Not today exactly, but yesterday....

Finished reassembling my 1998 A4 (75K miles) after doing all the following work myself:

New timing belt (Gates blue "racing belt")
New camshaft front seals
New TB tensioner and roller
New TB idler pulley
New water pump and thermostat
New serpentine belt
New serpentine tensioner
New A/C compressor (WooHoo! I have cold A/C now... much needed now that it's summertime in Texas)
New Bosch Platinum +4 spark plugs
New rubber heater hose segments for everywhere across the front of the motor
New hose clamps on all the power steering lines that were leaking all over the front and side of the motor
Fresh G12 coolant in the engine
Fresh oil change with Mobil-1 Synthetic 10W-40 (thicker oil for the Texas summer heat)

Did not change the valve cover gaskets, camshaft rear seals or cam chain tensioner half-moon gaskets... after examining it all, I discovered that none of those were leaking. All the oily mess over the front and side of the engine was from the darn power steering hoses leaking like sieves due to loose factory crimp-type hose clamps.

Also did not change the crankshaft front seal. It wasn't leaking and I didn't have a new crankshaft bolt on hand to put in there and can't get one locally, so I left it alone.

One minor casualty of this repair job is that the passenger side headlamp washer is now leaking like a sieve... I'm temped to just plug off the hose going to it to keep from losing all my washer fluid.

But the rattling, worn-bearing sound that was coming from the front of engine at idle is now silent, and the engine runs smooth as silk. (The TB idler pulley bearing was worn and sloppy, I bet that was the cause of the noise)

And best of all COLD A/C BLOWING FROM THE VENTS!!!!

Other stuff found during the repairs: My brake fluid reservoir has a big dry-rotted crack around the upper back side, so that means the brake fluid has probably absorbed a bunch of water from the atmosphere. Got a new reservoir on the way, and will replace it and flush and replace the brake fluid next week.

Now my bank account is empty and my credit card is in smouldering ruins. Hope this car is good for another 75K before I have to rip its face off again. Man, that was a lot more work than I thought it would be.

 

i sent my bumper off to get looking like its from the land of euro....shaved headlight washer caps/shaved front plate mount holes/painted lower valence/ full respray. in a few more days the car will be going in and getting repatined post shave of bump strip/ lower moulding/ sidfe markers/ fender roll. SHould come out ultra clean.

I HAVE S4 LOWER DOOR TRIM, for sale

 

^^Nice! Pics when its done for SURE!

 

bumper should be back friday. i have some pics of bondo fun but just waiting for completion.

 

^^They used bondo on bumper? i thought correct way for bumpers was using plastic resin so it doesnt crack...at least what my cuz told me, yeah would look nice tho!

 

the holes are fiberglassed then bondo to smooth it all I'm pretty sure, but until i talk to him again i don't know exactly. bondo is good for anything tho, no hole is too big

 

Bondo is fine when used properly. When you start using it to replace large body panels, you're in trouble lol

 

makes sense, my cuz used glaze on my fiberglass bumper and hasnt cracked, its similar to bondo. Pretty thin and no problems yet.

 

motor mounts and snub mount (almost see this post https://www.audiforums.com/forum/b5-...o-back-184142/)

 

what did he do? shave the washers?