Kevin L.

Spent most of yesterday at the dealership getting couple problems looked at for my A4. Blue smoke at startup, solid CEL, very small amount of smoke seen near turbo area (probably from excess oil buring off). Found: (1) System too lean, leaks in vacume system, so vacume line replaced. (2) Coolant temp circut too high, replaced senor. (3) Valve cover leaking due to blocked crank case pressure value plugged, replaced valve and gasket.

I have seen posts regarding the first 2 issues, but haven't heard of the 3rd one, so just wondering if is bad luck or signs of something else major coming up... No real mechanical background, so just curious what all that means.

Also, my "clunking noise" is narrowed down to a left wheel bearing, which dealer said is a "huge job" and require 5-6 hours of labor. I thought is a bit excessive (just from past posts on AW), so didn't change yet. Basically looking for a good indepedent shop now to take care of this and future services (TB change and etc.), preferably in the Markham area. I only know of a few "tuner shops" in the area and not sure how they are with regards to regular maintenance/diagnostics vs. just for aftermarket upgrades. So any recommendations would be appreciated. Also, what's a reasonable price range for wheel bearings?

Thanks.

Pizzicato

Bearings don't clunk, they Hum, sounds more like control arm issues

36valves

Try do a search on the B5-A4 forum to find further info for btdt's and fixes.

Even if it were the wheel bearings (which again don't "clunk" when they fail), it should be a fairly routine repair.

Kevin L.

when I insisted the dealer to check the control arms, they said it was fine. Also, since I only experience the "clunging" noise while wheels are turned (mostly on lane changes or merging onto highways) and not much going over bumps, they ran the car on a hoise and listened with a stethascope and said that wheel bearing is worn and making noise, also heard small CV Joint noise as well, but concluded that wheel bearing is the main problem.

I just didn't think (from reading past posts) that replacing one wheel bearing is a 5-6 hour job, thus labor alone is around $500, sounds a bit extreme to me. So wondering what is the fair price for this and looking for independent shop recommendation around Markham.

TIA

Pizzicato

Cost of bearing $75, 2 hrs labour, My mechanic charged me a total of $150