Audi A4, wishbone leak, front suspension

twibbles

Greetings,

I am the owner of a 2005 A4 1.9L TDI. I bring it to the Audi dealership for servicing etc. They always do a visual check of the car and it seems that there is a wishbone leak in the front suspension on both sides.

What I would like to know is if this is something that requires urgent attention or if it can be left until the next scheduled service in February 2016?

I would also like to understand what the problem actually means. I have been driving the car since February this year without any problems though.

Please understand that my knowledge of car mechanics is very limited. If something is leaking, then is there not some way that I could just top up whatever is leaking?

Otherwise it's a trip to Audi again and an expensive repair most likely.

thanks in advance,
Twibbles.

porsche boy

This dosent make much sense. What exactly is leaking? Wishbones don't leak, as such. Their made of metal. Unless he means a ball joint in which case he'll need to tell you which one so an accurate price can be got.

coolbeans

twibbles wrote: »

Greetings,

I am the owner of a 2005 A4 1.9L TDI. I bring it to the Audi dealership for servicing etc. They always do a visual check of the car and it seems that there is a wishbone leak in the front suspension on both sides.

What I would like to know is if this is something that requires urgent attention or if it can be left until the next scheduled service in February 2016?

I would also like to understand what the problem actually means. I have been driving the car since February this year without any problems though.

Please understand that my knowledge of car mechanics is very limited. If something is leaking, then is there not some way that I could just top up whatever is leaking?

Otherwise it's a trip to Audi again and an expensive repair most likely.

thanks in advance,
Twibbles.

Also, it makes zero sense to go to an Audi main dealer to service a ten year old car. A competent independent would be far more appropriate in terms of costs.

twibbles

Hi Porsche Boy,

I would attach an photo of the relevant part of the visual report but I don't have enough posts yet to allow me to attach images. What is says exactly is the following though

"Suspension - Wishbone - Both Front - Leaking"

I might send the garage an e-mail and ask them about it. I will let you know.

Thanks.

jca

They don't mean creaking do they? Is there any noise from the suspension when travelling over rough surfaces?

twibbles

No. There isn't really any noise or knocking at all. Anyhow, I will e-mail them now and maybe they will be able to clarify. I will be back. Thanks.

Chemical Byrne

This makes no sense whatsoever. Wishbone is solid metal, it is physically impossible for it to leak.

Might they be trying to scam you with spurious "repairs"?
Main dealers can be every bit as much cowboys as indys. Only difference is they have fancy signage.

All I could suggest is that maybe a shock absorber or a brake pipes are leaking and dripping down onto the wishbone? But if that were the case then why not just say its a pipe or shock? Unless they had some spotty apprentice who couldn't tell one from the other doing up the report.

twibbles

coolbeans wrote: »

Also, it makes zero sense to go to an Audi main dealer to service a ten year old car. A competent independent would be far more appropriate in terms of costs.

Well, I did have a regular mechanic for years who I had paid a lot of money to on the same car. I was a good customer of his. The fault light came on the dashboard once so I went somewhere with a diagnostic computer to get it diagnosed. It turned out to be a bad glow plug.

So, I brought the car to my mechanic telling him exactly what was wrong. When I collected it he said that it was sorted but the light might come on for a bit. So, I drove off and sure enough it came on and stayed on so it clearly hadn't been fixed.

After that I didn't trust him at all and I haven't been back. I thought that if I went to an Audi garage surely they wouldn't f*** me about. Anyway, I have contacted the garage them to ask them to provide more detail as regards what is actually wrong and to give an estimate.

I tried posting the same question on an Audi forum as well and I didn't get a single reply by the way. It had been viewed 200 times. Maybe I should have tried a gardening forum instead I can't post the link here because I am a new user. I will as soon as possible.

Thanks anyway guys. I will let you know if I hear back from themselves.

porsche boy

twibbles wrote: »

I thought that if I went to an Audi garage surely they wouldn't f*** me about.

Eeehhhhhh......

twibbles

porsche boy wrote: »

Eeehhhhhh......

I am clearly naive then. Sure who can you trust.

mickdw

Its an odd description but they can only mean a a split boot on the balljoint or something like that.

OldMrBrennan83

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colm_mcm

Crazy bring a 10 year old car near an Audi dealer IMO

OldMrBrennan83

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colm_mcm

Got the sake of warranty and recalls etc it's no harm when the car is fairy new.

OldMrBrennan83

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Hachiko

as pointed out a wishbone is a solid structure and cannot leak, unless its made of some mysterious structure. What can leak are dampers and that is plausible on the age discussed.

Dont take a car that old to a main dealer, I dont get why people take old cars to main dealers. I never had any intention of taking my own car to a main Lexus dealer and its a 2008. Waste of time, any mechanic can fix any car unless its some very special marque. I had 4 main dealer stamps also on my log book but did not think it worth going to a main dealer and also the dealer is miles out of my way.

Hachiko

Patww79 wrote: »

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Thats a ball bearing/joint. They are not too expensive but can be a balls (pardon the pun) to replace, sometime people just replace the whole wishbone.

In any event, just take it to any mechanic and get said part from a micks garage place.

OldMrBrennan83

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kala85

Patww79 wrote: »

That A4 won't have a wishbone with replaceable parts. They have multi link control arms and you have to replace the whole arm to replace a bushing or ball joint.

Just as a matter of interest would that be covered on a manufacturer warranty on a brand new 151 car or would manufacturer put it down to wear and tear.

mickdw

kala85 wrote: »

Just as a matter of interest would that be covered on a manufacturer warranty on a brand new 151 car or would manufacturer put it down to wear and tear.

On a new car it would be covered unless there was evidence of user damage, bent components etc.

twibbles

Maybe it is nuts bringing a car that old to a main garage but I assumed that they would know what they are about. Apart from that they provide coffee and biscuits

In general the car is in very good condition and it drives very well. I don't want to get rid of it any time soon. I don't drive it very much anyway so I don't want to spend a whole lot of money on something that might not be that urgent although it sounds like it may be.

I have sent them an e-mail anyhow to clarify. I will see what they say and I will let you know.

Chemical Byrne

I'll tell you, if you think main dealers are some highly trained technical experts with all the latests gear and knowledge, you have fallen for the motor company's marketing spin.

When I left school I spent 2 years as an apprentice in a flashy new Citroen and Volvo dealership. It was laughable. Most stuff was done in a haphazard, trial and error fashion, they didn't have the proper special tools for doing things and improvising with whatever was to hand was routine. I mean even changing timing belts, there were no special timing tools or belt tensioning gauges - they simply transferred tippex marks from the old belt to the new one and then slipped the new one on and guessed the tension by hand. Needless to say the sprokets were not reset and torqued up as per the procedures in the manual.
Now maybe they were just an exceptional case but it certainly made me skeptical of main dealers supposed level competence and professionalism over that of your run of the mill back street garage. As I said, fancy signage is the only real difference.

Then I got sense and went to uni.

thierry14

coolbeans wrote: »

Also, it makes zero sense to go to an Audi main dealer to service a ten year old car. A competent independent would be far more appropriate in terms of costs.

A competent independent mechanic 😀

Everytime someone asks for advice here they get this golden one.

Where are all these competent independent mechanic everyone speaks of?

How do they know more than main Dealers?

How do they possibly know how to work on every car from a Renault to an Audi?

Where did they get they this great education?

charcosull

thierry14 wrote: »

A competent independent mechanic 😀

Everytime someone asks for advice here they get this golden one.

Where are all these competent independent mechanic everyone speaks of?

How do they know more than main Dealers?

How do they possibly know how to work on every car from a Renault to an Audi?

Where did they get they this great education?

A good one will have educated themselves by having a huge interest in cars.

porsche boy

thierry14 wrote: »

A competent independent mechanic 😀

Everytime someone asks for advice here they get this golden one.

Where are all these competent independent mechanic everyone speaks of?

How do they know more than main Dealers?

How do they possibly know how to work on every car from a Renault to an Audi?

Where did they get they this great education?

These competent mechanics are to be found in many garages across the length of Ireland. More often than not in a garage attached to their house working away on anything and everything that comes their way.
They have years of experience in diagnosis and repair of all makes of cars, not just the one their employer sells, and not just replacing parts either, actually getting in and repairing stuff. Their great education comes from being on the floor of an independent garage and fixing various issues across a range of different manufacturers. Basically you can't beat experience and time served.

dmc17

twibbles wrote: »

Maybe it is nuts bringing a car that old to a main garage but I assumed that they would know what they are about. Apart from that they provide coffee and biscuits

In general the car is in very good condition and it drives very well. I don't want to get rid of it any time soon. I don't drive it very much anyway so I don't want to spend a whole lot of money on something that might not be that urgent although it sounds like it may be.

I have sent them an e-mail anyhow to clarify. I will see what they say and I will let you know.

My local café provides coffee and biscuits too but they don't charge me €50 for them

colm_mcm

thierry14 wrote: »

A competent independent mechanic 😀

Everytime someone asks for advice here they get this golden one.

Where are all these competent independent mechanic everyone speaks of?

How do they know more than main Dealers?

How do they possibly know how to work on every car from a Renault to an Audi?

Where did they get they this great education?

A lot of work being done in main dealers and bigger garages is being done by apprentices and not fully qualified mechanics.
I wouldn't have issue with that as long as they do it right, but I wouldn't pay through the nose for it.

OldMrBrennan83

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Truckermal

colm_mcm wrote: »

Crazy bring a 10 year old car near an Audi dealer IMO

The only thing leaking is his wallet.

Dale Parish

Probably the bushings are liquid filled - bushings are on their way out when they split and leak the fluid.
E.g a lot of the lemforder bushings are liquid filled.

jca

Dale Parish wrote: »

Probably the bushings are liquid filled - bushings are on their way out when they split and leak the fluid.
E.g a lot of the lemforder bushings are liquid filled.

I've never heard of a liquid filled bush. I wonder how they're made?

snailsong

Im not a mechanic so feel free to mock me...
Could it be that there's a leak in the steering rack resulting in fluid dripping onto the wishbone?

mickdw

Hydraulic bush. Some fluid cavities within the bush structure. I guess they are made this way to get the best combination of control and comfort.

edburg

twibbles wrote: »

Hi Porsche Boy,



"Suspension - Wishbone - Both Front - Leaking"



Thanks.

Hard to say but I suspect they sen fluid on wishbone and suspect leaky suspension, but they have not really looked at it properly.

Hachiko

We are talking about a 2004 Audi. What exactly is the front/rear suspension set up on this mysterious car? Most 4 door cars have something like double wishbone at front and multi link or the like at the rear.

Ball joints don't leak, so whoever said that is talking nonsense.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

coolbeans

thierry14 wrote: »

A competent independent mechanic 😀

Everytime someone asks for advice here they get this golden one.

Where are all these competent independent mechanic everyone speaks of?

How do they know more than main Dealers?

How do they possibly know how to work on every car from a Renault to an Audi?

Where did they get they this great education?

So you'd you'd advise the OP to go to a main dealer to service and maintain the incredibly complex 2005 A4 diesel, a car that was launched in 2003 because it's too difficult or technical a job for an Indy? That's just bad advice IMO.

twibbles

OK. I queried it with the garage. The said that it was in fact "worn wishbones". This is not what it said on the report at all. I wish that I could post it. Anyway, if I have asked them to provide an estimate.

I have noticed the the steering feels a little soft and I suspected that a shock absorber was going. It could be my imagination all the same. I did feel that something was wrong.

The NCT is coming up soon as well by the way so I presume that I will have to get it sorted in advance of that anyway.

So, I wonder if I should I get it sorted by Audi (depending on the price) or go elsewhere maybe if it can be done cheaper. It doesn't sound like it will be a massive job though.

Truckermal

twibbles wrote: »

OK. I queried it with the garage. The said that it was in fact "worn wishbones". This is not what it said on the report at all. I wish that I could post it. Anyway, if I have asked them to provide an estimate.

I have noticed the the steering feels a little soft and I suspected that a shock absorber was going. It could be my imagination all the same. I did feel that something was wrong.

The NCT is coming up soon as well by the way so I presume that I will have to get it sorted in advance of that anyway.

So, I wonder if I should I get it sorted by Audi (depending on the price) or go elsewhere maybe if it can be done cheaper. It doesn't sound like it will be a massive job though.

Where you based??

bbsrs

twibbles wrote: »

OK. I queried it with the garage. The said that it was in fact "worn wishbones". This is not what it said on the report at all. I wish that I could post it. Anyway, if I have asked them to provide an estimate.

I have noticed the the steering feels a little soft and I suspected that a shock absorber was going. It could be my imagination all the same. I did feel that something was wrong.



The NCT is coming up soon as well by the way so I presume that I will have to get it sorted in advance of that anyway.

So, I wonder if I should I get it sorted by Audi (depending on the price) or go elsewhere maybe if it can be done cheaper. It doesn't sound like it will be a massive job though.

Stick it in for the nct , if the wishbones are gone they'll tell you , then get them changed , only €30 for a retest, what mileage is on your A4 ?

twibbles

bbsrs wrote: »

Stick it in for the nct , if the wishbones are gone they'll tell you , then get them changed , only €30 for a retest, what mileage is on your A4 ?

There's 160,000km on it (roughly 100,000 miles).

I am still waiting to hear back about the estimate by the way. Given that they don't seem to actually know what the problem is it might be hard an accurate one

twibbles

Truckermal wrote: »

Where you based??

I'll PM you.