Subframe bolt fell out?

[Ameer Antar]

The nut in there is captive and on my car it wobbles around in there a bit. At first I thought there might be something wrong, but it eventually tightened. There is a tiny access hole in the frame rails where this attaches and you might be able to at least see what's going on. If not, I'm sure you could get someone to cut a small chunk out and replace the nut. Make sure you get a high-grade nut for this. Also keep in mind these bolts are stretch bolts, so they can't be re-used. Make sure the replacement is brand new. Someone may have tried to re-tighten one and stripped the threads. good luck.

-Ameer

----Original Message----
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 11:37:42 -0400
From: Theodore.Haug at rrd.com
Subject: Subframe bolt fell out?
To: quattro at audifans.com
Message-ID: <OF7DB6B73B.3294449D-ON86256EDD.00553DF8 at rrd.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII





Here's hoping someone has run into this before....  1990 Audi 100 (non
quattro) was in for it's inspection on Friday.  The car in up on the lift
and we go to remove the the left front wheel, and notice a lot of movement
in the subframe.  Low and behold, the left rear subframe bolt has fallen
out.  Oddly enough the car drove fine, so I don't know how long the bolt
may have been missing.  But, it must have been working itself loose for
awhile, because the replacement bolt no longer draws tight in the threads.
Has anyone run into this before, and have any suggestions.  Drilling it out
and retapping may not work because the bolt still has to go up through the
subframe bushing.

Any thoughts would be really appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Ted Haug
90 100
87 Coupe GT
90 V8 quattro
94 Cabriolet
(headaches aplenty)



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