Greetings Audi friends. I just bought (literally got home 30 minutes ago) a 1986 5000tq. Here is a little of my background: I used to burn through cheap cars faster than shoes when I was about 18-24. Im 30 now, hate buying/selling cars, and havent done it in close to 5 years. This Audi id my sixth. Ive had an '84 4k (non-quattro), '83 gt, '83 5k (non-quattro), '85 5kq, '89 200 turbo (non-quattro), and now this. I bought this car because it was very cheap and ive always wanted a 5ktq. It has 407k miles on it (not a typo). I have reciepts for thousands of dollars of work since 2k. It received a new engine at around 300k miles. Im happy with the car so far. It pulls hard, idles nicely, has 2bennett coil overs, drilled rotors, computer upgrade 11psi boost, has new timing belt/water pump, and other stuff I didnt feel like doing right away. It needs some interior work and nic nacs. There is one problem that has me worried. It makes a bad noise from the front of the car. It sounds like wheel bearings that are severly worn. I am worried the noise is the really the transmission or differential. I have a receipt for front wheel bearings from a little over a year ago. The car also looks like its been sitting (cobwebs in the engine bay). The noise is not related to rpm and definitly must be coming from trans/diff/bearings/cv. So after all this rambling, my question is, what do I do to isolate the problem? This may help, the tone of the noise does change a little when I yank the wheel left to right.


P.S. You might just want to tell me its the wheel bearings regardless so you dont have to listen to me cry like a baby.

 

had a car that did that, the noise would go away when turned to the right and come back when wheels were straight or turned to left. ended up being a front wheel bearing. but i am just a girl.

 

Well I certainly dont hold your gender against you This noise is not so subtle. It scared me to get on the freeway, I thought something was going to seize up. I would like to find a way to rule out the trans/diff so I dont waste any money on wheel bearings just to find out thats not the problem. If the transmission or differential are bad, the car will have to go. It may be a good excuse to pull the turbo motor and stuff it in a 4k however.

 

If you go through all the paperwork on the car, is there one that says it went back for the differential recall, for bad grease?

20 years, damn near, I doubt they would cover it, but they did have a recall on those years. My own differential ate itself up for bad grease. Evaporated and seized the front bearing, as well as wearing the pinion gear to a razor'e edge.

Wheel bearing, you should be able to detect, or your mech should, abolutely. Actually, they last from installation to 50 years. can't say that it was replaced last year, has to be good. Might grind themselves to dust in a turn around the block.

That's scary, huh? Then again, they might last forever. Depends upon the bearing you get, not who you buy it from. Audi does not test each bearing for 100,000 miles of durability, they buy from a supplier whose product AVERAGES out to a given life, MTBF, and it could give out tomorrow.

Good luck,

George

 

Thanks George. I found wheel bearings for 70 online. I may just buy them and see if it fixes it. With your car, did the noise change depending on acceleration? This does not seem to do that. It just gets worse the faster you go. I hope its just wheel bearings because I want to drive this thing so bad!

 

Well I took the car to friend at 2bennett today. It looks like its the right front wheel bearing. They had one in stock so I picked it up. Everything in disassembly is going well so far except for getting the cv axle nut off, its the last item before the whole spindle/spring/shock assembly comes off. After running my fingernail around the threads, it doesnt appear to be a left hand thread. Any ideas? My 1/2" impact isnt cutting it.

 

Dog,

I think the spec is 205 ft. lb. of torque, and DO NOT try with the wheel jacked up. Personally, I put a ratchet, or breaker bar with, I think, a 1 and 3/16 socket on it, add a 2 foot pipe, and jump on it. Now, I will warn you that I have busted a few sockets doing that. Not the ratchet, but the socket.

I use a hollow head hydraulic jack,rather than a puller to take mine apart and reassemble. It will pass a 5/8 or 3/4 bolt, only an inch or so travel, but just take off the nut, add some washers for spacers. You WILL pull the bearing apart when you pull the hub, can't help it, it is internally snapringed, before the hub is pressed in. Can't reach it to remove. No biggie. Just pull the inner race off the hub, press the bearing in, outer race only, I mean only put pressure on the outer race, then pull the hub into the inner race. Your puller, now, should be only grabbing the inner race.

Half shaft back in, you should be good.

Good luck,

George

 

Well shoot, I already have it jacked up and everything is taken apart except for the nut. I am borrowing an air gun with more oomph and may try again on lunch break today. If that doesnt work, I will put the wheel back on and try the breaker bar. Thanks for the tips george, it is much appreciated.

 

Dog,

I don't know if it really matters. The book DOES say "no attempt must be made...unless the wheel is fully on the ground."

You realize you will need a spring compressor to remove the strut.

I have had a pair replaced, by my local garage, and they dismantled. When I was in better shape, doing my own work, I used the hollow head jack and left the strut installed, just the ball joint and stabilizer bar disconnected. At least in that way, re-alignment was not necessary.

Good luck.

George

By the by, since you have it all apart, now might be a good time to replace that half shaft. Be a shame to have to do that a few months down the road. Here in SW PA, I buy remans for 50 bucks from the Auto Supermarket, both ends reground, new oversized *****, new grease and new boots. Never had one of those wear out, and have put about a 100K on 1 on my '85 5000 Turbo. New price for the CV joint, itself, was over 200 from a local shop that wanted to get rid of it because he was closing the doors.

 

Hi George, the high torque air gun didnt work. I put the wheel back on and was able to get it off with every bit of strength I had. Had I realized a half shaft would be so cheap, I would have put one in while I was in there. The car has 2bennett coil overs so no spring compressor was needed. Getting the old bearing out went smooth, always making sure to support the bearing correctly during reassembly. The piece of bearing that was left on the hub was grinded down about 3/4 of the way and then split with a chisel. I thought I was going to be there for hours but, no problem at all. The only thing that bummed me out was when it came time to put the bottom tie rod in. The pry bar slipped a couple times and I damaged the boot on the lower tie rod. All in all, it went well, could have been better. Total time was 5 hours. I know I could cut that in half now. It fixed the problem by the way, smooth and quiet ride. All I have left to do is bleed the brakes. I bought the car with the right rear caliper dangling in the breeze. I removed it and fixed it at work. I hit a couple of corners on the way home. The thing handles amazingly well. Im sure the coil over kit doesnt hurt Funny thing, I just came across a '90 or '91 200 tq. I think im gonna pick it up at the end of the month and possibly sell this 5000. Now I kinda wish I would have passed on this one. It was a good deal, ill just pass the bargain on to another person.