Figured I'd do a thread to keep track of the repairs and upgrades I've done so far as getting on for a year of ownership now.
I had always liked the S3's the mileage i'd been doing hadn't made one practical until I gained a works van so figured perfect time to make the swap.
I had been searching for a while but most of the cars I saw seemed to be over priced or something just seemed off with them. In the end I traveled to Kent which was a bit of a mission but the car was honest and a fair price had a few faults but they weren't covered up. Car was totally standard besides a Forge 007 dv full history and on 88k miles cambelt and suspension bushes just done with a major service/mot in the last 100 miles. Tonnes of receipts with the history which all looked good it had been on longlife for the early part of it's life which was the main negative I had.
This is the car as I brought it:
The drive home was great and so were the first couple of weeks until the car started severely misfiring and I had an engine light... Figured one of the issues out to be the crankcase breather pipe totally snapped but it didn't fix it and I hadn't got VCDS at the time so had to pop to a garage. A couple more pipes two coil packs and a set of plugs later we were back on the road.
Next job I had two tyres which kept losing air the wheels were quite corroded so decided to have them refurbed in anthracite.
I did have a lazy headlight so ordered the aluminium motor clips which sorted that out a nice easy fix.
Randomly around this point I started losing washer fluid as quick as I could put it in long story short turned out I had a split bottle. I had an attempt at a little guide in case anyone else had issues with the bottle as I couldn't find a lot of info about it. http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/a3-s3-...0-audi-s3-8l-washer-bottle-removal-guide.html
Around this time I did the N249 delete just to get rid of some more pipe work under the bonnet.
At this point we decided to sell my girlfriends E38 318is and share the Audi as I was pretty much always in the van and she only does about 3 miles a day.
I had the problem with the dead alarm siren I did the maplin fix but had pretty much guessed it was to far gone so have been waiting to get the updated siren.
The temp gauge had became a bit temperamental so I swapped the cts for no change so flushed the coolant and swapped the stat no issues since. Glad I shouldn't need to mess with the stat again was a pain for a straightforward job!
I got around to doing the oil pick up and cleaning the sump I had been dreading doing it but it went pretty well and was cleaner then I expected so hopefully the longlife hasn't been too much of an issue.
Around this time was the snapped clutch pedal annoying at the time on a busy cross roads but another relatively cheap easy fix.
Since I'd had the car the passenger door blade had been peeling off I had been keeping my eye out for a replacement. Figured I'd have a go at a repair had to drill the screws out I glued it back together then used longer screws that bite into the blade and it seems to have done the trick. Might go for new blades when my shopping list is smaller!
Did the cheap fix for the rear wiper jet as it had the snapped brass pipe and a blocked jet motor was totally fine luckily.
Last job I did was fit my Saikou Michi catch can so that brings me about up to date.
Next jobs are:
Drivers door switch plays up in the sun.
Drivers seat cable snapped so it wont slide forward with the handle, still able to move it all ways but not with the lever.
Get the alarm siren swapped.
Try and adjust the passenger door as it doesn't sit flush at the bottom any ideas anyone?
B5 tip and filter.
I fancy refreshing the suspension with new shocks and springs undecided which ones yet.
Boot lights are a bit intermittent so been meaning to check the boot catch out.
Long term I do intend to keep the car so think the journey for more power and an engine rebuild will be on the cards but with hopefully getting a house and being married this year I think it maybe do bits as and when I can. In the next few months I have decided to sell my old Mini after 7 years of owning her I just don't have the time of space no more so it's been a bit neglected. On the plus side it will push some cash in the S3s direction!
I had always liked the S3's the mileage i'd been doing hadn't made one practical until I gained a works van so figured perfect time to make the swap.
I had been searching for a while but most of the cars I saw seemed to be over priced or something just seemed off with them. In the end I traveled to Kent which was a bit of a mission but the car was honest and a fair price had a few faults but they weren't covered up. Car was totally standard besides a Forge 007 dv full history and on 88k miles cambelt and suspension bushes just done with a major service/mot in the last 100 miles. Tonnes of receipts with the history which all looked good it had been on longlife for the early part of it's life which was the main negative I had.
This is the car as I brought it:
The drive home was great and so were the first couple of weeks until the car started severely misfiring and I had an engine light... Figured one of the issues out to be the crankcase breather pipe totally snapped but it didn't fix it and I hadn't got VCDS at the time so had to pop to a garage. A couple more pipes two coil packs and a set of plugs later we were back on the road.
Next job I had two tyres which kept losing air the wheels were quite corroded so decided to have them refurbed in anthracite.
I did have a lazy headlight so ordered the aluminium motor clips which sorted that out a nice easy fix.
Randomly around this point I started losing washer fluid as quick as I could put it in long story short turned out I had a split bottle. I had an attempt at a little guide in case anyone else had issues with the bottle as I couldn't find a lot of info about it. http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/a3-s3-...0-audi-s3-8l-washer-bottle-removal-guide.html
Around this time I did the N249 delete just to get rid of some more pipe work under the bonnet.
At this point we decided to sell my girlfriends E38 318is and share the Audi as I was pretty much always in the van and she only does about 3 miles a day.
I had the problem with the dead alarm siren I did the maplin fix but had pretty much guessed it was to far gone so have been waiting to get the updated siren.
The temp gauge had became a bit temperamental so I swapped the cts for no change so flushed the coolant and swapped the stat no issues since. Glad I shouldn't need to mess with the stat again was a pain for a straightforward job!
I got around to doing the oil pick up and cleaning the sump I had been dreading doing it but it went pretty well and was cleaner then I expected so hopefully the longlife hasn't been too much of an issue.
Around this time was the snapped clutch pedal annoying at the time on a busy cross roads but another relatively cheap easy fix.
Since I'd had the car the passenger door blade had been peeling off I had been keeping my eye out for a replacement. Figured I'd have a go at a repair had to drill the screws out I glued it back together then used longer screws that bite into the blade and it seems to have done the trick. Might go for new blades when my shopping list is smaller!
Did the cheap fix for the rear wiper jet as it had the snapped brass pipe and a blocked jet motor was totally fine luckily.
Last job I did was fit my Saikou Michi catch can so that brings me about up to date.
Next jobs are:
Drivers door switch plays up in the sun.
Drivers seat cable snapped so it wont slide forward with the handle, still able to move it all ways but not with the lever.
Get the alarm siren swapped.
Try and adjust the passenger door as it doesn't sit flush at the bottom any ideas anyone?
B5 tip and filter.
I fancy refreshing the suspension with new shocks and springs undecided which ones yet.
Boot lights are a bit intermittent so been meaning to check the boot catch out.
Long term I do intend to keep the car so think the journey for more power and an engine rebuild will be on the cards but with hopefully getting a house and being married this year I think it maybe do bits as and when I can. In the next few months I have decided to sell my old Mini after 7 years of owning her I just don't have the time of space no more so it's been a bit neglected. On the plus side it will push some cash in the S3s direction!
