Dave_Q

You jest but if you buy one off eBay for £150, that is gonna be basically what's inside

Yes I think that's what it is. There are extra bits on the switch that get turned when its twisted into the slot which I guess sets the zero point?
Having taken one apart, I think the switches are a really shit design anyway so a generic switch might even be more reliable.
The DV is in the turbo outlet hose which comes out down and into the front panel to go across to the other side where the intercooler is.
I don't think there was anything wrong with the old one, spring seemed OK.
I think in hindsight if you put it on axle stands and went in from underneath then you could get to it without all this, probably took about 15-20min to disassemble and less to put it back together, will get better with practice.
Made extensive use of this little cordless ratchet I got for xmas, its pretty good as it fits in most places and has enough power to run stuff down but not enough to strip anything like a big windy gun. 
You can basically use it as a manual ratchet to crack stuff off if required then buzz it off the rest of the way.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353827324288

Done a bit of logging and none the wiser tbh. 


I assume these are the same as the diesels and requested/actual boost is in mbar absolute? Meaning that whether the MAF is plugged in or not it's requesting and receiving about 0.4bar max?
The MAF reading goes from 3.5g/s at idle to 150g/s at 6250rpm, I think this is too low?
I did also confirm the clutch switch isn't working regardless of codes and I also have a code for temp sensor implausible that has come back so will order those as a starter for 10.

Home and already thrilling the neighbours, I'm sure.

List of issues identifed on the way back:
Extremely annoying heatshield or exhaust type ratlle from LH rear All 4 tyres both ditchfinder and low on tread Many electrical items not working, heated seats, 12v socket, no FM reception, probably others No history unless its in the broken glovebox I can't open Rear window has been resealed with some sort of household sealant Related - smells a bit damp in the boot Power severely lacking On the last point I did wonder if the turbo wastegate is siezed as I tried some logging and only saw 4-5psi with foot flat at 2500rpm. 
#
Later I did see more like 11-12psi which I think is about right but still didn't feel very boosty. It doesn't have any fault codes stored. 
Will start with a VCDS sesh, a throttle body clean and some vac hose checking/replacement to tick off some of the easy things first and maybe test if the WG is moving.
Overall I have definitely upgraded to a worse version of what I had as per, but I reckon there is a good car hidden in there somewhere. 

New car means new fixing.
Went to fit my new temperature sensor.

It was just unplugged? I've reconnected it and I'll see how we go, the readings on VCDS seem sensible.
Had a look at the gear linkage which had loads of side to side play when in gear and was difficult to get 1-2/5-6. This bolt was really loose?

Tightened it up and we seem to be all good.
Love me a free fix.

New car means new fixing.
Went to fit my new temperature sensor.

It was just unplugged? I've reconnected it and I'll see how we go, the readings on VCDS seem sensible.
Had a look at the gear linkage which had loads of side to side play when in gear and was difficult to get 1-2/5-6. This bolt was really loose?

Tightened it up and we seem to be all good.
Love me a free fix.

New car means new fixing.
Went to fit my new temperature sensor.

It was just unplugged? I've reconnected it and I'll see how we go, the readings on VCDS seem sensible.
Had a look at the gear linkage which had loads of side to side play when in gear and was difficult to get 1-2/5-6. This bolt was really loose?

Tightened it up and we seem to be all good.
Love me a free fix.

New car means new fixing.
Went to fit my new temperature sensor.

It was just unplugged? I've reconnected it and I'll see how we go, the readings on VCDS seem sensible.
Had a look at the gear linkage which had loads of side to side play when in gear and was difficult to get 1-2/5-6. This bolt was really loose?

Tightened it up and we seem to be all good.
Love me a free fix.

New car means new fixing.
Went to fit my new temperature sensor.

It was just unplugged? I've reconnected it and I'll see how we go, the readings on VCDS seem sensible.
Had a look at the gear linkage which had loads of side to side play when in gear and was difficult to get 1-2/5-6. This bolt was really loose?

Tightened it up and we seem to be all good.
Love me a free fix.

New car means new fixing.
Went to fit my new temperature sensor.

It was just unplugged? I've reconnected it and I'll see how we go, the readings on VCDS seem sensible.
Had a look at the gear linkage which had loads of side to side play when in gear and was difficult to get 1-2/5-6. This bolt was really loose?

Tightened it up and we seem to be all good.
Love me a free fix.

New car means new fixing.
Went to fit my new temperature sensor.

It was just unplugged? I've reconnected it and I'll see how we go, the readings on VCDS seem sensible.
Had a look at the gear linkage which had loads of side to side play when in gear and was difficult to get 1-2/5-6. This bolt was really loose?

Tightened it up and we seem to be all good.
Love me a free fix.

Anyway had an hour spare between child activities tonight so had a quick bash at the seats.
They were quite rank.


Didn't really have the best selection of equipment, a hand brush and some sort of car shampoo in cold water, plus a wet vac.
They've come up better but there are definitely some stains that need doing again.

New car means new fixing.
Went to fit my new temperature sensor.

It was just unplugged? I've reconnected it and I'll see how we go, the readings on VCDS seem sensible.
Had a look at the gear linkage which had loads of side to side play when in gear and was difficult to get 1-2/5-6. This bolt was really loose?

Tightened it up and we seem to be all good.
Love me a free fix.

It's only available for undeletion for 30 days. So if it was forgotten about longer than it, it'd be gone for good. Apart from those on this part of the forum where they are archived by archive.org.

Although it does look like a mod can reinstate a deleted post as it was just done with L1s demo strop thread about cheap electric cars.
I guess if we decide not to do anything, as the poll seems to suggest, we could always just request a modmin to reinstate a thread if it's got a decent amount of contributions on and will be missed?
Either way we are not going to see the scenario too often but FWIW I voted for post deletion but not threads. If you want to flounce, you can still delete/edit your posts in a thread, arguably this gets you even more attention than just deleting the whole thread so it's a win/win

If you own an Audi A8, the front bumper needs to be removed every weekend.
If you own a BMW Z4, the car needs to be raised every 200 miles... ( @wuvvum probably feels this pain too 😅)

I was going to chuck this into a garage to sort the handbrake, but I thought I'd at least investigate at first.
Put the parking brake in its service position. Basically latch off the handbrake lever spring. Took quite a bit of force to do that.

Out of the many old wrecks I've bought over the years, including a lot of British Leylands finest, I have never seen a handbrake ratchet worn out. I know there are a lot of BMW lovers and VAG haters on here but my 200k Golf is holding up on the miles much better than this 177k BMW. Nowhere near the same amount of trim, interior and part wear like this car.

 
I'm getting good at pulling BMW rear brakes apart now. Pads, caliper, caliper holder and disc all removed. Pretty obvious now what the issue with the handbrake and the rubbing noise I was getting was from.


That's the drivers side. The passenger side (where I actually thought the noise was from) was how it should be.

 
So what happened? Well the shoes are held in by spring retaining (beehive?) clips. These are mounted into the back-plate.
Which was rusted out completely.

Thankfully the bolts for the shield came out without snapping.

So new backplate time. These are supposed to be mounted by removing the hub and driveshaft. However I'm not doing that just for a backplate and handbrake mechanism. Far too much risk of ruining bearings and making this a much larger job.
Instead what I'm going to do, and most other people do, is snip off the caliper side and slot it in through the hub.
Basically an extra cut in the one I put in here. Just the one slot meant the backplate was pretty bent and warped it. It needs to be fairly flat for the handbrake setup to work properly.

 
I could get new backplates off eBay for £22 delivered. But won't arrive till Thurs or Fri. 
Instead Febi on Amazon to the rescue again and should be arriving today. I'm doing both sides as the other is pretty bad too and I don't want to be doing this again.

While I had the backend up, I removed the wheel arch liner to give the drains a good probe. Thankfully mostly clean and dry.

It's still not perfect but it's a great GROCERY GREATER and STATION SHUTTLE. Park anywhere, don't worry about it, worth nowt, let every seagull shit on it, no worries* motoring. 
Its nippy enough, comfortable enough at 74mph, small enough to fit anywhere, and isn't really even that cramped inside for a 6ft4 22stone travesty of a pilot. 
It's returning low to mid 40s mpg on mixed driving and costs nowt£ in tax and insurance. Lowest group on insurance and tax is about 2$ per month. 
ECCONOMYICAL
 

 

 
Still stuff to iron out, foibles-wise. 
Idles a bit high randomly, still misses a bit sometimes and has cut out randomly twice.  I'll keep piling the miles on and keep picking away at it where funds allow. 
 

I also fixed this smoll hole. 

 


 
Perfect* fit*. 

Next was onto small service items. The car did seem a bit flat and felt a bit missy occasionally at times so start with plugs I guess. 

 
 

 

 
using the power of my sheepskin house slippers I was able to read the plugs in mystical ways and came to the conclusion that yes, I'm pretty sure it's about time that these be changed. 
 
Air filtre. 

 

 
Out with the old, in with the new. 
Also did the oil and filter and added a go slower sticker. 

 
Rear wiper improvements. 

 
 

 
 
 

In all my excitement on collection day, I forgot to thank all that made it possible. The car was in a different country to me and @Lacquer Peel and @juular very kindly gave it a good inspection, picked it up locally* and stored it till I could collect. Thank you gentlemen for all your help and thanks to @MrsJuular for sensibly pointing out the lack of air in the tyres and for excellent hospitality on collection day. 
Now, what's been going on with it?
 
Well, first up and probably not the most pressing issue but what came first in alphabetical order, was the alternator bearing. 
 
Pandas do seem to get through these and for peace of mind* I demanded a new one rather than swapping on a used one. Thankfully @Jimbob McGregor is fantastic at managing demands and he was kind enough to cast his thorough eye over the cars few failings. 
 
Alternator was changed out, front brakes stripped, cleaned, greased and popped back together. The handbrake was as close to vertical as physics would allow and barely held the car on steep gradients so that was adjusted down to the trademark Jimbobmcgreggor two click specification. Great improvement all round. 

Happy new alternator. 

Anyway the shitlist so far for the A3:
Needs a thermostat Service due - £8 Mann filter on the way and plenty oil in stock from the Mannol offer Gear linkage seems a bit dodge, there are various faults stored for neutral sensor, I think there might be some sort of bush needed on the gearbox end Temp sensor needed (£10 Febi) Smells of dog and seats quite rank, in need of a scrub and wetvac Was missing a parcel shelf but already replaced on the way back to work (£20) Cambelt roulette (replaced in 2015 about 80k miles ago) A Febi thermostat is £50 and hopefully less painful to do than the TFSI was, will do the rest and look into this after payday. Cambelt maybe not, will have a look at it at least.
It did 35mpg on the way home according to the OBC, hopefully this would be a bit more with faults fixed and stop/start working.

Noice. 
TBF the seller said it would definitely pass the MOT no problem and I hadn't spotted anything of concern, but still.

Anyway had an hour spare between child activities tonight so had a quick bash at the seats.
They were quite rank.


Didn't really have the best selection of equipment, a hand brush and some sort of car shampoo in cold water, plus a wet vac.
They've come up better but there are definitely some stains that need doing again.

Not an entirely happy day. 
Traded the S3 to a local performance car merchant for this A3 sportback + cash. As mentioned elsewhere I am buying a new house for reasons and need to be sensible for a bit. 
I probably could have kept it but £50-60 a week in fuel and £30 a month in tax are all expenses I could do without. 
The trader at least was a very nice man and did me a pretty reasonable deal.
TDI 140, £35 a year tax somehow. Has various issues obvs but nothing that will stop me using it. 
In other great news, the van is with the van man racking up a bill in the region of £1500.
I think I mentioned it had an issue with an inlet throttle valve which did not affect the driving at all but put the EML on. 
I ignored it as you would, until it got to the point it went into limp due to overloaded DPF - the thing will not regen with this fault on the intake throttle active. 
Hilariously this valve can't be changed without taking the engine out, and as it's a modern camchain at the back engine it's a sensible "while you're there" job that I really could have done without. 
Cars eh. Still better than the bus or paying £500 a month to rent a Hyundai.

Yea deffo agree with the chain comment, I understand progress and things but the stuff i ran with the old OM601 duplex chain was a brilliant bit of engineering, very few mechanical issues, just rampant rust and failing suspension parts to constantly deal with.