My A2 'blog'...

Where oh where is @Tufty ?

I had hoped there might be some A2 magic during lockdown part duex...

Perhaps the S3 blew a cylinder again.


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Sorry dude.... lock down has killed any car related work tbh until recently.... both the A2 and the S3 are desperately in need of a clean (both are embarrassingly dirty)...

I haven't been up at Bills at all for the past 12 months due to various reasons but I have actually got off my backside now and finally got around to sorting the aircon pipe on the S3 that the rad fan had cut through...

I still need to sort the oil pump chain on the A2 but ideally needs to be done indoors on a ramp rather than at the kerbside garage (which is where I did the aircon on the S3)

The S3 should be getting the turbo fitted finally this year though and I do have a little work to do to the A2 so will try a little harder now we are seeing the back end of the recent shenanigans...

I have been keeping quite busy though... I have done a load of work on my loft office as I now pretty much WFH all the time so needed to make that more homely and have been gaming loads...

I have changed the cooling loop 3 times over the past 12 months (as I needed something to fiddle with :) ) but this is the current iteration...
Screenshot 2021-04-07 at 19.43.42.png


Screenshot 2021-04-07 at 19.45.36.png


Screenshot 2021-04-07 at 19.44.56.png


...and finally a bit of car related fun and games...
Screenshot 2021-04-07 at 19.49.15.png


Be back on it soon... promise ;)

<tuffty/>
 


Thanks Tufty.

You know, you don’t have to answer to me... but I’m glad to see you are okay and doing well.

Sweet PC rig. Mine is more of a ‘can I make it work?’ Super low budget effort with used and second hand parts and some fine bodging. Honestly once things are ‘working’ I tend to lose interest.

Keep up the fine work and I’ll wait semi-patiently for more awesome updates from you.


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Sweet rig, always a fan on a vertically mounted water cooled graphics cards and I'm a sucker for hardline tubing but never quite had it in me to commit to it and end up just using soft tubing. How is the corsair hydro stuff? I know it's fairly new to market compared with EK but generally a little more affordable.
 
Sweet rig, always a fan on a vertically mounted water cooled graphics cards and I'm a sucker for hardline tubing but never quite had it in me to commit to it and end up just using soft tubing. How is the corsair hydro stuff? I know it's fairly new to market compared with EK but generally a little more affordable.
I had all Hydro-X stuff originally including the XD-5 pump/res... decided to go with the corsair stuff as it was more a 'complete' system and also managed to grab a few deals on the kit... its pretty nice gear tbh... gets a bit pricey for all the fittings though!!

I wanted hardline and was happy enough with the initial build but I can't leave things alone for long and found myself wanting to tidy the pipework up a bit... then change the aesthetics (hence the EK pump/res and rear res)... I recently changed it again to the setup above (same CPU/GPU etc, just re piped it all up) and finally happy with it all now.... I used a fair few 90 degree fittings before but now have replaced all with actual tube bends... there is one more area I wouldn't mind removing the 45's I am using due to complicated positioning and space but that can wait for the next iteration :)

I have decided to give this generation of CPU/GPU a miss and will wait for the next 'big thing'... I have an R7 3700x and Strix 2080ti so not exactly lacking in frames... will see what the next generation brings

<tuffty/>
 
Been a while since I have done an A2 related post as to be fair I haven't really used either the A2 or S3 that much over the "covid" years and beyond as I work from home...

I have been spending the past few months doing remedial body work on the S3 as she fell foul of a common outer sill rotting issue
PXL_20220508_145309425.jpg


PXL_20220521_160906100.jpg


PXL_20220528_144807505.jpg


With most of the bodywork sorted on the S3 I had a few things to sort on the A2... it was advised on the last MOT that the front suspension arm rear bushes had play in them...
PXL_20220628_152159336.jpg

I have changed these once before and knew what a royal PITA they are to do so bought poly bushes instead as these would be a lot easier to swap out..
PXL_20220628_152155840.jpg


Removing the arm is not difficult but previously I have had to helicoil the aluminium part of the subframe as it pulled the thread out with it... something to be aware of...
PXL_20220628_154400228.jpg


The bush is in a really awkward position...
PXL_20220628_162903408.jpg


...despite having a decent bush removal kit I ended up going old skool and drilling them out instead as I could not get the kit on the bush properly due to space limitations...
PXL_20220628_171009591.jpg


Part 2 in the next post (8 image limit :( )

<tuffty/>
 
...part 2...

The poly bushes are much easier to push in than trying to drag a normal bush in...
PXL_20220628_173343522.jpg


PXL_20220628_173426528.jpg


Repeat the process on the other side...
PXL_20220628_175631004.jpg


PXL_20220628_181410273.jpg


PXL_20220628_181416418.jpg


Can report that the knocking has gone and the car feels quite taught again :)

On to the next issue... during one particularly warm day recently I noticed that the temperature gauge had starting moving the wrong side of 90 deg... this only happens once the temps actually get to over 100deg so as I was actually parked up at the time I whipped the bonnet off (as you do) and noticed that the fan wasn't running...

I tested the output of the fan controller (which is a PWM based unit) and there was 12v there and if I plugged the fan back in it would spin briefly then stop...
PXL_20220701_145314800.jpg


..the fan looked fairly manky and so decided to source another fan first to see if this would fix the issue... the original fan seemed to work when powered separately but as its PWM it may not like being run at the slower speeds...
PXL_20220701_145724941.jpg


Dead easy to change on the A2... one screw and then turn it to release... nice :)

This of course made no difference lol... so bought a replacement fan controller from eBay... my old one on the right and the replacement on the left...
PXL_20220705_150031637.jpg


This worked!!... happy days...

Next task is to get to the bottom of the aircon issue... the air con works fine for a while then suddenly blows hot... fault codes suggest a power related issue but will need to look into it

I also need to actually do the cam belt and the oil pump drive chain... maybe next month :)

<tuffty/>
 
...part 2...

The poly bushes are much easier to push in than trying to drag a normal bush in...
View attachment 96622

View attachment 96623

Repeat the process on the other side...
View attachment 96624

View attachment 96625

View attachment 96626

Can report that the knocking has gone and the car feels quite taught again :)

On to the next issue... during one particularly warm day recently I noticed that the temperature gauge had starting moving the wrong side of 90 deg... this only happens once the temps actually get to over 100deg so as I was actually parked up at the time I whipped the bonnet off (as you do) and noticed that the fan wasn't running...

I tested the output of the fan controller (which is a PWM based unit) and there was 12v there and if I plugged the fan back in it would spin briefly then stop...
View attachment 96627

..the fan looked fairly manky and so decided to source another fan first to see if this would fix the issue... the original fan seemed to work when powered separately but as its PWM it may not like being run at the slower speeds...
View attachment 96628

Dead easy to change on the A2... one screw and then turn it to release... nice :)

This of course made no difference lol... so bought a replacement fan controller from eBay... my old one on the right and the replacement on the left...
View attachment 96629

This worked!!... happy days...

Next task is to get to the bottom of the aircon issue... the air con works fine for a while then suddenly blows hot... fault codes suggest a power related issue but will need to look into it

I also need to actually do the cam belt and the oil pump drive chain... maybe next month :)

<tuffty/>
great thread :) Maybe the temp control flap is malfunctioning, check if large pipe into cabin is staying cold whilst your getting hot air. Not often heard of the climate control panel in the dash being faulty but maybe the temp sensors in there?
 
Codes that have come back so far....

Wednesday,06,July,2022,11:42:52:63303
VCDS Version: Release 21.9.0 (x64) Running on Windows 10 x64
www.Ross-Tech.com

Address 08: Auto HVAC Labels: None
Control Module Part Number: 8Z0 820 043 D
Component and/or Version: A2-KLIMAVOLLAUTOMAT 0514
Software Coding:
Work Shop Code:
VCID: 3773D98015BAC331B0-2560
2 Faults Found:

00601 - Potentiometer On Positioning Motor for Central Flap (G112)
30-00 - Open or Short to Plus
00600 - Potentiometer On Positioning Motor for Temperature Flap (G92)
30-10 - Open or Short to Plus - Intermittent

<tuffty/>
 
Codes that have come back so far....

Wednesday,06,July,2022,11:42:52:63303
VCDS Version: Release 21.9.0 (x64) Running on Windows 10 x64
www.Ross-Tech.com

Address 08: Auto HVAC Labels: None
Control Module Part Number: 8Z0 820 043 D
Component and/or Version: A2-KLIMAVOLLAUTOMAT 0514
Software Coding:
Work Shop Code:
VCID: 3773D98015BAC331B0-2560
2 Faults Found:

00601 - Potentiometer On Positioning Motor for Central Flap (G112)
30-00 - Open or Short to Plus
00600 - Potentiometer On Positioning Motor for Temperature Flap (G92)
30-10 - Open or Short to Plus - Intermittent

<tuffty/>
Alot of these crop up dont they and dont actually link to a fault but may be worth taking glove box out and trim down that side and watching the temp flap while you scroll the tmeps and let it try and move the flap. Seems like it lets cold in them flips back to let jsut hot in and gets stuck. Its common but then so is the problem going away! Mine sorted itself after much use of the temp buttons and constantly messing with it.
 
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