Another 1.8T A4 Quattro to TDI - Lots of Questions

[Koehn]

More progress, and more roadblocks!

As I mentioned in the edit, I managed to remove the gasoline pump without breaking anything. Slipped in the diesel pump and hooked all the lines up, and placed it back in the tank after draining all the diesel out. The I changed my focus to the filler neck. I stuffed a rag down the neck then followed QuickTD's advice and attacked it with a hacksaw. Once enough cuts were made I could collapse it with a screw driver and pull pieces out with a pair of sidecuts. The process wasn't pretty, but the results will work!

With my work on the tank finished, it was time to reinstall it. This was the first part I'd put back on the car so it felt nice to be working in the other direction for once! Took me a bit of wrestling, but overall it went pretty smoothly. I also removed the activated charcoal and EVAP test pump like QuickTD mentioned. Cleaning out so much stuff felt great, I just need to finish mounting the vent filter to the filler neck. My current plan is the cut the plastic hose leading out of the top of the filler neck vent and mate it to the rubber hose with the filter, shouldn't be too hard.

For my A4 B7 BHW TDI swap I’m just using the gasoline fuel pump connected to a Holley carb fuel pressure regulator then about 9psi goes to the bhw fuel filter then tandem pump then the evap hardline under the car was used as a return line to the fuel tank. As the B7 2.0t didn’t have a return line. Also the fuel filter under the car was removed. I bought the car with the swap mostly finished and I am working on finishing it up. I have put 15,000km on the swap and the fuel setup seams to work great.

My B6 is also returnless, and I was going to go the FPR route. The AWX/AVF engine is actually a looped fuel system so there is an outfeed from the tandem pump. I think then going the FPR route would have required a check valve or something else messy, so I just went with the diesel pump.

I was actually just under the car and figured I could use that same EVAP line to run my return! There's a connection right behind the right front wheel so I can either run the new line straight to there, or I can hook it up where the EVAP line enters the engine bay. I'm also considering running the mk4 1.8T tank mounted filter because then the factory supply lines would all have something to connect to and I only have to adapt the return between the rear EVAP line and the old short return (probably cut the male end off the old filter?).


After finishing mounting the tank I was feeling proud and figured I could go straight into the front suspension. Boy was I not ready... Judging by the yellow marks, both front knuckles are from the wrecker already, but whoever put them together has clearly never heard of anti-seize. On both sides, the upper pinch bolt holding the top ball joints in (colloquially known as the b**** bolt) was completely frozen. The nut spun off with relative ease, but the bolts will not come out.

I can't even describe how much time I spent on those two bolts. A few days of PB Blaster soaking, propane then MAPP gas, impact gun on the heads till they both twisted off, cutoff wheel down the pinch slots to segment the bolt, and countless hits with a hammer and punch... they didn't even move a millimeter. So now I'm looking at finding a used pair of knuckles

After taking a break from those I went and replaced all the front control arms, tie rods, end links and struts in. The Delphi Option 3 kit from FCP Euro is a solid kit. Many of the old bushings were done and the ball joints loose, so this will make the car feel so much better. The only weird thing about their kit is the hardware they supply. I haven't installed the knuckles yet, so there's still the two 4" pinch bolts to go in, but I ended up with a ton of extras... I'm not sure where I went wrong to be honest. Some of the old bolts didn't even seem to have replacements, like the lower sway bar end link bolts and the tie-rod pinch bolts. Also the larger M12 nuts were pretty different than what was on the car.

That last image is everything I had leftover after loosely bolting all eight control arms, both end links and both tie-rods in. A lot of the arms had their own hardware in their respective bags, so for example the two tiny bolts with washers are for the top of the tie-rod ball joints, but they weren't needed. The two bent-metal tabs fit nicely on the front lower control arm's stub where the sway bar end link bolts on, but they have tabs sticking out that interfere with the link itself. If the endlinks bolted to the other side of that stub then they'd be perfect. It's really weird.

Finally, when tightening the top nut on the shock shaft to the specified torque (I think it was 55nm/37ft-lb?) the allen bolt started to round out before I could even get to the spec. I really don't think I did anything wrong: deep offset wrench counter-holding the nut, and the torque wrench on the 6mm Allen. So I'll add that one to my frustration bank.

Progress... kinda.

 

[Koehn]

Fuel system update:

The mk4 golf 1.8T fuel filter fits perfectly in the stock location, but in my case it doesn't have the correct size of quick connect fitting for the tank side stock supply line. But, that's actually fine because it was way easier to bypass than I'd thought!

While removing the rest of the evap system from under both front fender liners (and a shocking amount of dirt and pine needles), I ended up salvaging two plastic male quick disconnects. I then clamped each of those to a short length of 5/8" fuel hose and that was basically all that was required at the tank end.

The long straight evap line that parallels the fuel supply line on the right side of the car has quick disconnects at either end. So since I removed the rest of the lines in the front fender well, I just added my fuel hose to the existing body clamps and tucked them under the covers. I'm sure others have done this exact thing it's all pretty slick and should work really well!

So satisfying to remove all of that and not have to put it back in the car. I also thought all the lines were just plastic, but it turns out the section running under the body and around the fuel tank is actually plastic-coated steel lines

 

[Koehn]

Made some progress, hit some roadblocks. What else is new

Ever since I dropped the rear subframe and disassembled everything, my rear tie arms have been firmly stuck in the knuckles. I tried hitting it with a hammer/chisel, lots of PB, but I couldn't get it to budge. I didn't realize the tie arm interfaced inside the knuckle like the rear shock did. Once I knew that I was able to rock it out by inserting a bolt and hitting it up and down.

Getting everything reassembled was a real workout (the springs especially), but I'm happy to report that the rear end is back in! With a slight issue... it seems to be riding wayyyyy too high

It was getting late and I'm exhausted so I haven't looked closely, plus the left rear caliper seems to be seized . I went to retract the piston and noticed the e-brake lever hadn't returned (the helper spring was compressed) so I had to lever the lever D) back to it's resting position. After I did that I still couldn't depress the piston. It's my understanding that both rear calipers twist in clockwise.

The ride height is really concerning me. I used to have about the same height as my tire in gap to the fender and now it's basically double that... new shocks but same old springs. Any clue as to what happened? Besides the obvious need for an alignment! I made sure I had everything loosely bolted together and then I only tightened the subframe stretch bolts and all the control arm bolts with the hubs sitting on jack stands like this (wood stacks for safety)

 

[Koehn]

For my A4 B7 BHW TDI swap I’m just using the gasoline fuel pump connected to a Holley carb fuel pressure regulator then about 9psi goes to the bhw fuel filter then tandem pump then the evap hardline under the car was used as a return line to the fuel tank. As the B7 2.0t didn’t have a return line. Also the fuel filter under the car was removed. I bought the car with the swap mostly finished and I am working on finishing it up. I have put 15,000km on the swap and the fuel setup seams to work great.

You'll need to roll the car a bit to get the suspension to settle. Letting my B6 or B7 down off the hoist will have it riding about 2" high until I roll out the door. The short control arms cause a reduction in wheel track when elevated, and need a bit of rolling to relax.

It would probably be best to loosen and re-tighten the suspension bushing bolts on an alignment lift, while the wheels are sitting on bearing plates. Maybe when you get it aligned you could request that this be done.

I appreciate the feedback! I was hoping it just needed to roll once I got this car back together. If not I'll be sure to bring it up to the alignment people.

I've made a bit more progress since the last update. Replacement front knuckles were installed completing the front suspension. Getting it all back together without the weight of the engine made for a difficult time! Once the engine is back in I'll be able to tighten the lower bushing bolts properly.

Then I finished up what I could to the wiring on the engine. Lengthened the A/C compressor connector to reach the other side of the engine; removed the connector housing on the starter motor lead because the diesel starter just has a blade on it; and finally crimped in the reverse light switch connector from by AMB engine as the actual crimped sockets were too big to be swapped into the other housing (the connectors between the two housings were very different). I still haven't touched the wiring between engine and car... I'm starting to worry that's to far above my ability.

Aaaaannyways, today I tried pulling the old pilot bearing out to no avail. All the backyard methods seemed to fail me, so that means it's time to buy a new tool. At least its good to have a blind bearing puller around anyways. Since I was stalled out on that bearing, I chose to not do anything more there and instead moved to the last touch-ups on the transmission (or rather transaxle?). Applied some lithium grease to the throughout bearing face. I also I bought a shifter rebuild kit from FCP as I noticed a bit of slop in mine.

Turns out, it was the wrong kit. My car being a 2005 was included in the B7 list of compatible cars and it looks like they shrunk the size of the steel ball that fits in the plastic cup. Haha just my luck, guess I'll be going to my local Audi dealer soon.

EDIT: I also still have no idea what these two connectors are for. They're on the trunk as the A/C compressor connector but as far as I can tell they don't have anything to connect to!#2 is brown/green and red/white while #4 is red/white and brown/yellow

 

[Koehn]

Feel like it's been a while since I updated, and I've actually got a lot to show for this time! Two weeks ago, with a lot of help from my dad, I got the engine/trans assembly mounted back in the bay. It felt sooooo good to have something sitting in that big empty space again.

Fresh dual mass flywheel, clutch disk and pressure plate all mounted up before marrying the transmission and engine. It got dark on us by the time things were buttoned up, but it was bolted in!

Before installing the assembly into the car, I tried to mount the diesel starter, but it interfered with the turbo support brace. Once I removed that, I still couldn't get it to sit properly so I gave up. Tried again the next day with it in the car, and my extra long 240mm-compatible diesel starter fit perfectly. Does the AVF version of this engine just not have a turbo support brace to begin with? I couldn't find another part number

Since then, I've been slowly buttoning up each part. Joined my fuel supply and newly-run return lines to the engine. Mounted coolant hoses, reinstalled the clutch slave cylinder and the replacement shifter linkage bushing, put the power steering pump in place and put the serpentine belt on, fixed the brake booster vacuum line I ran earlier, reinstalled the propshaft, and dumped all the plenum chamber connectors in the box. Then I went to install the diesel intercooler I bought, and ran into an unexpected problem... turns out the diesel B6 uses a different washer fluid reservoir than the gasoline version I didn't take pictures, but basically the required bracket pulls the bottom of the intercooler so far in, that it hits the tank and check-valve. I mentioned earlier that the gasoline intercooler was smaller, but the outlet is also smaller so the rubber diesel pipe that links to the plastic crossover pipe was too big. Plus I just really wanted to use the diesel intercooler. Luckily the S4 has the same part number, it's on it's way so I can't verify it'll work yet.

I think in the future I'll add a B7 A4 right side-mount to the setup. I know I'll need the bracket, intercooler, and duct. I believe the stock turbo-outlet hose can even swivel to meet the bottom inlet. The only thing I haven't figured out yet is how to go from the upper outlet down to the lower core support brace/boost tube. The B7 A4 tube turns up at the passenger end to meet the rubber hose, but I can't use that because the front snub mount is the other way around. Definitely open to hearing if anyone has a solution to this!

While I'm at it, does anybody know of a bolt-on intermediate pipe that will link the diesel cat-pipe to the rest of the gasoline exhaust system? The gasoline pipe has the right flange, but at a completely different angle (plus it's super rusty and the flex joint is blown out). I'll probably just get a local shop to build that piece for me, but I'm interested. Darkside makes a full de-cat pipe and intermediate pipe combo, but they don't guarantee fitment with AWD models.

I've been distracting myself a little with a fun upgrade as I'm going. I bought a set of 17z 6-piston Brembo front calipers from a Touareg that was parting out for $200! I'm still in the process of cleaning them up for painting and I'm not sure which colour to go for with the Dolphin Grey paint of my car. Considering yellow, but I'm also thinking of a navy blue. I just picked up a set of B6 S4 rear calipers too, so it should be a great pair. More info about this swap can be found here clicky-click

Finally, what I've been working on the most these past few days is the wiring. I tried without success to find someone in the area willing to help, so that just meant I had to buckle down and suck it up Turns out it hasn't been all that bad after all. With the lower dash and steering wheel I have good-enough access to what I need. Most of the mis-matched circuits don't have to be changed (at least 7/20 require no changes with another 6 circuits being fixed by replacing the accelerator pedal with the diesel model). I probed out the more questionable circuits today and I think I have it pretty dialed in. I had to swap two pins on the engine side, I'll only have to run 4 new wires into the plenum chamber connectors, and I'll have to bypass the gasoline J17 fuel pump relay as the diesel one is found in the engine harness. Once I can make sure this is what I actually have to do, I'll link up my documentation!

That leads me to my final questions for tonight. Where is the switched power terminal 75x? Everywhere I've searched online has images that show a neat row of screw-terminal connections under the relays, but I only see the 3 terminals shown in the above picture up against the firewall (top one is labeled D-1 and all are constant power btw). The only thing under the relays was the J519 electrical system control module and some bigger fuses (I think for window regulators and stuff?).

I need to run a wire from wire connection (A2) (which comes out of the ignition pin 6/15) to T17d/16. If anyone knows where to splice into this connection it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Koehn]

The re-wiring went easy enough once I managed to source the pins I needed from the junkyard! Again I'll try to clarify what I had to do later. Right now I'm getting stuck on pairing the cluster and the ECU.

Frans supplied me with the ECU but didn't provide an SKC, and I didn't know to ask. Using VAG EEPROM Programmer I was able to get the SKC for my new diesel cluster, but the program keeps giving me the error message "rx: timeout" whenever I attempt to read the ECU EEPROM.

I'm using a genuine Ross-Tech HEX+CAN cable with the Ross-Tech VCP drivers. I've attempted various versions of VAG K+CAN Commander as well, but haven't been able to get them to even acknowledge the system.

If anyone has advice on how to secure the ECU SKC or how to delete the IMMO 3 from the cluster, I'd really appreciate it. I'm sooooooo close to having a car again!

Here's the dump of the TDI cluster I made for reference: clicky

 

[Koehn]

Still working through the cluster adaptation process. Moved forward but I seem to have hit another wall.

Cluster SKC is 1240
ECU SKC is 8602

In VCDS I can see that the IMMO ID is different between the two controllers. When I login to each controller using the appropriate SKC, nothing seems to change (is that normal?) Following the Ross-Tech instructions, I go to Insturments-17, then Login-11 and enter 01240. Then I go into Adaptation-10, Channel 050 -> Read. The stored value is 32000. In the New Value field I enter in the ECU SKC (08602), click Test and then the fields up above show "System" "Not OK". I've tried this numerous times, it always ends the same way. Advice?

 

[d24tdi]

Great to see your progress, fun to watch it come together. Looks like it will turn out great.

Wish I had some ideas for you on the cluster questions but someone with the knowledge no doubt will chime in.

What clutch and flywheel package did you choose? Stock AVF parts or other?

 

[Koehn]

Great to see your progress, fun to watch it come together. Looks like it will turn out great.

Wish I had some ideas for you on the cluster questions but someone with the knowledge no doubt will chime in.

What clutch and flywheel package did you choose? Stock AVF parts or other?

I'm glad you enjoyed it! My goal with this thread was always to compile as much information for others to follow as possible while working through the difficulties of my first engine swap. But it's kinda turned into my own echo-chamber

Because I'm keeping everything stock for the time being (with hopefully a tune close down the road) I went with stock AVF parts. From what I've read, it should even be able to hold my eventual modest power target of around 200hp / 440ft/lbs. And because it's the 240mm flywheel it should be easier to find alternatives too if it slips



As for the cluster, I've got a few threads open elsewhere hoping for knowledgable people to chime in. I also had a few epiphanies late last night that might give me a couple new avenues to try after work today:
1) I should try following the Ross-Tech instructions for swapping the ECU instead of the cluster and see if that works

2) If this works and I get the diesel ecu and cluster adapted, they'll still have an IMMO ID that is different than my existing keys for this car. I'm uncertain to the extent of the ability to reprogram keys, can they be paired to match this new setup? If not, then I'll either need to get new keys cut to program myself (really not ideal) or I'll still have to IMMO delete the ecu (also not ideal but more likely to happen).

3) I still have my both the gas ecu & gas cluster from before completing the engine swap. So what's the best way to get that IMMO ID onto both my new diesel ecu and cluster? Do I unplug the diesel engine harness and hookup the gas one so I can adapt the diesel cluster to the gas ecu (which may likely result in System Not OK again), then swap engine harnesses again and adapt the diesel ecu to the diesel cluster (which would now have the gas IMMO ID?).

4) Or instead, can the diesel cluster eeprom be edited to have the same IMMO ID as the gas one (once I dump that) while still having the coding that makes it function as a diesel cluster? Then I'd go back to epiphany 1) and pair the diesel ecu to the diesel cluster and they'd both share my gasoline IMMO ID and everything would work hunky-dory. If this is the smartest route, then I'll very likely need someone who actually knows what they're doing to edit my files for me

 

[Koehn]

Use the original cluster, it already matches the keys. Pull it apart and install the diesel guage faces and modify the eeprom in the cluster to rescale the tach. You cannot adapt "used" key transponders to a new cluster. Modifying the immo/key data is possible but it requires better tools than you have...

Delete the immo in the ECU with via OBD using vag commander and you're all done.

EDIT- And in your mystery wiring connector #2 is either for the anti shudder valve, or the CCV heater. Most likely the former since most european vehicles did not have a CCV heater. It's more of a scandinavia and north america thing.

#4 is for the N75 valve

Haha yeah, when I saw an image of someone else's engine bay, I realized I'd run the cables wrong and that I had mistakenly hooked up the wrong connector to the N75 (3 identical connectors on a single lead seems like poor design).

I just dug out the old EGR/anti-shudder and it only has connections for vacuum lines, nothing electrical. So I guess it might be for the CCV heater. That still leaves one connector unaccounted for (I can't remember the wire colours off-hand), but I think it might be for a fuel temperature sensor. I noticed in a VCDS auto-scan Code P1163 "Fuel Temp Sensor (G62) Open or Short to Plus - Intermittent". These are both things I never knew existed in a vehicle

I was looking into getting some ID48 capsules to adapt to the new system (if I can pair the ECU to the cluster's IMMO ID following the VCDS write-up for swapping an ECU). That would be nice, because I'd still have an immobilizer, but it is something else to buy.

I've also got a thread going on NefMoto seeking information about how to write my 1.8T IMMO ID to the diesel cluster and ECU.


I don't mind pulling apart the cluster and swapping the faces, my old one is in better shape anyways! That said, I was hoping to keep the immobilizer. As far as rescaling the tach I found (this) video but I got a bit confused by all the steps he took. At first, I had no idea why his needle was hanging just below 1000rpm, but then I realized that he was checking the needle position for idle. I think the only part that's necessary is to change the first two columns in offset 330 to 78 & 10 respectively (I just checked my tdi cluster dump and that's what those values are there).

So the steps would just be:

1. Read EEprom (encrypted)
2. Save a clean backup
3. Modify the first two values in offset 330 (addresses 00 & 01) to 78 & 10
4. Write Eeprom (encrypted)
5. Done!

That leaves me with figuring out how to delete the immo from the ecu with Vag Commander. For that I've found (this) video. There is an "immo off" button available after reading the ecu EEprom but I think that just gets ignored. So the jist of the video is that the value in offset 1B0 column 1 (00) needs to be changed to 60, and the value in offset 1D0 column 15 (0E) also needs to be changed to 60. Checking my ecu dump, both values are currently 73.

The steps for that would be:

1. Connection Type K-Line
2. ECU Type (VAG-EDC15x)
3. Read EEPROM
4. Save a clean backup
5. Modify value in offset 1B0 address 00 to 60
6. Modify value in offset 1D0 address 0E to 60
7. Write EEPROM
8. Done!

If that all looks good, then I'll give that a shot tomorrow!

 

[Koehn]

Just gave the vacuum system a closer look, and you're absolutely right. When I recieved the engine from Frans, the vac lines were just bundled on top of the engine and I didn't even realize both my N18 and N239 valves were missing. Because I deleted the EGR with a racepipe and simplified the vac lines, it also doesn't matter. Nice to finally know why I had two extra connectors!

It's been absolutely dumping rain all day, so I couldn't get out there to test my hand at the recoding again. But I appreciate you walking me through it and confirming these steps! This whole process and been difficult at times but I love how much I've learned through it all

Also, I pretty much murdered my battery last time, so I'll be sure to disconnect my glowplug relay next time

Rainy days do give me time to work on my brake upgrade though. Still prepping everything for paint. But at least I've got all the parts in now. Test fit the rotors and front calipers my old knuckles (they're handy for something!) and it looks like I'll have to get 1/16" (~1.6mm) machined off the inside of the mounting ears. That measurement seems inline with what others had to do with the V70R rotors as well, so now I just have to find a local machinist!

The gap to the guide pin is approximately 1/8" while the guide pin on the opposite side of the caliper was just touching the rotor, so if I get 1/16" machined off the inside of the ears, it should be centred

 

[Koehn]

Loading up those photos of the new brakes made me realize that I jumped straight into cluster troubleshooting and never posted the progress I made on the chassis!

The left tank is my A4 one, the right tank is from the S4 (same part # as the TDI). The S4 tank fit perfectly and allowed the TDI intercooler to sit well on it's bracket without bumping into anything. I did have to swap the windscreen pump from my A4 one to the S4 tank because I needed it to output to two lines instead of one. I assume the S4 just has a T-fitting further up the line

With the intercooler mounted, I made short work of the rest of the front end. I had an A/C o-ring kit from FCP Euro that was allegedly compatible with my car. Some of the o-rings on the lines I'd disconnected were really loose so I tried to find replacements. The bag had tons of o-rings and yet I still couldn't fine a good match for some of them. Going into the project I already didn't have a working A/C system and when I dismantled it, I found out why. All the Freon had already leaked out. Hopefully the o-rings I replaced will fix that!

On Sunday, I chopped up my rusty gasoline intermediate pipe to make a quick dump pipe for testing. The flange matched the diesel cat-pipe, but the angles are different so you can't just use the 1.8T pipe as-is. It's been a few years since I welded last, and I'm definitely no fabricator, but I had fun making it! I'll try to get an install picture of it later, it's decently ghetto and I chopped it level to the bottom of the trans crossmember.

For the wiring I went to my local european car wrecker (a place I frequent too often) and they let me chop out the body-harness connectors from a B7 (no B6's around) free-of-charge. So I de-pinned them all with my cheap amazon tools and now I had more than I needed!

At least that's what I thought, turns out the pin I had to add to connector T10 (black) was different! The T17 has three sizes of pins: small single-sided latch, medium double-sided latch, and big-double sided latch. The T10 has two sizes (IRCC) small double-sided latch and medium double-sided latch. So back to the wrecker to chop a connector out of a B5.

Left is the small T17 pin, right is the small T10 pin

After reading this thread (clicky) about wheel alignment on Audizine. I tried to scoot my rear subframe back as I didn't like how close the wheels were to the front of the wheel wells. With the rear end back on jackstands I loosened the mounting bolts and dropped the subframe about 1/2" all around. Even with the help of a Wonder Bar prying between the front mount and the car frame, we were only able to shift it back 3/8" on either side. The thread mentions people moving it and checking then moving it some more, but I had to hang on the bar while my dad tightened the bolts to get it to stay back. I'm still not all that happy with the wheel positioning, but I'm not sure what else I can do. The eccentric bolts for toe on both sides of the car are also completely maxxed out (pushing the front of the wheel out and back) but it still doesn't seem like enough.

I think the subframe was still loose when this photo was taken

To finish, I've added engine oil (only one 505.01 rated oil around) and water (G12 coolant to be flushed in later). I installed the front axles yesterday. Turns out both front wheel bearings are shot, so I have replacements on the way (those are surprisingly pricey). Once those are swapped in, the S4 rear brakes are painted and installed, the rear camber and front tie-rods are adjusted, power steering fluid is added (ended up with Pentosin CHF 202 at the recomendation of people on Audizine), aaaaand the immobilizer work is finished... then I might be able to drive it

Maybe

 

[Koehn]

Good news bad news! Basically just lots of news. (Sorry for the lack of pictures)

To start, I tried to pair the ECU to the diesel cluster and that one failed with the error "Key Not OK" (not 100% on the actual message but that was essentially the point). So I think if I did get the immo pills I still might be able to get that to work, but as it is currently with my existing keys, they won't pair. So I did exactly what QuickTD advised: recoded the tachometer, swapped faceplates, and deleted the immobilizer in the ECU with VAG-Commander.

With that done, and the fluids topped up, fuel filter replaced and about 20 seconds of cranking... it started! IT ACTUALLY STARTED ! I was sooooo stoked but knew she wasn't done yet. Before she could be road worthy I still needed to replace the front wheel bearings and finish up my S4 rear brake upgrade so that I could replace my frozen rear caliper.

Since I upgraded the rears and I'm working on the front big brake kit, I decided painting the calipers and carriers would be a good idea and it'd be much more convenient while they still weren't mounted. Despite really wanting to go with dark blue I got swayed over to yellow, so I picked up some VHT caliper paint and clear coat. Without boring you with the detailed process, I'll just say I'm not impressed. Right out the oven I could tell the paint didn't cure that well. It even seemed to have liquified in some areas and was easily wiped off to bare metal with a dry finger. The paint also chips off basically anytime someone glances at them. They look nice from far, but they're far from good. For the Brembo's I'm heavily considering my powdercoat options...

Wheel bearings went in smooth enough now that I'm well acquainted with the front suspension. Torqued up the new axle nuts (wow that takes some force!), and took her off the jackstands. It was time for the maiden voyage.

She fired right up this time nice and easy! The driving experience around the block was... interesting .The power steering pump groaned a ton as it churned through the air bubbles. The front brakes were grinding against the rusty rotors. The engine was loud, smooth and ran clean. But, there was a wheel-speed based ticking from the front end that had me concerned. After coming around the corner, popping the charge-air pipe (still waiting for the clip) and rolling a huge cloud of coal behind, I stopped for a checkup and found a power steering leak that was easy to fix.

Took a few more rides in the neighborhood, going real easy. Happy to report the brakes smoothed out and are nice and firm. Got the front end back up and tried to better fill the power steering system; basically just turning from lock to lock and adding fluid as the bubbles came out. I think that's almost dialed in as it only groans at full lock now (which I'm pretty sure it always did that).

The only real issue now is that speed-based clicking . By the end of my testing I think it had faded away when driving in a straight line, but when coasting into corners it reeeeally ramped up and could be felt in the cabin. I suppose it could be the front cv's binding, but I had absolutely no issues with them before the swap and they literally sat in a dry shed all summer until I installed them last week. Boots weren't torn at all and they looked good. Hopefully I'll figure it out quick, driving a motorcycle to work in the summer is fine, but it's getting wetter out each day!

EDIT: To add, I put the car back up on all 4 jackstands, and ran it in gear and there wasn't any clunking. Not with the wheels straight ahead or at either lock. So it's only when acutlaly driving/the suspension is loaded

 

[Growler]

Congratulations on getting it moving under its own power. now to figure out the clicking noises.

 

[Koehn]

Thanks Growler! Still really excited by that despite the issues.

I've found this (clicky) thread on Audizine, and post #6 mentions the subframe pinch welds coming loose. The fix is basically just to weld the two pieces together which isn't bad. I feel like my symptoms are a little different, but because the noise goes away when the car is on jackstands, I think it might be my issue. Hoping to check today after work if the rainclouds stay away!

 

[Koehn]

Got the front end back up and checked the subframe and halfshafts. Subframe looks perfectly fine, with tight seams all around. I noticed the right side halfshaft had some lateral play, so with the wheels up on blocks and the suspension loaded, I could easily shift the axle toward the wheel and toward the transmission enough for it to make some noise when it stopped in each direction. I'm assuming this is not intended movement. The left side halfshaft moved as well, but it's almost an imperceptible amount. It can only be felt, not seen or heard.

So, I started shopping for axles and reading people's thoughts on the current offerings. Raxles seem to get the highest praise, but it'd be $800 CAD to do both sides or $470 for just one. At this point I'm not sure if both of my axles are toast so that seems like a tough buy. Germanautoparts, ECSTuning, FCPEuro, etc. all carry GKN replacements which is the OEM, so people like those. They also have a lot of much cheaper options (<$100 each) but it's hard to find a glowing review for any of them. I called up my local Audi dealer just for kicks, $560 per axle and they're apparently on backorder until at least November . Safe to say that's not happening!

Lordco has Cardone-brand axles for about $100 each. Reviews online seem negative, but I decided to push my luck. I bought two, but I'll put just the passenger side one in and then I'll test it. If the noise is reduced, but not gone, I'll try the driver's side. If that fixes it but it craps out in a month or two, then I'll just get the Raxles and move on with my life. Won't be able to work on the car at all this weekend, so now we wait

As much as I hoped it wasn't the halfshafts making this noise, it'll be a much easier fix if it is! Otherwise I'll have to keep hunting

 

[Koehn]

Help Pleeease

Alright I'm at a total loss. I replaced the right-side axle with the Cardon one and the noise hasn't changed one bit. It's definitely more aggressive when turning to the right, but is definitely still audible when turning left also. I can feel it in the floor each time it hits. Drove some circles around my dad and nothing looked off from the outside while turning in either direction. He also couldn't even hear it from outside

I took two videos to help try to explain what I'm dealing with. First one is me driving around the neighborhood and coasting in neutral as I turn. The last corner is a right-hander and the sound really ramps up there and should be quite easily heard by anyone.

Second video is of my oem passenger-side axle sitting on the bench. The inner shaft is compressed so the movement is isolated to only the outer cv joint. Overal it feels smooth and the boots are fine, its really just that play that I'm unsure about there. If it's fine as-is then I'll probably try to reinstall it and return the Cardone one considering it hasn't seemed to help.

Video #1

Video #2

All I've done to the car lately has been captured here pretty thoroughly, but if there's anything I can add to help you help me, I'll try my best.

 

[d24tdi]

Congratulations, having it running and driving is a major piece of progress. Solving the noise ought to be a small task compared with what you have already done so far.

Troubleshooting can be tricky when you have had so many pieces of the car apart all at once, since almost every area you have touched is potentially suspect if there is an issue. Sounds like axles are likely not the issue if it's the same parts you had in it with the gas engine and there was no noise then.

It's hard to tell in the video if the noise is timed to road speed (one click per revolution of the axle) or at a more rapid frequency. Do you know which it is?

Have you taken a close look at all the tires? or tried swapping them around on the car?

 

[Braddman]

From what I hear in the video it sound like your car is making a clunking sound once per tire rotation and not a high pitch click. When cv shafts wear out they usually click while going around turns. I am wondering if your front rims might be hitting the knuckles or your callipers might be hitting your rims. Is it possible one of your wheels came loose. If you can feel the clunking in the floor something be making a pretty solid hit. You could try jacking your car up and rotating the front wheels with the steering turned. Another thing you could try is have someone sit in different corners of the car and listen to see where the noise is louder.

 

[Koehn]

I really appreciate the replies guys!

Haha it may be simpler in comparison, but it's the last piece preventing me from having my daily back d24tdi!

The sound is definitely wheel-speed based, but I haven't confirmed if it's once or twice-per wheel rotation. My gut feeling is once-per.

I'll try to get under it again today to see if anything with the wheel/caliper is touching. It's still just the stock A4 brake (288mm) at the moment so clearance to the wheel shouldn't be an issue. I didn't notice it wobbling when I swapped the axle, but I'll be sure to double check all caliper mounting bolts on both sides anyways.

The knuckles are new to me, but came off a B7. Everything looked the same, but I didn't actually check part numbers (I'm 99% they are the same). The wheel bearings are new and have no play. I'll still look to see if there are rubbing marks anywhere on the upright.

I know at least one wheel weight came off through this process, so I was planning on getting them rebalanced anyways. But I feel slightly unbalanced wheels should only matter at higher speeds. Overall the wheels are tight, I always snug up the lug bolts while the car is up, then tighten to 90ft-lbs on the ground.

When I first drove the car and noticed the sound I put it back up on 4 jackstands and running in gear I could turn lock to lock with all four wheels spinning and it never made the sound. Is there a way to properly jack up the front knuckles to allow for turning the wheel while the suspension is loaded? I figured a block of wood on the lower links would impede their functionality and could cause the car to fall off

I found a thread on audizine (clicky) mentioning that the FCP control arm kit was supplied with bolts that were too long for both the front lower strut mount and the sway bar end links. The end links ended up not being tight, and the lower strut mount bolt would impact the rearward lower arm. I think I noticed the end link bolt not working so I reused old hardware, but I can't say I noticed the other bolt being too long. So that might be an issue, but I feel like that would cause 1 clunk for each time the suspension is loaded in a corner, not repeated hits. It'll be checked anyways!

If nothing else works, I may pull the front strut out and check the top washer. Some people needed a stack to stop the play. Again, I feel like this would lead to a single clunk per weight transfer, but it may be worth looking into.

 

[Koehn]

Full disclosure: I have no clue what's going on.

Put the car up on blocks again so I could slide under and check things while the suspension was loaded. First thing I noticed was that I had somehow installed the front headlight level sensor on wrong (explained the error I was getting on the dash), so I fixed that. I checked all the bolts in the front suspension for being loose or protruding too long and it all seemed fine. The calipers were tight, sway bar end links looked fine, etc.

Checked the axles again, and the new passenger-side one was tight as expected. The driver-side one, however, now had some lateral play... it felt just like the old-passenger side one. Just yesterday it was tight and I couldn't move it at all. Turning the wheel while on blocks also revealed no (obvious) clearance issues. The wheel is decently far away from everything.

After double checking everything up front and in the back, I decided to try another test drive. First, I torqued the right axle to it's yield as I was committed to using it at least for now. The cheap bolt (26mm hex instead of 17mm allen) stretched muuuuuuch easier than the oem one that came with my SKF bearing. It was freakishly easy to get the 180 degrees with a pipe on the breaker bar... not sure how I should feel about that.

Now the road report: the sound wasn't gone, but it was very different. Instead of the consistent clunking that I swear was about once per wheel revolution, it was now a grumbling with about 3 barely distinguishable hits. You couldn't tap in time with it. The sound also seemed to lessen more and more as I kept doing laps around the block (plenty of stares from the neighbors). While previously the sound was worse when turning right, now it feels like its louder turning left.

For the time being I've accepted it, though I know it's not ideal. I'm hoping to get into an exhaust shop tomorrow and an alignment right after.

I drove it for about another 20 minutes up and down hills and over speedbumps. The chassis feels fantastic, its really solid. The suspension also settled a bit already. The fender to wheel gaps have closed a bit, but I still don't like how the back tires sit in the arches or how much caster adjustment I had to use. Hopefully the shop can help me there.

The engine drives super smooth and with my ghetto dump pipe its constantly cooing . I missed having a diesel, that torque just makes it so easy to drive! I cleared all codes with VCDS and the only ones that came back with a full auto-scan were for the EGR stuff (as expected) as well as something for the Climatronic unit (I'll have to look into that). I had to resync my keys (keyless entry hasn't worked since reconnecting the battery); kudos to Audi for making that process surprisingly simple. When braking a a bit harder (not stomping on it) I did feel a short intermittent grumble. I suppose it could be the ABS getting confused because I haven't adapted for the bigger S4 rear brakes yet. The cruise control doesn't work in any gear so I'll have to figure out what needs to be done to code in my transmission gear ratios. Finally, the engine never got hotter than about 68 degrees Celsius so I think my thermostat might be stuck open. But it drives!!!

If the new clunking/grumbling gets worse I may swap in the new Cardone driver-side axle I have. I'd rather not use it, but with the movement that showed up today, it might have to get replaced anyways and may be the cause of the sound after all.

 

[Koehn]

Wiring Harness Modification

Now that I'm relatively certain I got my wiring right, I figured I would share what I'd figured out. All of this is technically only for my specific case, I can't guarantee anyone else's car will be exactly like mine. The steps I took allow for it all to be reversed relatively easily, but this obviously isn’t required. All I’d really have to do is buy a new Fuel Pump Relay, and remove/reinstall some pins from the connectors.

Tools:

• Good wire strippers
• Good wire crimpers (terminal connectors)
• Some heat shrink tubing
• A few cable ties
• Some OEM pins pulled from junkyard car connectors (I used both B7 and B5)
• A few lengths of wire that match the OEM specs found on the diagrams (I pulled mine from the RHD TDI engine harness I had)

I started by comparing all the wire colours found on the two different engine harnesses. Lots were the same, many were different. Then I dug in, traced, and wrote down each and every circuit so I knew what it's function was. Again, many were the same, but some were different. Of the list of different circuits, not all had to be rectified, so there were a decent number of connections where nothing had to be changed despite the circuits not matching (likely just not existing on the diesel harness). The following list is only what I actually had to change:

T10 - Black
T10/2 - Back-probe/splice into the signal wire from Pin 2 of Load Reduction Relay
(Relay in Position #6 in interior carrier, 370 printed on it, pin 2 was the small left pin)

T17d - Red
T17d/6 - Unexpectedly, the chassis already had this wire even though the AMB engine harness didn’t
T17d/10 - Remove pin from car-side harness and cap w/ shrink wrap (T17d/9 & 10 are only needed for the auxiliary heating relay signals)
T17d/16 - Run a new wire to switched power (I used the gasoline fuel pump relay power pin Relay Position #1 in interior carrier. The gas fuel pump relay is not needed as the diesel one is in the engine harness/plenum chamber carrier. The power supply pin is the big one on the left, I broke the relay, 167 printed on it, and salvaged the pin to make a crimp-on blade connector)

T17e - White
T17e/1-6 - Replace accelerator pedal w/ diesel version (8E1721523F)
T17e/15 - Swap positions with pin T17e/16 in engine harness, then remove and cap wire on car-side harness. Run a new wire to switched power (I used the gasoline fuel pump relay power signal pin Relay Position #1 in interior carrier. I just crimped a blade connector on the end of the new wire and it fits perfectly)
T17e/16 - Swap positions with pin T17e/15 in engine harness
T17e/17 - Run new wire directly to constant power source (I crimped on a ring terminal connector and mounted it to the threaded post D1, which can be found near the interior relay carrier.

And that's it! If you'd fancy a look, here's my spreadsheet again (clicky). It's messy, but it got the job done! I did all the final figuring out by writing the problematic circuits out by hand and drawing simpler images to condense the multi-page current chart diagrams, so not all of my work is shown there.

If you're tackling this for the first time, it's tough at first, but eventually it all clicks and you actually (kinda) understand what you're looking at and what you need to do! I was stressing really hard for a long time about not being able to do the wiring and it did take me a long time to map out all the circuits, compare them, and then figure out how to rectify the issues. It's probably one of the easier swaps because the engine and harness are technically from the same chassis, but for a first-timer it was certainly a challenge!

 

[Koehn]

Update:
Exhaust shop tied the diesel cat pipe into the stock B6 1.8T exhaust. Local VW dealer did a 4 wheel alignment and balance. They moved my subframes a bit and got all the values dialed in.

I've also removed both front strut assemblies and added a washer above the upper bushing (current order goes top hat>thrust washer>bushing>washer>washer>nut). I also swapped in the front left Cardone axle I had hoping that would fix the sound. So far nothing has. I noticed I also had a prominent front clunk while hitting sharper road bumps that would soften when I held the brake pedal lightly. Turns out I never tightened the front left caliper slide pins. So at least I solved that issue! Today I disconnected my front sway bar to test that, it made the sound less firm/loud, but did not decrease the frequency of hits as I turned in a circle, so I think I can rule that one out

As I was backing my car into the driveway after giving up for the afternoon, I made a potential discovery. I was turned all the way to lock while backing up and it didn't clunk one bit. I'll have to check both ways, but it might not clunk while backing up. Only while driving forwards. Very strange. I've now double checked all bolts for tightness, nothing seems to be too long and interfering with other parts. Turning the wheel to both locks while stationary reveals plenty of clearance in the fender, the wheel can't hit anything. I'm running out of ideas quick

My second day with the car, I was driving around with between 1/16 and 1/8 tank of fuel and it suddenly died on me. Luckily I was close by to a gas station and I ran over to grab a jerry can. Took a while to get the fuel to the injectors again, but she did start eventually. When I filled the car up completely, I was only able to put in 48L. So my gauge wasn't reading wrong when it said I still had fuel. My best guess is that the transfer siphon isn't working with the lower pressure TDI fuel pump (~15psi instead of 60psi just as QuickTD said on page 3). At the time I didn't drill the siphon out to .050", as he mentioned, because I honestly didn't know where specifically to drill... if anyone has more detail I'd welcome that! I found the diesel part number for the B7 siphon jet pump, but would rather just modify what I already have and not spend $100.

I'd also love any information or links to how I can get my cruise control and range to empty setup correctly. I currently don't have cruise control in any gear as I assume the ECU is expecting different ratios in all gears (current trans is an 02X GJW for reference).

The range/consumption estimates also seem way off so it would be nice to correct those if I can. Ignoring the cluster measurements, consumption seems really high so far; basing it off the fuel gauge, I've used almost a 1/4 tank in just 120km. But even when I filled it up completely to the top my gauge initially only read 7/8 before eventually rising to 15/16, so it's too early to say really anything.

This car may be driveable, but I still have lots to do clearly

 

[Roadkil4]

Any updates? Bugs?

 

[Koehn]

Any updates? Bugs?

Thanks for the reminder!

I'm approaching the 5000 kilometer mark, and I've loved it all. But as with all project cars, it's never really finished.

The turning clunks seem to have subsided for now. I noticed that I could drive up ramps to get under it and it would all seem fine. But if I jacked up one side of the car for work, then the next time I'd drive it it would clunk like mad in straight lines and corners before finally settling down... I'm at a loss as to what is causing that. I also still have something at the left front wheel that clunks/pops when I hit small sharp bumps at lower speeds, like rounded curbs onto driveways. But that's all chassis-side, and not swap related!


The engine has been almost perfect which I'm so excited about. Over the past month and a half, the car has limited it's power twice while I was driving. No codes or warning lights, but I immediately felt the car change its behaviour and acceleration at highway speeds was non-existent. A quick off/on rolling restart gave me the power right back each time, but I don't know what's causing the limp.

I've also got quite the resonant frequency below 1900rpm in 4th gear and up both while accelerating and engine braking. It kinda booms around the whole cabin and it's really annoying. Pretty much have to keep above 2000rpm to avoid it. Has anyone else experienced this?

On my last fill up, I managed to get 907km to 60.9L of fuel. That means I averaged 42mpg, or 6.7L/100km! I do a lot of city driving in traffic and my commute hardly takes proper advantage of the diesel, but still I'm really stoked on that. It's considerably better than the 672km I scraped together on 61.8L (30.7mpg and 9.2L/100km) which was the best I ever got on the 1.8T. Also helps that diesel is cheaper than 91 octane, I've saved an average of 26 cents per litre at each fill up! For road trip usage, I think I should be able to easily make 1000km in a tank, which was always my target in my '03 Golf.


With QuickTD's instructions I did manage to fix my fuel transfer siphon pump. Reeeally appreciated the tip of not removing the sender until under a 1/2 a tank! The fix is pretty simple, you pop the white section out of the brown (or potentially blue?) like this:

Then you carefully drill out that tiny hole in the centre of the cone. QuickTD said 0.050", the closest I could find was a 3/64" (0.046875") bit for a Dremel. I chucked it up for stability, but drilled it manually. The plastic is soft so it's really easy.

I also pulled out the back black plastic piece out while trying to figure out what to drill. This isn't necessary, and it's a total pain in the ass to remove, but it did allow me to clean the inside to ensure no plastic fragments were left.

I've now run it down to ~20km to empty and it never even hesitated, so I consider it fixed!


I'm still looking into getting my cruise control working. My ECU (from a 2002) is currently outputting no speed data, as it's supposed to be connected to a VSS on the transmission. This clearly doesn't exist and there isn't a provision for one on the 02X trans to my knowledge. I'm unsure if later model diesel ECU's changed like the gasoline ones (2002 is the only gas model year B6 to have a VSS). I've been in contact with an eBay TDI ECU supplier/tuner and he said that all diesels run the VSS. This would confirm QuickTD's suspicions, but I'm still not so certain.

Regardless, I've found these two threads for reference (clicky) & (clicky).

The first link describes a potential fix: running a wire from T17b/17 (green connector A-pillar connector station behind kick panel) to T10a/3 (brown connector in plenum chamber). My engine harness has a white/blue wire in this pin already, and the wire at T17b/17 is also white/blue and carrying speed data from the ABS module so I'm fairly confident this may work and will provide the ECU with speed data.

The second link, last two posts specifically, describe an additional challenge. Basically a mismatch between expected ratios and actual ratios that happens when swapping transmissions, final drives, etc. If the EDC15 doesn't do this, then that's awesome, but it seems like the gasoline ECU's all do.


I picked up a Maxton Designs RS4-look hatch spoiler from ECS on sale, but it still needs filling work and paint before it's ready to go. I sadly haven't done anything to my 17z calipers yet. I think I've found a shop that can do the machine work for me but I still have to drop them off. With my previous VHT failure/experience, I think I'm just going to get these powdercoated instead and rebuild them with new seals after. It'll make a huge different down the road. Side note, the Pagid brake pads I got for the S4 rears are the dustiest brakes I've ever had. It's brutal. My wheels went full-black in less than two weeks!

I'm also already wanting more power (shocker!). I might get a Malone Tune to subside me, or I might wait until after I get a turbo/exhaust/intercooler. I'm thinking maybe a modified BV43 from Frans, but I'm open to options!

 

[Koehn]

I have good news; my cruise control works and I think I finally solved the clunking issue!

TL;DR Add a wire, and my lug bolts were too long

The weather cleared this weekend just long enough for me to get to tear into my car a little. My plan was to open up the ECU box and gain access to the plenum chamber to add three chassis-side wires. The first was for cruise control, and the other two were to control the relays for the auxiliary electric heater found on B6 TDI's with manual transmissions from the factory. I ended up not having the right pins for the T17d (red) connector, so that'll have to wait. I did have the right pin for the T10a (brown) connector though and that's what was required for cruise control.

It's pretty simple, and it's exactly what my research told me would work which is sweet. Under the left side kick panel there's a bunch of connectors, here's a video on how to remove the trim for the uncertain (clicky). Behind those panels you'll see this:

In the green connector (T17b) pin 17 is a white and blue wire.

Cut and splice a new wire into that, running the other end to the plenum chamber brown connector, T10a pin 3. This should connect to the white/blue wire already on your engine harness that leads to ECU pin 20. This is what my splice ended up looking like (I meant to add shrink wrap, but forgot to put it on the wires before crimping).

And just like that the ECU received a speed signal and my cruise control works as it should!



Now for the second piece of good news, which is simultaneously a huge facepalm. After putting my car back together and with colder weather on the way, I decided to swap to my winter wheels. My summers are on aftermarket TSW rims with hubcentric rings, and my winters are on OEM Passat wheels. Over the summer I learned that I preferred to drive up on little wood ramps then centre lift the front of the car with a steel pipe spanning the transmission crossmember mounts. I changed the fronts, then lifted the back end by the diff with a 4x4 piece of wood. Swapped those without issue as well.

I go to back off the ramps and my car wont move an inch. I'm mean I loaded the engine right up and it stalled before the car even budged. Tried again, this time there was a very load groaning and I stalled again. Jacked the front back up and the front wheels were completely locked in place. I took two lug bolts out and I could finally turn my wheel, but only a few degrees and then it stopped suddenly... guys, my lug bolts were completely binding against my wheel bearing bolts!

When I first bought the car last fall, it had aftermarket lug bolts holding the TSW wheels to the car. They were pretty beat up chrome bolts and I thought about replacing them, but just haven't bothered. I used those same bolts to hold my winters on all last winter and never had an issue! But this summer, along with a very long list of other parts, I installed new wheel front bearings with new oem bolts. They must protrude just a little bit longer from the knuckles than the old ones did and knicked the end of my lug bolts occasionally (like when deflecting the hub in corners). The reason my clunking faded over time was because I was literally wearing down the bolts where they contacted. I never payed attention to the length of my lug bolts because I never had an issue with them, but it turns out I was running 35mm lug bolts the entire time! So the fix for the night was to chop off about 1/4", round the ends on the grinder, put the wheels back on, and everything spun nice and easy.

Now, because I've been driving as-is for so long already, the clunking had largely disappeared as the bolts had knocked off any interference. But apparently the TSW wheels and the Passat wheels had juuuuust enough of a difference in hub thicknesses that it made a huge difference! So stupid

 

[d24tdi]

Very cool, congratulations for figuring both of those out and thanks for sharing the solution on the cruise.

Funny that the wheel noise was something so simple. One of the things about a huge project like this that I always find to be interesting is that it involves touching and changing such a large number of parts on the car, some major (engine, trans, fuel system), and some very minor (wheel mounting hardware). Then when it comes time to troubleshoot issues after it's all back together, the list of things that could potentially be a factor is so large that it's easy to focus on the big stuff and forget that you even did some of the smaller things -- like changing to different wheel bolts.

Point is, if that noise had showed up after you had swapped to different wheels and/or lug bolts and done nothing else, you would have known immediately where to look for the issue and found it right away. But with the same change and same set of symptoms, the problem was many times harder to find in this situation due to the "noise" of all the other work that had been done......

Just one of the funny brain-teaser aspects of projects like these. I've been there with similar situations on a few different occasions.

Great to hear that it's putting on many trouble-free miles already and the remaining bits are coming together. Believe it or not you made this look pretty easy, getting it done start to finish in just a few months is impressive. The project I'm working on is much less complex than this and it's on winter #3 in the garage...

 

[Koehn]

With all the help you gave me, I'm more than happy to have been able to provide a little new knowledge back!

Does anyone have any tips for long-ish crank times and rough starts? Almost every start is about 2-3 full seconds of cranking before it catches, which doesn't sound that bad. But as it's getting colder, it seems to be getting more obvious that not all cylinders are firing initially.

This past Saturday it was only about -3 degrees Celcius, but after cycling the glowplugs on and off 4 times before cranking, it started like it was only running on 2 cylinders before the others eventually kicked in after a about 5-10 seconds of really rough smokey idle. This morning also, while much warmer at 8 degrees Celcius, I still noticed that on the initial catch it didn't sound like a 4-banger for the first 2 seconds or so.

I think I'm going to have to look into the glowplug system to make sure it's functioning; I don't even know if I have a 7v or 5v factory tune. But could the tandem pump or the injectors be losing their prime causing this stumble as well?

 

[Koehn]

Oh that's interesting! If you've used ALH plugs before then I'm sure it's fine, but I'm coming up some confusing information.

I finally found the pic I took of my glow plugs when I pulled them out originally, and it has the Beru part number N10579202 which ECS lists as the glow plug for the Touareg TDI. (Clicky)

Beru's site adds the B6 A4 TDIs to the compatibility among others, but says they are 12v and cross-lists this plug with a few Bosch's: 0250202023, 0250202046, and GLP023

But none of those seem to be the same as what ECS lists as the ALH glow plug Bosch N10140105 (clicky)

The pictures of the ALH plugs also show a tapered tip, where mine has more of a shoulder that steps down for the last 10mm or so (like the BEW plugs but I guess that might just be a brand thing).

I'm probably over thinking this; I'll stop in a Lordco, pick up some ALH plugs, and see what happens

 

[2stroke]

Some questions..... ?

I also have been distracting myself a little with a BB upgrade as I'm going.
I bought a set of 17z 6-piston Brembo front calipers from a Touareg that was parting out for $ 200 !
I'm still in the process of cleaning them up.
I just picked up a set of B6 S4 rear calipers too, so it should be a great pair.
More info about this swap can be found here clicky-click

That leads me to my final questions for tonight.
Where is the switched power terminal 75X ?
Everywhere I've searched online has images that show a neat row of screw-terminal connections under the relays,
but I only see the 3 terminals shown in the above picture up against the firewall (top one is labeled D-1 and all are constant power btw).

1. Please explain as much as possible about that BB upgrade !
2. I also looking for that 75X terminal, have you found it ?

Rainy days do give me time to work on my BB upgrade.
Still prepping everything for paint.
Test fit the rotors and front calipers my old knuckles (they're handy for something!) and it looks like I'll have to get 1/16" (~1.6mm) machined off the inside of the mounting ears.
That measurement seems inline with what others had to do with the V70R rotors as well, so now I just have to find a local machinist!

The gap to the guide pin is approximately 1/8" while the guide pin on the opposite side of the caliper was just touching the rotor,
so if I get 1/16" machined off the inside of the ears, it should be centred

V70R
Are we talking Volvo or what ?



.