Semi badgered project thread

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slowcoach3

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So after a traumatic day today I thought I'd start a thread to keep all my work in one place, its going to be a little slow, hopefully useful and definatly painful!
Having recently bought an s3 after years of a3 ownership I thought I'd start as I mean to go on and get a Badger 5 Revo map, I thought the car was running ok, logs looked ok, car felt ok. Epic fail!!! First off there was a couple of vac leaks, fixed them up and straight on to the rolling road. Well chuffed as it hit 209.6 bhp which bearing in mind its a ten year old car which started as 210 bhp ( APY ) I was well happy and excited and looking forward to the mapping.
This is where it went badly down hill, by run 3 it looked like the maf is ********. After pestering Bill we decided to put a basic stage 1 stock Revo map on the car with the boost wound down, RR it and it ended up showing 166bhp Gutted!!!!! Turns out I also have some serious fuelling issues ( running massively lean ) and some very very odd timing results which even Bill didn;t have a definative answer for ( blocks of 7.5 ).
After 5 very cold hours there, kept warm by coffee Bill managed to get it running at 225 and with an extra 40lbs torque.... Even with stage 0.25 lol the car still feels much better. As soon as I've got my act together and fixed many things I'll be back up to get it finished, then I might have some better figures! Bill was very patient and did a good job of making the most of the mess of a car I gave him, can't wait to get back and have the rest....
So lesson learnt, check everything on your car before you declare it as sound. My shopping list has changed a bit it was
3 "dp
decat
xs power manifold
fmic etc etc

Now its
MAF
Probaly fuel pump
Camshaft sensor
Silicone vac pipeing
Rear brake discs and pads

Everything will be photographed and updated and it may even get interesting with a hybrid turbo at some point in the nearish future.....
 
I can't remember final timings, they evened out a bit though... Yeah he did a good job with what I gave him, car is genuinely improved. Yeah rest of the mods will have to wait while I do LOTS of maintenence jobs then it'll full steam ahead! Big shout out to pats2poa for the company, coffee and help, nice one fella!
 
No worries Russ, it was good to meet Bill & have a good chat with him.
Like yourself, I am now more focused on the road I want to go down (Blue Ibiza....lol)
Altho it didn't turn out as you expected, but it did inlighten you on a few problems that were hiding & once addressed it'll be happy days!

Pat
 
pats3poa said:
No worries Russ, it was good to meet Bill & have a good chat with him.
Like yourself, I am now more focused on the road I want to go down (Blue Ibiza....lol)
Altho it didn't turn out as you expected, but it did inlighten you on a few problems that were hiding & once addressed it'll be happy days!

Pat
Click to expand...

The Ibiza is a nice car :)

Westy said:
There must be so many cars driving around doing more damage then they realise! You just dont see all the issues a car has until it's put through it's paces on a dyno.
Click to expand...

Happens more than you realise... seen lots of cars recently that have issues that the owner is unaware of... these cars are getting old now and things just wear out... (bit like myself lol...)

<tuffty/>
 
Yeah I made the mistake of taking it for a drive, casually looking over the engine ( it was raining ) and running vcds....All looked ok. You get what you pay for though!! I'm much more positive in the cold light of day, I know now that when its done its going to be a cracker and there is nothing like a genuine project to get me going....Just need to sell my A3 so I've got more money to throw at it....
The Ibiza is a cracker, that engine bay is something else, the one that got me though was the sleeper mark 2 golf running 470 odd, amazing! You wouldn't expect to get destroyed by that one!

As an update its just the worn pads making the noise from the n/s rear thankfully and I knew they needed doing to shiny new brakes on friday....
Has anybody changed a camshaft sensor, I can't see where it finishes after it leaves the cambelt area and runs along the fuel rail??
 
You have to remove the cambelt cover to remove the sensor.
Did you want to try my spare?

Pat
 
The plug is on the sensor itself.

Remove the upper belt cover and its right there, needs two bolts removed to get it off.
 
Thanks guys but.....where does it lead too after it leaves the cambelt area, goes across the fuel rail and to the righthand side of the engine? Thats my issue,I don't want to take it apart in the snow again till I've got that figured....
 
The cam sensor itself has a plug on it, you dont need to follow the loom or unplug anything anywhere other than at the sensor itself.
 
Cheers fella, had to ask! Whilst I'm here, I think my haldex/awd isn't working because the whhels span like nothing I've ever experienced. Pulled away from the lights on a slight hill in damp conditions, dropped it in to second and floored it and the wheels span furiously struggled to stay straight and then pulled away, only lasted a second or two but was pretty violent! I was under the impression that this shouldn't happen in an s3, even one with stage 0.25 remap.
Car is going into a local garage for a pre-mot check up tomorrow morning is there anything they and I can check to see what is up?
Any help or suggestions greatly appreciated
 
I'll check fuse 31, Bill had to unplug it to put it on the RR the other day but he also did a full scan on the car so surely a problem would have shown up then? I'll get it to volkscraft for a check up soon as I've got some spare cash...Do you need any special tools to do the filter and oil on haldex?
Rear discs and pads need doing asap and I've never done that before so I'll be paying for that first!!!!
 
Rear discs and pads are a breeze. I watched my 17yr old brother, who doesn't no anything about cars do his just from following the Haynes manual. Simple job dude. Special tool required for removing haldex filter.
 
Thanks! My only issue is lack of time...might just have to leave it a day or two, get up early and get stuck in. Done most things on the car, brakes i've never done as i've not wanted to get it wrong but I think i'll be doing a lot of new things over the next few months!
 
Only part I don't do on a brake service is the bleed nipple bit. Just remove reservoir cap and check the level after you've done each side.
 
slowcoach3 said:
I'll check fuse 31, Bill had to unplug it to put it on the RR the other day but he also did a full scan on the car so surely a problem would have shown up then? I'll get it to volkscraft for a check up soon as I've got some spare cash...Do you need any special tools to do the filter and oil on haldex?
Rear discs and pads need doing asap and I've never done that before so I'll be paying for that first!!!!
Click to expand...

Haldex controllers sometimes don't respond after a initial scan... generally not a fault but means its not always evident... plus with the fuse pulled on the dyno when Bill had VCDS connected it won't show anyway mate...

As above... check the fuse hasn't blown, get underneath and check the earth strap... the other thing of course is change the oil and filter as you have suggested..

Do the rear wheels feel like they are dragging at low speeds while turning?

Special tool is needed to undo/tighten the filter.. there are plenty of guides for haldex oil changes and is relatively easy to do...

<tuffty/>
 
slowcoach3 said:
I'll check fuse 31, Bill had to unplug it to put it on the RR the other day but he also did a full scan on the car so surely a problem would have shown up then? I'll get it to volkscraft for a check up soon as I've got some spare cash...Do you need any special tools to do the filter and oil on haldex?
Rear discs and pads need doing asap and I've never done that before so I'll be paying for that first!!!!
Click to expand...

There was no code for haldex on the day..
your wheel spin has started a few days afterwards I take it? suggesting something has gone wrong since.
get vagcom on it to scan and report back.
fuse 31 is the haldex fuse, 5amp jobbie

look at this thread also>> http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/a3-s3-...working-no-communication-etc-look-inside.html

I had an s3 in yesterday with non working haldex, turned out to be corroded terminals on plugs and broken earth strap
 
It's threads like this that make me think I need to get mine into bills place. Mine never really brings up engine DTCs but always feels a bit on the underpowered side, for what should be a 250bhp car if MAF readings are to be believed, and MPG is always on the low side of what it should be when driving economically.

You have got a fair few faults there, but once it's all sorted you know you will have a pretty decent s3 then, then it can start repaying its debt to you :p
 
sportstractor said:
It's threads like this that make me think I need to get mine into bills place. Mine never really brings up engine DTCs but always feels a bit on the underpowered side, for what should be a 250bhp car if MAF readings are to be believed, and MPG is always on the low side of what it should be when driving economically.

You have got a fair few faults there, but once it's all sorted you know you will have a pretty decent s3 then, then it can start repaying its debt to you :p
Click to expand...

I know Bill isn't the closest for everyone but for the sake of a 2 hour drive (for me) and a couple of dyno runs it was great to put my mind at rest.

I have to say that on the 2 occasions I've been to Bill's i've found another fault with the car. 3rd time lucky maybe, we'll find out.
 
Yeah he's about 2 hours from me, maybe a bit less. Il have to count my pennies after Christmas and give him a call
 
Cheers Bill, I'll check those tomorrow. I can't swear it was ever working, all I know is that now theres a little more power its become evident, although I did a test tonight. Private road, wet conditions and did a redline 0-80 and there was zero wheel spin. ****** thing can't make its mind up!
I definately think its worth the effort to go to Bills ( two hrs for me ) even if its just to find out any imperfections! I know most places would have noticed the MAF but would everybody have noticed timing and fueling being off? Its also good to know if you make good numbers on the rollers there you'll be setting records elsewhere...
As an update I'm well chuffed as the car only needs rear discs/pads to pass the MOT !! Very happy! I'm hopefully going to be trying pats3poa's camshaft sensor when I actually get some time off to see if that will cure a fault code, maf is on order from tps so I'm half way there..........Sunday is a photo day, even if its snowing....
 
Got my shiny, desperatly needed rear discs and pads ready to fit tomorrow, already got the wind back tool...anybody have any advice or simple how to's as I've never done brakes before??!!
Cheers
 
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