Finally started to sortout the car...

[northpole]

So after my daily Vauxhall Vectra C Saloon decided to die from a runaway turbo and a seized engine... I needed a replacement car... I always said after the veccy it'll be an Audi a4 b7 avant petrol... and that is what i ended up with...

Bought it from a nice person in Witham, but he didn't do any maintenance to the car in his ownership... yes he did the standard mot stuff but that is it.

So I flushed the engine today as the 2 year old oil was more like marmalade than oil, the sparkplug where 2 different types same brand though (but different specs) so replaced all 4 of them, new oil filter and air filter, new oil level sensor and oil plug and fresh fully synthetic 5w40 as the old 5w30 stained the engine internals red(aka it burned itself so best to go up a grade to preserve the engine better)...

It took me a few hours to do as it was the first time I worked on the car... I did clean it before that but yeah a service was on top of the list.

It now runs like a new engine, the throttle response changed after the flush.. from waiting for a second to now responding immediately. It also idles lower.

Leaves the gearbox oil and filter(will have that done) and the fuel and cabin filter to be changed with new ones.


Quite happy with the result of the long overdue service I did... so not much left to sort and make it a perfect running car again.

I didn't take any pictures as everyone knows what it entails to do the above.

I might start a picture filled diary once I got the rest of the service sorted.

 

[northpole]

I actually did the fuel-filter today as I already had it but was tired after getting the oil filter off. yeah i don't have the smallest of hands or arms so squeezing my arm past the gearbox to than remove the oil-filter was challenging and just about doable... if only they only put the expansion tank on a quick release it would have been a piece of cake to do.

luckily after removing the panel under the fuel-filter getting the thing of was easy enough... and glad i did it as it was an oem filter that was last done (according to the service manual) in 2015.

 

[northpole]

So can anyone with some experience with the mutitronic tell me what the best oil is for it, and how much it costs to have it refilled with a new filter, sump plug, fill plug gaskets etc... i also have the dreaded p0706 error ( and a few more) so the ECU/TCU has to be pulled and send off to be fixed... now i need the car on a daily basis so if someone knows of the fasted route to get that ecu/tcu done than i can plan it so that the car won't be useable as short as possible .

 

[northpole]

nevermind, i found the needed information, and since no-one cared to chime in... i'm keeping that info to myself.

 

[Charlie Farley]

As many guys as there are on the B7 forum it's not guaranteed you will get a response straight away, sometimes it can be days so please don't assume the worse when you haven't received a reply, taking a "no-one cared to chime in" attitude will just put guys off replying in the future, which, defeats the whole exercise of asking the questions to start with.
A lot of us have other things to do so may not be able to spend time on the forum and answer questions, and it's possible some don't have an answer for you.

 

[Deleted member 154814]

Echo'ing Rob's sentiments about your comment. No need for it is there really.

You will find that the majority of regulars on the B7 forum have manuals opposed to automatics, so for these particular questions won't be able to offer any advice. All of the regulars here are a very helpful bunch, but if they don't have any advice to offer, you won't get a response. Don't take it personally.

Most questions will have been asked before at some point in time, so use the search feature to your advantage. And next time, when you do discover the answer, no harm in posting it rather than moaning.

 

[northpole]

Not moaning just stating that apparently no-one wanted to answer, it had been viewed enough times...

That said this is not the first forum I'm on and back to the actual question it does load on the whats new part on the forum and all the multitronic gearboxes use the same oil, and have the same flaws... so anyone with a multitronic could've at least said something.

But rant over... I foundout what I needed to know and will make another topic once I gathered the needed parts and do the work. Pictures with it etc... than upload it. Because this info is not on the site I looked for it... luckily for me I do have elsawin so literally trawled through it to find the needed information, etc.

Some bits are on youtube too but no direct information on what is actually needed to do the job properly....

 

[Charlie Farley]

I would be very surprised if the info you required wasn't on ASN, it may possibly be as part of another thread reply or posting, not a specific question as such.
ASN search engine can be a bit of a fickle thing to be honest and not bring results that you would be requesting, thats not to say its not here albeit indirectly.

It is a self-help situation to a large degree.

 

[northpole]

Oww I know how to use Google to get the info I need, but as I stated not one that actually states the whole procedure nor what is needed, etc... I even went through project builds but most are manual cars....

So decided to gather the parts, and make a specific topic on it. So others will have the needed information in one topic. And believe me that I did try and search on every single known problem of the box to get information on this forum... you don't get the whole.picture from any of the topics that pop up.

So time to make a specific topic for it.

It will take some time before I make it as I haven't started to buy the parts and missing tools just yet.

 

[Charlie Farley]

Oww I know how to use Google to get the info I need, but as I stated not one that actually states the whole procedure nor what is needed, etc... I even went through project builds but most are manual cars....

So decided to gather the parts, and make a specific topic on it. So others will have the needed information in one topic. And believe me that I did try and search on every single known problem of the box to get information on this forum... you don't get the whole.picture from any of the topics that pop up.

So time to make a specific topic for it.

It will take some time before I make it as I haven't started to buy the parts and missing tools just yet.

Any help on specific tasks is always very welcomed chap, it is what makes this site so good and any site is only as good as the members make it.
when you do complete compiling it be sure to use a suitable thread heading, that will ensure others will find it more easily.
If you need further help, just ask and help will be along soon after, I will normally see it and reply even if I may not have the answer you require but may be able to point you in the right direction.
I look forward as will the rest of the B7 forum will to reading your writeup etc.

 

[B7Tourer]

3 Things I would do if I bought a 2.0 TFSI B7 tomorrow, whether they were required or not, unless I was positive they had been addressed recently; and you say this car was poorly maintained: a) New cam follower; B) Sump off, and clean oil pump intake and/or modified one, and C) New cam belt.

 

[northpole]

Thanks but i got the full service history of the car, than a 2 year mot only period... so did the engine flush as i did check the state of the cam follower first (is all good) cambelt isn't due for the next 40k. so that can wait... but it does need a new auxiliary belt, will do that soon. right now I'm more concerned with the gearbox... which by the way shows all the signs of needing just clean oil and filter ( leave it for a day take it out and no flashing PNRDS, shifts when it should, goes into sport mode etc until you select reverse.. than it starts flashing again) So that'll be done soon, I'm not really using the car anyway until the gearbox has been sorted.

oil and filter will be ordered next week.

 

[northpole]

Yesterday I fixed the sagging headliner... I didn't expect it to be such a pita to remove but once I got it out the job itself was easy enough... after it dried I put it back in the car and called it a day...

If you ever have to do this plan on doing nothing else that day it takes a whole day.

 

[northpole]

A mate came around and kinda talked me out of doing the gearbox myself, and took me to a specialist audi guru that might be the one to do the gearbox job... he did warn me though that he couldn't really give me a proper quote as the gearbox oil prices fluctuate on a daily basis... little does he know that i can get the oil myself cheaper than he can as he uses only one company ( buying on credit and all that) but I'll wait for the exact quote to come in and than I'll chime in with I already bought the oil so what if i supply it and you cut the oil price out of the quote? He probably will do that and I might get a cheap as chips gearbox oil chance and filter done I already told him I'll fix the TCU aka gearbox module myself as all it needs is re-soldering of the wires. He agreed with that but did warn me that if i was to take off the lid in the back i might loose more oil than anticipated and could be a problem... I''m now looking into how much oil i can expect coming down when i pop the lid on the module side without draining the old oil... ( and if it was to dump the lot well tough luck it'll be towed down to him after the TCU is fixed re-soldered and sealed)

I'll still write up the promised how2 and needed information but with the oil needing to be at 50 degrees Celcius when filling up and the car needing to sit level (remember i work outside in the street), it seems a whole lot easier to have it filled up by him as he has the oil filling machine in his workshop.

But as stated i'm waiting for the quote to come in, if he doesn't want to lower the quote with me providing the oil... well than i guess I'll end up doing it myself.. using my oil transfer pump with cold oil....

 

[northpole]

and after I received the quote and the unwillingness to lower the price... i decided to DIY it... just need to buy a new oil transfer pump as mine decided to pack up... in the meantime i finished polishing the car (just to be rained on just after i finished it) and today I resprayed the OEM S-line grille and badge satin black as the previous owner F-ed that up badly... also need to re-furbish all the wheels but since they are the period correct 18 inch S-line wheels, I'll DIY that too... need a few days of dry weather though so might happen later rather than sooner... But all in all the car is getting up to my standards... just a few things left... my ICE, i do have a Pioneer SPH-DA120 but it's old and i want to upgrade to something that has satnav, Andriod auto connectivity, DAB+ etc.. now i know there are some 9 inch Andriod car specific units for sale but haven't read up on the best ones for our older cars yet... given the fact that my car doesn't have a MFSW with paddle shift so I'm looking at getting one of those steering wheels first... subwoofer is already in the boot but not hooked up yet, can't be bothered to pull the wiring just yet as I always use 0-gauge (the biggest power feed wires you can get) and pulling that is never a nice thing to do, but the car is getting there slowly... I'm in no hurry. got an Audi concert setup so already know where to get the remote wires from but I won't be keeping the oem radio so not really sure on how this is going to go... that said I also want to paint the calipers red as right now they are a rusty mess... but thinking about those little things the first thing I'm focusing on now will be the Multitronic TCM fix and CVT oil and CVT oil filter replacement... that'll set me back a nice amount if I DIY it... not if I have it done.

oww and I also removed the shark-fin aerial that was just stuck on with double-sided Velcro... it looked out of place up close so it had to go, this happened when i was polishing the car over the weekend...

 

[boffin486]

As an aside on this topic, is the circuit board you need to resolder easy to get at & remove?
I don't know anything about these gearboxes but I did once rescue a car that I bought cheap as a garage had it from a customer for 2 YEARS & couldn't fix it. It was an Astra estate turbo diesel.
I went along, removed the faulty ecu off the back of the engine, went to a mates place, resoldered the dry joints inside, took it back, fitted it & started the car & drove it away. Took about 45mins in all & there were a few dropped jaws in the garage. Win Win!
This illustrates that if you are sure where the problem lies, it is very well worth fixing it yourself.
I did a gearbox flush/oil renewal recently on my Mercedes autobox & after that it was all silky smooth & changing just fine so it is a very well worth procedure to do, especially if you suspect it has never been done before.

 

[northpole]

Well the gearbox has 2 covers one for the oil filter (the part where it gets drained and filled) and the other is at the end of the box and under that cover is the ecu... the connector to it pokes out that end-cover ... long story short... you have to drain the oil first to open the end-cover and even than some oil will drain out that cover (and this here is the reason this happens to the TCM... the oil gets old, it gets to hot during operation and the TCM has to deal with getting to hot... in the end the soldered connections let go because of this heat... and the TCM doesn't know what gear is selected what mode it is in etc... .say hello to limpmode commencing

And this only happens because people like to push these engines as the gearbox makes them feel way more powerful than they actually are( when I first got it when I got home I checked the engine again if it had a turbo as that is how it feels)

But yeah it isn't the easiest one to pull out but not something so difficult that I can't deal with it myself...
It's just buying all the parts, the right oil isn't the cheap atf orstandard CVT oil either but I found it cheap enough, just like the filter and the new gaskets and plugs... but yeah filling the box back up isn't a nice job without my electric transfer pump so will be buying a new one... just waiting for a few dry days soni can start the job... fix the TCM than replace the filter and oil... and even the filling has to be done in a certain way...

I will be writing a how2 about doing this as i found that on this subject for most it's sending the TCM off when all it needs is simply resolderimg a few connections and refilling the gearbox.

 

[boffin486]

I used a cheap, drill powered pump to refill my Mercedes box - which is filled, believe it or not, down its dipstick tube! Pouring 7 litres of oil down there takes FOREVER!
I had to do this several times when I was flushing the box and so, with some careful pipe selections, I was able to do the whole job in about 30 minutes instead with the pump. Therefore, this method is infinitely preferable to the 'out of the service manual' method.

 

[northpole]

That is way better yeah I have seen those drill attachments while I was looking for a replacement but found them to transfer less fluids per minute than the electric operated versions that are available... granted they are way more expensive. But with the filling being done through the bottom of the gearbox.... I prefer something that is capable of pumping a few liters per minute...

But that is a good shout and I will deffo grab one to have in me toolbox.

 

[northpole]

well I did do the job and uploaded it in the right section...not in the b7 one but the regular technical forum.

 

[northpole]

and for everyone's viewing pleasure... here are some pics of the car

 

[northpole]

SO i bought the OS driveshaft as with this weather i'm not going to take the time to fix the inner CV joint... nope bought a new driveshaft, so once i start it's a bolt off, bolt on job. Weather is getting worse and I'll be damned to pay any garage to do that for me... so all i need is a dry day and it'll get done

 

[northpole]

Drive shaft arrived just now... well in light of the temperature being to low at the moment I'll do it tomorrow since we are supposed to have another dry day in my area... wished i had a garage... that would mean me just doing the job without having to suffer the cold.

 

[Charlie Farley]

Cold, what's that, it is just refreshing november weather.

 

[northpole]

Nah this weather is not for me spring/summer yes winter/autumn no thanks...

 

[Charlie Farley]

 

[northpole]

So went to do the drive shaft, 30 minutes the old shaft was out.... took me 3 hours and 30 minutes to get the new one on... simply because I had to loosen the knuckle... and than the bottom arms didn't want to line up properly to put back on.... so I spend at least 4 hours outside in the cold trying my hardest not to swear or speak out loud of how much I hated it not wanting to line up... but once they did... I had it on quick enough.

But yeah here's me thinking max an hour... F that it will take way longer if you don't have a bridge period end of story.

But it is done now for the tires.

 

[Charlie Farley]

That is a long time to refit chap, what method did you use?

 

[northpole]

The easiest one... I loosened the 2 bottom arms on the knuckle came out just fine... tried to put them back on either the one with the arb didn't line up... or the rear control arm didn't line up...

In the end I just jacked the lot up than put the front one in.. than the rear one... problem was somehow the angle was off... took hours to get the angle right... but once it did... 10 minutes later all was bolted back together.

Also the cold didn't help and sitting on the ground with a back pain from hell plus feeling the temperature drop at a certain time didn't help the situation either... but got it sorted.. he who endures prevails as they say.

 

[Charlie Farley]

 

[northpole]

Ordered 2 new tires from Camskill.co.uk waiting for the confirmation of delivery and as soon as I get them I'll be taking them to get fitted at my usual tire fitter. Used to buy them and have them fitted at home but they didn't have my brand, and with them ordering them in and fitting they are way more expensive. With the economy being the way it is I'm trying willing to go through the hassle of paying less for the brand tires i want and have them fitted elsewhere, all in all it's a saving of 40 pounds just for the tires alone.

 

[northpole]

I got the tires fitted this morning... next up MOT it's due next month so will book it next week. I checked everything myself, it should pass.

 

[northpole]

Well the MOT was a right PITA... car didn't pass on the count of one os top front rear bush perished and ns bottom front arm rear bush perished... went to ask the MOT tester right there and than while he was smoking what arms i had to buy and ordered them in front of him: he literally told me the wrong way around... but on the paperwork it was written down the right way... long story short i fitted the new arms, brought it in for the re-test just for them to fail it on the count of them being the wrong arms... had to re-mot and do the same job again... but now the reverse arms... than the pinch-bolt on the OS was completely fused and during me trying to force it out it broke the knuckle.... nice now i was stuck finding a replacement hub carrier... well long story short had to order it of eBay and had to pay top price... I decided to replace the top arms and the front ones on both sides...while waiting for the hub carrier to arrive, i decided to prep and remove the old hubcarrier.. the rear bottom balljoint got stuck... i took my center punch and gave it a whack... it came straight out... nice... knuckle arrived (2 days later) and you'll never guess it I needed to transfer a few bits over... one of them being the tapered bush that holds the front bottom ball-joint... took a few hours to get it out and press it back into the new one utilizing a long bolt and some big washers with a 800nm torque gun without the use of a vice... now to put the car back together... to find that the ball-joint top was mushroomed... lovely... not! anyway took the anglegrinder to it and flattened it back until it was straight. used my 800nm torque gun in the hope it would just bolt together... well it didn't, it ate 3 nuts before i decided that it needs re-threading... I have got a tap and die set but not the right size die.... so after asking around... i just bought a new tap and die set with the right size dies ... (at this point all that was not in place was the OS rear bottom balljoint and the driveshaft) another 3 days wasted waiting on deliveries... but as soon as the tap and die set arrived... in 20 minutes the car was done... i could finally put all my tools away... and get the car back in for it's MOT... you'll never guess what the MOT station that failed the car told me... the earliest available date was at the end of the month, and even though mistake was made by the MOT tester there was no way they'd be able to fit me in ( he takes smoking brakes every 45 minutes but hey ho no space... f-them) I walked off not a happy customer, and will never ever use them again. I walked passed 1 garage on the way that does MOT's but I never used them as i know they are expensive... went down to one that opened just before covid, and asked... they said they don't do MOT's onsite but they'd ring their MOT station... which was the one i walked passed... and they had space for an emergency MOT if I could manage to get the car there within 15 minutes! no biggy as it's 1 mile away from my house. I double timed home told the wife, I'm taking the car for it's MOT and 1 hour later the car passed it's MOT...

NOTE: my MOT date was the 4th of January it passed on the 19th. that is literally 15 days. Taking in account the amount of time i had to wait for parts and than having problems with the pinch bolt that ultimately broke the knuckle and having to buy a seriously expensive hubcarrier..and than 3 more days because i needed to re-thread the balljoint and wait for the tool to be delivered... i hope this never happens to any of you.

But the car drives straight I can let go of the steeringwheel as the tracking is spot on and i didn't even use any tools to check if the lot was straight, the MOT came with a free alignment check and all is in spec.

 

[northpole]

I ordered a new cam cover gasket mine as the one currently is leaking, almost bought it at parts in motion without checking a few other websites, most of them sell the same one that is just under 20 pounds at Parts in motion for over 30 pounds, in comes GSF same brand gasket at 12 pounds! they didn't have it in stock so I drove to the store and ordered it, pick up at 15:30 today! bargain!

 

[Charlie Farley]

I use this one from febi/Bilstein and have done for many years .
They last well and well upto the task.
Its what i had come today along with assorted other parts.

 

[northpole]

doesn't fit on my engine mate...

 

[Charlie Farley]

what engine do you have then?

 

[northpole]

non turbo 2.0 20v engine code ALT don't worry i already went through their offerings.

 

[northpole]

just picked it up, got an extra discount on it too so paid only £ 10.80 even the bloke behind the counter said that it's a bargain, especially for that brand and quality! I'll see how long it lasts but it seems to be extra sturdy, but at that price I'll replace it again rather than swap brands.

 

[Charlie Farley]

For some reason I had in my head yours was a 2.0t aswell.