Jimmy's Garage

DIY/TECH/INFORMATIVE
#41

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


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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


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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


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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


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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.


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#42

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.


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/Carbon%20buildup%20after%20carbon%20clean%20because%20of%20the%20PCV%20valve_zpsurs1sabp.jpg

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


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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


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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.

Before:

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/Pre%20fix%20vagcom%20log%20with%2014%20misfires%20and%20103%20low%20fuel%20and%20140%20high%20fuel_zpsg2vg7ztj.png

After:

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/Post%20fix%20vagcom%20log%20with%2014%20misfires%20and%20103%20low%20fuel%20and%20140%20high%20fuel_zpsesldd2wg.png

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.

#43

Wow, quite the journey! Great work!

#44

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? :slight_smile:

#45

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.

#46

Good stuff . Not long before Anthony bans you for advertising lol.

Can you tell me about your oil extractor?

#47

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.

#48

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!


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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!


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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.


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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.


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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.


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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.


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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.


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1417_zps3my4hdow.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1419_zpsa99oewkb.jpg

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.


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1435_zpsfmpwxgkn.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1434_zpsg8cl05dd.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1432_zpsu84cgumj.jpg

Hope that you guys had a great Thanksgiving!

#49

great thread, Jimmy - keep it coming, interesting stuff

#50

Will do. Look below for a very long update on a B8 S4.

#51

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


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1486_zpsc85dk2kl.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1491_zpskgmwdofl.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1490_zps0e1izt4x.jpg

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


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1457_zpsjjp4an7v.jpg

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


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1460_zpseffbqnss.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1461_zpsv4jhbjfg.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1462_zps1qsy9qd1.jpg

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.


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1469_zpsmzyqcxxl.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1463_zpsokgrnui1.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1464_zpsbqlzvrye.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1466_zpsxhq69wcv.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1467_zpsbgmcxzrv.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1468_zpsfuolvumk.jpg

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


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1505_zpse1pxuhjk.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1506_zpsym7ap82r.jpg

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


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1520_zps2q1sd5zf.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1519_zpsnoqa6uf3.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1526_zpsmzlq9ob2.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1527_zps5ftavoyv.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1524_zpsoe3pj7nz.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1525_zpsborzs1im.jpg

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.


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1550_zpszvwxua2o.jpg

#52


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1542_zpsin9buxeo.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1543_zpsntyeqmfg.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1549_zpsfgoohmgv.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1552_zpsovixkznm.jpg

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.


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1554_zpsutb1mlon.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1555_zpsm0qq9niy.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1558_zpsnxgifykk.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1559_zpspomzofb3.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1560_zpst2z3pkmi.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1561_zpsoznx6vnj.jpg

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.


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1567_zpszi3zibic.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1570_zpsds5kvt7g.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1571_zpss3v0sdfo.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1574_zpsqqf469h2.jpg


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


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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


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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

#53

The first thing that I noticed about the stage 3 clutch kit was that the SAC/Self-Adjusting Clutch mechanism was close to adjusted all the way down. When new that tab end with that has the little spring will be extended all the way into the hole. Instead this one almost had the spring portion all the way compressed.


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1609_zpshttbppit.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1608_zpsyortwrel.jpg

Then we get to the pressure plate bolts. This is where I have to be the baron of bad news. The pressure plate bolts were loose. I tried to tighten them with my electronic Snap-On torque wrench and they were all loose. The torque spec is 18 ft-lbs and one was like 5 ft-lbs but the rest were loose enough that I had to turn them a little before the torque wrench started registering a torque reading. I also noticed that the pressure plate was cocked on the flywheel like it had been tightened unevenly. The pressure plate has to be slowly tightened in a star pattern so that the pressure plate fingers are even all the way around. Then the worst thing that I noticed was that there was no red locktite on the threads of the pressure plate bolts.


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1610_zpsur3w1vem.jpg

The clutch parts looked pretty bad. The pictures go in order as I describe them. The pressure plate surface looked really hot spotted. The clutch disc looked glazed on the pressure plate side and the flywheel side had very uneven wear. The flywheel was covered in clutch dust and had a lot of hot spots all the way around.


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1611_zpsrtgcvx5b.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1612_zpsjz0a2vp1.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1613_zpsiliarnc8.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1614_zpsr4v1e3mw.jpg

The current owner decided to go with a JHM 5R clutch kit and a new flywheel liner.


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1616_zpsgzbztavu.jpg

Before I put the new clutch and flywheel liner parts together I shifted my focus to inside the transmission bell housing. There was some fluid and dust buildup around where the axle shaft goes into the front differential. I took out the throw-out bearing, shift fork, and metal sleeve for the throw-out bearing. The metal sleeve for the throw-out bearing had no lubrication so it was very hard to move the throw-out bearing on the metal sleeve. That greatly affects the clutch pedal feel! Cleaned everything with brake cleaner. Used blue locktite on the bolts of the new metal sleeve for the throw-out bearing. Then applied Audi clutch lube to the metal sleeve and the clutch fork flex portion. Reinstalled the cleaned clutch fork and new throw-out bearing.


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1634_zpsx6ve7yuo.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1638_zpswt663r5e.jpg


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http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1643_zpsvufybftr.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1645_zpsdwvex81b.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1646_zpsftsj7bzh.jpg

Moved back to the flywheel and clutch components. The JHM lightweight flywheel is aluminum so they use a iron liner that can be replaced whenever the clutch is replaced. First I cleaned flywheel with brake cleaner. Removed all the nuts on the back side of the liner and the tapered bolts that hold the iron liner to the flywheel. Cleaned the flywheel some more. It came out looking really good! Then I installed the new flywheel liner with red locktite on the liner bolts. It was easier to run each iron liner bolt out and then the new ones back in with an air ratchet or else it would have taken forever and a day to get each bolt tight instead of just forever it seemed like. Torqued all the flywheel liner nuts and bolts to the spec that JHM told me over the phone.


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1626_zpsqzgjaell.jpg


http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/Jimmybones777/SAM_1628_zpseyankx3e.jpg


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Put the new 5R clutch disc on the flywheel liner. I eyeballed the disc to make sure that it was centered on the flywheel. The B8 cars don’t have a clutch disc alignment tool like the older B5/6/7 cars do but it is possible to use the transmission input shaft as an alignment tool if the pressure plate is just finger loose. I just got lucky with the disc centered the first time. Then put the R series pressure plate over the clutch disc and flywheel. JHM is trying something with the R series pressure plates and the B8 flywheels. They are making the pressure plate a interference fit to try to eliminate the stupid mistakes that people/shops run into when installing their clutches. It is possible to see that the flywheel alignment stud doesn’t line up perfectly at first with the pressure plate but when I walked down the pressure plate it went through the hole just fine. Of course I used red locktite on the pressure plate bolts and tightened them in a star pattern with 90 degree turns at a time until the bolts were snug. Then I torqued the pressure plate bolts to the spec of 18 ft-lbs in a star pattern and did it again just to double check. After the pressure plate bolts were tightened it was time to put the whole flywheel, clutch disc, and pressure plate back into the transmission.


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Got the transmission back into the car and tight up against the engine. It was time to put the flywheel to flex/drive plate bolts back in. I used red locktite on these bolts as well. Also replaced the nine 12 point transmission bell housing bolts as well. Those nine transmission bell housing bolts are either one time use or two time use so they needed to be replaced since the transmission has already come out once. The bell housing bolts are aluminum which is great because they are really lightweight, they don’t damage the threads of the engine because it is an aluminum bolt going through the aluminum transmission into the aluminum engine block, and there is no corrosion from steel and aluminum. There is a picture of all the bolts that were replaced with them in the locations that they go. The four across the top are all the same bolt along with the left side upper bolt and the lower middle/right bolt are the same also.


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#54


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Lubricated the clutch slave cylinder to reinstall. The opening for the slave cylinder is really easy to see and it would be extremely hard to not get the slave cylinder aligned correctly. Unlike the older B5/6/7 cars where it is possible to get the slave cylinder installed cocked and not aligned correctly. When I first saw the car for a PPI for the new owner I noticed some wetness around the clutch slave cylinder bleeder screw so I wanted to bleed the clutch hydraulics just to be sure. The last thing that I needed was to replace the clutch correctly and then have air in the lines for the clutch system. Which causes the clutch to not fully release and thus wear out the clutch prematurely. So after I got the clutch slave cylinder reinstalled, I bled the clutch hydraulics quickly with my brake fluid pressure bleeder and my vacuum assisted brake fluid catcher. The pressure bleeder was pushed to 15 PSI which is the max that the system should see for bleeding purposes.


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Before I put the cowl area back together, I like to remove the cowl drain. They clog up with leaves and debris. Which can cause rain water to back up into the HVAC inlet and flood the interior. After this I put the rest of the car back together.


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The other maintenance that this car needed was a 75K service. There are three big parts of the 75K service. They are an engine oil and filter change, a pollen/cabin air filter change, and the supercharger V-belt replacement.

Lets start with the supercharger V-belt replacement. I use a serpentine belt tool with a very shallow 16 mm socket to move the tensioner over enough to get the old belt off and the new one on. It is a very tight fit between the nut of the tensioner and the fan in the core support but it works. Then there is a comparison picture of the old belt on the left and the new belt on the right.


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Then I drove the car around to warm up the engine oil to operating temperature and double check the clutch install. The clutch pedal was nice and smooth. It does get a little stiffer close to the end of the travel but it isn’t enough to be annoying. I like it over the normal SAC style clutch pedal feel. The 5R clutch disc does bite in like I would expect it would but it isn’t too much for daily driving. It rewards quick clutch engagements and shifts, especially when starting from a stop in first gear. The engine revs a little faster than a normal B8 S4 would just like when I installed the lightweight crank pulley on black B8 S4 that I posted about earlier on.

When I got back I changed out the pollen/cabin air filter. The pollen/cabin air filter on the B8 cars is behind the glove box inside the car. To replace it the front passenger’s door has to be opened, the three plastic thumb screws have to come out, then the lower panel has to come off, there is a white plastic cover that slides to the right and then comes out, and finally the pollen filter can come out.


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Finally we get to the engine oil and filter change. Before I did that I had to drain my engine oil extractor because it had too much engine oil in it to suck out all the engine oil in the engine. I drain the extractor into my huge oil drain pan and then pour the engine oil through a funnel into smaller bottles with lids so that I can take all the engine oil to the dump to be recycled. Eventually I will buy a clean oil burner to provide heat and if possible electricity too since I could probably run one a lot with all the used oil that I am currently having to take to the dump at times. I kid you guys not that I fill up the entire truck long bed of my Ford F250 with engine oil bottles stacked on top of each other when I do a dump run every few months. Usually I am there dumping bottles and multiple people will come by to empty their little bit of oil while I am still working my way through the whole truck load. It is ridiculous at times. Anyways, I finished up draining the oil extractor and then pulled the engine oil filter. There are two seals for the 3.0T and 3.2 V6 engines. One o-ring seal on the engine side and then another seal that goes inside the oil filter cap. That oil filter seal cap needs to be pushed down into place with a flat head screwdriver or else engine oil will pour down the back of the engine because it will not seal correctly. Then a new filter element gets put into place and the filter can go back on. Then extracted the engine oil out the service opening with my oil extractor.


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Filled the engine with engine oil, reset the service reminder interval with my vagcom, set tire pressure, and the car was picked up by the current owner. He was really happy that I was able to fix the clutch issue and get almost everything sorted out that we had discussed. There are a few other things that we will address later on but that is a story for a different day. On that bombshell, goodnight!

#55

So another company (NGP this time) installed a clutch without reading instructions. Shocker.

It’s kind of incredible how often this happens. It’s one of two things…

1/ I don’t need to read the instructions, I know what I’m doing

2/ I am the lowest guy on the totem pole here, and I hate the owner of this shop, so I’m just going to install this without taking the time to do it right

Neither are very good for these companies. Futrell was definitely category 1 (‘we know what we’re doing, we have shiny floors and work on porsches’). They were the ones who fucked up mickf29’s car. The other guys in Seattle who fucked up ngng’s clutch…what were they called? Achtuning. Same deal.

#56

Yeah who knows, this has happened a few times with B8 kits so far. I think it is because the don’t have to remove the pressure plate to install the flywheel that they think it is already done and install it like a torque converter. But even if that was the case the pressure plate bolts should be checked.

#57

I know of some other JHM clutches that I highly suspect NGP Racing messed up the install so this isn’t news to me. One of the counter/sales guys has always heckled me about JHM clutches too. It is weird!

By the way Jake, I was browsing the A/S/RS5 section on AZ and there was a thread about some other people having a no start issue like this previous owner did. Apparently the clutch position sensor is apart of the clutch master cylinder and if the throw-out bearing and clutch fork isn’t lubricated then that can cause the no/difficult to start issue. There is a TSB for this issue that applies to basically all the B8 A4/S4/A5/S5 manual cars. You might want to inform the higher powers at JHM to put a big note of this in the description for the B8 clutches. Here is a link to the post where the TSBs are in that thread:

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php/626914-2010-S5-Manual-Clutch-Needs-to-be-buried-in-the-floor-to-start-the-car?p=11257755&viewfull=1#post11257755

I have to wonder if that old TSB for the early V8 B8 S5 coupes with a clicking throw-out bearing was due to a lack of lubrication from the factory. Did a few of those replacements a few years ago and I don’t remember the specifics of that TSB.

#58

Oh good info!

A LOT of people are having that “Push hard to start” problem. I knew that the switch was in the master but haven’t had a car here to diagnose if it is just a bad switch in the master or something else causing the issue.

#59

Hey Jimmy, whats your availability to have work done on my 2005 audi s4.

#60

Great stuff as always Jimmy!