Re: '90 CQ steering help needed

[paul.heneghan@bbc.co.uk (Heneghan,Paul)]

 "Duff, Ian" writes:

> My 1990 Coupe quattro is slowly developing a strange and unsettling
> steering tendency: it has quite a bit of free play in the steering, like
> maybe 3/4"-1" either side of dead ahead before the car turns, along with
> what I have heard called "tramlining", where the car feels like it has
> crossed a tram line, on the slightest camber change in the road. It also
> clunks sometimes when I'm turning sharply at low speeds, like pulling
> out of a parallel parking spot.

> Any other ideas?

On my 80 quattro, I have had clunks caused by about 6 different things.
1. Broken front springs (not visible without taking the strut out)
2. Disintegrated wishbone (A frame) bushes.
3. Worn CV joint
4. Worn strut upper mounting bearing
5. Loose wishbone to subframe bolts (I didn't use a torque wrench)
6. Disintegrated antiroll bar bushes
7. Loose wheel nuts (slightly ashamed about this one)

Other things I have heard about include:
1. Loose steering rack (I don't know about Audis, but my Jetta used to 
 rattle over rough ground until I tightened the 7mm adjusting bolt 
 (thrust bolt?)
2. Worn wheel bearings (my Jetta produced a clunk when parking which 
 sounded like a CV joint, but was in fact a bearing)

As you can see, it could be practically anything.

Paul
paul.heneghan@bbc.co.uk
1984 Audi 80 quattro (no clunks for the first time in the six years 
 I've owned it)
1983 Audi 100 Avant