't have to align twice). As for the ABS light, the wheel bearings are known to take out the ABS sensors if they are bad for a long enough period of time. Those are more expensive ($150-160). If the problem up front is the ball joint, you have to replace the whole control arm - the joints themselves are not replaceable by themselves.

Where are you in NY? As you can tell from my screenname, I'm in upstate NY as well (Binghamton). If you need to do this stuff, I'd be willing to help you out with it. I'm doing my rear wheel bearing this weekend at a buddy's house (he has a press). If need be, I can borrow the press, and I have tools and a garage to work in. Shoot me a PM and we can talk about it.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^ thats a nice guy!!!! i will offer you the same, but i am in CT

 

Well thank you very much for the offer, however i am a bit more north and west of you, Rochester to be exact. The fact that the problem with the front sounds different then the rear makes me lean towards the ball joint as being the culprit. How difficult is it to remove the entire hub assembly? Also I was reading that if i have to do the control arms that i should do them all at the same time, is this a good idea? And if i do end up doing that is there a big benefit to purchasing after market or otherwise higher quality components?

Thanks

 

If you're near Syracuse my girlfriends uncle has a garage with a lift and all. I could see if he would be willing to let me use it.

 

Syracuse is about 1hr away from me, thank you for the offer as well its something i will keep in mind. I still have to figure out what i am going to do for sure, there sure are a lot of people around here willing to help

 

Dude, the only good answer is to have these guys help you. If your in college and don't have much money AND own an audi... you gotta start working on it yourself. I did, and its been great. As far as priority, the bearing and joint should be done sooner for safety's sake. ABS can chill as long as you know its gone. The oil pan gasket is your biggest problem because you have to drop the subframe or lift the engine for a 1.8t. Be sure to really really check your oil often and that can sit longer too, keep extra with you. Goodluck

 

Gotcha - no problem. Being in Rochester, if you can't find some local Audi guys that can help, it might well be worth taking jiggleo up on his offer. If you do so, I can drive up and meet you guys to turn wrenches (might be able to bring the press with me too - should be pretty easy to get it for a day). I'm only an hour south of Syracuse and I have friends up there. I can drop my GF off at our friends' house and then meet up with you to fix the car. Here's the procedure on how to do it yourself:

http://www.audiworld.com/tech/wheel45.shtml

As for the difference in sound, it could well be something else - or it might be a bearing that is starting to go out, or something else entirely. For your car, according to ECS Tuning's website, it doesn't matter if you have Quattro or FWD, the kit part numbers are the same. Here's the page with the kits:

http://www.ecstuning.com/stage/edpd/...ory=Suspension

Pure Motorsports (www.purems.com) also sells them, although their site isn't loading right now so I can't tell you a comparison price. Check them out too, and buy the kit that costs less (they're going to be about the same thing, and each site has parts that beat the other in price, and both companies are well-known and reputable). I don't really know of any aftermarket arms in the typical sense, but both the kits listed are from manufacturers other than Audi (unless Audi uses Meyle or Febi kits). With these cars, they're known to eat wheel bearings and have a documented history of control arm problems, so replacing them all is probably wise. Even if you can't do the full set in one day, maybe do all of them at the affected corner, and go to Firestone to get their lifetime alignment deal. Then you can change the others out at your own pace, and align the car each time afterward for no additional money.

Serious though - I love Syracuse and if you came over there (assuming jiggleo can get the garage), I'm up for a road trip

 

Agreed on letting ABS go per the priorities, but it still would suck to wait too long on the bearing and then ruin an ABS sensor in the process. Doing it relatively soon will eliminate that worry.

 

You guys need to live in NYC so i can get my control arms done LOL, but seriously I'm a college student also and going the DIY route is definitely the best way to go. I'm green when it comes to the real mechanical stuff but best believe I'm learning alittle bit as I go along so eventually I can take care of most things myself.