Monday, February 4, 2013

Keep the Audi alive

I may have mentioned previously that the estimate on the repair of the exhaust system on the Audi (220,000 miles on it) was in excess of $1200, which is more that it is worth.  So G decided to repair it himself.  A metal sleeve holding to pieces together had rusted away, there were holes in parts and bolts were completely rusted in.  He found an acquaintance who machined the sleeve for him, then he cut off the bolts and had to drill the remaining part out.  This drilling took a few hours because the bolts were hardened steel and he could only drill for a minute or so before sharpening the bit.  He also welded the holes.  On Saturday we worked on this in the shop from 3 pm to 2 am the next morning.  He  reports it sounds much better, but still has a rattling sound and maybe a small exhaust leak!  So it is driveable.

We  did have second thoughts though because on Saturday we looked at a used car (Mazda Miata) which cost $3500, sometimes wishing we had bought it.  But the Audi seems to have a good engine and transmission yet and goes great in the snow, which the Miata would not.



4 comments:

alexis said...

I think this must be a true labor of Audi love.

de-I said...

One always wonders what the cost of these projects would be if Hubby actually allocated a realistic cost to his time.

Denise Annemarie said...

So, have you liked your Audi? We just bought a used one that only had 26,000 miles on it and was super clean.

Gill - UK said...

That's a fair mileage - a good advert for the make.