My first Audi wrench job!

[Chris Newbold <cnewbold@eznet.net>]

Well, I took to my Audi with a wrench for the first time
this weekend! It was just a piddly little job--oil and filter
change--but I had a small taste of the "joy" every one here
experiences...

Mind you, most of my "joy" stemmed from an attrocious (sp?)
lack of proper tools and facilities... :-)

After fighting with a bunch of !%#!&%$@ plastic fasteners I
got the belly pan off and took to the crankcase plug with
my trust adjustable wrench (don't laugh, please). Well,
the last guy under here must have used the impact wrench on
the thing, because the best I could do was start to round
off the plug as I bent the jaws of my wrench. I abandoned
the job and went to the store (in my VW) to buy a ratchet
handle for my lone 17mm socket.

In the end, I needed a 2' breaker on the end of the ratchet
handle to get the plug loose. I'm sure this would have been
easier if I'd had more than 8" of clearance under the car,
but I don't have a proper jack or stands...

I completed the job without incident (save fighting with the
plastic fasteners again, breaking one) and topped off with
Valvoline, 20W/50.

(BTW, I filled by volume, 5.3 qts, and discovered that the
dipstick was down 1/4 qt. Maybe that's why it's always
"low")

I've decided that to do anything more serious, I'm going
to have to invest in a fully-equiped garage and a truck
load of Snap-On tools... :-)

-Chris (I'm having fun now!)