[s-cars] Re: a very rough Audi weekend

[JShadzi at aol.com]

Marc, so sorry to hear about your tough weekend, but so glad to hear you're ok and the car is not damaged more, I do think you really lucked out on that ball joint incident, I always replace suspension connectors (critical ones) with new factory parts BTW ;)

Livin' and Learnin'

Javad

>Well I tried to make it to Waterfest this weekend:  overnighted a new
>turbocharger to get the 4ktq ready to go on Friday night and all.
>
>
>So I start out on the 200ish mile trip to Jersey.  The car was running
>great even with the lowered boost I was running to break in the turbo.
>
>About 60 miles into the trip my dash lit up indicating the car wasn't
>charging.. looking down at the voltmeter showed this was the case.. so I
>pulled off at the next exit into a hotel parking lot and thought myself
>pretty smart for carrying a jack, spare belt, and a full complement of
>tools ;-)
>
>http://tinyurl.com/hk9x  shows the busted belt.  Of course the reason
>for the busted belt was yours truly playing monkey lad and not using
>locktite on the nut that holds the bolt which the alternator pivots
>on......
>
>
>So after replacing the belt and borrowing a 13mm nut from the radiator
>side support I was back on my way.
>
>Once I got into NY, things got real ugly in a hurry.  I was doing about
>80 and had just rounded a slight curve in the road when tire smoke
>starting pouring from the right front and the car began veering out of
>control.  Luckily I was able to keep things pointed southbound and I
>headed for the nearest breakdown lane which in my case was on the left
>(no way was I going to be able to make it to the safer right hand
>shoulder).  After my heart began beating at a normal pace again I took
>stock of the situation..  I wanted to go look and see what was wrong but
>thought better of it with cars zipping along and not noticing a disabled
>vehicle until they were right upon me.
>
>I called AAA who then called the NY state authority who is responsible
>for towing vehicles on 95 in NY (AAA is not allowed on the turnpike, but
>they still pay for the tow!!).  about 10 minutes later a cop showed up
>behind me looking very nervous and putting flares up to divert traffic
>away from the left lane.  I noticed he was standing outside his car
>leaning on the concrete divider.. I'm sure after all of those incidents
>of exploding crown vics from oncoming traffic plowing into the back made
>him decide that was a safer place to be...
>
>So anyway the first truck that shows up is the sling variety.  I told
>the guy he can't tow my car with that thing.  He takes a look under the
>car and consults with the cop who is not looking terribly happy.  I hear
>something along the lines of "get the f'in car off my highway!".  Lucky
>for me the driver leaves and comes back with a ramp truck. After later
>talking with the guy he tells me that he saw all the turbo piping and
>didn't want to damage anything.  Glad I got a car guy as a tow operator!
>
>
>So now that the car was dropped off at the nearest Home Cheapot lot for
>AAA to come get me I could survey the damage:
>
>http://tinyurl.com/hkdw
>
>
>So apparently all this resulted from my RF ball joint popping out of the
>strut and the strut just slammed into the fender and dragged itself
>along until I managed to slide to a stop. The wheel was so Fubar'd that
>in order to get the thing on and off the ramp truck(s) I had to use my
>jack to raise the right front so the car could roll on the bed. I'm
>really amazed I got away as easily as I did.  It could have been worse.
>_A_LOT_ worse....
>
>
>So the question on my mind was now why did the ball joint come out?  The
>bolt was still in place!  Well, your truly, monkey lad extraordinaire
>decided to use a stainless bolt to clamp the ball joint:
>
>http://tinyurl.com/hkhf
>
>That was well and good since it wasn't the strength of the bolt that was
>the issue.. the bolt didn't break nor did the nut come off. But what DID
>cause the failure was the fact that I used a fully threaded bolt....  In
>essence the threads on the bolt slowly wore away at the lip on the ball
>joint until it had enough clearance to pop out of the strut causing all
>this mess on Saturday.
>
>A $300 tow later (AAA only covers 100 miles and I was 160 from home...
>at $5/mile :-( ) and the car is back in my driveway so I can fix it when
>I have the energy.  I haven't touched it since Saturday but I'll likely
>deal with fixing it this week.  I'm thinking at least a grand to fix the
>damage (fender, rocker panel, fender liner, ball joint, and axle) plus
>another grand or two in stuff I'm going to want touched up if it is at
>the paint shop anyway.
>
>Live and learn.... I'll be using shouldered bolts on my ball joints from
>now on.
>
>
>more pics at:
>
>http://tinyurl.com/hkgk
>
>--
>-Marc
>87' 4ktq
>88' 90q
>www.mswanson.com/audi
>
>