[A8] A couple of miscellaneous items

[Jason Wilkerson]

Oil leak could be anything, but I'll bet it is the blue square rings behind the TB cover and rear hall sensors (where the distributors were on the old V8Q's)  There are 4 large diameter and 2 small diameter total.  Two large up front, one small and the same in the rear.  I have found that most people don't even know about these seals and end up thinking it is a headgasket or something else.  I'd do the timing belt, wp, rollers, and tensioner along with the crank seal, cam seals and oil pump seal while you are there.  I wouldn't do the head gaskets if you don't have to - unless there is another reason to.  I would also do the oil cooler coolant tube at this time if you haven't because at some point it WILL fail if it hasn't already.  I have a parts list if you want, just let me know and we can talk on the phone at some point.

 

________________________________
 From: Vincent Gelinas <vrgelinas at gmail.com>
To: quattro at audifans.com; a8 at audifans.com 
Sent: Monday, December 5, 2011 8:31 AM
Subject: [A8] A couple of miscellaneous items
 
Hi, all!

A month and change with my Alumibeast and I love her - when we got that nasty, sticky snow last week, my A8 was the only one in our family that didn't get stuck (My stepdad's truck wouldn't have gotten stuck if he had looked in the mirror before backing down the driveway and avoiding the ditch, but that's a whole other can of worms, LOL.)  My mom now wants a quattro, and my stepdad is in love with my A8.  Who can blame them?  I may give my mom my A8 and get an Allroad (6MT, 2.7tt).  Not sure.

First thing - lots of googling has turned up fruitless.  I failed inspection the other day because my check engine light was on due to my vehicle speed sensor.  Where is this located on my car, how do you access it, and how far do I have to bend over to buy a new one?

Second - my engine (32v 4.2) is leaking like a sieve to the tune of 3-5Q a week, depending on how much I drive.  It's far worse when she's warm, and will leak enough to form a decent puddle if I'm idling for a while (like when I was adjusting headlights).  I've heard everything from the oil cooler (easy) to the oil pump gasket (difficult) to the head gaskets (might as well do those if I need to tear down to the oil pump gasket).  Where would the most likely culprit be for that?

Third - I changed my right HID bulb a week or two ago and it is WAY out of alignment (downwards) and I can't, for the life of me, get it to cooperate and go back in alignment (I had to modify the adjuster because the stupid cheap plastic of the top screw broke, so I took a socket and used epoxy to bind it to the actual adjuster screw).  Any thoughts, or is it time to bend over and get a new headlamp?  I'd get e-codes off ECS but I'm fresh out of 2500 bucks, LOL.  That goes to savings for tuition.

Fourth - How does one wire the Bose amp for the rear deck?  Is it as simple as plugging in that DIN connector that looks like a parallel port or do I have to unravel the crap wiring job for an aftermarket amp that the PO used?

Okay - more than a couple things... Thanks in advance for all the help!

Vincent
1999 Audi A8q\32v 4.2L
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