Why you should never buy an Audi or Volkswagen

Well, I lost a battle over the weekend.  I attempted to put rear brakes on a 2001 Audi A4 1.8T Quattro.  After buying several special tools to add to my arsenal, it took me about 2.5 hours.  I have done many brake jobs but this one was the hardest by far.  I had to compress the brake piston to get new brake pads installed.  You have you turn and compress the piston at the same time.  It helps to have a tool.  But Audi in their infinite wisdom had decided to make 2 mistakes.  1) if the brake pads are nearly gone, you can't get the tool in to compress and turn the brake piston.  2) Once the brake pads are almost gone, the brake piston can't catch the threads inside itself so that you can turn the piston to make it easier to compress.  You just end up spinning the brake piston and it never compresses.  I have a novel solution:  make the threads longer so that you just have to turn it.  Honda does it.  Why can't Audi?  For rear brakes on a Honda or Acura, many of them you just have to turn the piston to compress it.  BUT, you don't need a special tool and you can do it with a screwdriver or needle-nose pliers. 

In contrast to 2.5 hours to replace pads and rotors on an Audi, I did front brakes on a 1998 Toyota Avalon.  It took me 20 minutes to do one side; pads and one rotor and the best part: I didn't have to buy any special tools.  Why does VW have to make it so difficult?  Is it some scheme to make money so you have to take your VW or Audi to the dealer to get the brakes done?  If it is, someone should get fired. 

After finishing the brakes on the Audi A4, I attempted to do a CV axle on the passenger side.  After getting the axle loose, I tried to undo the control arm to hub assembly bolt.  This would not come out.  I tried hammering, soaking with penetrating oil, talking to other mechanics who had done it and nothing seemed to work.  I gave up.  My new resolution:  I will never work on an Audi or Volkswagen again.  It is not worth the frustration and pain.  I will also never buy one.  Never has Audi been top in reliability.  In fact, they have been near the bottom for a long time.  Their electronics are horrible.  If VW made TV's they would go out of business. 

I have heard many stories of people that own an Audi or VW.  They have their check engine light on all the time.  They have spent thousands and thousands of dollars to fix it, but to no avail their light remains on and the dealership can't figure out why.  If the dealer can't figure out why your check engine light is on, who do you take the car to? 

The owner can't sell the car because no one wants to buy it with the light on and you can't get it registered because it won't pass emissions.  Basically, if you have a check engine light on, you are stuck with a pile of junk.  And that is exactly what a VW is.  A pile of junk. 

I know they are cute, and they have awesome aesthetics.  Is this a sole reason to buy a car?  I would say emphatically NO.  You should buy a car because you don't have to give an arm or a leg to fix it.  You should buy a car because maintenance will be low.  Finally, you should buy a car because you know it is reliable. 

Here are my top 3 reasons why you should never buy an Audi or VW:
3) unreliable
2) high depreciation
1) they are an absolute pile of junk

So when looking at a newer car for yourself or a loved one, do yourself a favor and NEVER BUY a VW product. 

2000 Honda Accord accessory belt tensioner R&R

http://www.hondaaccordforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5192

My name is stir_fry_boy

On Tap:

Wanted to let you know what is on tap for my blog.

Oil and filter change on the 3.4 L Toyota 4 Runner and Tacoma (the filter is a big pain and I will show you why).

Oil and filter change on the 3.0 L VTEC Honda Accord.

Transmission fluid change on the 3.0 L VTEC Honda Accord. 

I will go over the whole procedure and simple things to watch for in each case.

Valve Cover Gaskets on a Dodge Caravan 3.0 L

Well, sorry it has been so long since I have posted.  I have had many more battles but for some reason I keep forgetting my camera to take pics and vids.

This was a big project.  The valve cover gaskets were leaking on my in-laws' 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan with a rare 3.0 L Mitsubishi engine (similar to the engine as in the Mitsubishi Eclipse).  Total working time, it took me about 8 or 9 hours.  For a frame of reference, I did my valve cover gaskets on my 3.4 L V6 Toyota 4Runner in about 4 hours.  Saved myself about $500.  For this job, I probably saved my in-laws about $1,000.  It is much more difficult to work on an engine when it is all the way back almost in the dash than having it sit the other way in the car.

Not many of the Caravans had this engine, especially the Grand models.  They mostly had the 3.3 or 3.8 Chrysler engine in them.  I did get some pictures of what I did: 

This picture is the upper intake manifold off and the injectors out over to the side of the car:

The picture below is with the front valve cover taken off exposing the rockers and camshaft.  This is about as far as I needed to go.  It had been leaking oil for a very long time because the gaskets were extremely brittle. 

So, I will just let you know what I had to do to get this far.  I removed the following items: Alternator, belt, EGR and tube, Intake hose, throttle body, intake plenum (upper intake manifold), injectors, lower intake manifold, valve covers, spark plug wires, transmission filler tube, battery, and a ton of wires and connectors.

While I was doing all of this I replaced the spark plug wires, spark plugs, distributor cap and rotor, coolant hoses (including the bypass hose), radiator hoses, valve cover gaskets, side camshaft gaskets, intake manifold gaskets, and antifreeze.  It was a good thing that I had an eye for potential problems.  I found leaky coolant hoses that had been leaking for some time that were hard to see without taking parts out of the car or actually knowing what I was looking for.  This can be a big problem because when your engine is low on coolant, it overheats and you can ruin an engine running it while overheated.  At the very least, it can cause you to be stranded.  This was a big job!

This job is not for the faint of heart and I would recommend that you have some other wrenching experience to help with the automotive concepts involved with taking all this stuff out of the car.  One screw-up and the car won't run right or you could even have a gas leak and cause an engine fire.  In that case, you would have to take it all apart again.  I was fortunate to have the Chilton manual to get the torque specs on everything that needed to be torqued down and in a certain sequence which was everything touching a gasket.  It took me much longer to put it all back into the car than take it out due to tediousness of the torque procedures (right order and right amount of torque).  I was very careful and made sure that everything was hooked up correctly.  In other words, I took my time and didn't rush the job because rushing is what leads to future problems.

If I was to explain everything that I did step-by-step it would take all day to write it out.  But I do want to explain some important concepts involved with doing this and some special tools required.

When taking spark plug wires out, label them with tape so that you know where they go.  On this car, the distributor (the thing in blue above) was labeled with the cylinder number with the corresponding hole for the spark plug wire.

Another thing you have to be careful of is the injectors.  They are very expensive (usually about $150 each) and very delicate.  They need to be removed with the fuel rail.  If you don't, then you will have to buy new seals and they can be expensive ($8 each X 2 for each injector X 6 for each injector = $96).  You need to label the injector wires so you know which cylinder they go to.  Once again, if you get a wire crossed, then you have to undo a lot of stuff to get it right and the car won't run until you have it all back together correctly.  When putting injectors in, you need to make sure that the seals and corresponding holes are clean.  Put clean engine oil around the seals to prevent them from leaking. I usually pour about 1/4 oil cap from the bottle with clean oil and use my finger to spread the oil around the seals.  If they are not clean, they will surely leak and the risk is an engine fire.  When I took off the lower intake manifold (top picture), I was sure to clean everything up really good.  Water works fine along with some good carb and choke cleaner.  Just make sure it is dry when putting it back in the car because cars don't run on water.

I had to use an inch pound wrench.  They are a miniature torque wrench you see at the tire places.  This is a must since if you don't get the torque right the gaskets will leak.  This is something that places like Checker and Autozone do not rent.

Usually when torquing bolts that hold down gaskets, you work from the middle bolt toward the outside.  Take the top picture with the lower intake manifold for example.  You would work from the middle outward, switching from front to back as you go along a little at a time.  You end up going in sequence 3 or 4 times before you finish the whole piece.  There were 8 bolts holding that down. 

Finally, use good quality parts.  I can not say enough about using good parts.  I generally don't use parts from Checker or Autozone.  Compared to the local parts stores like Parts Plus, Napa, Carquest, etc their parts are lower quality and don't last as long.  This job is one I would not like to repeat.  My motto is:  Do it once, do it right, be thorough, and you won't have to worry about it. 

The results of being thorough paid off.  The van runs better than it has for a very long time.  It will get good gas mileage and be reliable.

Fan / Drive Belt Replacement on the 3.4L V6 5VZ-FE Toyota engine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8yF_gD-Mx0

Showing how to replace and reinstall belts for the 3.4 L Toyota engine in the 3rd Gen 4Runner (96-2002) and Tacoma (95.5-2004) also some Tundras.  If you want to see a write up go to:  http://www.yotatech.com/f2/how-change-drive-belts-3-4-l-5vz-fe-216234/#post51500315

2000 Honda Accord EX V6 Front Brake Pad and Rotor Replacement

So, I decided to try a movie of how to do front brake pads on my Honda Accord.  A brake job on pretty much any car has the same general concept.  There are a few exceptions.  Enjoy the movie, tell me if you would rather have the movie or just pictures with words.  There are 3 videos and they go up to 480 P.  I could only put out 10 min at a time.  Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeVVGSJwwPk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd0gS0p-HKc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ko23Wzjilo

Spark Plug Wires on my 02' Toyota 4Runner 3.4 L V6.

Well, today I had a small battle.  I did my spark plug wires on my 02' 4Runner.  This one is pretty easy to work on as you can see by the straight shot of the engine bay (with a little Southern Utah sandstone mud from four wheelin'):

Toyota products are some of the easiest to work on for most repairs (at least from my experience).   This job was no exception.  One of the reasons why Toyota has made some of the most reliable vehicles on the road is due to their simplicity.  This engine above is no exception.  If taken care of, these engines go 400,000 miles without any major work done. 

Since my 4Runner engine is non-transverse mounted, it was easy to take pictures of everything I did.

First I acquired the necessary parts:  

Top is the spark plug wires, bottom is dielectric grease.  Many people skip the dielectric grease, but I think it is important.  It's purpose is to grease all the connections between the spark plugs, and the spark plug wires.  The grease is special because it conducts electricity, and since these wires will be in here about 50,000 miles before I change my spark plugs again, it will make it much easier to remove the wires when the time comes.  When the spark plug wires can not be removed because the dielectric grease is omitted, they can break upon disassembly later.  The grease was about $1, and $1 well spent.

Next, the acquired the tools, which I owned already:

The tools necessary to do this job are:  pliers, Phillips screwdriver (plus sign), common screwdriver (flat blade), socket set, needle nose pliers, a 11" x 3/8" ratchet extension, a 6" x 3/8" ratchet extension, ratchet, and spark plug socket.  All these tools are very common and can be acquired with ease at any tool store. 

First I removed the air intake hose (circled in red):

I undid the clips that hold the wire onto the air intake hose.  The clips are marked in green.  To do this, I used my needle-nose pliers.  I then loosened the clamps with my Phillips screwdriver (circled in blue). The air intake hose is now ready to be removed from the vehicle.

This is the result:

Now we are ready to change the spark plug wires.  Here is where my brother failed.  You only do ONE spark plug wire at a time.  DO NOT REMOVE ALL THE WIRES AT ONCE.  Each wire has a specific place, and if you can't remember where it goes your car will not run right or at all.  It doesn't matter which wire you do first.

When my dad was in high school, his friends thought it would be funny to remove all the spark plug wires and throw them on the ground while he was at a school dance.  His car was a V8 so he had 8 spark plug wires to figure out where they went, in what place on the engine and what length of wire went where.  It took my dad and my grandpa (who is a retired mechanic) hours to fix his car and make it run again.  In my 4Runner, it has a different setup.  I have 3 spark plug wires for 6 cylinders.  This is due to these special coil packs.  The coil packs say "Toyota" on them in the picture below.

I removed the three bolts holding the coils down onto the engine (circled in red), removed the connectors going into the coils (green) then I removed the spark plug wire connector (blue):

Since we are dealing with electrical connections let me give a huge caveat.  DO NOT force apart any electrical connection.  Take your time and figure out how it disconnects before you start tugging on them.  NEVER pull on the wires themselves.  In this picture above, the green circles have a tab that push in.  Using my thumb, I pushed in on the tab and pulled out at the same time.  DO NOT use dielectric grease on these connections.  Since they are well covered with the plastic connector, it is not necessary.  The connectors came apart easily with no trauma:

I then pulled the coil pack out, it has a long tube sticking down on the underside of what you see in the picture.  Next the spark plug wires have to be disconnected and were a little tricky.  I removed ONE wire at a time.  They disconnect by not pushing in on a tab, but inserting my flat blade screwdriver at the bottom of the spark plug wire connector and lifting up.

I then followed one single wire to the other side of the engine:

To make things easier, I did remove the small bolt (10 mm) and the "DIAGNOSIS" connector above and to the right of where my hand is.  As you can see, the wires are different on this side of the engine.  To remove these, you twist and then pull up where the wire goes into the small circle.  DO NOT pull up on the wire itself.  Twisting the wire before pulling breaks loose the connection to make it easier to pull up.  With one wire removed from the vehicle you get this:

I then removed the spark plug using my 11" x 3/8" ratchet extension.  I acquired a special extension where it locks the socket in place.  The spark plug socket has a piece of rubber in it to hold the spark plug in the socket so when you pull the spark plug out, it comes out with the socket.  When installing a new spark plug without the locking mechanism, you can pull out just the extension and not the socket.  It is a little frustrating to try and pull out your socket by itself. 

I then put a little bit of dielectric grease on top the spark plug where the wire is going to connect to the wire.  I then put the spark plug back in the engine.

To install a new spark plug you apply a high-temp anti-seize compound onto the threads of the spark plug.  It looks like metallic grease.  I then put the spark plug into the socket attached to my extension.  ALWAYS start threading the spark plug by hand.  If you get immediate resistance, you have the spark plug cross-threaded.  Loosen it and try again.  There should be minimal resistance for a few turns.  I then tightened the spark plug with my ratchet.  I put a fair amount of torque on the spark plugs.  DO NOT ratchet them down until you can't turn the ratchet anymore.  THIS WILL CAUSE SERIOUS ENGINE DAMAGE!  You want the spark plugs to be tight, but not super tight.  A too loose spark plug can loosen itself, cross thread, and tighten itself.  If you tighten them too much, you can strip the threads out for the spark plug.  Either way, the threads for the spark plug are deep within the engine and require a tedious and expensive process to fix. 

Now it was time for a new spark plug wire.  All the new spark plug wires had different lengths.  So, with the old wire and the new wire side by side, I could easily see which one it was:

I then put dielectric grease on the small end (right side in picture above):

I used my finger to move the grease all around the silver part in the center.  I ran the wire where the old one used to be.  I made sure that the new wires were well connected and tight by pushing down in the center of each end of the wire.

I then ran the other 2 wires and put dielectric grease on the 4 remaining spark plugs using the same procedure I have explained.   I put dielectric grease on all the connections between the spark plugs, and spark plug wires.  On the left side (driver side) of the engine, it was a little bit more hairy to get the spark plugs and wires out.  For the remaining 2 wires, I did have to remove some brackets and move some other things out of the way.  In my opinion, it makes auto repair much easier to move things out of the way if you can.  This gives you room to work, just remember where everything goes when you put it back together.  You shouldn't have any bolts left over.  This picture shows what I thought was necessary to move out of the way in order to change the spark plug wires.

On the left of the picture, I already removed that bolt.  The bottom circles a bolt that connects that big black bracket that runs to the top of the engine.  I loosened the bottom bolt and undid the top bolt (indicated by the red arrow).  This allowed the bracket to swing toward the back of the engine to get it out of the way.

I then put everything back in it's place in the order I removed it.  Many removal procedures in auto repair are this way, but don't always assume that it is.  

Next, I double checked my spark plug wire connections, and started my truck:

It runs beautifully!  If the engine doesn't run right, shut off the engine, and double check all your connections.

Me = 4 Cars = 0.

Next post will probably be front brake pads on my 2000 Honda Accord EX V6 Coupe.  I took it in for inspection yesterday and they are getting pretty low.  I got an "Advise" on my inspection report.