What Tools Do You Keep in Your B5?

[PringlesInVic]

So I got stuck at the gas station yesterday with a broken ground terminal at the battery.





It was weird because car ran fine when I pulled in, but then wouldn't start after filling up. Anyway, it was after searching the entire car that I realized that I had nothing with me to fix it. I was able to just stick it back on and use the stickiness of the heat shrink to keep it in place till I got home. A zip tie would have been awesome.


But this got me thinking that I need to put together a small tool pack for the car. As all I had was a tiny flat head screwdriver that I use to adjust my amps. Zip ties are now in as well.


So what's in your car?

[Davdraco1]

AAA card. And a basic socket set.

[pgiuliano98]

My toolbox, mini jack, and jack stands. I rarely work on my car at home because of my gravel driveway so i usually keep all my tools in the car.


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[moyenecorniche]

AAA card. And a basic socket set.

^^ This ...

[PringlesInVic]

AAA card. And a basic socket set.

^^ This ...

Ya, I do have CAA/AAA. But I always feel this is a last resort.

[redline380]

Yup, AAA and a cell phone is all you need.

Keeping tools in your car is a slippery slope, as is spare parts. You start with basics, and then before you know it you are riding around with a spare coolant flange and a hub tool for doing wheel bearings on the side of the road.

No, I'll just tow her home if needed. I upgraded to Gold AAA so I get 100 mile tows. .

On a side note, that battery looks exactly the same as my Bosch batteries. Where did you get it?

[tar]

Ya, I do have CAA/AAA. But I always feel this is a last resort.

Why you pay for 3 tows a year. Better off using them when needed vs paying for something you don't use

[jsbs1991]

i have a jack, and socket set. I usually have Audi coolant, oil, and chf11s because of steering rack leak.

[PringlesInVic]

I also have the Gold which gives me 200kms of towing. I really carry it because if my truck breaks down at the lake (180kms from door), I can get it home.

I'll start with zip ties and CAA/AAA.

As for the battery, it came with the car. But it is a Canadian Tire Motomaster Eliminator branded battery. But it could very well be a rebranded Bosch.

[Rodgman15]

A 6 in one screwdriver and a pliers. Anything beyond that chances are she ain't moving anyway lol.

[Dan[FN]6262]

Only thing I can think of that isn't in my travel bag is the headbolt tool. I even keep the spare compression tester in the bag.

It's good to keep a small set of tools in all of your vehicles, Harbor Freight is having a sale at the moment, you can get a small 35pc set with case for $10. I walked through the local HF today and picked up one for the fuck of it. It's better to have a chincy socket set that will help the 3 times you may use it, vs having to potentially get towed.

[Davdraco1]

I don't pay for my AAA, it's a birthday gift every year.

[RagtagXMASTER]

I keep the basic tool kit that came with the car with the oem jack. When i get stuck on the side of the rode the kit has bare essentialls to check things out. Also a little flashlight or cellphone light is good.


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[Corrado_Guy]

I am not sure what comes in the tool kit but that is what I carry with me. I used to have CAA/AAA and it was paid for and the only time I used it was to get other peoples cars towed. The account was tied to my fathers and when he passed on I started to foot the bill myself. After a while I looked back over the decades and found I had never used it for any of my cars and killed the membership. Since that time I had my Corrado towed once for a failed slave cylinder and that has been it, I had a coil fail on my 1.8T but I could still drive and the MAF fail on both the A4 and Corrado but I could still drive both. So in 20 years I had never had the need for it but once so I didn't feel it was worth keeping.

You know how I do this? I maintain my own cars and usually catch things just as they are getting bad or well before it. My car is a BT car and I drive it hard so the oil gets a workout so I usually change it around every 4,000 kms and it is pretty dirty. I run copper core plugs and they don't have the greatest of life so I change these every 4,000 kms with the oil. I also rotate the tires at the same time and take a good look at them. While the wheels are off I inspect the drive line and brakes and make sure nothing is starting to fail or leaking. I check the hoses under the floor of the car on each side and then check for new damage or damaged/aging rubber hoses. I check all around the bottom of the motor when I am draining the oil and replacing the filter and check for new leaks or other issues. On the top side I remove all of the plugs and read how the motor is burning over that interval and check all of the vacuum system. This time I found some oil on the turbo return line so I will need to check into that and one of the hose clamps on the evap return line. I also check the oil once a week and which time I check the other fluids and I run a skid plate so I can easily see if a leak is bad enough to start dripping down. Because I maintain my cars I never have the need to carry tools with me and I never worry about driving them anywhere.

Obviously you don't care about that but if you maintain your vehicle and fix things as soon as the problem appears you will have less need for tools If you want a siggestion I would carry at least this off the top of my head...

- Metric socket set with a few extensions
- Small breaker bar
- Metric wrench set
- Matric Allen wrench set
- Wire cutters
- Wire strippers
- An assortment of butt connectors and wiring for temp repairs
- A few assorted pliers
- A few different screw drivers
- Triple square for the driveshafts if you have recently had them off
- Coil(s) for the 1.8T
- A few different vice grips
- Varied size zap-straps

I am sure I am missing a bunch of basic things but if you had those tools you would be able to do most repairs as long as you didn't need parts. No matter what you carry there will be that one time when you didn't have something so you end up failing in any case but at least you have a chance. Something simple could stop the car from safely driving and unless it was in the OE tool kit I would be screwed.

[GOODBYNAAIR]

It deepens on what my driving plans are. if i'm staying local normal driving I carry only whats needed to change a tire + zip ties flashlight duck tap and tire plug kit. all this other than the jack fits were the CD player would normally be. Light weight jack is on that list because OEM one is a widow maker.
If im going on a trip ill take a tool bag that has all the right tools to pull the motor just about and jack stands so if I really need to I can fix her on the fly.

If im going to rally x I take just about everything + 5 qts oil coolant power steering ect. one day I'll have a truck and trailer so if it brakes I can just load up and tow it home.

[seanf86]

long road trips I keep coolant, oil and ps fluid in the trunk along with spare ICM and coils, bluetooth OBDII reader, socket set with hex and torx bits. Have lost an ICM in the middle of northern Manitoba with no cell service so I keep a few lol. Around the city I have CAA and a cell phone and I'll just get it dragged back home.

[LongBeach]

AAA card, cell phone ,HF aluminum jack, a small tool bag with as many hand tools stuffed in as can fit and oil and a empty jug. something breaks on a weekly basis

[adam044]

Nothing. Whatever comes in the box with the jack. So a screwdriver? And jumper cables. That's it.

[Alex-A4-Avant]

Jumper leads oem jack and audi tool kit a multi pack of fuses you can be surprised that one fuse can stop a hole car. Bulbs in case of one failing and a funny old copper pulling me over. Electrical tester and metric socket and ratchet multi screw driver with various bits and a tow rope got my own aa service (dad)😊

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[Timbert]

Once used a coat-hanger to fix a broken throttle cable at the pedal. Tied and bent it around the broken end and looped it around the gas pedal. Albuquerque to Phoenix. Wouldn't go over 60 mph but I think the top speed on that 1974 VW Dasher was under 70 anyway.

So when unexpected things happen, you need unexpected tools and materials for repairs. And 90 percent of the time you're helping someone else, right?

Don't forget you can sacrifice other parts on the car to get you going. The guy who lost all five lug nuts off one wheel? Tell him to take one nut off each of the other wheels and he'll get home just fine.

[maxiz1]

Apart from the OEM jack and basic tools from Audi, I kept the following:

i) A set of cheapo 1/4" hex socket with variety of screwdriver/allen/star bits
ii) 1 liter of distilled water
iii) 1 liter of engine oil
iv) Jumper cable
v) Extendable lug wrench or extension pipe
vi) Electric air compressor/foot pump just in case your spare wheel is overlooked when needed