[Jimmy]

Wow, a response from The Legend himself! I feel honored! :cheer: Thank you Eric.

You know, I swear I watched every video you have posted on YouTube, but some of those views were late at night so may not have retained all your wisdom in my half-conscious state. As soon as I saw that front stabilizer link I thought “THOSE THINGS!” 🙂 I proceeded to laugh when you said “seemingly easy, but deceptively hard”, and “if you don’t have heat, and if you don’t have air tools, this may not be a job you can do.”

Well, I didn’t have heat or air tools, but I DID manage to get one of the nuts off with a 18″ breaker + vice grips. My wife didn’t give me permission to get heat next to her car (she feels it’s dangerous so close to the gas tank). I wonder if I would have had better luck with an impact… don’t own one but would have invested in a cordless one if it would have taken it off.

I will remember this for the rest of my life:

“Looks deceptively easy.”
– ETCG on stabilizer links

Thanks Eric! I also wanted to say I went from someone who knew nothing about car repair (well car audio a bit, but that’s different) to someone that’s looking for car problems, just so I can wrench for the experience, all thanks to you.

[Jimmy]

Just wanted to close out this thread.

I bought a box wrench/ratchet set but couldn’t get enough leverage with the 4mm hex to break the nut loose, and the hex hole is now stripped.

My next attempt was to knock off the link, dremel off the ball joint plastic hub and try to grab the other end with some vice grips. Unfortunately the ball joint just ended up crumbling.

The frustrating part was the replacement from Autozone had flats on the opposite end of the nut for a spanner wrench, and I knew I could have got the new part installed within 10 minutes. We’ll be headed to a shop to have them remove this tomorrow.

I appreciate all the advice, and all in all I did end up learning quite a bit.

Attachments:

• 20130901_140556.jpg

[Jimmy]

Just wanted to close out this thread.

I bought a box wrench/ratchet set but couldn’t get enough leverage with the 4mm hex to break the nut loose, and the hex hole is now stripped.

My next attempt was to knock off the link, dremel off the ball joint plastic hub and try to grab the other end with some vice grips. Unfortunately the ball joint just ended up crumbling.

The frustrating part was the replacement from Autozone had flats on the opposite end of the nut for a spanner wrench, and I knew I could have got the new part installed within 10 minutes. We’ll be headed to a shop to have them remove this tomorrow.

I appreciate all the advice, and all in all I did end up learning quite a bit.

Attachments:

• 20130901_140556.jpg

[Jimmy]

I knocked off the bottom part of the link with a hammer, exposing a hard plastic ball joint. Now I see why it was spinning in the first place (duh ball joint 😛 ).

Ripping apart the rubber seal on the other side of the nut exposed some metal but unfortunately did not have any flats. I still managed to get some vice-grip pliers to grab it tight enough to get the bottom nut unscrewed! :cheer:

I think “OK, now just need to repeat this process on the top nut!” Unfortunately due to how the top nut was situated, I could not get the vice-grips to grab hard enough to turn the other nut. I must have stared at it for 60 minutes trying to think of a different way to get that top nut off, and came to the realization that I need to either 1) buy a 14mm box wrench (a big one at that) and hope to knock that nut loose, or 2) bring the car to a mechanic. I can’t see how I can get enough leverage with that tiny 4mm hex to break the nut off. The wife is leaning towards #2, but I want to give #1 a try.

Opinions?

My wife also thinks I have “destroyed her car” and it is now unsafe to drive sans one stabilizer link. I think we’re fine as long as we don’t do any hard cornering, but she doesn’t believe me. Can anyone confirm? She’ll listen to you guys!

Thanks,
Jimmy

[Jimmy]

I knocked off the bottom part of the link with a hammer, exposing a hard plastic ball joint. Now I see why it was spinning in the first place (duh ball joint 😛 ).

Ripping apart the rubber seal on the other side of the nut exposed some metal but unfortunately did not have any flats. I still managed to get some vice-grip pliers to grab it tight enough to get the bottom nut unscrewed! :cheer:

I think “OK, now just need to repeat this process on the top nut!” Unfortunately due to how the top nut was situated, I could not get the vice-grips to grab hard enough to turn the other nut. I must have stared at it for 60 minutes trying to think of a different way to get that top nut off, and came to the realization that I need to either 1) buy a 14mm box wrench (a big one at that) and hope to knock that nut loose, or 2) bring the car to a mechanic. I can’t see how I can get enough leverage with that tiny 4mm hex to break the nut off. The wife is leaning towards #2, but I want to give #1 a try.

Opinions?

My wife also thinks I have “destroyed her car” and it is now unsafe to drive sans one stabilizer link. I think we’re fine as long as we don’t do any hard cornering, but she doesn’t believe me. Can anyone confirm? She’ll listen to you guys!

Thanks,
Jimmy

[Jimmy]

Wow.. it does. Let me try it. I don’t have a decent box wrench though.

[Jimmy]

Wow.. it does. Let me try it. I don’t have a decent box wrench though.

[Jimmy]

I bought a breaker bar and got the nuts loose, or so I thought. All I ended up loosening was the nut from the stabilizer bar – the nut itself kept on turning and turning. I think the creaking noise was the “bolt” (the threads on the link) breaking off the link. This coincides with when my wife first started hearing this noise, which was immediately after driving over a bad pothole.

I’m going to try to whack the link off with a hammer, and if that doesn’t dislodge it, get some pickle forks – unless anyone has any better suggestions on how to remove this.

[Jimmy]

I bought a breaker bar and got the nuts loose, or so I thought. All I ended up loosening was the nut from the stabilizer bar – the nut itself kept on turning and turning. I think the creaking noise was the “bolt” (the threads on the link) breaking off the link. This coincides with when my wife first started hearing this noise, which was immediately after driving over a bad pothole.

I’m going to try to whack the link off with a hammer, and if that doesn’t dislodge it, get some pickle forks – unless anyone has any better suggestions on how to remove this.

[Jimmy]

Thanks for the replies. The bolts and nuts are really rusted due to 10 upstate NY winters. I’m soaking them in some penetrating oil before trying to get them undone this weekend. I’ll report back when I find out anything.

[Jimmy]

Thanks for the replies. The bolts and nuts are really rusted due to 10 upstate NY winters. I’m soaking them in some penetrating oil before trying to get them undone this weekend. I’ll report back when I find out anything.

[Jimmy]

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

Based on FourRings’ reply, I took the A4 out this morning but only on local roads – no freeway speeds – I just wanted to double-check that the stuttering did NOT occur under WOT. Floored it several times up to 6000 RPM (redline is around 7K) and definitely did not misfire, stutter, or lose power. Steady power all the way up.

I had the OBD II unit plugged in but stupid me forgot to start data logging. I’l be sure to turn it on the next time I hit the freeway.

[Jimmy]

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

Based on FourRings’ reply, I took the A4 out this morning but only on local roads – no freeway speeds – I just wanted to double-check that the stuttering did NOT occur under WOT. Floored it several times up to 6000 RPM (redline is around 7K) and definitely did not misfire, stutter, or lose power. Steady power all the way up.

I had the OBD II unit plugged in but stupid me forgot to start data logging. I’l be sure to turn it on the next time I hit the freeway.

[Jimmy]

Thank you for all the suggestions. I’ll reply to each in this response:

• wysetech: According to my maintenance records, the O2 sensor was never replaced. I would think it would cause a CEL if bad or lazy, no? I’ll keep this in the back of my mind.
• TehTDK: I’m not sure, but I think it was the original ECU + Flash. I would have had to remove my ECU and mail it to GIAC, have them flash it and mail it back, or have the work done in a GIAC shop. I went to a local shop because I couldn’t be without my car for the week or so for the shipping.
• Tomh: That is a great idea. I did buy a Bluetooth OBD II unit a couple of weeks ago to work with my phone’s Torque app, primarily to pull codes but I think it has the ability to perform data logging. I only have the free version of Torque but will pay the $5 for the pro version.

I’ll try to grab OBD II data after work today and post any findings.

Thanks again!

[Jimmy]

Thank you for all the suggestions. I’ll reply to each in this response:

• wysetech: According to my maintenance records, the O2 sensor was never replaced. I would think it would cause a CEL if bad or lazy, no? I’ll keep this in the back of my mind.
• TehTDK: I’m not sure, but I think it was the original ECU + Flash. I would have had to remove my ECU and mail it to GIAC, have them flash it and mail it back, or have the work done in a GIAC shop. I went to a local shop because I couldn’t be without my car for the week or so for the shipping.
• Tomh: That is a great idea. I did buy a Bluetooth OBD II unit a couple of weeks ago to work with my phone’s Torque app, primarily to pull codes but I think it has the ability to perform data logging. I only have the free version of Torque but will pay the $5 for the pro version.

I’ll try to grab OBD II data after work today and post any findings.

Thanks again!

[Author]

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