Scott's Akoya Silver A8

[B5NUT]

and that was all down to the pinch bolt?

 

[ScottD3]

Yeah. It would not come out. The passenger side was better. We cut the head off the bolt and used spacers with the original nut to help pull bolt through.

This did not work with the drivers side.

That picture shows the difference between my original upright and the eBay job.
Left is original.

 

[B5NUT]

O joy! Can't wait to start on mine. Did you try anything like plus gas first, thinking about trying that stuff a week before I start the job. I remember wreaking a alloy upright on my A4 B7 when I had to change the 2 top arms, not going to make that mistake again.

Once the bolt is changed, I'm going to change it every year like I do on my B5 it just makes life easy when working on the frontend.

 

[ScottD3]

Yup.
Soaked it in WD40 and many other different types of fluids to help.
Nothing helped.
300bar of pressure never moved it.

 

[marcusp13]

Did you move any further forward with this Scott? An interesting read and some great pointers given.

 

[Usmxn]

Great read mate

 

[ScottD3]

Great read mate

Thanks. Been a bit slow on the updates of late but I'll try harder.

Did you move any further forward with this Scott? An interesting read and some great pointers given.

Which bit?
The pinch bolt?


I'm trying to remember has happened since the pinch bolt.

Front bushes, pinch bolt issue.
Old upright fixed and fitted backed on to the car.
New rear bushes.
New front brakes.
New larger rear brakes.
New Aux belt.
Side light bulbs got hot, melted to the lights, burnt out and then cracked when I tried to remove them, leaving a broken bulb in its place.
New alloys from a D2 quattro sport as winter wheels.
General neglect and lack of cleaning.
Couple of LEDs gone on the interior.
Slight front end shunt causing damage to bumper, wing, headlight and internal support strut.
Slight rear end shunt causing damage to rear bumper and boot floor panel.
Failed attempt to fit recirculating pump to Aux heater.
Broken sunroof.
Keyless lock button broken.
Removal of Dension kit.

 

[ScottD3]

Bit of a belated update but here goes.

Broken and fix repair list:
Head lights- 501 bulb over heated. Melted the plastic and broke off inside. Possibly issue with drivers side light due to RTI.

Boot soft close motor- snapped teeth in motor. Needs replacing. fixed. Replaced motor but the only thing wrong was a snapped spring.

Drivers wing- dented, pushed in and missing paint due to RTI. FIXED

Front Bumper- missing paint and damaged due to RTI. FIXED

2 door handles- lock buttons not working. Front passenger. Rear drivers. New ones getting painted

2 door handles- unlock sensors not working. Drivers front door. Passenger rear door. New ones getting painted

2 doors- soft close not working. Front drivers. Rear drivers.

AC- possibly a pump.

Sunroof- refuses to close from fully open. Only closes with a helping hand.

Front passengers brake pads- warning light keeps coming on when turning left.new cable brackets on back of caliper resolved this. FXIED. New brackets

Steer wheel- squeeks when turning. stopped for now.

Rear lights- failing LEDs.

Passenger rear floor heaters- not working.

Drivers electric window- making a grinding noise. Like the metal cables are going to snap.

Rear brake discs- needs replacing. new disks and pad. Also larger disks and pads. Fixed with 4.2 TDI Rear Brakes.

Additional:
Recent light bump in a car has damaged (cracked) and scratched my rear bumper. Fixed

Wants:

AMI. Bought fitted

Reversing Camera. Bought. still gathering parts

Larger rear brakes. done

US Style front end with W12 grill. US Style but when with S8 Front end

S8 LED headlights.

Solar Sun roof.

Aux heater with parking pump and remote.

20" alloys.

Additional:
Facelift start button.

Wide screen dash. Bought Just need fitting

 

[ScottD3]

Its been awhile since I've done anything to the old girl.
Pretty much nothing this year. I don't think I've even cleaned her.

But two months ago I got the insurance sorted and did a bit of shopping.
I bought four new door handles, S8 front end, set of alloys, US grill and US side markers.

new bumper on with new alloys.






Little after those pictures was taken the wheels had the tyres removed, dropped off to make sure they are straight, round and no cracks.
They are now off to get the paint removed and then painted.

Below is what she currently looks like.





The new alloys are BMW fitment and will need adapters.
I'm talking to a mate about getting some made to my specifications so I can get the wheels to the arches. Soon as I got the wheels back I start making measurements.
In the meantime, I'm getting custom stickers made up to remove the M badges and BMW badges.

 

[Sandra]

Looking good Scott.

 

[rad79]

@Scott

I see you did a lot of work at your car. I was wondering if you would be able to advise. Recently my keyless entry started to behave strangely. I can't open the door sometimes and need to use button on keyfob. Also when closing with handle button only driver's one works, others don't. Do you know if every handle has its own sensor or is there one for the car? Would I need to replace all 4 handles? I checked with VCDS and I have 2 error codes one saying something about short circuit. Need to check again. Anyway, may keyfob battery is getting flat very quickly. I need to replace it every 1-2 months! Last week the car did not recognize keyfob and did not want to start the engine for 10-15 seconds. Strange, all was fine for 1.5 years and now started to do things like this:-(

 

[ScottD3]

Rad,
Faulty door handles.
Bout £100 each.

They causes other smaller issues with in car as well.
I got four faulty, so having to replace all of mine soon.

I might have some left over from my breaker, I'll take a look.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

[rad79]

@scoot,

I have just found that I could buy sensor only not the handle. Is it what is on below picture that needs replacing or is something more in the handle itself?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4G8927753...del:A8&hash=item2a5e3ae55e:g:DsoAAOSwJkJWjNLF

so far I found the above and some microswitch. Am a bit confused what needs to be replaced.

 

[ScottD3]

The switches and the sensors are integral to the handles.
So you can't buy separates.
I looked.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

[rad79]

last question;-)

so do I need the whole thing like below:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2008-Audi...261380?hash=item4651a1af44:g:m8oAAOSwRgJXjIEc

or just the handle like this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Audi-A8-D...del:A8&hash=item1eb3807462:g:vbsAAOSwFwpXcWl-

thanks.

 

[ScottD3]

I'd personally go new.
I know its expensive but the hassle of taking the door apart and fitting a handle kind of makes it worth it.

I'd rather do it once every 6 years than every 6 months with 2nd hand parts.

 

[rad79]

I agree with you as you don't know what condition used part is in and how long it will last. I just paste those pictures as an example cause I'm not sure what should I look for. Just this handle part or the one with all surrounding parts?

 

[ScottD3]

I just contacted Audi and told them what I needed.

I got a handle with the sensors.

I just hope everything else around the handle is good

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

[Tuddie]

Fantastic read. Cant wait for my S8 to arrive.