A3 - the road to recovery, a pictorial essay

[Mandeep D]

Found a donor engine with 58k

Got the OE engine pulled last weekend.

[Mandeep D]

I curse Audi for not putting an engine wiring harness connector on an engine which has 476 sensors on it

On the plus side, it did mean that I got the entire engine harnesss with the ECU with the donor engine....

[Maraschino Larry]

Holy macaroni! I can't imagine getting to grimy on such a 'new' car... props to you sir. Nice find on the low KM donor, new lease on life for the A3.

Any upgrades getting slipped in while you have access to everything? Don't worry, I won't tell Jo

[Dreamstate]

So much work for such a new car

[wide_load]

This story makes me pay close attention to kims... It will be interesting to see what the cause is.

[Mandeep D]

I determined that an intake valve dropped. My research tells me that the FSI causes excessive carbon buildup on the intake because the valves never get "washed" with injected gas. The PCV system keep dumping junk in, however, and eventually the crap blocks a valve enough to cause interference I'm guessing. I'll be doing a full seafom cleanup on the new engine, and look into a catch can system to eliminate the goo.

[Dreamstate]

Or do water injection to keep it clean.

[Dreamstate]

[Mandeep D]

..... Even though I only had a couple hours to spend on it today, I made excellent progress. I got the manifold and turbo off the old engine, got the tranny separated, and removed a broken stud from the turbo housing.

I keep finding things that I have to swap from the old to the new. Almost every piece of coolant piping, the motor mounts, oil pan, and even the ac, alternator, and serp tensioner bracket have to migrate.

A few notes for those interested in working on newer VAG stuff: you definietly need a big set of triple squares. I've used 8, 10, and 12mm so far.... Also, they seem to have designed in even less regard for serviceability - 3 times so far I've nearly trapped a gear wrench! (since they are only reversible by turning over, it is possible to back a bolt out too far and not be able to turn it back in, if there's not enough clearance to take it off).

I've only got about 7 hours into this project so far, and I figure I'm almost half way

[Dreamstate]

I hope it all turns out okay!

[Mandeep D]

A little update action: will be attempting the first start tonight - weeee!

If anyone says that the BPY and BPG are "the same" punch them in the nuts. I even had to swap the clutch because the A4 clutch wouldn't even fit inside the A3 tranny case!

Other additional interesting items I had to swap: valve cover, every piece of engine wiring, every piece of coolant piping/hosing, dipstick (!), oil pickup tube. Also, I had to retap many original holes that were unused in the A4 which the A3 needed.

I found the real cause of the carnage while swapping the oil pans: a broken balance shaft chain.

pics to follow.......

[Maraschino Larry]

Dang!!

[Dreamstate]

Did you end up buying a whole parts car??
Ouch!

[Mandeep D]

IT LIVES!

Started up after about 8 seconds of cranking.

Get this: no CEL's

[professor science]

Get this: no CEL's

Something's wrong.

[Dreamstate]

Yay! I bet jo is stoked.

[tripwalking]

Wow. You're a gooroo!

[Dreamstate]

Update plz

[Mandeep D]

Got the clutch bled (what a pain in the rear!), put the bumper on, and all things plastical under and around the front end attached. I thought that the shifter needed some adjusting, but I was able to run it through all gears with the car up on stands and the wheels off, so I think it's good enough for a test drive

Tonight I will Vag-Com it, slap the wheels on, check the fluids once more, and go for a drive - yay!!

It's weird, it's like being given a new car because it's been ~9 months since it was last running

[wide_load]

Make sure you don't forget to step back and have a beer or two when finished.

[Maraschino Larry]

I would imagine to get through a project like that he's moved on to hard liquor and/or probably opiates.

[Maraschino Larry]

[Mandeep D]

^ that was me on Sunday when Cylinder 1 decided it had enough, and wasn't going to fire anymore.

Tonight I swapped in my "spare" coilpacks and everything's cool baby. Purrs like a kitten again [snaps fingers].

[Dreamstate]

You have one extra of everything now!

[Mandeep D]

I would imagine to get through a project like that he's moved on to hard liquor and/or probably opiates.

Ran out of hard liquor, had to switch back to beer.