have you considered creating an attachment of some sort that covers the port entirely but has holes for the media blast nozzle, and another for a shop-vac acttachemnt?
That way you can blast and clear out all of the gunk + spent shells in one shot. I think BMW does this and lots of people have jigged their own out of wood etc.
this is for a BMW
attach to vacuum, and insert walnut blaster in that hole
otherwise, won’t you be eating blowback walnut shell dust constantly?
Replacing plugs in my b5 s4 in a week or so. Not because poor performance or misfires, just general maintenance. They have plenty of miles on them. Bosch sidefires. I also have a full set of oe ignition coils. Should I throw them in too while at it or wait until indication they are really needed to be replaced?
Thanks
You have the bolt down coils right? Those work really well and I have only had one die on me after 280K miles in my A6. I would wait to replace them.
The push down style coils suck! 034 Motorsport came out with the conversion kit to the push down style then stopped selling it because they made less power.
Yep bolt down. Thanks man, I will just throw my current ones back on.
On another note, ever used the powerflex control arm bushings? My front end bits need replacing bad. Thinking about just replacing bushings on old arms with these. As far as i know, my arms are not bent, just lots of play in the original rubber.
https://www.ecstuning.com/Audi-B5_S4--2.7T/Suspension/Control_Arm/ES2763542/
No problem.
I have not used powerflex bushings. Generally I try to stick with rubber bushings or spherical bearings. The polyurethane suspension bushings tend to squeak really annoyingly, especially if you don’t use a lot of the lube and then when they dry out later on.
I have run the FCP control arms for a long time and they work well. Plus they are cheap! Don’t know if they still sell the kits on AZ or not but I have used those on a bunch of cars including my A6.
Was going to be next question about the fcp kits. I know they are like half the cost of oem arms by trw or lemforder or others. Thought about the meyle hd setup but likely just go cheap. Hard to beat sub $300 especially if they are proven to last
I am hesitant to buy the fcp kit tho. Looking at ocap (italy vag oe supplier) from blauparts. About $200 more than fcp kit. Decisions…scratch the ocap option. Read several poor reviews. But, poor and good reviews on just about every part out there. Narrowed my choice down to febi ($500) or fcp kit ($250). Also eliminated meyle kit as they are even more and lots of subpar reviews combined with overpriced
Order a full trw set from fcp. Original equipment quality and lifetime warranty. Win win imo.
A 2010 V8 S5 coupe came in for a hesitation, sputtering, and lack of proper acceleration.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1023_zpsz0vsxim1.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1030_zpshxcydnia.jpg
Started off by pulling the low pressure side fuel pump fuse and running the engine until it stalled out from a lack of fuel. This is a required safety step any time that the fuel system has to be opened because the FSI engines use very high pressures on the high fuel pressure side of the fuel system.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1028_zpsj0fsiobp.jpg
After that, I did an oil change since the engine had been driven and was warmed up to operating temperature. It is so much easier to do an oil change on the B8 cars since the oil can be extracted through the dipstick tube. The oil filter is top of the engine towards the back so the car doesn’t even have to be raised off the ground. Also with the V8 S5 coupes the dipstick tube has nothing covering it. Unlike the RS5 V8, where the inlet of the driver’s side air box has to come off to get access to the dipstick tube.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1033_zpsf1md7bmp.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1034_zpsvhw2bswj.jpg
Then the normal steps for any more in depth Audi servicing. Took the top cover off the front bumper, removed the headlights, removed the front belly pan, and then fully removed the front bumper.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1035_zpssqga8icn.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1043_zpskeky5gof.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1044_zpscvvfdqxo.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1076_zpskbbmtanl.jpg
The B8 cars differ from the older B5/6/7 cars in that the low speed impact shocks don’t have a long shock body that goes into the frame opening. So I have two bolts that screw into the frame so that the core support can slide forward on the bolts. Otherwise if I fully unbolted the core support then it would just simply fall off the car and probably damage something. In addition to having to thread those bolts into the frame, the front coolant tank hose has to be disconnected to allow more wiggle room. Well I ran into an issue when I tried to disconnect that line. The end broke off and was still in the coolant tank. In the picture of the piece that is still in the coolant tank, you can see that there is brown sections like oil was in that line at some point. The other end of that same line also broke off the same way when I tried to replace the line after doing the carbon clean. I had suspected that at some point the engine oil cooler was leaking engine oil into the coolant because of the coolant tank being milkshake brown towards the top. It is easy to see where the coolant tank is discolored in some of the above pictures.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1088_zps4qyiopa5.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1094_zpsexumigdg.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1095_zpsqynpotrt.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/20151020_103906_zpsyfzkjc4y.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/20151020_103910_zpsokfe0d3z.jpg
Got everything disconnected from upper intake manifold so that it was able to come out. Then the lower side intake manifolds were ready to come out. The later 2009+ V8 S5 coupes use a three piece plastic intake manifolds system. The 2008 and early 2009 V8 S5 coupes use a one piece metal intake manifold like the B7 RS4s. The high pressure fuel rails come off with the lower side intake manifolds and the fuel injectors stayed stuck in the cylinder heads. I really like the three piece intake manifold system is set up. The three intake manifolds are plastic so heat doesn’t transfer as easily as the one piece metal intake manifold and Audi’s V8s have always hated heat soak. Then the bigger upper intake manifold has a manifold runner length flap. So the upper intake manifold can adjust for a longer intake path at lower rpms for more torque or for higher rpms the upper intake manifold flap moves over and then the path for the air is shorter so the engine makes more high end horsepower. The side intake manifolds have flaps for each port and port dividers to block off half the intake port. That makes the air tumble which intentionally causes turbulence so the air swirls more and the engine makes more low end torque. Again for higher rpms the side intake manifold flaps move to open up the port and allow more air to get into the cylinders for more horsepower.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1147_zps7bptjqcl.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/20151020_130215_zps4urrogow.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1151_zpsqq37eofl.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1164_zps7cvgbn8b.jpg
Next we get to the carbon clean. These valves and intake ports were really gooey and wet with carbon.
Before carbon cleaning cylinder 1:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/Preclean%20cylinder%201_zps9fnybgk5.jpg
After carbon cleaning cylinder 1:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/Postclean%20cylinder%201_zps97thdpps.jpg
Before carbon cleaning cylinder 2:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/Preclean%20cylinder%202_zps5sgrh3ey.jpg
After carbon cleaning cylinder 2:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/Postclean%20cylinder%202_zps6nhzr4sw.jpg
Before carbon cleaning cylinder 3:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/Preclean%20cylinder%203_zpsbtsi3jg1.jpg
After carbon cleaning cylinder 3:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/Postclean%20cylinder%203_zpsynwziold.jpg
Before carbon cleaning cylinder 4:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/Preclean%20cylinder%204_zpsh0wuev7k.jpg
After carbon cleaning cylinder 4:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/Postclean%20cylinder%204_zpsysxuo5r0.jpg
Before carbon cleaning cylinder 5:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/Preclean%20cylinder%205_zpsfjwtu3qk.jpg
After carbon cleaning cylinder 5:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/Postclean%20cylinder%205_zpsqbujhlui.jpg
Before carbon cleaning cylinder 6:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/Preclean%20cylinder%206_zpshrb4g6ve.jpg
After carbon cleaning cylinder 6:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/Postclean%20cylinder%206_zpsfdl5pakq.jpg
Before carbon cleaning cylinder 7:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/Preclean%20cylinder%207_zpsro1paaup.jpg
After carbon cleaning cylinder 7:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/Postclean%20cylinder%207_zps7k1a1zps.jpg
Before carbon cleaning cylinder 8:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/Preclean%20cylinder%208_zps7zzjgkw0.jpg
After carbon cleaning cylinder 8:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/Postclean%20cylinder%208_zpszglxsw3y.jpg
Cleaned the intake port dividers.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1194_zpspnnvl2ac.jpg
Also cleaned the lower side intake manifolds and flaps since they were covered in carbon too. I wanted to show how these things work so I give an overview shot with the piece off the car. One picture with them off the car has the flaps open and the other has them closed. To close the flaps vacuum is applied to the mechanism and that pulls the flaps closed. I have a vacuum tester tool set so I pulled vacuum on the piece to show the flaps working correctly. Then there is the pictures of one of the intake ports with the lower intake manifolds reinstalled. You can see how the flaps block off part of the intake port when they are open. Then there is another picture of the individual intake flap to show the difference when the flap is closed.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1195_zpspxie5ehb.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1196_zps3j1txi95.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1198_zpsq3wayyfk.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1199_zpsqdteopy8.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1200_zpshw25npe0.jpg
While we had the front end moved forward it was a good time to replace the old serpentine belt, tensioner, idler roller, and install a JHM lightweight crank pulley. The serpentine belt should be replaced around 75K miles and this car is well past that. The tensioner and roller both are great to replace at the same time to eliminate another possible reason that the front end may have to be moved forward into service position for. The light weight crank pulley shares the same dowel pin hole as the factory heavy crank pulley so that the crank pulley only goes on one way. I had to swap the dowel over from the old heavy stock crank pulley to the newer light weight crank pulley. The front of crankshaft also has the same corresponding dowel pin hole as the crank pulley. The front crank seal had a little oil seepage around it but that is nothing to worry about so I cleaned it off and tightened things up.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1097_zpsiucwdxym.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1103_zpsxfcswelw.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1104_zpsq6bsnetg.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1105_zpsucqnwvek.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1106_zpssfej3iph.jpg
Along with the spark plugs were replaced and the JHM oil separator heater bypass was installed but I can’t find pictures of that at the moment.
Okay so the car leaves and the check engine light comes on. He brings it back to me and I scan it to find fault codes for the side intake manifold flaps stuck open. To diagnose this, I take the intake manifold off and start poking around. All the vacuum lines for the side intake manifold flaps hold vacuum for my tester and the flaps move correctly so I try pulling vacuum on the solenoid valve that controls the side intake manifold flaps and it does not hold vacuum since it is stuck in one position. Also looked at the other vacuum lines and one 90 degree elbow that was unrelated to the side intake manifold flaps was cracked and broken. I replaced the solenoid valve and the bad other vacuum line. Then the flaps seem to be working correctly.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/20151027_164249_zpsbkdqzwqv.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/20151027_164145_zps4zjbwmsm.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/20151027_121603_zpsnxlnhfjy.jpg
The car leaves again. He drives up to a wedding in PA and back over the following weekend. Then he goes to start it up over after getting back and the engine will not start. I go over late at night after finishing my events for the day and I bring along my Vagcom cable to see what fault codes are present and what else I can find. I start the engine up and it then dies. Try again and the same thing happens. I try one more time but as soon as it cranks over I give it some gas and then the engine keeps running. We could both hear a really loud whining/whirling noise from under the car, where the right rear seat would be. Kind of like the low pressure side fuel pump is struggling. So I let the engine die and then scan fault codes. The only fault code that shows that a reason why the MIL/check engine light is on is P0087 or low rail fuel pressure. I go into the measuring value blocks and look at a few different things. What eventually stands out to me is on the third measuring value block line down. That is channel 140 and it displays the specified or called for high side fuel pressure and the actual high side fuel pressure. It shows that the high pressure side of the fuel system is running at 6-7 bar of pressure when the engine is requesting between 25 to 30 bar of pressure. That means that the high pressure fuel pumps had failed and the low pressure side fuel pump in the tank was running at 100% of its duty cycle to try to keep the engine running but it couldn’t keep the rail pressure high enough. Normally the low side fuel pump runs around 5-6 bar of pressure with correctly working high pressure fuel pumps.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1221_zpslazl9g4z.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1222_zps5obrggpn.jpg
I ordered two high pressure fuel pumps and when they came in I actually replaced them in the parking lot in front of his place. The high pressure fuel pumps are right on top of the engine and very easy to get to, plus you can see all the way around them. The older and more experienced techs at the dealerships that I worked with in the past would always say that if you can see the part that goes bad clearly and reach all the way around it that it would usually never fail. Well the high pressure fuel pumps are a rare exception to that. It seriously took longer to go to the dealership, go back to my house to grab the tools needed, and then go to his house then the time it took to replace the high pressure fuel pumps. After replacing the high pressure fuel pumps the engine starts and revs correctly. The actual high side rail fuel pressure matches what is being specified/called for.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1226_zpstze4e8iz.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1228_zpsgwuyxtzw.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1227_zpsymnxwivl.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1229_zpsnjqzyh5q.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1233_zpsq8euysok.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1234_zpswx5sw0au.jpg
By the way, I figured that I should mention for the timing belt 2.0T guys out there that the FSI V8s use a camshaft follower with a metal roller so they never have an issue with the camshaft follower for the high pressure fuel pumps.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1232_zpsnaapqu8c.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1230_zpsbfw4xkus.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1231_zpssoatdipc.jpg
I test drove the car and it drove okay. Didn’t really get a chance to get on it because of the evening rush hour traffic. Gave the owner the key and told him to drive it and see how it responds. Well the car still sputtered, hesitated, and multiple lights came on the dash like the Check Engine light and EPC light. The check engine light would come on and/or flash along with the EPC light would go on/off at times when he drove it. That is not good after doing all this work. So I had him bring it by again and started further diagnosis. I scanned the engine with my Vagcom to find fault codes for the side intake manifold flaps stuck open intermittently, misfires on cylinder 4 and 7 under heavy load/high rpms (these caused the MIL On), random/multiple misfires, cylinder deactivation, and a misfire code for cylinder 6 at cold start up. Well shit, that is terrible news after doing all the work that I did. Needless to say I took everything apart to double check my work and this is what I found.
The side intake manifold flaps were covered in fresh oil.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1245_zpsprldcjmc.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1244_zpsrrbdi4hw.jpg
Along with the port dividers had fresh oil on them.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1243_zpsyhauf8rl.jpg
Finally there was fresh carbon buildup on the intake valves/ports and the car only had less than 200 miles on it since I did the carbon clean.
Needless to say I wasn’t too happy with what I found. I took a few minutes to think about what could be causing this and realized that I needed to check the PCV valve or oil separator. I took the back cap of the PCV valve off and this is what the back of the diaphragm looked like. Notice the big tear? There was also noticeable wet liquid oil residue on the inside of the PCV valve. That means that the engine was literally sucking in engine oil from the crankcase and that was causing the carbon to buildup so quickly. I replaced the PCV valve and cleaned everything again.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1241_zps3xk6jwqu.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1247_zpspyphvzjw.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1246_zpsy1yvh0re.jpg
The owner took the car and drove it. He said that it still sputtered and hesitated. Also that the check engine light would come on and flash. Along with the EPC light would come on. It was not looking to good weather wise for me to look at the car so I had my dad and I rig up a car cover so that I could work on diagnosing the car out of the rain. I scanned the fault codes again and this time it only had codes for random/multiple misfires, cylinder 7 misfires, cylinder 4 misfires, and cylinder deactivation. That is making progress at least. Slowly but surely.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1317_zpsmguzatfk.jpg
I went out and drove the car while logging with my vagcom to find that it was only cylinders 4 and 7 that were misfiring. Yay, that makes my diagnosis easier because before it would misfire on all the cylinders but only enough to cause a fault code for cylinders 4 and 7. So I started swapping parts. I swapped the ignition coils from cylinder 4 to cylinder 1 and from cylinder 7 to cylinder 6. Also swapped the spark plugs from cylinder 4 to cylinder 2 and from cylinder 7 to cylinder 5. Then I went out and test drove it again to find that then it misfired on cylinder 4, 6, and 7. So that means it still had an issue with cylinder 4 and 7 but the ignition coil for cylinder 6 was bad. Went out and got a new ignition coil to replace the bad one. By the way, this is how much stuff has to be removed/moved out of the way to swap ignition coils and spark plugs. Think that V8 is crammed in there much?
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1318_zpsdawubppc.jpg
It was getting late by the time that I got back from the dealership with a new ignition coil but I was determined to figure out what was wrong so I rigged up a light to see what I was doing. The next step was the pull all three intake manifolds again and swap the fuel injectors. I moved the fuel injectors from cylinder 4 to cylinder 1 and from cylinder 7 to cylinder 5. While I was swapping the fuel injectors I inspected all eight fuel injectors to see the fuel injector tips and get an idea how they look. They all varied with the amount of carbon buildup that was on the combustion chamber tip. Then I went out and drove the car while logging which cylinders misfired. Cylinders 1 and 5 were the only cylinders that misfired so that means that the two injectors that I swapped from the previously misfiring cylinders were the cause of that problem. Those two injectors were pretty bad with the amount of carbon buildup on the injector tip that goes into the combustion chamber.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/20151110_180934_zpsbibfibyq.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/20151110_173933_zpsqldori8w.jpg
Just for perspective, here are some pictures of the good cylinder 1 fuel injector tip. Before it was swapped to cylinder 4. It looks really bad but it actually wasn’t causing a misfire. Looks can be deceiving so that is why I wanted to swap the fuel injectors to make sure that those two fuel injectors were bad.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1319_zpsakekebnz.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1320_zpshmrrxqqg.jpg
He came and took the car for a little while until he decided what he wanted to do. I did some research and the RS4 guys are having issues with their FSI fuel injectors too. Some of them are sending them out to be cleaned, rebuilt, and flow matched. But that takes a lot of time and this is the only car that the owner has so that wouldn’t work. We decided to get eight new fuel injectors because we couldn’t be sure of the health of the other six fuel injectors so it was better to be safe than sorry. I have a picture of all eight fuel injectors in a circle. The one to the left that is pulled out of the circle was cylinder one after previously swapping injectors during diagnosis and then going clockwise the rest of the injectors are in order from 2-8. Then there is a comparison picture of one of the old fuel injectors to one of the new ones before I swapped over the metal retaining pieces.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1364_zpskrhb4fta.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1365_zpsiouxeljz.jpg
While I had been doing logging for the misfires, I also logged the fuel pressures just to make sure that they were reading correctly to be able to rule that out. After replacing the ignition coil I logged the measuring value block channels 14, 103, and 140. Something seemed really weird to me. Whenever the misfire counter would go up, it corresponded with the actual high side fuel rail pressure going over the specified/called for value. This car has a Giac ECU flash that caps out the high side fuel pressure at 105 bar around 5K rpms. The actual high side fuel pressure was getting up to 120 bar at times and the higher that the fuel pressure went then the more misfires that would happen. That seemed really weird to me because I have seen stock V8 S5 coupes with a specified/called for high side fuel pressure of 120+ bar before. Then after replacing the fuel injectors I logged the same measuring value blocks and the actual high side fuel pressure stayed a lot closer to that specified 105 bar high side fuel pressure. The conclusion that I draw from that is that the bad fuel injectors were not allowing the fuel pressure to bleed out into the cylinders and so those cylinders were running lean and misfiring.
Now that I have had time to reflect on this, here is my humble opinion. The PCV valve being torn caused the engine to suck oil up through the crankcase and into the intake manifolds. That fresh oil caused the side intake manifold flaps to stick open. Since the side flaps were sticking the solenoid valve that controls the flaps wore itself out prematurely. The upper intake manifold flap probably was sticking too but it isn’t monitored so there is no real way to know for sure. The oil that got past the side intake flaps caused the gooey carbon buildup on the intake valves and ports. That carbon buildup broke off at times and went into the combustion chamber. While that carbon was in the combustion chamber the combination of the high cylinder pressure and the long fuel injector dwell time forced the carbon into those fuel injector tips thus clogging the fuel injectors. Since the fuel injectors were clogged the high pressure fuel pumps were over worked and killed themselves. It appears to me that the high pressure fuel pumps are linked through the high side fuel rails so if one pump gets weak then the other will compensate and then both high pressure fuel pumps will eventually die at the same time. The one bad ignition coil could have either just died from age since Audi sucks at making ignition coils and/or the carbon on the spark plugs caused the ignition coil to overwork itself and cause a premature failure. Either way the important thing now is that the car is fixed and operating the way that it should without any sputtering, hesitation, or warning lights on the dash.
Wow, quite the journey! Great work!
crazy amount of work and diagnosis
8 new injectors, new PCV, 1 coilpack…and a bunch of hard work = happy S5
One question: How did he get V8 Audi GIAC tuned? Doesn’t he have the internet? 
Thanks!
Yeah sometimes certain cars want to be difficult. I had to be patient and thankfully the owner was as well because it could have turned into a shit show at a few points.
Don’t forget the new high pressure fuel pumps. Those were the second most expensive parts that were replaced. The amount of money just in parts for those repairs was outrageous!
There is a story behind the Giac tune. The cliff notes are a kid got a free Giac tune but he didn’t want it and this S5 owner paid the person for the tune a lot less than what the tune normally costs. I would rather that he got the JHM tune but it is too late at this point and I am not going to push after going through this saga. However the A/S/RS5 crowd is weird about certain things. A lot of them only go off dyno numbers.
I have been bugging a different 2010 V8 S5 coupe owner to get the JHM ECU tune and test pipes. He already has the FI 2.5" catback and downpipes. I think that S5 with those parts/tune would give Slow4’s header equipped B6 S4 wagon a run for its money. Those two people bicker back and forth constantly too so it would be funny to see the fallout if that happened.
Anyways, because of this thread on AZ I have seeing a lot more interesting projects come through my gates. I do like a challenge and expanding my experience/knowledge of modding Audis regardless of model.
Good stuff . Not long before Anthony bans you for advertising lol.
Can you tell me about your oil extractor?
I will have to wait and see about that. That section of AZ is kind of left to its own devices. If anything it will be a local shop that complains because they think that I am taking work away from them and then the shit hits the fan.
It is the Roughneck Air-Operated Oil Changer from Northern Tool. It has a workable capacity of 6 gallons even though they claim 8 gallons because the extra two gallons is so that the machine can pull vacuum on the tank. They provide a bunch of different sized tubes and fittings to put down dipstick hole and suck the oil out.
Here is a link: http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200623859_200623859
I have used it on a few B8 2.0 TFSI A4s now and it sucks out all 4.5-4.6 quarts in under a minute. To do that I used the biggest drain hose and it is like 3/8" ID. The engine oil has to be at operating temperature to get the best results.
Had a manual B7 A4 2.0T Quattro in for some work over the past couple days. I took advantage of the beautiful weather and finished everything up today. Happy Thanksgiving!
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1378_zpsxrqizhtr.jpg
This was the first car that I got to try out something on. My father and I rigged up a car cover that went over the lift so that I could work in the rain. The cover has two support bars that go across the bottom of it and those two bars are sitting on the platform of the lift. The two support bars are secured with ratchet straps to the platforms of the lift so that the cover doesn’t move much. The cover goes up and down with the lift and the car that is on the lift. We had to cut holes in the cover for the two front columns of the lift so that they would clear the cover for when it goes up and down. The cover over hangs the front of the lift to about the edge of the concrete so I can work on the front of an Audi in service position and not get wet. There is still enough room on the side of the lift that I can comfortably take wheels and tires off to do brakes, suspension, and other repairs. It is a fantastic modification to the lift that was long overdue!
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1379_zpsen3pleye.jpg
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First thing up for this car was a high pressure fuel pump rebuild. I took out the high pressure fuel pump. Then the old internals are out. The new internals are set on top of the baggies to keep them clean. In the install video that JHM has for the high pressure fuel pump rebuild, Jason says that the cap of the new internals when it is crimped down over the piston that it should be like 2 millimeters from the top to the side. Well my micrometer read 2.04 mm so I think that I was right on the money. Then everything was buttoned up so that I could get the high pressure fuel pump reinstalled.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1381_zpsr3cym8n2.jpg
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Before I reinstalled the rebuilt high pressure fuel pump, I replaced the camshaft follower. The old camshaft follower had a little normal wear but these things are cheap so why not throw in a new one. The new part is on the left and the old one is on the right.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1394_zpsuxstypsv.jpg
Both front inner CV boots were torn and leaking so I replaced the boots and cleaned up the mess. Didn’t take pictures of the new boots because it was dark when I replaced them.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1398_zpsx42rhsrn.jpg
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Exhaust wise, this car already has all the goodies. He has the JHM test pipe, JHM Y-pipe, and a stock B6 S4 catback. The only down side was the center exhaust clamps but he had to do it when he originally installed the exhaust. One of the original OEM center exhaust clamp studs snapped off when I tried to loosen the nut and on the other side I had to cut off the sleeve after I took the American C and bar style clamps off. Kind of jumping ahead of things but I replaced those with new OEM clamps, since they were cheaper than the aftermarket clamps, after finishing up the rest of the other stuff. All the exhaust hardware and clamps got a healthy does of anti-seize because I hate rust/corrosion and it snows here on a rare occasion.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1403_zpscikpyttb.jpg
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Pulled the transmission out. It had a noticeable pink portion on the top right/passenger’s side of the bell housing.
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Once the transmission was out of the way, I took the pressure plate, clutch disc, and dual mass flywheel off. The 2.0Ts are a lot easier to work on than the V engines so I use a serpentine belt tool and a shallow 12 point 19 mm socket to hold the crank in place to loosen the pressure plate and flywheel bolts. It rests against the snub mount bracket. That way I can do this by myself and I don’t need help. The clutch was the main reason why this guy came to me. He had been noticing that the clutch was slipping. I drove the car prior to doing this work. While going WOT in second and third gears the engine rpms would fly up, then go back down, and then the car would actually accelerate. There were noticeable hot spots on the pressure plate and dual mass flywheel. The clutch disc looked glazed too. Also removed the throw-out bearing and it wasn’t too bad actually.
Serpentine belt tool and a shallow 12 point 19 mm socket holding the crankshaft in place:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1421_zpsvequcyjb.jpg
Overview:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1410_zpstemwtdgs.jpg
Pressure plate:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1412_zpsukowcfb5.jpg
Clutch disc pressure plate side:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1411_zpsrocdyys4.jpg
Clutch disc flywheel side:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1413_zps2fzdv2uo.jpg
Dual mass flywheel:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1409_zpsf8zzqhus.jpg
While I had the clutch and flywheel components off, it was a good time to address the leaking rear coolant flange. The owner had noticed that there was a coolant leak from the back of the engine but he wasn’t sure where exactly it was coming from. I looked before starting the repairs on this car and it wasn’t clear exactly where it was leaking because I saw pink coolant residue around the rear coolant flange and the engine coolant temperature sensor. So I told him to get a new rear coolant flange, grey engine coolant temp sensor, sensor o-ring, and sensor C-clip. They are all fairly cheap parts but it is a major PITA to replace from the top. Search 1.8T rear coolant flange for some horror stories from the 1.8Ts that are fairly similar. But the 2.0Ts are worse in my opinion because there is a mechanical vacuum piece on the back of the cylinder head that gets into the way and makes it impossible to see the rear coolant flange. Thus it was the perfect time to replace those parts while the transmission was out. By the way, the 2.0Ts use the grey two pin engine coolant temperature sensor instead of the older green four pin engine coolant temperature sensor like the older cars. The older cars needed the two sensors in one for the ECU and Instrument Cluster but the 2.0T sends the engine coolant temp reading over the CAN bus from the ECU to the instrument Cluster.
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After the coolant leak was addressed it was time to install a new JHM lightweight flywheel and stage 1 clutch kit. I use the same serpentine belt tool and socket to hold the crank in place to tighten the new flywheel and clutch kit. It rests up against old outlet of the front cross pipe for the factory intercoolers. This car has the big AWE intercooler. That means the front cross pipe is just hanging there taking up space so why not make a good tool stop, right. The JHM lightweight flywheel looks soooooo pretty. It really is a shame that it has to be hidden away. I used red locktite on the new OEM flywheel bolts. The flywheel has to be slowly walked down on the crankshaft since it is an interference fit so I went in a star pattern and turned each bolt 90 degrees at a time until the bolts were tightened to the multiple different stepped specs that JHM says in their instructions. The final step was to turn the bolts an additional 90 degrees and while my fancy Snap-On torque wrench does torque angle for stretch bolts, I still like to mark the bolts with white out just to be sure. Then the clutch disc was put into place with the alignment tool. Next the pressure plate was installed. Red locktite was used on the pressure plate bolts just like the flywheel bolts. Again I slowly walked down the pressure plate bolts by turning each bolt 90 degrees at a time in a star pattern just like with the flywheel until they bottomed out and then I torqued the bolts to spec, again in a star pattern. I had to hold the clutch disc alignment tool in position until the pressure plate was starting to be walked down. After the pressure plate was fully tightened the clutch disc alignment tool came right out and went back in really easily so I know that it was aligned correctly.
Side Note: I really don’t understand what is so complicated about doing this. So many shops mess this up and it is incredibly simple. If it is done right the first time then it doesn’t have to be taken apart to fix things later on.
Serpentine belt tool and socket up against the outlet for the front cross pipe:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1425_zpsj6ecid7q.jpg
Lightweight flywheel on:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1426_zpsa7apkoel.jpg
Red locktite for the flywheel bolts:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1423_zpsg3tuoxir.jpg
Close up picture of the flywheel bolts with locktite and whiteout:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1427_zpswsv9yvfk.jpg
Clutch disc and alignment tool in place:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1428_zpseoyevaqj.jpg
Pressure plate on:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1430_zpsrbm0tgnw.jpg
Red locktite on the pressure plate bolts:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1429_zpseuofhwek.jpg
The JHM stage 1 clutch kit came with a new throw-out bearing. I use Audi grease to lube up the sleeve for the throw-out bearing. That way the new throw-out bearing slides easily on the sleeve while attached to the clutch fork. This is a step that I think that most shops also mess up on. If you just slap the new throw-out bearing on without any lube then it tends to get stuck and that can lead to weird clutch pedal behavior.
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Before I put the transmission back in, I pulled the cowl drain pieces out. There are two cowl drain pieces. One is under the battery and the other is under the brake booster. These little pieces get clogged with leaves and debris. Especially if the person parks under a tree where the leaves and debris fall in the cowl area. Then during heavy rain the water can back up into the AC opening and fill the interior with water. I have seen A4s where it looked like a swimming pool that spills out when you open the front door. That usually causes a total loss situation as far as most insurance companies are concerned so I wanted nip that in the bud.
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Hope that you guys had a great Thanksgiving!
great thread, Jimmy - keep it coming, interesting stuff
Will do. Look below for a very long update on a B8 S4.
I had a manual B8 S4 3.0T in for some diagnosis of the clutch and some maintenance.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1470_zpsgsa92nfq.jpg
There is a little bit of history behind this car so let me catch you guys up. The current owner purchased the car from a local forum member right before it was dropped off for work. The previous owner had worn out the OEM clutch and then he had NGP Racing replace the OEM clutch with a JHM lightweight flywheel and stage 3 clutch. Right after the previous owner got the car back he noticed that he really had to stomp on the clutch pedal to get the engine to start. NGP Racing kept telling the previous owner that it was normal so he drove it for like 20K miles with that issue. I took a look at the car a while ago (like early summer time I think). The clutch pedal was extremely stiff the whole way down and it was hard to start the engine. I recommended removing the transmission to see if NPG Racing installed the flywheel and clutch correctly. He declined and then at some point more recently (I think sometime in the Fall) the clutch pedal fell to the floor. The previous owner had the car towed to a local shop and they replaced the clutch master and slave cylinders. That made the clutch pedal feel slightly better until the pedal was close to the floor and then it got stiff again. So the current owner got a deal on the car since it needed work and he had me take it apart to figure out what needed to be done.
Back to the Present: I started by taking apart the cowl area. Took off the top cover, then the battery positive connections box and strut bar come off, and then the middle panel of the cowl area comes out. The B8s are very cool in the fact that the cowl area comes apart to get more room to the back of the engine. It is possible to see the huge catalytic converters that are right behind the engine and above the transmission.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1473_zpsk4gkaxgv.jpg
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The whole reason that I took the cowl area apart is to get access to the top four transmission bell housing bolts. Everything transmission wise is done from the bottom on the older B5/6/7 cars but this part on the B8s is done from the top. I had to lay on top of the engine to reach the back of the engine but it is worth it since this way is easier than the older cars. The picture of the top two transmission bell housing bolts is a little fuzzy so I put red arrows in to point out where they are. The other top two transmission bolts are kind of tight between the passenger’s side catalytic converter and the top of the transmission.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1492_zpsgdycbq3f.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1494_zpsjsfdvx2j.jpg
Then I moved to inside the car. I wanted to try something from my experience of installing a short throw shifter on a B8.5 S4. To start with I measured from the middle of the Audi Multimedia panel to the middle line of the shift pattern on the shift knob with the shifter in neutral. That measurement was stored as a reference so that I could get the shifter back where it should be later on. This car was exactly 6.5 inches.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1456_zpshv5pirgg.jpg
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After getting my reference measurement stored, I started taking apart stuff to get to the shifter. Like the heater control, shift knob and leather boot, MMI button panel, front ashtray, and the sound insulation. In addition to the measurement, I also like to use whiteout to mark the shifter linkage to the shifter just as an additional precaution. Next I fully removed the shifter. That way the shift linkage could just hang free and come down with the transmission. The shift linkage is kind of a pain in the ass to disconnect on the transmission end for multiple reasons. The biggest reason is that to disconnect the shifter rod from the selector rod there is a small puller tool needed. The B8s use a plastic selector rod so I can’t just pry on the shift linkage or I run the risk of breaking the shift linkage or selector rod of the transmission, neither part is cheap and I don’t like breaking stuff. The front passenger floor board makes a great spot to put all that stuff to make sure that it doesn’t get lost.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1458_zps8e5wiimb.jpg
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Then I moved to the rear of the car. The battery is located in the trunk on the B8 cars. Which is great except for the fact that they don’t have a mechanical key hole to open the trunk with. So I had to make sure that I could reach the emergency release handle from the rear seats. It is the thingy with the glowing portion that has an arrow pointing down. Luckily for me it was already folded down but I did have to move some spare wheels and tires out of the way. Once that was clear, I lifted up the lower trunk panel to expose the spare tire. Removed the spare tire, the cover under that, and then I had access to disconnect the negative battery cable from the battery. This is a safety step since I don’t like arch welding off the starter when I pull the transmission.
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Jacked the car up onto jack stands so that the weight of the car was off the tires and on the jack stands on the lift. My lift is a four post drive on style so I have to jack the car off the lift and onto jack stands to get it high enough to so that the tires are hanging in the air. Then took the mangled belly pan off. Next the factory X brace had to come off. That X brace is structural so if it is removed with the weight of the body on the tires then the subframe will break so it is very important that the car be on jack stands or on a 2 post lift where the tires are off the ground. Just for reference this is very important for installing an X brace like the Eurocode Alu Kreuz or the 034 Motorsport X brace. Also in the picture of the factory X brace, there are little green and red stars. That is because whoever took the X brace off at some point lost the factory square wedges nuts and instead put in normal 19 mm nuts to tighten the X brace bolts against. It works but it is not what should be there and four of the six bolts were that way. The green stars mark where the factory pieces are still there and then the red stars mark where the nuts are. Once the X brace was out of the way then I could loosen the power steering linkage from the rack and pinion since it has to be moved out of the way for the transmission to come out later on.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1498_zpsdddfl3k9.jpg
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Next up, the factory downpipes had to come off. The B8 exhausts are broken down into more pieces then the older B5/6/7 cars. The B8 downpipes are like half of the B5/6/7 downpipes that have the flex joint and a resonator. The catalytic converters are a separate pipe that connects right to the back of the exhaust manifolds and ends about half way down the transmission. So the B8 exhaust is more like the B7 2.0T then the other older V engines. The B8 downpipes connect to the cat pipes about half way up the transmission and then to the catback at the center exhaust clamps. The hardware usually rusts out and this car was no exception. I sprayed everything with a healthy dose of PB Blaster and then I had to use a small Mapgas torch to heat up the center exhaust clamps to get the nuts to loosen. The three nuts that hold the downpipes to the cat pipes can be a PITA to get loose. AWE goes so far as to resell a specialty angled socket to loosen the nuts. I happen to have the Snap-On version that they probably copied. It works okay but I prefer my index-able Matco wrenches since I can get more leverage on the nut with those.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1497_zpslrq9cyob.jpg
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Then since I had room, I went ahead and started removing the flywheel to flex/drive plate bolts from the service port opening of the transmission. There is a service opening on the bottom left of the transmission that gives access to these bolts. Normally there is a small black plastic cover that conceals the hole but it was gone on this car. The bolts that I am referring to are the black 16 mm 12 point bolts inside the opening. The B8 S4/S5s have six as the B8 A4/A5/Q5s only have like four if I remember correctly. To hold the crankshaft in place so that I could loosen the bolts I used the factory Audi special tool crankshaft holder tool with a step up adaptor from 3/8" to 1/2" and the longest straight head 3/8" ratchet that I own. The tool goes in between the bolt heads of the crankshaft pulley bolts to hold the crank pulley and by extension engine internals in place. It is a very tight fit nonetheless between the crank pulley and the core support but it works. The other choice was to use a flat head screwdriver to turn the flywheel one tooth at a time through the opening for the crank position sensor but that takes forever and a day plus it is tiring as hell. The flywheel to flex/drive plate bolts were on extremely tight and they had red locktite on the threads like they correctly should have so I have to give NGP Racing credit there.
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Then I put a pole jack with a block of wood under the transmission crossmember to support it and removed the four big triple square bolts that hold the transmission crossmember to the body. Lowered the transmission crossmember a little bit to take the driveshaft heat shield off and disconnect the driveshaft from the back of the transmission. I put used latex gloves over the ends of the driveshaft and the rear flange of the transmission because I don’t like CV joint fluid on me. Unbolted the transmission crossmember from the transmission mount and then the transmission mount from the transmission. Also unbolted the clutch slave cylinder and hydraulic line from the transmission along with pulled the slave cylinder out of its hole. I didn’t post of picture of this now. It is shown later on though. Also disconnected the reverse light switch and pushed the wire out of the way but that isn’t pictured.
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Followed by me moving to the front wheels and wheel wells. I removed the front wheels. There are black plastic pieces that go around the front axles towards the inside where the axles bolt to the transmission. They have to be removed to make room to get to the inner axle bolts. Next up I removed the axle heat shields. These things suck to remove since the subframe gets in the way and it is a tight fit. I especially hate the passenger’s side front most bolt because I have to use a small 1/4" drive ball end 6 mm allen socket, with a certain length 1/4" extension, then a 1/4" drive universal joint, and a few more extensions to be able to remove that one bolt. Needless to say it sucks! Then I removed the 10 mm triple square bolts that hold the inner CV joint of the axles to the transmission flanges. A few of those bolts had damaged threads from being run down with an impact gun when the bolt wasn’t going in straight. To get the end of the axles out of the way the heat shields on the side of the subframe have to come off.
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http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1573_zpsrpf0momq.jpg
Removed the lower starter bolt. Popped the starter backwards off the transmission. Then removed the lower three transmission bell housing bolts. They are shown in the above pictures where I was showing the flywheel to flex/drive plate bolts. I removed the left side upper transmission bell housing bolt and cracked the left side lower transmission bell housing bolt. Disconnected the crank position sensor and the power steering rack and pinion electrical connector. Then moved the wiring out of the way on the left side of the transmission. At this point the only thing that is holding the transmission to the engine is the left side lower transmission bell housing bolt. I like to do this so that I can get my high lift transmission jack into place. Once the jack is in place then I pulled that loose bolt and removed the transmission.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1581_zpsd2keg0cb.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1580_zpsuhfolf4b.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1586_zpsyjpqifiu.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1587_zpszgfdgmzz.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1588_zpsnivk1tdb.jpg
While the transmission was on the transmission jack and the car was raised up in the air, I removed the front axle shaft that goes between the opening of the thimble shaped flywheel. It was kind of stuck so once I had the three bolts off then I had to hammer the axle free. Then I could pull the flywheel, clutch disc, and pressure plate out of the transmission as one big piece.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1589_zps82fluode.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1591_zpshhdwovsj.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1592_zpsmu7hklbe.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1593_zpsvsdmeomh.jpg
Then we put the axle shaft back in the transmission loosely and moved the transmission to the ground in a safe spot. The transmission is a heavy and expensive piece so it is safer on the ground out of the way. That is one big pig of a transmission. It is possible to see the front diff that is moved farther forward then the older B5/6/7 cars to better affect the weight distribution.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1596_zpsmbrppsq9.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1597_zps3jz70k7q.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1598_zpsyhd4zn8a.jpg
Here is a look around the bottom of the car with the transmission out. You can see that the engine has two HUGE catalytic converters right at the back of the engine. Then the engine has a flex/drive plate bolted directly to the back of the crankshaft. I think that flex/drive plate absorbs some of the shock of the clutch so that is one reason that there is no flywheel chatter with an aftermarket single mass flywheel. Then with the shifter out there is a big hole above the heat shield above the driveshaft.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1599_zps5o2gwsvk.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1606_zpsrdjo0wc3.jpg
Then here is the first look of the JHM pressure plate on the clutch disc and flywheel.
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1607_zpsuv4wqsa1.jpg
