Rich81
Registered User
- Joined
- May 29, 2017
- Messages
- 79
- Reaction score
- 53
- Points
- 18
After one month of ownership, a fair bit of cash on parts and lots of my time, finally got my 4.2 Quattro in good working order. I've had two B5 passats and currently also own a C5 1.9TDi which I've had 2.5 years (bought for £200) and always wanted a proper Audi with a V8. Couldn't find a decent S6 for sensible money and this 4.2 Quattro came upso I sold my MK4 Golf GTi (long time VW fan recently converted to Audi) to buy it. The outgoing MK4 was mint condition and the new 4.2, well, wasn't. Bought as spares or repairs but importantly with what as far as I could tell was a good engine and box. Known faults when bought the car were: Hard starting difficult to start from hot and various front end clunks, small rust patch on roof (where they all go), air-con not working.
40 mile drive home was without issue but then as expected car didn't start when hot. First job to tackle was the hard starting. Did plenty of research and feared possibly fuel pump or leaky injectors but after getting under the bonnet found the root cause was vac leaks; one of the variable inlet manifold actuators had broken leaving a gaping hole:
Quite shocked after researching the replacement part and finding these actuators are £250 each from Audi! Just for a diaphragm actuator! That got my brain in gear and decided a repair was possible. Because the plastic part that originally held the arm was still inside the diaphragm, I was able to manipulate it and work with it. I was able to drill a hole through the centre of the plastic bit, countersink it, insert a countersunk screw and get it through the whole, turn it all around so the thread was sticking out, get a nut and suitable washers on it and tighten it all up. Once I was happy it would hold I assembled it again with sealant under the washer to ensure no vac leaks:
Next job was to treat the root cause of the actuator failure which was a seized manifold flap. After finding a great write-up online about how to repair these here I was confident it could be fixed:
Didn't take long at all to get the offending parts off, cleaned up and back together. Thankfully only one flap was seized.
There were quite a few perished vac hoses on the system so all vac lines were replaced with silicon. Success - now starts perfectly
40 mile drive home was without issue but then as expected car didn't start when hot. First job to tackle was the hard starting. Did plenty of research and feared possibly fuel pump or leaky injectors but after getting under the bonnet found the root cause was vac leaks; one of the variable inlet manifold actuators had broken leaving a gaping hole:
Quite shocked after researching the replacement part and finding these actuators are £250 each from Audi! Just for a diaphragm actuator! That got my brain in gear and decided a repair was possible. Because the plastic part that originally held the arm was still inside the diaphragm, I was able to manipulate it and work with it. I was able to drill a hole through the centre of the plastic bit, countersink it, insert a countersunk screw and get it through the whole, turn it all around so the thread was sticking out, get a nut and suitable washers on it and tighten it all up. Once I was happy it would hold I assembled it again with sealant under the washer to ensure no vac leaks:
Next job was to treat the root cause of the actuator failure which was a seized manifold flap. After finding a great write-up online about how to repair these here I was confident it could be fixed:
Didn't take long at all to get the offending parts off, cleaned up and back together. Thankfully only one flap was seized.
There were quite a few perished vac hoses on the system so all vac lines were replaced with silicon. Success - now starts perfectly