Wrenchin... Adventures under the hood... Put em here.

[highangle]

GL, do you have an inspection plate or plug on the bottom of your trans bell housing? You may have a drain plug on your torque converter that'll let you get another quart or two out when you get under it again.



TC holds a lot and is also the place where fluid gets hot in an auto [there's clutches in there], so old fluid in the TC is usually the specific culprit when you drop a sloshy trans pan for scheduled service, add beautiful luscious cathartic red fluid, and have it get dirty next day...

Another thing - any magnets in a transmission pan need to go back exactly where they were after you clean said pan with brake cleaner and blue paper towels.
Never mind how, magnets work.


==============


Napa has always had "better" parts than other chain auto parts houses. Their house brand suppliers are top notch - Wix, Valvoline, Beru, Windsor, etc. Their gold & platinum parts are often enthusiast-tier.
I hope they never change that part of their formula.

[gravitylover]

I didn't notice one but will look next time I'm under there, I shouldn't need it but it would have been good to know for this last episode.

Yeah, you just have to pay attention at any of the chain stores. This time I noticed that the Napa pn was the same as the Gabriel and Mevotech. When Advance bought Car Quest they integrated the shop level service parts into their mix (and you get gas discount reward points ). Now that there's a Napa I finally have 3 of the big chains and a local 3 store group that's usually the best price of all here in town. Auto Zone is the last choice because the staff is stupid but Advance is often the first choice because the staff is great. Similarly, the Valvoline oil change place is really good. They have a crew of car geeks with clean, expensive equipment and with the discounts I can make oil changes and coolant flushes cost less than doing it myself. Whoda thunk, a quick oil change place that's a shop of choice rather than a horror show and chain parts stores that are not terrible?

[Cocximus]

I had enough of my B7 A4 with sports suspension. Too fucking low. My B6 with regular springs and Koni FSD shocks was fairly decent on FSRs. The sport springs are about 1" lower than regular springs.

Of course Audi forums don't have any info on lifting it. To start I am replacing the current sport springs with the regular springs. Most b6/b7 sag in the rear so I am considering adding adjustable perches that come with suspension kits. Then what about the front coilovers? Can I find universal perches like the rear perched that fits over the front shock?

Or, should I keep the stiffer and shorter sport springs and just get the lift with the perches?

What would limit the amount I can reasonably lift the car, CVs I guess? Where do CVs start being stressed? I'd still like to keep decent road handling.

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[Timberridge]

1" higher from stock is no problem for CV's. But it's not ride height that's killing you. Btw, Audi stock stuff always rode like a buckboard wagon to me. They must tune the compression damping for a car full of fat people.

That said, springs and shocks should be tuned to work together. I've lowered cars and they actually rode better on the street. Mixing and matching shocks to springs on your own can make for weird. I'd get a tried and true full kit from somewhere with quality shocks (Koni, Bilstein) and springs (Eibach, H&R).

I'd avoid coilovers--they are an unecessary expense.

Also if you're riding on 40 series tires (and/or god forbid run flats) see if you can run a bigger sidewall---and no run flats.

[Cocximus]

I am bottoming out on refrozen FSRs. I need at least an inch. I have Koni FSDs again. There are absolutely no standard height or lift kits out there. All kits are minimum 1/2" lower than sport so 1.5" lower than standard

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[J. Barron DeJong]

A/C on my 2013 Toyota Sienna is weak, but working - can’t keep up if it’s above 85 or so, even with recirc.

Should I start by getting one of those ‘A/C Pro’ recharge/sealant canisters and hope that works, or should I be doing some other diagnostics first?

[fatnslow]

A/C on my 2013 Toyota Sienna is weak, but working - can’t keep up if it’s above 85 or so, even with recirc.

Should I start by getting one of those ‘A/C Pro’ recharge/sealant canisters and hope that works, or should I be doing some other diagnostics first?

Do not add anything with a sealer in your ac. Borrow a set of manifold gauges or just pay someone.

[simple]

A/C on my 2013 Toyota Sienna is weak, but working - can’t keep up if it’s above 85 or so, even with recirc.

Should I start by getting one of those ‘A/C Pro’ recharge/sealant canisters and hope that works, or should I be doing some other diagnostics first?

Yes do that just before you trade your car in to the dealer. Cuz it's gonna be fucked.

Lol probably not that bad but it's a real sloppy band aid

[J. Barron DeJong]

Yes do that just before you trade your car in to the dealer. Cuz it's gonna be fucked.

Lol probably not that bad but it's a real sloppy band aid

Ok. Will check to see if I can get loaner gauges.

Process is to remove all refrigerant, then pull a vacuum and see if it holds or leaks, then either fix the leak or recharge?

[anotherVTskibum]

First planned project this afternoon was to finish prepping and apply bedliner to my winch bumper, after treating rust prior. Well, life got in the way and it took a couple weeks to get back to it after the rust treatment, so of course I had new surface rust on spots I'd previously cleaned up. More treatment applied, NBD except it needs to cure for 48 hours before the next step.

So I start working on other stuff on my to-do list, including mounting hitch receivers in the bed of the truck for hitch storage. Drilled five mounting holes, tapped the first two without any drama at all, thought that things were going nice and smoothly and maybe I would have a chance to test fit tonight.

Many of you have probably guessed what happened on hole number three:

Yup, wasn't paying enough attention to the increase in force required and snapped the tap off in the hole. Now I've got two problems to solve before I can continue:
a) the tap piece in the hole needs to come out, or I need to at least knock the end protruding into the receiver off
b) I need to go buy another M6x1.0 tap, and being in a small town in Maine, the odds I can find one locally are probably around 50-50

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[SumJongGuy]

My kid's at college, junior year, and I'm having to explain to him over the phone what to do because the TPMS light is on. He can't find the old school tire gauge in the glove box. I was 100% sure there was one in there last spring. Sent him to Walmart or Auto Parts store to buy a tire gauge or to a Discount Tire free air check lane.

I'm a total failure as a parent.

[simple]

Ok. Will check to see if I can get loaner gauges.

Process is to remove all refrigerant, then pull a vacuum and see if it holds or leaks, then either fix the leak or recharge?

Which you hopefully know is not a DIY project.

Before I work on the A/C system I have a professional purge the system. Then I bring it back after the repair. He charges me less than $100 to do that

[J. Barron DeJong]

Which you hopefully know is not a DIY project.

Before I work on the A/C system I have a professional purge the system. Then I bring it back after the repair. He charges me less than $100 to do that

I guess I assumed if the parts shop had loaner A/C vacuum gauges they’d also have what I’d need to empty the system. If not, then I guess it will go to the shop.

[simple]

They don't. It's a several thousand dollar machine.

[snowaddict91]

My kid's at college, junior year, and I'm having to explain to him over the phone what to do because the TPMS light is on. He can't find the old school tire gauge in the glove box. I was 100% sure there was one in there last spring. Sent him to Walmart or Auto Parts store to buy a tire gauge or to a Discount Tire free air check lane.

I'm a total failure as a parent.

Half the reason I started to learn about fixing cars was moving 1500 miles away for college with an aging POS and little money. Let him figure it out.

[fatnslow]

Ok. Will check to see if I can get loaner gauges.

Process is to remove all refrigerant, then pull a vacuum and see if it holds or leaks, then either fix the leak or recharge?

First check the pressures and possibly top some off. You can guestimate and possibly get away the shirt cut method. Most systems lose a bit of gas over time.

[Mazderati]

Seconded/thirded/whatevered letting someone who has good knowledge of A/C systems and a good A/C machine handle that job. Refrigerant and system oil are both metered.

[fatnslow]

I'm not suggesting the op bleed out the current system diy, just borrow a set of manifold gauges to check h/l side pressure and possibly top off refrigerant using a chart to get him back to ok status. As previously mentioned having the system evacuated/vacuum/recharged by a pro can be affordable if you call around.
If the op has some mechanical accumen and some time to do a bit of research vacuum/recharge after having the system professionally evacuated is not that complicated using both a vacuum pump and gauges they lend out at both O'Reilly's and AutoZone with a few cans of freon and correct oil.

[Cruiser]

The rear diff grenaded a month or so ago while I was out wheeling and so (after getting a tow down the 4wd road and hitchhiking with the 8yo back to the cabin) I hauled the rzr to the house to sort it out in the garage instead of the leaf littler in the driveway. Now I'm sorting it out and I've got everything disconnected but the diff doesn't want to come loose from the output shaft on the xfer case and there's no god damned room to get a bfh in there to really wack at it. Dirty bastard...

[J. Barron DeJong]

If the op has some mechanical accumen…

Well, in a past career I did ‘help’ build ~$1M race cars, but since I’m an engineer the actual mechanics and fabricators had no shortage of rework .

This is the first time trying to troubleshoot A\C. Our cars had a simpler system for hot races:




Maybe I should just get a set for the whole family and call it good.

[Aldo]

A/C on my 2013 Toyota Sienna is weak, but working - can’t keep up if it’s above 85 or so, even with recirc.

Should I start by getting one of those ‘A/C Pro’ recharge/sealant canisters and hope that works, or should I be doing some other diagnostics first?

1. Are you the original owner of the car.

2. Any accident history?

3. Had any issues/ work done on a/c system over your ownership or aware of any previous service history if was a used car.

4. Shall we assume this is the first time you’ve experienced said issues?

5. Does it have rear ac?

[J. Barron DeJong]

1. Are you the original owner of the car.

2. Any accident history?

3. Had any issues/ work done on a/c system over your ownership or aware of any previous service history if was a used car.

4. Shall we assume this is the first time you’ve experienced said issues?

5. Does it have rear ac?

Original owner, no accidents, A/C has never been touched, noticed the issue starting this summer, system has three zone climate control (driver/passenger/rear)

[Aldo]

Assume system is low on Freon - as it sounds like compressor still is working. First step is to find a reputable shop with said machine to recover recycle and recharge to accurate full capacity - identify quantity recovered vs what full capacity should be to see disparity if quite low assume leak - it’s not out of ordinary to lose I’d say a third of capacity in my experience over 10 years if no previous issues - if System grossly low assume you’ve got a leak - - then tests system fully charged while monitoring pressures - all looks good and functioning properly leak detection dye is added - which allowed to circulate should show traces at area of leak after close inspection. Ie; hole in condenser from road debris, o rings in system leaking - rear system damaged lines , evaporator core - compressor - hopefully not….. if pressures off then some troubleshooting will occur this is why you’ll want a trusted shop to perform service - unfortunately not a ton of folks can do this right - leading to spending $$ on throwing darts - if you’re keeping the car and want to do it right find a shop to do this first - just blindly adding sealant or trying to drop Freon in system without knowing what’s in it or without too much knowledge of using and reading gauges isn’t gonna go too well. If no leaks are found they’ll let you use it for a week and you’ll return for a follow up to see if any dye trace. That return should be covered in the initial service cost. If you skip this step you may not ever know what’s been leaking if you’re interested in tracking down why exactly it’s not working.

My .02 cents. Good luck.

[Timberridge]

Since we're on the topic of A/C. My 2015 probably needs a recharge. Is there any downside to waiting until next spring to do it vs doing it now?

[Aldo]

The defrost function


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