Keep or bin?

[toastyhamster]

Car as per signature, last two thousand miles have cost me more than a pound a mile in repairs (80k on clock):

DPF clean
Turbo recon
EGR valve+cooler

Still needs - warped front hubs/disks replacing

Diagnosed today (what i thought was a simple wheel bearing) new rear diff (find out the cost tomorrow).

Just I just drive it to a dealer and pick something else up? Won't be an Audi - nice cars but I can't afford it to be so catastrophocally expensive after only 80k.

 

[spartacus68]

Surprised for a rear diff to go at 80k. These are pretty much maintenance free items that should be trouble-free for years. I renewed the gear oil at 100k (on a B5 V6 Quattro) more to future-proof than anything else. They can leak and cause premature wear, but is easily noticible from weeping drive-shaft seals. Hate to hazard a guess on genuine replacement but won't be cheap.

Regards warped discs, again are you sure it's not brake-pad transfer? Many of the tech-guys these days rarely dismantle calipers and simply renew at the first sign of an issue. In my experience a caliper strip-down every 20-40k miles works wonders. I'm not talking about renewing rubber dust boots or caliper o-ring seals but regreasing slider bolts and brake fluid change. Often overlooked but critical on floating calipers. Sticky calipers get hot adding to brake pad transfer and inevitable vibration. Discs will have tell-tale heat spots, unless of course you drive it like you stole it and keep your foot on the brake until you come to a complete stop.

Best of luck anyway.

 

[toastyhamster]

3 sets of discs before I went somewhere else and had the hub run out measured, yeh it's the hubs. Probably cheap discs did the damage.

I'll ask about caliper strip downs.

Garage did say it was a rare failure, had some all roads in as they get more of a battering. I do drive pretty hard but I've done harder miles in much lesser kit (120k in 3 years in a Pug 306 diesel) with none of this crap.

 

[toastyhamster]

oh well, only 4.5k for a new diff plus fitting. Hello Ford/anybody else.

 

[desertstorm]

You would be a lot better off going to an independent VAG place and asking them to source a second hand diff. You can pick them up on fleabay for £3-400 and they aren't difficult to swap.
You seem to have had a lot of bad luck though. I am not sure Ford is the way to go.

 

[toastyhamster]

Yeh about secondhand - about 2k in the UK are the only ones available (also fits S5 and some others). Fortunately a breaker in Latvia took my offer of 230 euros and hopefully it will be shipped tomorrow, being fitted by an independent for 250 plus oil, so a bit of a result.

 

[rum4mo]

That is a bit annoying, when my old 2000 Passat B5 4Motion started making noises from the front wheels, I considered that it was the front transaxle, and with a heavy heart, booked it in to VW, only for them to confirm it was just a wheel bearing, so I got them to replace both sides!