Dave_Q

Basically if you wanted to know what a car forum might be like where everyone says their inside the head voice thoughts out loud every time, www.thedarkwob.com is the place for you.

Turns out as well as a turbo ASBO chariot I also have a van. After some shenanigan about whether its class 4 or 7 for MOT, it got tested. Not awful TBF. The test centre said they think it might be the caliper, will get it off and see whats what.

I think you can add a poll by editing the first post maybe? Number 1 please

Good effort. Dunno if my car is lower but I had to jack mine up and put one side on an axle stand to have any hope of getting that pipe out or my head under to see anything. Nice to see a smoking gun for the leak at least. Looks like I may have oversold how bad the access is this way, you shouldn't have an issue getting the throttle body back on but the boost pipe is upsetting. Trying to get it on the throttle body at all at the angle that it comes in at, combined with trying to get it on the mounting stud at the top is hard work.

Could it be spraying from a pinhole in the short flexible hose number 14? 16 and 19 in the diagram are metal pipes and these are the ones bolted to the front of the block.

Just checked back and I did take a couple of pictures showing the access to the stat. This is with the alternator out, you can kinda see it. This is what you can see from underneath. The gap between the engine and the radiator isn't huge. Compared to this one with the inlet off.

Hmm good point, I never looked there I just chucked them in. Happy with any explanation which keeps it fixed permanently, although I'm still not holding my breath.

As mentioned above, I've not done anything with the S3 other than drive it. I did think I hadn't heard an idle misfire for a while, so fired up VCDS: Zero misfires logged, left it on for a few minutes. Guess this points back towards some sort of intermittently dodgy wiring or connector but like fuck am I touching it when it's behaving.

I missed posting the link to the extension. https://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-1-4-hex-magnetic-bit-extension-150mm/85559?ref=SFAppShare On the injectors there are teflon seal rings where they go into the head and O rings where they go into the rail. I replaced all mine both ends as I sent my injectors off for cleaning and testing. There is also a 2 part clamp that holds them into the head, one bit is plastic and almost guaranteed to break. I bought one of these kits for the clamps (as VAG don't sell them separately, only with a similar kit) but I got my O rings and teflon seals from the injector place. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/186217236108?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=EgGS6wAyTp-&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=Aea-iJSdRUi&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY If you're trying to keep it cheap I'd buy one of those kits and use as little of it as possible. I think 3 of my injectors stayed in the head anyway so the teflon seal wasn't disturbed, and TBH all the seals both ends looked fine to re-use. None of my seals looked especially bad, so it's a toss up whether random Chinese parts are worse than the 200k mile originals. I think the VAG equivalent to that clamp&seal kits runs to about £20-30 per injector. If you are taking it off you probably won't be able to resist cleaning some of the carbon out of the inlet ports, I got a walnut blaster but TBH you would achieve almost the same results with a small wire brush on a drill and some brake cleaner.

I have only bad news I'm afraid. I did do mine, and not wanting to take the inlet manifold off I went in from underneath. If you take off the alternator (which is easy) and the main boost pipe from the TB, then you can in theory get it out that way. However, it's still a pain. You can't see what you are doing, it's not just the actual thermostat bolts there are also a couple of solid coolant lines you have to unbolt which are tiny triple square bolts you can only feel. I rounded one of these off and had to powerfile the head off. I was somewhat nervous that it hadn't gone together right simply as you couldn't see but it was OK thankfully. When I later took the inlet off and saw how much access it gives you to the stat, I kinda wished I had done it that way anyway as I don't think I actually saved much time going from underneath. I broke 3 things taking the inlet off, one was a breather hose which isn't currently fitted to yours, one was the coolant fitting you've replaced, the other was the coolant fitting on the end of the head which the brake booster line goes through, so be careful with that if you go that way. Whichever method you go for, chuck a load of lube on the main boost pipe to get it back on the throttle body as it's a war, nearly impossible without. If you are taking the inlet off, I used these impact driver bits/extensions as you definitely can't get 3/8 stuff through the gaps, if you have a good 1/4 selection you might be OK. The manifold bolts are T30. Good luck!

If you can pull your ECU hardware/software numbers I can see what I can find. In general by this age the throttle map was (rpm x throttle %) and the output is torque demand so shouldn't be any bother to smooth it out, and if you left the full throttle area and the injector/timing/boost maps all the same you wouldn't make more power.

If you follow R-Tech on FB they are regularly mentioning trying to map things with a linear throttle, which does suggest they aren't very linear to begin with.

Hi, my machine should be able to cut your blank from a picture of your existing key, might just need a bit of detective work to find out what profile it uses.

Yes the S3 is a K04, hence the question, I've not driven a K03 car but I guessed the smaller turbo might boost a bit better lower down.

Interesting that you mention you struggle for traction at times, I have been wondering about that as I have been getting 2WD mode occasionally since the Haldex controller went on the blink. Admittedly I think the fault I have turns all ASR and ESP off completely but if you put your foot down, even in the dry it just spins a wheel on the front. I always wondered how the people with K04 Golfs etc with big remaps on manage for traction, I guess badly is the answer. What is the power delivery like? Mine is not amazing below 3000rpm, but above that you get full warp. I wondered with the smaller turbo if it feels more linear or boosts from lower down.

THE PASSAT, AS EXPECTED FOR A LUXURY VEHICLE IS SPECCED OUT WITH STANDARD FEATURES INCLUDING - FULLY FLOODED BCM, A COMPLETE SET OF KNOCKING "FIRSTLINE" BRAND SUSPENSION ARMS, THE FINEST EGR COAL ON THE MARKET, AND AN INJECTOR WIRING LOOM MADE FROM ECO-FRIENDLY BIODEGRADABLE WIRES

TBF it has at least reminded me to check some of mine and my van is due for MOT on 27th Feb, so thanks LBF.

At the end of the day the model coding etc is not meant to be a public facing feature. You know about it as an enthusiast/researcher but the chances are, if you complain to DVLA they won't really know what to do with it. There must be tons of people with imports etc who don't have a coded model and manage to use their cars just fine.

Look forward to XXX cam follower and inlet manifold pics, by DM OK if NSFW

@Mally either fabricates cages or will know someone who does.

That's a decent result, what does that work out at, around 50p a mile in camchains and misc repairs?

I peeled back a fair bit of coilpack wiring and didn't see anything suspect. There is a bit on the camchain end of the head where it goes kinda above the turbo and apparently sometimes goes crusty but it was fine. The coilpack wiring is integrated into the whole engine loom so it's a decent amount of £ and arseache to just replace it on a parts darts basis. The injector wiring is on a sub-loom which you can't really see or get to without removing the inlet, so I can check that at the same time as swapping injectors around, one day.

Yes I believe they are both using the Vespa 300 engine, Italjet claimed they are using the newer HPE Vespa engine which has a little more power. TBF a 200 might be fine, I might see if I can blag a test ride on one.

S3 news: just been driving it and trying to ignore the misfire. I do reckon that the misfire is intermittent, which is causing me to doubt whether it really is compression related. I have added "swap injector from cyl 1 somewhere else" in the middle reaches of the to-do list. I also had an ESP light ping up today. The faults seem to relate to internal control module failure on the Haldex controller. They go off when you restart but then ping back on again at random. When the ESP fault is on, there is no drive from the rear. There is a place that offer to repair the controller for a reasonable price here but in the interim I have ordered a second controller from a breaker for £70. I also found today that I had left the van for long enough for the battery to go flat which is a very big brain move when you don't have a key blade to fit the emergency door lock. Some scrabbling about underneath got the bonnet up and a jump which got me in, the battery is now on charge. I must do something about the noise it was making under the bonnet which was suspected to be the throttle valve and I also want to fit a diesel heater and leisure battery. Honestly, the temptation to just farm it out is strong but I guess I'd be looking at £500 or so. I also ordered a few parts to make a start on building an engine for the Gilera. Naturally I am already thinking about selling it all off and getting a 4 stroke one, maybe a 250 or 300cc conversion. Or if they pull their finger out and release the 300cc Italjet Dragster I might even just buy one of those.

TBF considering that when you wanted to keep it it kept fucking you over, kinda makes sense that when you've decided to get rid, it just keeps driving more or less faultlessly, the contrary bastard.