Black Mambo TDi75

CrispyEdd

CrispyEdd

Member
United-Kingdom
Black Mambo TDi Project commuter​



LK52MBO Is a brilliant black coloured AMF tdi75 with no AC and a webasto, exactly what I wanted, coming from the highs of an ATL 2004 sport remapped car, Ive gone to the other end of the spectrum..
It has spent the last three years with an Audi employee and forum member, so need to be polite dont I! It has a history of parts from the main dealer. Previously it spent life within a family passing into two generations. It has lots of receipts for work back to 2013. I would consider it a decent history, and more than you normally get, for example every MOT sheet was present, even some old tax discs.

I picked it up on a dark night at -4c, far from ideal conditions to test a car to buy!! When will I learn? I was excited to try the webasto though, sadly no joy there but plenty of smoke and smells. Heres my summary.

Inspection of Engine & exterior

Tandem LUK pump leaking - Fitted new Bosch myself
Exhaust flexi clamped incorrectly and leaking badly - Garage welded new flexi in
Webasto not working (tested at -5) - control board thermistor faulty sent for repair New board back, new webasto unit sourced from club
Temperature taking long time to reach 90 but sits there, drops down easy though - Now works fine, was just cold weather in non ac car
Hand Cable Near side corroded, along with brake pipe almost snapped - Garage fixed with new NSR cable
Near Side rear shock worn out completely - new sachs matching shock fitted with new bumpstops and bolts
Timing belt due on years (5) but not on mileage (20K left) - New cambelt now fitted to new engine
First A2 I’ve seen with the foam wrap over the cam cover, albeit damaged and crumbling - Removed anything loose!
Black sprayed service flap not to my taste - wrap removed and chrome badge sourced
Bonnet not tight on corners - New recpticle and bonnet hooks fitted, sorted
Tailgate take hard slam to stay shut - adjusted bump stops out
Bumper heavily chipped - touched in with paint stick
Door check straps shot - both replaced with depronmans
Undertray damaged on 10mm bolts, several bolt missing - needs new 10mm stud nearside, cracked tray mended with glue
Numberplate screws doing something wrong - screws removed and backing plate glued to car with tape
Number plate light screw rusted - screws replaced with stainless steel versions
All four cv boots totally mashed and spraying grease - New CV boots fitted by garage
EGR vent hole leaking oil runny and black - Egr removed and replaced with dummy straight through
Drivers mirror not moving right way from control knob - replaced entire unit and swapped black colour shell back on
Windscreen seen some action - awaiting bouncing stone

Interior

Ashtray taped up to cubby - new ashtray fitted @A2Steve
Stereo buttons white and volume knob broken - Sourced @Ami new stero fasci and unit, now fitted
Window switches white and light switch heavy wear - hard touch switches sourced a2oc
Glove box cracked open on left hinge, panel damaged - new glovebox fitted
Fuse box lid clips broken - repaired with depronman and superglue
Vanity lights loose in headlining - removed glued lens and refitted the frame the trims the headlining, all good
Driver’s seat belt slow to retract - Cleaned and dried, now works fine
Fuel and interior alarm buttons solid and not working, but light up - both new from Audi tradition, fitted and finally all work fine again

Driving experience

Wobbles over 50mph quite badly - Sorted, was the 16 Se alloys (since balanced for akoya), swapped to 15 SE forged now.
Smoke - after new tandem pump, air, oil and fuel filter and exhaust flexi, it only puffs blue smoke when revving after hot idling, suspect turbo shaft seals now - NEW ENGINE & TURBO FITTED - IT WAS THE HEAD GASKET
Exhaust is loud - new Flexi fixed most it
Brakes ok, not great - New rear brake pipes and fluid, now fixed
Knock on power transfer - light knock on take up, suspected clutch wear - NEW clutch fitted
 
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REMINDER this is bought from a forum member so I will be sensitive to that. Said A2oc Member was extremely honest and pilte and the sale was done in good faith and Im more than happy with the car, I knew what i was buying. With that said, here are the shots of it as I bought it.
Bumper paint.jpeg
Damaged bonnet paint.jpeg
Dash Stereo.jpeg
Driver switches.jpeg
overall near side shot.jpeg
Overall off side shot.jpeg
 
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I love to see this type of madness. Sell your lovely Akoya car which was well sorted to get a project that will no doubt cost as much to get back to the standard of your last car.
I'm looking forward to reading about the emotional rollercoaster that's coming.
 
Sounds like a perfectly worthy project - despite the long list it actually looks half decent from a few paces away. A few soft-touch cosmetics, and mechanically nothing that a set of shocks, J&R driveshafts and perhaps some Climatronic error clearing (to resurrect the Webasto?) won't sort out as well as thermostat and some attention to tandem pump, exhaust and EGR. I think on balance I've done most of these fixes spread over the three A2s so this will be well within your compass and I imagine quite rewarding to undertake.
 
Lovely car a have the same without fogs lol.
Might be worth clearing any fault codes and try the webasto a few more times sure once mine didn't work, most likely the glow plug by the sounds of it
 
Buchanan DTR said:
I love to see this type of madness. Sell your lovely Akoya car which was well sorted to get a project that will no doubt cost as much to get back to the standard of your last car.
I'm looking forward to reading about the emotional rollercoaster that's coming.
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I'm okay if I don't listen to the voice inside. 😀. Once I've finished a car I like to do something else, that's all it is really. I'm same with bikes too. I like to fix things, life short so best keep moving on
 
Howey said:
Lovely car a have the same without fogs lol.
Might be worth clearing any fault codes and try the webasto a few more times sure once mine didn't work, most likely the glow plug by the sounds of it
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Webasto on vcds said coolant is 125deg c, so it's the thermistor I think. I found a repair man but my have another plan. That's for later on. Want it to work so bad :)
 
Let the project begin!

First things first, exhaust flexi and tandem pump. I fitted the tandem pump and gave it all a good clean, the coolant hoses were good and it all went back well, fired up on 8th crank after charging the battery, a good start!
Pump removed.jpgState of pump side.jpg
Whilst changing the tandem I noticed the cradle holding the vacuum hoses and N75 was only just bolted on, and super loose. A quick spin up on the two bolts. Knock seems to have gone, hopefully.

The exhaust flexi was previously cut too short, so it wasn’t even joined together, this maybe the rattle knock also. The two bits of exhaust could be moved apart side to side.
Exhaust Welded on car.jpgExhaust welded.jpg



My local garage took it out and welded it in, jobs a good one. He also sorted a handbrake cable for me and spotted corroded rear brake pipes. These are being fixed today with new ones each side.
NSR handbrake cable.jpg
I aksed for bit more inspection and he found the CV boots all shot or leaking also, another job for him :)

Inner Cv.jpgNSF outer CV Boot.jpgOSF inner CV.jpg

I then took the 5 mins I had one week night to pop some new 11v glow plugs in, no change to slight smoke or start up however. Something for later.
 
Stereo Front.

Here you can see the stero as it was. I took the control knobs off, one was good the other broken and squashed. In need of some loving.

Original stereo.jpg




I then sourced from @Ami an audi stereo to snatch buttons from, Ive never done this before but its fairly easy if you have the computer screwdrivers. Goggles optional

Stereo fascia dismantle.jpg


Heres the final item, more than happy for my budget commute wagon..

New stereo fascia.jpg
 
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Garage work today...its had the 4 CV boots replaced and two new pre made brake lines fitted to the drums at the back, so now should be MOT ready and safe to rock and roll my 75 miles a day!

This is a proper garage :cool: hes proving to be a really decent chap and fair on price, I like this no nonsense non flashy approach very Tdi75.

CV joints.jpg
 
Hmm this doesn't bode well, coolant lowered a fair amount of stuff out the back too. Can smell coolant t when hot. Off to get head gasket test kit....
Was just in middle of service too.
Oil filter bit rubbish
16761181011588581714289700661119.jpg
Air fikter not too bad 16761194792912332448642955023050.jpg16761196026131211107089069193210.jpg
Fill cap, seen worse
 
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dj_efk said:
I’d say that air filter is well overdue? When was it last done?
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History of recipts show one bought a few months back form audi but this is blueline so didnt get fit, one before that is 18K miles ago and 2 years ago, so likely it.
 
Today I managed to also change the door check straps and the door lock toggle switch..

Driver check strap was pinned from dropping with a screw. The pin has a interesting design, one end has tension adding bulge, and the other a lug to prevent the pin going all the way in. The lug should be underneath I think? However ive fitted the drivers the other way round to stop it dropping through rather than the screw. The left side was fine.

This is the old switch:
Driver switches.jpeg
Removed
Old lock switch.jpg
New old one in..
20230211_154134.jpg
Door check strap pin and screw, inventive but worked!
Door check strap bodge.jpg
 
Today's I've replaced the drivers door mirror, entire assembly and swapped the cover back to the black one from the donor silver mirror. All works as it should now.
 
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