Hello everyone
In September this year I will mark 5 years with my audi so I decided to share my story.
Before I start I would like to thank to @bobby singh , @desertstorm (but also whole forum community) making my journey easier as their work/ sharing help me as a guidance, ideas source, parts compatibility checker, possibilities……
In September 2017
I become owner of my first Audi car and I choosed 2014 A4 3.0 tdi black edition S-Line.
Why? Lightest from A6 and A7, diesel because of fact that I do about 20k miles a year and 150£ road tax (that time) for a year, 2014 because that was 242 bhp variant (not 200) and finally that one I could afford (toke loan for 3 yrs)
I did choose one better equiped, sat nav with hdd storage, park assistant with rear camera, bottom flat stearing wheel, leather seats, 15k miles on odometer….
Photos from 2017, alloys are dirty it's not black or dark colour .
My first mod to the car was Pipercross air filter.
First year of ownership beside commuting, did road trip to Wales, Scotland and end up with 25k miles for that year.
Basicly just needed fill up diesel, service every 10k miles, dsg every 40k mile, pads, tyres, doing leather care…. For another two years or so.
2019
Driving the car, I made some scratches and dents from poor judgments…
So in December decided to go for bodywork and alloys restoration before I kick off any serious mods…
But I also been saving money for house… so not much happening
Folloving mods done by my mechanic: enabled with VCDS needle sweep up and oil temperature gauge with lap timers since I mentioned to him I may get VCDS myself to learn and do some things…
2020
Nothing last forever....
Mot advisory for rear shock absorber sweating oil.
About October time start experiencing some power loss in first 2500 rpm range, car not reacting to further press of throttle while in that range… also my rear parking camera would stop working, only had sensors beeping…
Finish repaying the car loan.
In November my mechanic trace it down to egr valve stack open and found submerged in water camera module together with battery module in my rear boot.
Assuming I didn't close boot properly since didn't experience that again.
Replaced...
Car was OK but I wasn't sure If I am paranoid or what, but still felt like my car wasn't the same power wise, especially on that low rpm range and I struggled to reach same economy as I used to (normal where I would do 46 mpg I struggled to get over 42 mpg…).
Eventually engine light pop up again and I start my implausible signal to MAF sensor saga…
this time I had to drive it for a months like this as my mechanic wasn't available.
So I also made decision and finally bought Ross tech cable and install the VCDS to be able to check car myself.
2021
Start the year with replaced MAF sensor, again car feel normal but struggle to exceed 42 mpg….
At some point I end up at mechanic with dpf issue (with limp mode) where he had to force emergency regen, apparently I was les than gram from not being able to do regen.
My brake pads and mainly discs was gone and needed change (experienced quite a vibrations under the braking, especially from higher speeds)
Managed to get my girlfriends approval to do upgrade , my point was not to waste anymore money on stock parts as I won't wait for them to wear...
Sometime in January got S5 calipers from ebay (front and rear) strip them down to bear metal, spray them, bought repair kits, get braided Hel brake lines and in April ask my mechanic to assemble the brakes with repair kits and put them up.
I used VHT sprays: black and clear coat, cured separately paint and clear coat in industrial oven on 90 degrees for an hour to activate chemical resistance (they state it on cans, also saying don't need necessarily oven you can do it as you drive car too….)
Repair kits, pads and discs bought from auto doc.
Kits were from TWR as calipers are TWR too, but sliding pins were wrong size, bodies inside rear caliper piston which are used for electromechanical handbrake were wrong thread orientation.
So used old one since are in good condition anyway.
Pads I went for ferodo ecofriction, no issues there, don't du my wheels as dirty as precious one.
Rear discs I tried zimmerman and front I got from my mechanic ordered TWR ones with black painted hubs. Also not issues there only I learned It doesn't matter on coating they get rusty eventually….
Brakes after year and something:
And just to summarise:
Front original is 320 mm vented discs, upgrade to 345 mm.
Rear original is 300 mm solid disc, upgrade to 330 mm vented.
Very pleased with results as improved braking power on higher speeds and responsiveness.
My battery module would still complaining about bus wire so my mechanic found place where wire broke and recover connection.
Also my camera module wire is playing up from time to time(3-4 times a year).
Wire is part of bigger harness going from boot to front and is apparently dirty expensive to get it replace. Luckily open the boot and close it (with bit of a attitude) will fix it for months.
In December we bought house and I knew nothing will hold me back now .
2022
Year start really baaaaad: in January my love lost father and following month my father died too. Life….
Serviced car and on pick up my mechanic is telling me he got bad news…. My pipercross Air filter (the one since car purchase) is crack open and damaged MAF sensor again plus compressor wheel on turbo and I will need to fix it soon rather than later.
Air filter would be removed on each service and blow by air gun since is reusable.
So he put stock air filter for time being, new MAF and I made decision that instead of doing suspension will do engine tune first with turbo upgrade.. .
But hey I finally resolved my plausible signal issue.
Get carloan since life is too short and I had mortgage already .
In march I made appointment with my mechanic to install wagner front mount intercooler (ordered from wagner Web page), remove back boxes on exhaust, replace it with straight pipes and remove swirl flap on air box.
In May made appointment with darkside development, where I bought turbo upgrade, custom ecu remap, dsg remap, rest of the mods needed, keep it legal so I got dpf and egr still on. Paid deposit to secure the appointment slot.
Also ordered another pipercross filter and double check they will be OK to install it.
When they ask me what's is the expectation power wise, I said anything over 350 would be amazing.
Turbo is rated to deliver 400 bhp…. And he said they never tested it with dpf on but is confident they can get to 350 bhp and more.
Since they are 187 miles or 3.5 hours drive away from me, I booked hotel with my girlfriend nearby for a week to wait for a car.
They asked for 3 to 4 days work.
On the day of dropping car off I asked if I could be there when they do dyno tests, but no couldn't be part of anything....
Turbo upgrade didn't go as planned, leaking oil and they didn't get replacement in time so I ended up renting the car, drive that home and returned it to local branch.
I did appreciated they didn't try to patch it up and send me home like that just to meet the deadline.
Things happens I understand that…..
Anyway after turbo issue resolved they get back to me with update and apologise again because forgot to add MAF sensor upgrade to the quote and tuners requested it…
I was quiet about it since I had new one there, hoping doesn't need to be change and simply gave up on getting fancy silicone hose instead of plastic original one.
Since they asked I was like no worries I understand.
I mentioned them also about upcoming road trip to Europe in August and that I am after reliable long journey set up/ tune rather than record braking map for an hour….
So this is what been done to car by darkside:
Oil Filter 059198405 1
Sump Plug for 3.0 TDI Engines N91167901 1
Sump Plug Seal for 3.0 TDI Engines N0138495 1
100ml Quantum Longlife 3 Engine Oil 5W-30 DSD1532.5 64
Fit pipercross air filter, put our air filter back to stock, IN BOOT 1
Bosch 4 BAR MAP Manifold Pressure Sensor DSD1805 1
Socket Cap M6 x 20mm Bolt BZP Bolt DSD9846 2
M6 Washer BZP DSD8535 2
Black - Turbo Intake Silicone for A6 / A7 - C7 Platform with 88mm MAF Upgrade with GTD2872 - 64mm Compressor Housing - 059129615L - With Clamps & Breather & MAF DSD3132.2-BLK 1
Custom Dyno, Turbo Upgrade, Metering Valve - DPF EGR: ON 1
Stage 3 Gearbox Tuning 1
Labour 1
We're running a boost pressure of 2.5 bar with a maximum EGT limit of 910 degrees before the turbo, anything higher than that and we would start to cause damage to the DPF 1
Rail pressure is at 2000 bar, up from the stock 1800 bar to help with fuel delivery. 1
TRACKING - Out of Specification - Drives straight but steering is slightly to the right. 1
Rear Shock Absorbers (Urgent) - osr shock leaking 1
Darkside Developments Keyring DSD1320 1
Genuine Audi VZK Turbocharger Fitting Kit DSD5275 1
Genuine VW M8 12mm Exhaust Nuts DSD1001 6
CP4 HPFP Metering Valve Upgrade DSD5548.1 1
Genuine VAG 2700 BAR Common Rail Fuel Pressure Sensor DSD4738 1
Darkside Developments Stickers DSD1267.1 1
Darkside GTD2872VRZK Billet Ball Bearing Hybrid with Electronic Actuator (VZK Housing) DSD8403.4 1
My engine bay:
Final bill was nearly 4500£ + 400£ deposit and final power is 348.6 horse power.
I picked up car on saturday two weeks later.
Person at reception would advice me to keep the car running longer before I head off and even longer after the drive, since this turbo running hotter - not to cook the oil inside of turbo.
Now this car pulls . After 187 miles drive back home with no problem at all, I finally felt again that car is in top condition, have 100 horses more and I have my economy back.
Before park it at home I stopped at car wash and as they drying car up I noticed my exhaust pipes are bit dropped and pushing against one side....
Looking down found those Z shape metal pipes on rubber which holding exhaust near silencer snapped in half on both sides and so holding only somewhere in the middle.
Managed to get appointment for next week to my mechanic and fixed.
In July got Mot and prior to that I made another appointment with my mechanic and get shock absorbers front and rear replaced since that is improvement too, with kwik fit to do wheel alignment.
Wasn't enough, on mot they found cut into a front tyre which I forgot about (didn't look that terrible to me whe I found it).
So ended up with new set of tyres in the front. Was needed soon anyway...
In August I departure from my home to the country of my birth - Slovakia.
Got ferry to cross the chanel and in Czech Republic pick up brother in law....
In Germany car was playing up, I mean flashing "glow plug" light and preventing to rev over 2500 rpm. So would stop on near layby let the car idle for 5 min to cool down, stop the engine for 15 min and start again, All good, continued with drive.
This happened to me 3 times so engine management light come up to…. Interestingly to the end of the day and by the time I left Germany engine management light would come off. Car was normal...
On the way back to UK car drove flawlessly and arrived home with no issues.
Days later went to see my mechanic to get some answers. The issue was, my car expected to have about 2800 hPa of boost but was getting abou 2100 hPa. I didn't noticed if this was the same figures for all three occasions.
I explained to my mechanic we was 6 or 7 hours driving, was hot day like over 30 degrees…
He run turbo test and egr test, all passed, so we gave it to that....
And that will bring us to present day.
Soon I will be ordering another pipercross filter and cleaning solution, as I will be rotating two filters from now on every 5k miles….
I also never launch it, checked the counter for it with VCDS and it says 0.
Hopefully will find the place and courage for it as I am still concerned of snapping something, when I slam stand still car with 2500 rpms…
Car is amazing and I still love it, upgrade move the excitement of driving it to another level. Would do it all over again....
It's harder and harder to think of a upgrade to another car, rather I am looking forward to do more road trips, track days finally, as its long overdue....
Regards
Jozef
In September this year I will mark 5 years with my audi so I decided to share my story.
Before I start I would like to thank to @bobby singh , @desertstorm (but also whole forum community) making my journey easier as their work/ sharing help me as a guidance, ideas source, parts compatibility checker, possibilities……
In September 2017
I become owner of my first Audi car and I choosed 2014 A4 3.0 tdi black edition S-Line.
Why? Lightest from A6 and A7, diesel because of fact that I do about 20k miles a year and 150£ road tax (that time) for a year, 2014 because that was 242 bhp variant (not 200) and finally that one I could afford (toke loan for 3 yrs)
I did choose one better equiped, sat nav with hdd storage, park assistant with rear camera, bottom flat stearing wheel, leather seats, 15k miles on odometer….
Photos from 2017, alloys are dirty it's not black or dark colour .
My first mod to the car was Pipercross air filter.
First year of ownership beside commuting, did road trip to Wales, Scotland and end up with 25k miles for that year.
Basicly just needed fill up diesel, service every 10k miles, dsg every 40k mile, pads, tyres, doing leather care…. For another two years or so.
2019
Driving the car, I made some scratches and dents from poor judgments…
So in December decided to go for bodywork and alloys restoration before I kick off any serious mods…
But I also been saving money for house… so not much happening
Folloving mods done by my mechanic: enabled with VCDS needle sweep up and oil temperature gauge with lap timers since I mentioned to him I may get VCDS myself to learn and do some things…
2020
Nothing last forever....
Mot advisory for rear shock absorber sweating oil.
About October time start experiencing some power loss in first 2500 rpm range, car not reacting to further press of throttle while in that range… also my rear parking camera would stop working, only had sensors beeping…
Finish repaying the car loan.
In November my mechanic trace it down to egr valve stack open and found submerged in water camera module together with battery module in my rear boot.
Assuming I didn't close boot properly since didn't experience that again.
Replaced...
Car was OK but I wasn't sure If I am paranoid or what, but still felt like my car wasn't the same power wise, especially on that low rpm range and I struggled to reach same economy as I used to (normal where I would do 46 mpg I struggled to get over 42 mpg…).
Eventually engine light pop up again and I start my implausible signal to MAF sensor saga…
this time I had to drive it for a months like this as my mechanic wasn't available.
So I also made decision and finally bought Ross tech cable and install the VCDS to be able to check car myself.
2021
Start the year with replaced MAF sensor, again car feel normal but struggle to exceed 42 mpg….
At some point I end up at mechanic with dpf issue (with limp mode) where he had to force emergency regen, apparently I was les than gram from not being able to do regen.
My brake pads and mainly discs was gone and needed change (experienced quite a vibrations under the braking, especially from higher speeds)
Managed to get my girlfriends approval to do upgrade , my point was not to waste anymore money on stock parts as I won't wait for them to wear...
Sometime in January got S5 calipers from ebay (front and rear) strip them down to bear metal, spray them, bought repair kits, get braided Hel brake lines and in April ask my mechanic to assemble the brakes with repair kits and put them up.
I used VHT sprays: black and clear coat, cured separately paint and clear coat in industrial oven on 90 degrees for an hour to activate chemical resistance (they state it on cans, also saying don't need necessarily oven you can do it as you drive car too….)
Repair kits, pads and discs bought from auto doc.
Kits were from TWR as calipers are TWR too, but sliding pins were wrong size, bodies inside rear caliper piston which are used for electromechanical handbrake were wrong thread orientation.
So used old one since are in good condition anyway.
Pads I went for ferodo ecofriction, no issues there, don't du my wheels as dirty as precious one.
Rear discs I tried zimmerman and front I got from my mechanic ordered TWR ones with black painted hubs. Also not issues there only I learned It doesn't matter on coating they get rusty eventually….
Brakes after year and something:
And just to summarise:
Front original is 320 mm vented discs, upgrade to 345 mm.
Rear original is 300 mm solid disc, upgrade to 330 mm vented.
Very pleased with results as improved braking power on higher speeds and responsiveness.
My battery module would still complaining about bus wire so my mechanic found place where wire broke and recover connection.
Also my camera module wire is playing up from time to time(3-4 times a year).
Wire is part of bigger harness going from boot to front and is apparently dirty expensive to get it replace. Luckily open the boot and close it (with bit of a attitude) will fix it for months.
In December we bought house and I knew nothing will hold me back now .
2022
Year start really baaaaad: in January my love lost father and following month my father died too. Life….
Serviced car and on pick up my mechanic is telling me he got bad news…. My pipercross Air filter (the one since car purchase) is crack open and damaged MAF sensor again plus compressor wheel on turbo and I will need to fix it soon rather than later.
Air filter would be removed on each service and blow by air gun since is reusable.
So he put stock air filter for time being, new MAF and I made decision that instead of doing suspension will do engine tune first with turbo upgrade.. .
But hey I finally resolved my plausible signal issue.
Get carloan since life is too short and I had mortgage already .
In march I made appointment with my mechanic to install wagner front mount intercooler (ordered from wagner Web page), remove back boxes on exhaust, replace it with straight pipes and remove swirl flap on air box.
In May made appointment with darkside development, where I bought turbo upgrade, custom ecu remap, dsg remap, rest of the mods needed, keep it legal so I got dpf and egr still on. Paid deposit to secure the appointment slot.
Also ordered another pipercross filter and double check they will be OK to install it.
When they ask me what's is the expectation power wise, I said anything over 350 would be amazing.
Turbo is rated to deliver 400 bhp…. And he said they never tested it with dpf on but is confident they can get to 350 bhp and more.
Since they are 187 miles or 3.5 hours drive away from me, I booked hotel with my girlfriend nearby for a week to wait for a car.
They asked for 3 to 4 days work.
On the day of dropping car off I asked if I could be there when they do dyno tests, but no couldn't be part of anything....
Turbo upgrade didn't go as planned, leaking oil and they didn't get replacement in time so I ended up renting the car, drive that home and returned it to local branch.
I did appreciated they didn't try to patch it up and send me home like that just to meet the deadline.
Things happens I understand that…..
Anyway after turbo issue resolved they get back to me with update and apologise again because forgot to add MAF sensor upgrade to the quote and tuners requested it…
I was quiet about it since I had new one there, hoping doesn't need to be change and simply gave up on getting fancy silicone hose instead of plastic original one.
Since they asked I was like no worries I understand.
I mentioned them also about upcoming road trip to Europe in August and that I am after reliable long journey set up/ tune rather than record braking map for an hour….
So this is what been done to car by darkside:
Oil Filter 059198405 1
Sump Plug for 3.0 TDI Engines N91167901 1
Sump Plug Seal for 3.0 TDI Engines N0138495 1
100ml Quantum Longlife 3 Engine Oil 5W-30 DSD1532.5 64
Fit pipercross air filter, put our air filter back to stock, IN BOOT 1
Bosch 4 BAR MAP Manifold Pressure Sensor DSD1805 1
Socket Cap M6 x 20mm Bolt BZP Bolt DSD9846 2
M6 Washer BZP DSD8535 2
Black - Turbo Intake Silicone for A6 / A7 - C7 Platform with 88mm MAF Upgrade with GTD2872 - 64mm Compressor Housing - 059129615L - With Clamps & Breather & MAF DSD3132.2-BLK 1
Custom Dyno, Turbo Upgrade, Metering Valve - DPF EGR: ON 1
Stage 3 Gearbox Tuning 1
Labour 1
We're running a boost pressure of 2.5 bar with a maximum EGT limit of 910 degrees before the turbo, anything higher than that and we would start to cause damage to the DPF 1
Rail pressure is at 2000 bar, up from the stock 1800 bar to help with fuel delivery. 1
TRACKING - Out of Specification - Drives straight but steering is slightly to the right. 1
Rear Shock Absorbers (Urgent) - osr shock leaking 1
Darkside Developments Keyring DSD1320 1
Genuine Audi VZK Turbocharger Fitting Kit DSD5275 1
Genuine VW M8 12mm Exhaust Nuts DSD1001 6
CP4 HPFP Metering Valve Upgrade DSD5548.1 1
Genuine VAG 2700 BAR Common Rail Fuel Pressure Sensor DSD4738 1
Darkside Developments Stickers DSD1267.1 1
Darkside GTD2872VRZK Billet Ball Bearing Hybrid with Electronic Actuator (VZK Housing) DSD8403.4 1
My engine bay:
Final bill was nearly 4500£ + 400£ deposit and final power is 348.6 horse power.
I picked up car on saturday two weeks later.
Person at reception would advice me to keep the car running longer before I head off and even longer after the drive, since this turbo running hotter - not to cook the oil inside of turbo.
Now this car pulls . After 187 miles drive back home with no problem at all, I finally felt again that car is in top condition, have 100 horses more and I have my economy back.
Before park it at home I stopped at car wash and as they drying car up I noticed my exhaust pipes are bit dropped and pushing against one side....
Looking down found those Z shape metal pipes on rubber which holding exhaust near silencer snapped in half on both sides and so holding only somewhere in the middle.
Managed to get appointment for next week to my mechanic and fixed.
In July got Mot and prior to that I made another appointment with my mechanic and get shock absorbers front and rear replaced since that is improvement too, with kwik fit to do wheel alignment.
Wasn't enough, on mot they found cut into a front tyre which I forgot about (didn't look that terrible to me whe I found it).
So ended up with new set of tyres in the front. Was needed soon anyway...
In August I departure from my home to the country of my birth - Slovakia.
Got ferry to cross the chanel and in Czech Republic pick up brother in law....
In Germany car was playing up, I mean flashing "glow plug" light and preventing to rev over 2500 rpm. So would stop on near layby let the car idle for 5 min to cool down, stop the engine for 15 min and start again, All good, continued with drive.
This happened to me 3 times so engine management light come up to…. Interestingly to the end of the day and by the time I left Germany engine management light would come off. Car was normal...
On the way back to UK car drove flawlessly and arrived home with no issues.
Days later went to see my mechanic to get some answers. The issue was, my car expected to have about 2800 hPa of boost but was getting abou 2100 hPa. I didn't noticed if this was the same figures for all three occasions.
I explained to my mechanic we was 6 or 7 hours driving, was hot day like over 30 degrees…
He run turbo test and egr test, all passed, so we gave it to that....
And that will bring us to present day.
Soon I will be ordering another pipercross filter and cleaning solution, as I will be rotating two filters from now on every 5k miles….
I also never launch it, checked the counter for it with VCDS and it says 0.
Hopefully will find the place and courage for it as I am still concerned of snapping something, when I slam stand still car with 2500 rpms…
Car is amazing and I still love it, upgrade move the excitement of driving it to another level. Would do it all over again....
It's harder and harder to think of a upgrade to another car, rather I am looking forward to do more road trips, track days finally, as its long overdue....
Regards
Jozef
