Steering and Suspension Snags

[harding173]

Hi Guys, great website. I purchased a 2001 A2 1.4 TDI last week with 69k on it and with the exception of a few niggles I'm chuffed to bits with it. Sods law that these niggles aren't apparent on the test drive and I've only really noticed them a few weeks later. Firstly theres a really annoying rattle coming from the front drivers side area, scanning through these forums it appears to be something like the suspension droplinks, the springs seem ok.

Secondly the power steering is a bit intermittent and I'm growing muscles in my forearms. Again I've checked the forums and am worried about the bill I may face. I've attempted to look in the power steering reservoir however I don't think that Audi could have put it in a more awkward position. Using a torch I couldn't actually see a level although this may be due to the staining of the plastic???

Just to be on the safe side I've booked it into an Audi specialists, steering clear of Audi itself for fear of needing to remortgage the house to pay for any repairs!!!!!!!! Other than that, £35 tax, non payment of the London congestion charge and 60mpg gives me a big smile.

 

[spike]

Hi harding173, welcome to the A2oc
The suspension rattle is probably the droplink. The parts are around £20 per side and a garage should take 1/2 to 1 hr to fix it. The other possibility is the anti rollbar bushes. On early cars the bushes work on plastic sleeves with a built in flange to locate the rollbar. These bushes sometimes break up, allowing the bar to rattle / move sideways. Audi will replace the whole rollbar with the revised design part and charge a fortune to do it but it should be possible to make some alloy split bushes to replace the plastic bits if you know someone with a lathe.
The heavy power steering could be down to fluid loss or a faulty electric pump unit. Skipton01 had a similar problem and it turned out to be corroded contacts on the pump unit harness connector I think.

Cheers Spike