Leshkin's Sepang Blue S3 Money Pit Project

[S3Alex]

Interesting comments re the 1155 pads.....I did find they made a bit of a rasping sort of noise,but never really obvious.

I may not have noticed it I guess over the racket of everything else in the car though.....the AP fronts I have use AP pads,which again I think are Mintex sourced,and currently pretty quiet,and the rear Forge(K-Sport)kit uses EBC RedStuff which again seem pretty much ok and way better than previous versions of their pads.

 

[leshkin]

I do not blame the noise on the pads, just to be clear - any decent set of pads will squeal if they move around within the caliper and cause friction between the pad backing and the pistons. In my case, the combination of these pads and design of the Yellow Speed caliper result in the pad moving ever so slightly within it's seat and causing the noise as it grinds against the piston.

I am completely over the moon with how the new pads perform - the brakes were very good before, but now they are good throughout prolonged hard use, which speaks volumes about Mintex material. Because the initial bite is so good though, the friction between the pad and disk make it move a little too much at low speeds, hence the noise.

Like many others, I made the mistake of thinking that the squeal is due to the pad material rather than anything else... It's actually due to the pad backing plate moving back and forth over the contact surface with the piston. It explains why the noise stops if you press the brakes firmer - the added pressure on the pads stops them moving around... Or rather the frequency of the sound goes beyond human-audible range. The popular mechanics article I posted earlier does a good job of explaining it.

In case the new shims don't work out, I just ordered the CRC 05016 stuff that was mentioned in the article as a known permanent solution to this as it creates a stronger bond between the pad and pistons. I guess extra care is needed when replacing the pads so as not to damage the pistons.

 

[leshkin]

Go this through today and suspect that this is what has been causing the ESP/ABS to freak out on occasion:


Looks like a trip to an Audi dealership is on the cards for me soon

Interestingly I called Audi about a month ago and they said that my car was not subject to any recalls...

 

[leshkin]

Went for a family trip over the weekend and had a very jerky DSG downchange into 2nd gear as I was slowing down to a petrol station. As I parked the car, the dreaded flashing PRNDS occurred with box having a fit. Went to the shop, came back and she was back to normal (I'm guessing things cooled down a bit), so I carried on driving more gently for the rest of the weekend with an occasional clunky gearchange. Got home and scanned the DSG ECU, with this code coming back soon after clearing:

17100 - Transmission Input Speed Sensor (G182)
P0716 - 000 - Implausible Signal
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 01100000
Fault Priority: 0
Fault Frequency: 255
Reset counter: 40
Mileage: 125349 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2017.08.06
Time: 18:07:00

After reading up on this, I think I'll send the mechatronics unit for testing, repair if needed, and get the DSG serviced at the same time. Sounds like I have another rather expensive month on the cards

 

[jamiepaton5]

Know the feeling Leshkin. These cars are not the cheapest to run especially when you add up the things that dont strictly need done but we want them done

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[leshkin]

Finally got my car back from VRT today - given how busy they are, they still managed to fit me around their other work, so totally happy with the service.

The mechatronic unit was removed and sent to ECU Testing for a thorough test. Unfortunately the glorious Parcel Force managed to drop the package and even though it was packed well, the unit suffered some damage, which was pretty unfortunate given that it was not clear if it was the mechatronic or the input speed shaft sensor that was faulty.

One of the solenoids on the unit got pretty mangled and after further checks it was deemed as repairable with no other signs of damage to the unit. Once ECU Testing replaced the solenoid and retested the mechatronic unit, it passed all tests and was sent back to VRT to refit.

The process of removing and refitting the mechatronic unit involved draining the DSG fluid, so as part of this work VRT performed a full DSG service, replacing all DSG fluid, DSG filter with seal and the mechatronic cover gasket. The car only covered about 10k on the old DSG fluid and filter, but for the sake of 18 quid for a new filter we figured might as well do it right and service the thing again.

Obviously with the transit damage to the mechatronic I couldn't be certain that it was the component that was originally at fault and rather than risk having to remove the unit again in order to replace the input speed shaft speed sensor, I decided to replace it as a precaution. At £60+vat it's not cheap, but doing this again would cost more, plus more wasted time. Guys at VRT refitted all of the parts and did a full DSG calibration to finish things off and as soon as I knew that the car was ready, I skipped dinner and went to pick her up this evening.

So far I'm very pleased with the way it's working - no more errors on the DSG module and the shifts are barely perceptible. The old clunks during shifting between D and N are gone now too. It's early days to call it a success, but this gives me hope. What could have cost me quite a lot of money, worked out to not be as bad on the old wallet Total cost of all this was about £400, which is much less than I anticipated. One good thing that came out of it is that I could stop freaking out about the possibility of DSG failures through learning a few things and gaining a better understanding of how they work. This is actually a good resource for anyone interested http://www.evosoft.dk/tech.html

Other than VRT, I'd also highly recommend ECU Testing to anyone having possible issues with ABS or DSG mechatronic units - top service and I was kept in the loop throughout the process, plus cost is actually surprisingly good given the complex nature of what they do.

Now on to another update - I've been having issues with black smoke and unburned fuel from the exhaust at WOT, which has been a bit difficult to pinpoint - @Rick @ Unicorn Motor Dev. has sent me a few maps to try and figure this out and we managed to reduce it a bit but it is still present. VCDS logs showed me running good fuel mixture with correct lambda readings. After months of getting nowhere mainly due to the remote mapping being unavailable, it looks like Rick and Nicki from R-Tech may have found the problem... It seems that the original idea of running the RS4 fuel return valve (135bar max) fell through as the RS3 injectors do not seem to atomize the fuel fully at the lower fuel rail pressure, so the plan of running safer fuel rail pressures was flawed. With that in mind, Rick suggested getting hold of a 155bar fuel return valve to allow us to run slightly more fuel rail pressure than RS4 unit allowed and get the injectors working correctly.

I went about ordering the new fuel return valve, but knowing that running higher fuel rail pressures will put a significant strain on the HPFP cam follower and the prospect of inspecting it every 10k miles seemed a bit unpleasant, plus the risk of damaging the three HPFP bolt threads on the cam chain cover would be significantly increased as they were never designed with such frequent inspections in mind. People following this thread for a while would not be surprised by my approach to dealing with this problem, so after reading up on the upgrade, I've decided to get it done right and do away with the cam follower by upgrading it to the FSI solution, which replaces it with a roller and is meant to address the cam follower failure once and for all. Not a cheap modification, but for peace of mind it felt like the right choice.

Both, the 165bar FRV and the cam follower kit were ordered form AKS Tuning a couple of weeks ago:


The kit is expensive, but you can get £100 back by sending your unmodified cam chain cover back, so makes it hurt a bit less

Anyway, all this goodness will be getting fitted tomorrow, so I'll post some pictures of how that goes

 

[adi3390]

Looking forward to see how you get on, cam bearing looks a worth while mod, price seems ok considering the piece of mind


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[MICHAEL PARKER]

Finally got my car back from VRT today - given how busy they are, they still managed to fit me around their other work, so totally happy with the service.

The mechatronic unit was removed and sent to ECU Testing for a thorough test. Unfortunately the glorious Parcel Force managed to drop the package and even though it was packed well, the unit suffered some damage, which was pretty unfortunate given that it was not clear if it was the mechatronic or the input speed shaft sensor that was faulty.
View attachment 135091
One of the solenoids on the unit got pretty mangled and after further checks it was deemed as repairable with no other signs of damage to the unit. Once ECU Testing replaced the solenoid and retested the mechatronic unit, it passed all tests and was sent back to VRT to refit.

The process of removing and refitting the mechatronic unit involved draining the DSG fluid, so as part of this work VRT performed a full DSG service, replacing all DSG fluid, DSG filter with seal and the mechatronic cover gasket. The car only covered about 10k on the old DSG fluid and filter, but for the sake of 18 quid for a new filter we figured might as well do it right and service the thing again.

Obviously with the transit damage to the mechatronic I couldn't be certain that it was the component that was originally at fault and rather than risk having to remove the unit again in order to replace the input speed shaft speed sensor, I decided to replace it as a precaution. At £60+vat it's not cheap, but doing this again would cost more, plus more wasted time. Guys at VRT refitted all of the parts and did a full DSG calibration to finish things off and as soon as I knew that the car was ready, I skipped dinner and went to pick her up this evening.

So far I'm very pleased with the way it's working - no more errors on the DSG module and the shifts are barely perceptible. The old clunks during shifting between D and N are gone now too. It's early days to call it a success, but this gives me hope. What could have cost me quite a lot of money, worked out to not be as bad on the old wallet Total cost of all this was about £400, which is much less than I anticipated. One good thing that came out of it is that I could stop freaking out about the possibility of DSG failures through learning a few things and gaining a better understanding of how they work. This is actually a good resource for anyone interested http://www.evosoft.dk/tech.html

Other than VRT, I'd also highly recommend ECU Testing to anyone having possible issues with ABS or DSG mechatronic units - top service and I was kept in the loop throughout the process, plus cost is actually surprisingly good given the complex nature of what they do.

Now on to another update - I've been having issues with black smoke and unburned fuel from the exhaust at WOT, which has been a bit difficult to pinpoint - @Rick @ Unicorn Motor Dev. has sent me a few maps to try and figure this out and we managed to reduce it a bit but it is still present. VCDS logs showed me running good fuel mixture with correct lambda readings. After months of getting nowhere mainly due to the remote mapping being unavailable, it looks like Rick and Nicki from R-Tech may have found the problem... It seems that the original idea of running the RS4 fuel return valve (135bar max) fell through as the RS3 injectors do not seem to atomize the fuel fully at the lower fuel rail pressure, so the plan of running safer fuel rail pressures was flawed. With that in mind, Rick suggested getting hold of a 155bar fuel return valve to allow us to run slightly more fuel rail pressure than RS4 unit allowed and get the injectors working correctly.

I went about ordering the new fuel return valve, but knowing that running higher fuel rail pressures will put a significant strain on the HPFP cam follower and the prospect of inspecting it every 10k miles seemed a bit unpleasant, plus the risk of damaging the three HPFP bolt threads on the cam chain cover would be significantly increased as they were never designed with such frequent inspections in mind. People following this thread for a while would not be surprised by my approach to dealing with this problem, so after reading up on the upgrade, I've decided to get it done right and do away with the cam follower by upgrading it to the FSI solution, which replaces it with a roller and is meant to address the cam follower failure once and for all. Not a cheap modification, but for peace of mind it felt like the right choice.

Both, the 165bar FRV and the cam follower kit were ordered form AKS Tuning a couple of weeks ago:
View attachment 135092 View attachment 135093

The kit is expensive, but you can get £100 back by sending your unmodified cam chain cover back, so makes it hurt a bit less

Anyway, all this goodness will be getting fitted tomorrow, so I'll post some pictures of how that goes

I also get a fair amount of black smoke now wot , I have RS3 injectors and a 165 b frv ,Niki has not mentioned it at all after having the car for a 2 week mapping session ,not sure what it is either , my car also seems to smoke a fair bit on idle and low speed as well ,it's not constant but I do see it in the mirror and I can also smell it , it's an oily fuel type smell if that makes sense , some people suggest the valve stem seals but I am not sure .the car absolutely flies though ,I spoke to Alex about the smoke and he seemed to think it is just normal running RS3 injectors etc .

 

[S3Alex]

I also get a fair amount of black smoke now wot , I have RS3 injectors and a 165 b frv ,Niki has not mentioned it at all after having the car for a 2 week mapping session ,not sure what it is either , my car also seems to smoke a fair bit on idle and low speed as well ,it's not constant but I do see it in the mirror and I can also smell it , it's an oily fuel type smell if that makes sense , some people suggest the valve stem seals but I am not sure .the car absolutely flies though ,I spoke to Alex about the smoke and he seemed to think it is just normal running RS3 injectors etc .

Mine will smoke a little on a full throttle gear shift but otherwise not at all.

In the past I'd used RS4 injectors and that was like a smoke screen at times.

 

[MICHAEL PARKER]

Mine will smoke a little on a full throttle gear shift but otherwise not at all.

In the past I'd used RS4 injectors and that was like a smoke screen at times.

One on idle ? , next year my engine will be getting forged , I suspect valve stem seals although my car has only done 57k , it never smoked before it was modified .

 

[S3Alex]

One on idle ? , next year my engine will be getting forged , I suspect valve stem seals although my car has only done 57k , it never smoked before it was modified .

Never on idle ....only under load and that was down to the spray pattern of the RS4 injectors.

The RS3 injectors are much better.

Now I've got the S3 injectors back on with the separate port injectors coming in a lot earlier than before and it only smokes briefly on full throttle shifts.

I think programming is a real dark art.

 

[MICHAEL PARKER]

Never on idle ....only under load and that was down to the spray pattern of the RS4 injectors.

The RS3 injectors are much better.

Now I've got the S3 injectors back on with the separate port injectors coming in a lot earlier than before and it only smokes briefly on full throttle shifts.

I think programming is a real dark art.

Mine is weird tbh , comes and goes on idle and slow driving ,it's a bluish white smoke which worries me tbh ,I have just fitted the VW Racing catch can system and its smoking on that as well , I did notice the pipe that connects the head to the block was leaking slightly on the VWR faceplate as well so I have just put some silicone grease on and it has stopped it , Niki does the fueling for safety so it smokes a bit .

 

[S3Alex]

There's always a bit of vapour from the catch can systems so I don't think that's anything to bother about.

Does it use much oil?

 

[leshkin]

Mine is weird tbh , comes and goes on idle and slow driving ,it's a bluish white smoke which worries me tbh ,I have just fitted the VW Racing catch can system and its smoking on that as well , I did notice the pipe that connects the head to the block was leaking slightly on the VWR faceplate as well so I have just put some silicone grease on and it has stopped it , Niki does the fueling for safety so it smokes a bit .

Your situation sounds a bit different - I get just the black smoke on WOT or under aggressive acceleration, plus I often find small carbon deposits on the rear bumper, like unburnt fuel mixed with exhaust carbon deposits. Under WOT it was pretty bad to a point where people behind me would slow down and try to move out of the plume. Car does smell like it's running rich and the black smoke under load seems to support this, but lambda readings are fine, even reporting slightly leaner numbers than Rick normally runs He made some adjustments in the map and it seemed to improve the smoke a little, but it's still more than I would normally expect.

Last time I spoke to Rick he mentioned that he and Niki have been looking into this as I'm not the only one who is now reporting this issue. Seems that increasing fuel rail pressure should help to improve fuel atomization and get it burning better. Rick recommended getting the 165bar FRV instead of the RS4 and he will send me a map with higher requested fuel pressure to try and improve things. I don't expect him to be pushing things all the way up to 165bar, but it does add a bit more flexibility.

 

[leshkin]

Spent the day today working on the car, fitting the FRV and cam roller/bearing upgrade. Have to say that this was probably as deep as I've been in the engine bay on my own, but you never learn if you never try, right?

These are the bits I planned on fitting:


Weather looked nice, but I didn't fancy working all day in the sun, so parked the car half in the garage - probably best decision of the day:


HPFP mostly out and cam chain cover off:


Original cover (left) and modified cover (right) - you can see how much larger the HPFP opening is. This is to allow the adapter to slide in:


I removed the HPFP completely as part of FRV fitting, but here you can see the adaptor is in and the FSI follower fits in there nicely:


HPFP pump back in using longer bolts to allow the adapter to fit:


It's been a very long day and she's back together:


I used two references to help me to do all this:
- FRV install: http://forums.fourtitude.com/showth...FPRV)-DIY-without-pulling-the-manifold-lt-1hr
- FSI follower install:

Interestingly, the original cam follower was not worn, but now that the new solution is in place, I will not be worrying about it while running higher fuel pressure.

Out of the two, I'd say that the FRV was the bigger pain to do simply because of where it is located - not the most pleasant of DIYs. When I first fired the car up after I finished, the valves were very tappety and it just didn't sound right, but once driven for a bit things seemed to improve. I'm guessing that the oil needed to find it's way to all areas that were drained during the cam chain cover replacement.

Now I need to wait for @Rick @ Unicorn Motor Dev. to come back from holiday and send me the updated map - I hope this will resolve the smoke once and for all.

 

[mechanic69]

Finally got my car back from VRT today - given how busy they are, they still managed to fit me around their other work, so totally happy with the service.

The mechatronic unit was removed and sent to ECU Testing for a thorough test. Unfortunately the glorious Parcel Force managed to drop the package and even though it was packed well, the unit suffered some damage, which was pretty unfortunate given that it was not clear if it was the mechatronic or the input speed shaft sensor that was faulty.
View attachment 135091
One of the solenoids on the unit got pretty mangled and after further checks it was deemed as repairable with no other signs of damage to the unit. Once ECU Testing replaced the solenoid and retested the mechatronic unit, it passed all tests and was sent back to VRT to refit.

The process of removing and refitting the mechatronic unit involved draining the DSG fluid, so as part of this work VRT performed a full DSG service, replacing all DSG fluid, DSG filter with seal and the mechatronic cover gasket. The car only covered about 10k on the old DSG fluid and filter, but for the sake of 18 quid for a new filter we figured might as well do it right and service the thing again.

Obviously with the transit damage to the mechatronic I couldn't be certain that it was the component that was originally at fault and rather than risk having to remove the unit again in order to replace the input speed shaft speed sensor, I decided to replace it as a precaution. At £60+vat it's not cheap, but doing this again would cost more, plus more wasted time. Guys at VRT refitted all of the parts and did a full DSG calibration to finish things off and as soon as I knew that the car was ready, I skipped dinner and went to pick her up this evening.

So far I'm very pleased with the way it's working - no more errors on the DSG module and the shifts are barely perceptible. The old clunks during shifting between D and N are gone now too. It's early days to call it a success, but this gives me hope. What could have cost me quite a lot of money, worked out to not be as bad on the old wallet Total cost of all this was about £400, which is much less than I anticipated. One good thing that came out of it is that I could stop freaking out about the possibility of DSG failures through learning a few things and gaining a better understanding of how they work. This is actually a good resource for anyone interested http://www.evosoft.dk/tech.html

Other than VRT, I'd also highly recommend ECU Testing to anyone having possible issues with ABS or DSG mechatronic units - top service and I was kept in the loop throughout the process, plus cost is actually surprisingly good given the complex nature of what they do.

Now on to another update - I've been having issues with black smoke and unburned fuel from the exhaust at WOT, which has been a bit difficult to pinpoint - @Rick @ Unicorn Motor Dev. has sent me a few maps to try and figure this out and we managed to reduce it a bit but it is still present. VCDS logs showed me running good fuel mixture with correct lambda readings. After months of getting nowhere mainly due to the remote mapping being unavailable, it looks like Rick and Nicki from R-Tech may have found the problem... It seems that the original idea of running the RS4 fuel return valve (135bar max) fell through as the RS3 injectors do not seem to atomize the fuel fully at the lower fuel rail pressure, so the plan of running safer fuel rail pressures was flawed. With that in mind, Rick suggested getting hold of a 155bar fuel return valve to allow us to run slightly more fuel rail pressure than RS4 unit allowed and get the injectors working correctly.

I went about ordering the new fuel return valve, but knowing that running higher fuel rail pressures will put a significant strain on the HPFP cam follower and the prospect of inspecting it every 10k miles seemed a bit unpleasant, plus the risk of damaging the three HPFP bolt threads on the cam chain cover would be significantly increased as they were never designed with such frequent inspections in mind. People following this thread for a while would not be surprised by my approach to dealing with this problem, so after reading up on the upgrade, I've decided to get it done right and do away with the cam follower by upgrading it to the FSI solution, which replaces it with a roller and is meant to address the cam follower failure once and for all. Not a cheap modification, but for peace of mind it felt like the right choice.

Both, the 165bar FRV and the cam follower kit were ordered form AKS Tuning a couple of weeks ago:
View attachment 135092 View attachment 135093

The kit is expensive, but you can get £100 back by sending your unmodified cam chain cover back, so makes it hurt a bit less

Anyway, all this goodness will be getting fitted tomorrow, so I'll post some pictures of how that goes

I was also worried about repeatedly removing the HPFP bolts so I fitted studs instead. So the ally body doesn’t get stressed. About 30 quid. Changing the cam follower is pretty straight forward now.


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[MICHAEL PARKER]

There's always a bit of vapour from the catch can systems so I don't think that's anything to bother about.

Does it use much oil?

It doesn't use hardly any oil Alex , went to Santa Pod yesterday , only managed 2 runs as it was mega busy and a couple of offs so track was shut a fair bit , 1st run I fluffed and 2nd I managed to launch without our turning the traction off doh , still managed 13 s @109mph and I was flat shifting for the first time , with practice the car would easily do a 12s.

 

[MICHAEL PARKER]

Your situation sounds a bit different - I get just the black smoke on WOT or under aggressive acceleration, plus I often find small carbon deposits on the rear bumper, like unburnt fuel mixed with exhaust carbon deposits. Under WOT it was pretty bad to a point where people behind me would slow down and try to move out of the plume. Car does smell like it's running rich and the black smoke under load seems to support this, but lambda readings are fine, even reporting slightly leaner numbers than Rick normally runs He made some adjustments in the map and it seemed to improve the smoke a little, but it's still more than I would normally expect.

Last time I spoke to Rick he mentioned that he and Niki have been looking into this as I'm not the only one who is now reporting this issue. Seems that increasing fuel rail pressure should help to improve fuel atomization and get it burning better. Rick recommended getting the 165bar FRV instead of the RS4 and he will send me a map with higher requested fuel pressure to try and improve things. I don't expect him to be pushing things all the way up to 165bar, but it does add a bit more flexibility.

My car does this under heavy throttle , black smoke , it's meant too as Niki runs the cars to be safe , I was told this yesterday at Santa Pod .

 

[MICHAEL PARKER]

A

Your situation sounds a bit different - I get just the black smoke on WOT or under aggressive acceleration, plus I often find small carbon deposits on the rear bumper, like unburnt fuel mixed with exhaust carbon deposits. Under WOT it was pretty bad to a point where people behind me would slow down and try to move out of the plume. Car does smell like it's running rich and the black smoke under load seems to support this, but lambda readings are fine, even reporting slightly leaner numbers than Rick normally runs He made some adjustments in the map and it seemed to improve the smoke a little, but it's still more than I would normally expect.

Last time I spoke to Rick he mentioned that he and Niki have been looking into this as I'm not the only one who is now reporting this issue. Seems that increasing fuel rail pressure should help to improve fuel atomization and get it burning better. Rick recommended getting the 165bar FRV instead of the RS4 and he will send me a map with higher requested fuel pressure to try and improve things. I don't expect him to be pushing things all the way up to 165bar, but it does add a bit more flexibility.

also as above I have the 165 bar valve fitted by AKS ,you should of seen some of the cars going up the strip yesterday lol .

 

[MICHAEL PARKER]

I also h

I was also worried about repeatedly removing the HPFP bolts so I fitted studs instead. So the ally body doesn’t get stressed. About 30 quid. Changing the cam follower is pretty straight forward now.


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I also have the studs , only takes me 5 mins to check the cam follower but I may be going to the roller conversion just for piece of mind .

 

[S3Alex]

My car does this under heavy throttle , black smoke , it's meant too as Niki runs the cars to be safe , I was told this yesterday at Santa Pod .

Yes...I can see what he's doing there.....some of the old Cosworths would look like WW2 battleships making smoke under full load.

On mine now,Andy's been able to turn some of the overfuelling down,and run the car cooler,but also use the port injectors more,and without trying to baffle myself with it,the thing runs better and quicker with less boost.

 

[leshkin]

Not been on here for a while and thought some updates are in order...

Spent the day at Audi International, on the stand for FM Detailing, which was more fun than I expected.


Spending time with @FranA3 and seeing how well the ceramic coatings work after many months since application, I've decided to remove the PPF from the car as it's old and started to discolour quite a bit. Plus the film started to affect how the light reflected off the bonnet, which made it look a bit duller.
I knew there was risk of lacquer coming off, and it did just that on the front bumper unfortunately

Car is going to a local paint shop to get the front bumper sorted out on Monday, plus a couple of other bits that I've been thinking about. Like the non-OEM grille, which started to look tired on the silver finish, so I decided to get that part done in gloss black, to match the grille itself and better suit my plans for the car's new theme. Depending on how that comes out, the front calipers might get finished in black, for a more stealthy look, but that will come later.

I've been thinking about my fueling and rough running with RS3 injectors and decided to take the car to R-Tech as I can't deal with weeks/months between map updates - this year the car spent more time not running well than it normally did, which spoiled my plans for a few track days. I'm dropping the car off in a week's time and R-Tech are keeping the car for up to two weeks with the plan to sort out fueling when she is hot and cold. One of Niki's recommendations beforehand was to get the runner flap delete installed to get the maximum out of my current hardware. I already bought the kit from AKS tuning a while back, but was hoping to get a local shop to fit it as it was a job I really didn't fancy doing myself. Unfortunately VRT were pretty booked up before next week, so it was on me to get my hands dirty...
As I started doing it, I remembered exactly why I didn't want to do it myself - tight spaces meaning loads of awkward angles at which to work, plus lack of correctly-sized tools meant that I had to spread the work over three nights, while I sourced the required bits. I was glad that I decided to do this in the garage and while a bit tight, the weather or lack of light didn't bother me, plus I didn't need to pack up whenever I hit a roadblock and had to drop what I was doing...

What was interesting is how much carbon deposits the intake valves had with just 10k miles on this engine even with the Forge PCV delete (the OEM PCV system in the pic was put on two weeks ago - not sure if Forge plate will go back on at this point). Goes to show just how little it does to reduce the carbon build-up.

The build-up wasn't terrible, but while I was there it made sense to clean it up a bit. I used some carburetor cleaner and soaked it properly, then removed with a small toothbrush and metal pipe-cleaners. Something tells me, I'll be getting a full catch-can system sorted out soon to reduce the oil vapours from getting into the intake.

Car now runs like a huge bag of spanners when cold (normal with RFD kits), so I'm really looking forward to Niki doing his magic on the ECU now. Next three weeks will hopefully see a significant improvement in how she runs and looks.

Lastly, once the front bumper paint cures properly, I booked Fran (FM detailing) to do his magic mid November and get the ceramic coating applied just in time for winter

 

[FranA3]

Thanks for supporting my business Alex, ADI was a great day, can’t wait to work on your car again see you mid November


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[BurgoS3]

Always good to get an update on one of my threads. Hopefully your feeling issues will soon be sorted and you can get back to enjoying the car again. I’m back home in a week or so and can’t wait to get back in mine. Gonna fit my meth kit and thinking of getting my wheels refurbed and maybe even a complete colour change, thinking nardo gray


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[BurgoS3]

Always good to get an update on one of my threads. Hopefully your feeling issues will soon be sorted and you can get back to enjoying the car again. I’m back home in a week or so and can’t wait to get back in mine. Gonna fit my meth kit and thinking of getting my wheels refurbed and maybe even a complete colour change, thinking nardo gray


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Sorry meant to include favourite in the 1st sentence


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[leshkin]

Sorry meant to include favourite in the 1st sentence


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I guessed that is what you meant lol

 

[S3Alex]

As I started doing it, I remembered exactly why I didn't want to do it myself - tight spaces meaning loads of awkward angles at which to work, plus lack of correctly-sized tools meant that I had to spread the work over three nights, while I sourced the required bits. I was glad that I decided to do this in the garage and while a bit tight, the weather or lack of light didn't bother me, plus I didn't need to pack up whenever I hit a roadblock and had to drop what I was doing...
View attachment 138778
What was interesting is how much carbon deposits the intake valves had with just 10k miles on this engine even with the Forge PCV delete (the OEM PCV system in the pic was put on two weeks ago - not sure if Forge plate will go back on at this point). Goes to show just how little it does to reduce the carbon build-up.
View attachment 138779 View attachment 138780 View attachment 138781
The build-up wasn't terrible, but while I was there it made sense to clean it up a bit. I used some carburetor cleaner and soaked it properly, then removed with a small toothbrush and metal pipe-cleaners. Something tells me, I'll be getting a full catch-can system sorted out soon to reduce the oil vapours from getting into the intake.

Car now runs like a huge bag of spanners when cold (normal with RFD kits), so I'm really looking forward to Niki doing his magic on the ECU now. Next three weeks will hopefully see a significant improvement in how she runs and looks.

Lastly, once the front bumper paint cures properly, I booked Fran (FM detailing) to do his magic mid Noveber and get the ceramic coating applied just in time for winter

Hi there...good to see you around....

This was exactly what we found on my car with the original (Forge) catch can and PCV delete....it did get some of the muck,but nowhere near enough to stop this build-up happening quite fast.

The IE setup does do the job,but at some cost.

 

[leshkin]

Got the car back from the spray shop... Front bumper resprayed and it now matches the bonnet better than original paint (Every Sepang Blue Audi I've seen has the bumper appearing lighter than bonnet for some reason... Even new cars)! So lucky to have found this guy so close to me.

Also asked for the grill surround to be sprayed in gloss black as the original silver was starting to look worn out. They did the bottom gray bumper piece too, so the front is looking pretty nice.

I think I will get the rear valance done in gloss black to match at some point.

I was planning on driving to RTech this morning, but my daughter fell ill, so I had to postpone this trip till Monday once my wife is back.

 

[HHS3]

Looking good mate, I definitely prefer the black
Where did you go for the respray? If they itemised the bill, would you mind sending me the costs please? As I've got Plasti-Dip for the front grey valance but would rather get it sprayed gloss black along with my LCR splitter to match the rest of mine.

 

[leshkin]

Looking good mate, I definitely prefer the black
Where did you go for the respray? If they itemised the bill, would you mind sending me the costs please? As I've got Plasti-Dip for the front grey valance but would rather get it sprayed gloss black along with my LCR splitter to match the rest of mine.

No itemised bills as it was a cash job from a place near Harefield, but seeing as you only want gloss black, it will be much cheaper.

 

[leshkin]

Pretty decent result after RTech had fiddled with my ECU and DSG map over the last couple of weeks. Considering that I'm running dual resonators and a sport cat on the BCS exhaust, these numbers look pretty close to what I was expecting to see. It's possible to get higher power, but my new engine didn't seem to like going higher than this, plus I asked Niki to focus on drivability rathern than peak numbers as that was more important for me.

RTech DSG software is also quite a bit better than what I had before - D mode feels almost telepathic now

Overall, the car feels like a complete package as far as power level and delivery goes - very smooth and predictable. Was playing with it on the way home today and was quite fun to feel all four wheels spinning with TC switched-off on a wet road. A few random drives are in order now - can't wait to go for one of my random hoons!

 

[Sandra]

@leshkin im lol at the random hoon. sounds like you happy with the rtech work. That’s all that matters. x

 

[THQuattro]

417 sweet mate so no more smokey.

 

[leshkin]

417 sweet mate so no more smokey.

Nothing like it was before - now just the expected black haze under full load!

Niki really pulled the torque back to keep timing pull to an absolute minimum and remove any risk of detonation. I'm sure she can do much more than this, but frankly, I want to enjoy driving it now... Who knows, maybe next year I get bored and will start forging things and throwing more money that I don't have at it haha

 

[THQuattro]

I am glad its running well now.

 

[Rick @ Unicorn Motor Dev.]

Is she still smoking under full load? I can't seem to sort this on the current RS3 injectors and OE pistons. Flat top pistons seem to be much better for this,

Rick

 

[leshkin]

Is she still smoking under full load? I can't seem to sort this on the current RS3 injectors and OE pistons. Flat top pistons seem to be much better for this,

Rick

Hi Rick, no the abnormal smoke is definitely gone now. I have no idea what Niki did to sort it, but it's definitely as it should be now. I do get a bit of black haze under WOT, but that's what I would expect at this level of tune, but it's not like a smoke screen. Even had a friend follow me today to confirm.

Oh, and there's virtually no timing pull on it now... Max -3 here and there under WOT, but that's about it. Obviously peak torque has been held back quite a bit.

 

[Rick @ Unicorn Motor Dev.]

Yea, your car is quite knock limited for some reason. The haze shouldn't be there at all, some of the fuel that is getting injected just isn't getting burnt which is the nature of the injectors in this setup. Use flat top forged pistons and it doesn't happen.

Rick

 

[leshkin]

I had a visit from @FranA3 today. The man behind one of ASN sponsors, FMdetailing.

The plan was to get the car properly washed, followed by a light polish to remove any paint imperfections that the car picked up since he last detailed it and then get a ceramic coating applied to protect the paintwork in time for winter.

Here are some of my amateurish phone camera photos from today. Unfortunately it started raining and dark before everything was finished, so I'll try to get some more photos of the finished car in daylight soon, although I doubt I can get her as clean as this for a long time!

After the initial wash, Fran prepared the paint by performing a light polish to fix minor imperfections and remove any old sealants and waxes from the surfaces that were to be protected:


At this point, the rear end, roof and NS was already finished:

Unfortunately, the weather did not want to cooperate during the coating process, so we moved the car inside the garage. Luckily it was just wide enough for Fran to continue working on one side and the rest of the car:


Some before polish/coating and after shots of some problem areas (guess which one is which ):




I like to think that I'm very careful when washing the car, so was still surprised to see this much scratching. Thinking about it more, I have a feeling that the one time she was not washed by me in recent months was when the car went into Audi for its ABS recall - maybe it's time to get one of those "do not wash" mirror notices?


Anyway, a couple of rubbish photos of the completed car - it was dark and raining by this point, so outside pics will have to wait:


The coating used is by Max Protect and is a result of two products: UNC V1 & UNC-R. The V1 was applied first to act as a permanent base layer and UNC-R applied as the final layer to provide a very durable and very glossy finish.


Now, I wouldn't call my car's paintwork pristine, but I do like how it turned out overall. It's used as a daily for shopping runs, long road trips as well as an occasional country lane hoon, so has its fare share of battle scars from almost 8 years of hard life. Fran's definitely the man for this kind of stuff though and the fact that he's mobile means he can work around your schedule. Thanks buddy!

 

[leshkin]

Oh, forgot to mention - I removed the rear wiper last week, plus as an extra bonus I found a really annoying rattle in the boot lid trim that I had for years. Whoop, whoop!