Vex182 - S3 Modding and maintaining thread!

[Vex182]

Thought I would start a thread like most people on here about my car.

So I purchased my car in March 2011, after owning my Saxo Forte (1.1) for 5 years - such as basic but fun car and so easy to work on!

Found a S3 BAM, 89k, FSH, Bose system and all the usual S3 bits... Paid £5,995 with 6 months tax and a new MOT that day I collected it - it failed a few days before on fractured rear coil springs and worn rear pads so these were done for when I collected it.

Looking good after 210miles of driving it home, with my dad looking out at the time I parked up.

Standard looking engine bay, nice and tidy looking.

A few months later I decided I would do a few bits and bobs to this car after leaving the Saxo alone - not reall worth doing anything to that anyway! As I live in Hinckley, it made a lot of sense to go to R-tech (Less than 10 minutes away). Nikki and Jim did a run and it ran pretty standard power and torque with no other real issues, was just asked to replace the DJ, use good fuel and replace the PCV system - leaks as standard on all these cars!

Was happy with the increase in torque and power - this is before I did anything else to it, made driving in 6th much more relaxing on the motorway!

 

[Vex182]

A few months went by and I had a new 007 fitted and changed the boost pipes to silicon hoses to make it look better under the bonnet. Then had the leak in the n/s rear, the joint for the rear washer broke, nice job one day!

Not long after, I was going away for work in Europe for a week so I checked over the car before the journey down to Gatwich and found a split in my standard TIP, managed to find a cheap forge one for sale from a guy on here and picked that up on my way home.

Did seem to free the car up a bit until I decided to do it right and ordered a B5 v2.2 3 months ago, looked much more like it!

Also made it sound better and rev easier, later joined with a Jetex filter.

Cleaned the engine bay up a bit and fitted new disks and pads all round.

 

[S3 Rav]

Great work there. Nice car.

 

[Vex182]

Great work there. Nice car.

Thanks!

One of the issues that a lot of people seem to get on the facelifts of the S3/A3 is the paint bubbling on the trim above the number plate. Mine has been bubbling since I purchased the car and it took me 18 months to get around to being bothered to sort it out.

First was to remove the trim by taking out the number plate lights (two small screws each side) and then undoing some fixings inside the boot (I can't remember exacty where now! - I think some were under the handle) and slowly pulling the rear boot trim off its poppers. A coulple of 10mm nuts removed and the outer trimed pulled out:

I first sanded it down making sure I got all the corrosion off and any other marks:

I purchased some grey primer and mixed the colour of my car up (I work at Halfords so easy to get hold of). Two coats of primer, sanded down the next day, two coats of colour and then gently sanded with wet and dry and then 2 coats of laquar and I was pleased with the result - I am not painter - (I deal with Bikes for Halfords and have worked all over the UK and Europe for them.)

This picture was taken today so sorry about the dirty car but its been on now for around 3,000 miles (3-4 months).

When the car is clean, it looks fine with no marks or blemishs that I am worried about.

 

[hades-]

id remove the stickers

 

[Paul_TDi]

Thanks for the heads up and good work!

Will have to get round to doing mine in the summer.

 

[Vex182]

Car is booked into R-Tech for Monday to find out what my drop in power is from, the run was done on rollers next to to r-tech so I know the dyno lottery! My car is running a nearly a 2 year old map from Nicki and now going to have his "TiV" map installed and just a check over that all is ok. Drives great anyway!

 

[Vex182]

So the car went in this morning and Ben kindly dropped me off at home. Just had a phone call saying its gone from 235bhp to 256bhp but there is a fair bit of timing pull, my plugs are to cold (got bkr6ek) so ill get a set of bkr7ek soon. Also my mix and match of coilpacks did not go down well, no mis fires but 2 are new and 2 are original so ill get them sorted too. Been running on Shell 99 for around 350 miles now too.

Edit: Also I had some new rubber on the rears last week, Pilot sport 3s and new haldex oil with filter.

 

[badger5]

6's are std, 7's are Colder plugs - you sure you heard them right?

new 'set' of plugs obviously a good place to start

 

[Vex182]

6's are std, 7's are Colder plugs - you sure you heard them right?

new 'set' of plugs obviously a good place to start

Haha ill check when it's done later, I'm sure Ben said I needed 7/8 grade plugs. Yeh I have a spare coilpack in the boot but ill buy another 1 and swap out the older 2 ones when I change the plugs.

 

[<tuffty/>]

Won't need more than 7's... BKR7EIX (irridium) or BKR7E (copper)... I runs BKR7E's... 8's are too cold and will cause bad running on cold start (personal experience of this )

Coppers are deemed better suited to turbo engine as they conduct heat and electricity better... disadvantage of course is the lifespan... but they are cheap enough the replace once a year or every 10k or so tbh...

<tuffty/>

 

[Vex182]

Won't need more than 7's... BKR7EIX (irridium) or BKR7E (copper)... I runs BKR7E's... 8's are too cold and will cause bad running on cold start (personal experience of this )

Coppers are deemed better suited to turbo engine as they conduct heat and electricity better... disadvantage of course is the lifespan... but they are cheap enough the replace once a year or every 10k or so tbh...

<tuffty/>

Sweet, best place for them? See if I can get them as a birthday present.. Lol

 

[badger5]

Haha ill check when it's done later, I'm sure Ben said I needed 7/8 grade plugs. Yeh I have a spare coilpack in the boot but ill buy another 1 and swap out the older 2 ones when I change the plugs.

doubt its that cold a plug.. not for the power its making

 

[Vex182]

doubt its that cold a plug.. not for the power its making

sweet, I'm just picking it up now anyway so ill find out for sure. 7's look good after a search on the forum.

 

[<tuffty/>]

Sweet, best place for them? See if I can get them as a birthday present.. Lol

Halfords??? ;P

...or eBay... BKR7E's cost me just under 8 quid for a set of 4...

<tuffty/>

 

[Vex182]

Haha I am a work tomorrow but I think the prices might be a little more than £8.... I think my 6's were about £22...

 

[<tuffty/>]

NGK Spark Plug Standard Kit BKR7E x4 | eBay

NGK Spark Plug Iridium BKR7EIX#x4 | eBay

<tuffty/>

 

[Dani_B19]

Pt the link youve posted for the BKR7E on ebay, are the the right fitment for our motors or are they all the same?

 

[<tuffty/>]

Pt the link youve posted for the BKR7E on ebay, are the the right fitment for our motors or are they all the same?

They are the very same plugs that are in my engine atm... the link was from my watch list

<tuffty/>

 

[Dani_B19]

Cheers pt, what would you gap these when running the tfsi or would you just srop them in like others are now saying? Im sure i gapped mine to 0.85 the last time!

 

[<tuffty/>]

0.85mm on TFSI, 0.7mm on 20v...

<tuffty/>

 

[Vex182]

Wel I collected the car and yes I need to run 7s (colder plugs - my mistake!). Other than that all is well and with the newer TiV map on it ran 257bhp and 272lb/ft and feels more alive! Also a smoke test revealed no boost leaks which is nice. Thanks to Nick and Ben for the company and lifts!

 

[Vex182]

Nick uploaded my printout today to facebook so I thought I would post it up here, feels so much better after a drive today.

Just need those cooler plugs in and make sure my coilpacks are all the same age!

 

[Vex182]

Well quick update about my car. After my battery had been disconnected and my throttle body had been off for a good clean, I lost all boost and the duty cycle stayed at 0%. After a new N75, swapping TB's and diverter valves to try and sort the problem with no luck, I contacted Niki and today at R-tech, it turns out Tuffy was right! (As normal!). My car had 5 switchable maps and it reset when the battery was disconnected. All is sorted and the car feels so good now I am running "map 2". It's so easy to change while driving or at the side of the road, very useful!

 

[Vwdan80]

Glad to hear it wasn't anything serious

 

[Vex182]

Well my spark plugs arrived today so I got about fitting them in the sunshine and fitted another new coilpack so they are all the same now - the oldest being 4 months old when 1 of them was still original! Going by people saying on here, I opted for these:

Gapped to 0.7mm - they were 0.75 out the box anyway!

A quick wipe around the engine bay (I still use the plastic cover so it does not need to be perfect )

Then after a good wash it now looks like this. Very happy!

 

[Vex182]

Well I had my MOT on Friday 5th April and the car failed on the drivers headlight alignment, quick tweak and it passed. I have advisories for both top mounts and a track rod end, so thats a couple of jobs that I need to get round to.

On Tuesday, I decided to get round to dropping the sump and change the oil pickup pipe. Bit of background information,

* Car was on longlife servicing from new up to 80K.
* I purchased the car on 89k and then dropped the oil at 90k and its been changed just under 5k each time.
* Car had just turned over to 104k on tuesday morning so I was planning a oil change anyway.

Picture time! I followed the guide on here which came in very handy, not a job that was to difficult but fiddley on axle stands!

I thought the pickup was actually pretty good! There was a couple of bits of old dipstick casing from when I changed the thermostat last summer. (I thought I stopped any dropping on but it appeared a couple of bits did!) Other than that, there wasvery little grit.

The sump cleaned up so easily with some "Gunk Ultra Degreaser" and a couple of minutes scrubbing, I used the vag sump sealeant too.

At least that is one other job taken off the never ending list!

 

[Pabl0]

Nice work on the sump! looks pretty much new.

Wonder if i have switchable maps on my car... How would i be able to tell?

 

[Vex182]

Nice work on the sump! looks pretty much new.

Wonder if i have switchable maps on my car... How would i be able to tell?

Thank you! I am amazed how clean it came up and so easily. Is I tap the brake and the accerlator at the same time quickly when the engine is running, the Ecu light flashes, how ever many times it flashes is what map you are in. To be honest, I leave it map 1 90% of the time, which is only 6psi but it's all you need around town! Stops the car from feeling to eager.

 

[Vex182]

Well I decided yesterday to order a red dog bone mount from Powerflex as there is a place on ebay selling them for just over 20 quid. The orginal Audi one did seem pretty soft when I removed them, took about 1/2 hour in total. I don't notice any difference in vibration at idle, only a little as you pull away but that goes away as you pass 2k. The gear change does feel more positive which is a good bonus. Overall I am pleased

 

[Vex182]

Well nothing else has happened to the car, other than driving it and a regular fill up of V-Power. I did decided a month ago to purchase a personal plate and wanted something to match the car. The paperwork arrived today so I made and fitted the plates at work today, very pleased!

 

[s3mad_dude]

Hahah no way!!!! In March 2012 I bought one for mine and S3 VVT was on my "short list"!! Cool plate - looks good, and great thread.

 

[Vex182]

Lol that's great! Thanks very much, I'm very pleased with it. Just ordered a new turbo to charge pipe hose (Forge of course) as mine looks like it's on it's last legs and also ordered a new 710 DV as the one I have fitted is the original that has been on since new apart from the 12 months I ran with a leaky 007p which I sold.

 

[Vex182]

So I decided to change my rear brake pads today and while I was doing the passenger side, I noticed that the earth strap had snapped! Trip to work and a few minutes later and all again was good! No issue with the 4wd and no fault codes too so all is now well.



Also brought a item today that is often known as the Wellycooler so that is all next to sort out!

 

[Dani_B19]

Vex did you replace the gasket on the oil return on the sump or reuse the old one?

 

[Vex182]

Vex did you replace the gasket on the oil return on the sump or reuse the old one?

I reused the old gasket and added a little sealant and it has worked fine.

 

[Nilz]

Great updates dude...looking forward to more on this.

 

[S3quatt]

So I decided to change my rear brake pads today and while I was doing the passenger side, I noticed that the earth strap had snapped! Trip to work and a few minutes later and all again was good! No issue with the 4wd and no fault codes too so all is now well.



Also brought a item today that is often known as the Wellycooler so that is all next to sort out!

This is an issue I'm not convinced about. I understand plenty people have had Haldex issues & found a broken earth lead but I'm sceptical about that being the cause of it.
Surely the Haldex would have an earth lead through the control cable?

My guess is that external one is more for static build up or corrosion resistance...

Nice work on the sump btw. Looking like new!

 

[Vex182]

Yeh I know what you mean. I don't know how long it has been snapped for but the 4wd was working over the weekend but I was having some fun in a local water park and you park on grass. Some of the early S3's don't even have one at all I hear.

 

[Vex182]

Well a couple of packages were waiting at home for me today when I got home from work, will order the rest and get it all fitted next month I hope! Can't wait to improve the feel of the car on a hot day.