My 97 A4 2.8Q has 95K and the steering seems to be having trouble. At slow
speeds the steering creeks when turning and steering in a straight line has
become difficult and sloppy. I checked the power steering fluid and that is
fine. The steering wheel has a lot of play in it even when making little
steering corrections at any speed. I know this will cost me an arm and a
leg, plus I have read about this in the past, but thought it would never
happen to me. Any ideas on what the problem may be and the possible cost?
I'm calling my dealer in the morning to set up an appointment.

Daryl

 

"Daryl H." <darylhart@knology.net> wrote in message
news:vl7a8ikqr9ote1@corp.supernews.com...
> My 97 A4 2.8Q has 95K and the steering seems to be having trouble. At
slow
> speeds the steering creeks when turning and steering in a straight line
has
> become difficult and sloppy. I checked the power steering fluid and that
is
> fine. The steering wheel has a lot of play in it even when making little
> steering corrections at any speed. I know this will cost me an arm and a
> leg, plus I have read about this in the past, but thought it would never
> happen to me. Any ideas on what the problem may be and the possible cost?
> I'm calling my dealer in the morning to set up an appointment.
>
> Daryl
>
>
New sterring racks are not overly expensive, the fitting is fairly costly,
expect to pay about £450-5£500.00 the rack is £250.00 for a recon unit from
Audi.

Thats about $700 us roughly

Ron

 

Thanks , I was thinking it was going to be well over $1000.

--
Daryl Hart
darylhart@alum.wpi.edu
"Ron" <ron@ron10.com> wrote in message
news:LCQ4b.2831$ys4.24284351@news-text.cableinet.net...
>
> "Daryl H." <darylhart@knology.net> wrote in message
> news:vl7a8ikqr9ote1@corp.supernews.com...
> > My 97 A4 2.8Q has 95K and the steering seems to be having trouble. At
> slow
> > speeds the steering creeks when turning and steering in a straight line
> has
> > become difficult and sloppy. I checked the power steering fluid and
that
> is
> > fine. The steering wheel has a lot of play in it even when making
little
> > steering corrections at any speed. I know this will cost me an arm and
a
> > leg, plus I have read about this in the past, but thought it would never
> > happen to me. Any ideas on what the problem may be and the possible
cost?
> > I'm calling my dealer in the morning to set up an appointment.
> >
> > Daryl
> >
> >
> New sterring racks are not overly expensive, the fitting is fairly costly,
> expect to pay about £450-5£500.00 the rack is £250.00 for a recon unit
from
> Audi.
>
> Thats about $700 us roughly
>
> Ron
>
>

 

I wouldn't assume that the steering rack is the problem.

Just helped my son replace the tie rod ends on his '98 A4 which had the
same sloppy steering problem. That fixed the sloppiness completely. The
ball joints have a nylon sort of liner that compresses over time and
causes the slop.

Squeaking is a common problem with the front suspension in the A4s. Shop
will replace the lower suspension arm for about $400 per side in parts
plus labor. This will fix the squeak.

OTOH, drilling a few holes in the nylon bushing and injecting grease
with a needle point adapter on the grease gun will also fix the problem
for a DIY cost of about $%10. Also inject grease into the lower ball
joints too.

Tony
'91 100Q 5spd

Daryl H. wrote:
> My 97 A4 2.8Q has 95K and the steering seems to be having trouble. At slow
> speeds the steering creeks when turning and steering in a straight line has
> become difficult and sloppy. I checked the power steering fluid and that is
> fine. The steering wheel has a lot of play in it even when making little
> steering corrections at any speed. I know this will cost me an arm and a
> leg, plus I have read about this in the past, but thought it would never
> happen to me. Any ideas on what the problem may be and the possible cost?
> I'm calling my dealer in the morning to set up an appointment.
>
> Daryl
>
>
>
>
>
>

 

"Daryl H." <darylhart@knology.net> wrote in message news:<vl7m499qtqda42@corp.supernews.com>...
> Thanks , I was thinking it was going to be well over $1000.
>
> --
> Daryl Hart
> darylhart@alum.wpi.edu
> "Ron" <ron@ron10.com> wrote in message
> news:LCQ4b.2831$ys4.24284351@news-text.cableinet.net...
> >
> > "Daryl H." <darylhart@knology.net> wrote in message
> > news:vl7a8ikqr9ote1@corp.supernews.com...
> > > My 97 A4 2.8Q has 95K and the steering seems to be having trouble. At
> slow
> > > speeds the steering creeks when turning and steering in a straight line
> has
> > > become difficult and sloppy. I checked the power steering fluid and
> that
> is
> > > fine. The steering wheel has a lot of play in it even when making
> little
> > > steering corrections at any speed. I know this will cost me an arm and
> a
> > > leg, plus I have read about this in the past, but thought it would never
> > > happen to me. Any ideas on what the problem may be and the possible
> cost?
> > > I'm calling my dealer in the morning to set up an appointment.
> > >
> > > Daryl
> > >
> > >
> > New sterring racks are not overly expensive, the fitting is fairly costly,
> > expect to pay about £450-5£500.00 the rack is £250.00 for a recon unit
> from
> > Audi.
> >
> > Thats about $700 us roughly
> >
> > Ron
> >
> >

Daryl,

I suggest that you stop whining and get a real car!