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I’ve had a clunking noise in my Audi A4 that only appeared in certain circumstances and was very difficult to narrow down. For about 2 years it’s bugged me and despite visits to various mechanics and having been put through a couple of MOTs in the meantime, no one has been able to identify the problem or what the solution might be. The problem turned out to be very different from what I expected and very cheap to fix.
Continue reading “Finally solved mysterious clunking noise from my Audi”
Anyone who cares about their car wants to know that it is running efficiently and performing as it should. This can’t last forever though. Time will eventually take it’s toll: the engine parts will wear down the turbo will lose efficiency, fuel lines will clog up, air intakes become choked and even electric parts can deteriorate over time, all causing losses of precious horse power as well as fuel economy and emissions. Figures such as 1 BHP loss per year have been claimed. It’s now August 2019; my Audi A4 was first registered in Sep 2006 and has done almost 200,000 miles. Surely by now it will have experienced a considerable drop compared to when it was new. How much has it lost and what can I do about it?
Continue reading “How much performance has my Audi lost after 200,000 miles?”
I recently bought a Porsche Boxster. Porsche has a reputation as one of the world’s most respected Sports cars manufacturers, but the Boxster is it’s entry level model. Can it really compare with the likes of the well respected 911, or is it just the poor man’s Porsche. I had done a fair bit of research before I went for the test drive, but was this all biased hype from enthusiastic owners or is it the well balanced nippy sports car that people make it out to be? It was hard to know exactly what to expect and the only way to find out was to take one for a test drive. So what is it like behind the wheel and how does it compare to other cars I’ve driven?
Continue reading “First impressions driving the Porsche Boxster 986”
Recently I’ve had it in my head that I wanted a fun car. All my previous cars have been primarily for the purpose of getting from A to B rather than for the fun of driving. I also wanted a marque with a reputation, and yeah, to show off a bit! I looked at various options online and decided that Porsche Boxsters are an attractive option. The prices for 986 Boxsters have come down quite a bit, their popularity has meant you get quite a lot of car for not a lot of cash.
Continue reading “I bought a Porsche Boxster!”
This was pretty annoying. I had more or less put my door back together following my speaker upgrade, all I was waiting for was some replacement clips I’d ordered to arrive and it would be done. I went out to my car to take a trip to the shops and discovered that someone had deprived me of the driver’s side wing mirror! I’ll never know who did it unfortunately. I made a temporary repair with some cable ties and an old sock believe it or not. I decided to repair it properly myself using parts from eBay. This article describes the procedure.
Continue reading “Fixing Audi A4 B7 wing mirror”
Recently I installed new speakers in the car and came across a challenge when attempting to mount the tweeters. The Woofers, Tweeters and crossovers came as a set which I explained how to install in another post. The woofers were relatively straight forward to install as there was a hole cut in a flat section of door for the mounts to attach to and the fact that the new speaker mounts were the same shape as the originals. The tweeters however were not so simple and required a little bit of customisation.. with help from a 3D printer!
The speaker on the driver’s side door of my A4 stopped working so it was time to replace it. The sound quality from the standard speakers is not great so I saw this as an opportunity to do little bit of an upgrade. I am a bit of a novice at this sort of thing but after a lot of research I managed to achieve a very satisfactory outcome. This article describes the solution I went for and roughly the process of making the upgrade.
Continue reading “Replacing door speakers on an Audi A4 B7”
I’ve got a leak on one of my car tyres. I know this. I just keep pumping it up, about once a week does nicely. I’ve had it looked at, the problem is the alloy wheel is horrendously damaged and it leaks air out at the rim. I haven’t looked into solving this yet but apparently repairs are possible. Recently I had to leave the car parked up for 2 weeks and when I returned the tyre was completely flat and I didn’t have a pump!
Continue reading “Don’t lose your alloy key!”