While reading through another thread here on Cartalk about the effects of driving through a flood, I couldn't help thinking about removing the air hose (or tube..??) that turns downwards from the upper part of the airbox/air intake chamber. (See previous pic where the engine cooling fan is being worked on).
Would removal have any side effects?

samuelk: currently carrying out a similar project on a '01 e46 330i BMW i got through a friend but ive been carrying out most of the repairs myself after scanning and going on bimmerforums to research on possible cases where the faults are, and so far its been going well

It would be nice if you could show us what your doing with your Beema. Let start to encourage people to either work on their cars themselves if they have the knowledge, or at least take them to competent mechanics. With the level of complexity of the more modern cars, it wont be long before our roadside destroyers start condemning even the latest Toyotas because of their electronic complexity.

lomomike: Good morning fellow NL'ers good morning t-die. Mr t-die good work you're doing out there. Seems you still have a lot of work to do. BTW, why don't our high institutions engage their mechanical engineering students in tasks like this? I believe if our schools stop paying eye and lips services and engage in indept engineering/techincal works such as this, we won't have half baked engineers trying to chase NNPC or CBN appointments. To all the engineers out there pls no pun intended. #just saying#

Thanks. Got her back on Monday; All rewiring has been reversed, Car moves fine, AC was serviced and filled up-and now she chills like mad. Engine fans come on when they're supposed to. Think I still have an AC leak though. I was advised not to drive around too much for now-until the ordered parts arrive and have been fixed. My Engineer friend is currently on leave till next month. So everything is more or less paused until my parts arrive,- (Powered by Siena ;-), and the Engineer is back.

According to my Engineer friend, there was a possiblity of the codes I pulled earlier being either old error codes due to faults which were not cleared after being fixed by the previous owner, or also possibly to to the various rewirings done... e.g the CANBUS Cable which was part of the wire cluster around the fuel pump had been cut into two and left open ended (See circled areas in the pic below). So he first cleared all the codes, and had all the rewirings reversed-(Cooling fan etc.)


Reversing the rewiring back to factory default...

Crude radiator mod...

Close up shot of the Relay Switch + Wire mishmash. The relays and wires were also heating up very badly when the fans were running... So many potential fire hazards in this car

I must admit I was a bit intimidated by the size of the Engine of the A4... (Considering that I was coming from an I4 2.0L Sports hatch)
Meanwhile you can see the rewiring done... a straight wire lead from the battery terminals via some relay switches to the Engine fan...Causing the fans to come on once the ignition was turned on...

In order to have a more detailed look at the innards of the Audi, the front end needed to come off...

kkonsults: That's good to hear, considering the fact that most people see KIA as plastics

Umm... I think he meant the Kias that are produced to UK/EU or American Specs, not the tinboxes we get here with just 2 airbags and the most basic of amenities.
I stand to be corrected though...

And it starts... drove my car to the workshop and had it scanned by the biggest VW/Audi Scan tool I have ever seen. I jokingly asked of the price of such a unit, and he told me that you can only get it from VW...that as far as he knew, its not for sale.

Mother luck seemed to be smiling on me, an expatriate Engineer friend of mine who works in the Mechanical section of one of the multinationals here just happened to formerly work for Audi in Germany and at some point owned an independent specialist Audi garage… How much better can it get…?? ;-) . On telling him my woes, he asked me to bring in the car for a comprehensive checkup. He also revealed to me that Audis had better quality control standards than VWs… even though they are products of the same company. This is not to say that VWs are bad, just that side by side the Audi would be much more rugged and reliable than the comparable VW model.

After pulling all those assorted codes (I must confess I was a bit overwhelmed initially), I went to the Ross-tech website to look for interpretations and possible solutions; Of course I already knew I needed to get a new fuel sender unit, new radiator and AC condenser units, Timing belt kit, water pump, AISIN gearbox fluid for the Audi Auto tranny and the auto transmission filter.
Note that the Transmission fluid + Filter, as well as the Timing belt were only indicated as part of preventive maintenance-there were no symptoms of issues with the transmission, and the timing belt, on assessment, seemed quite new (though timing belts cannot be assessed by looks).
I'd rather spend the money now and change these items at a relatively lower cost, than have my engine or transmission go bust on me on some lonely road.

Those were the faults which were immediately apparent.
I then decided to take the car to one of the more popular auto workshops here in order to get my car scanned and reveal the reason(s) for the CEL etc. Unfortunately they didn’t have the VAG scan tool and had to rely on the Autoboss generic scanner. It however seemed like the Autoboss scanner actually downloaded some VAG software (not too sure though).
The setup of the workshop I went to was very nice… Air-conditioned, had a secretary, accountant etc., lots of hydraulic tools and Lifts, Mechanics all uniformed, good HSE, A dedicated area for ongoing repairs etc. BUT the only person in this workshop of more than 6 mechanics who knew what he was doing was the proprietor (I think he’s an Engineer) and unfortunately he happened to be too busy at the time I came. He sent one of his boys to run a scan on the car (@ N5,000). Can you believe that this dude did not even know how to go about the scan…? I had to take over from him and run the scan myself.
This highlights the problems with some of the “classier” auto workshops here in Nigeria… some of them look quite good with lots of tools etc, but still the level of expertise still leaves a lot to be desired for. In most cases (like where I went to), it’s just the proprietor seemingly who has the expertise, but if his boys can’t even perform a simple scan, then… I hate to think of what happens to all the Range rovers and other exotic cars parked outside when the Proprietor of the workshop is out of town, and the cars need to be worked on.
Moral of this gist is that we should not be be carried away by just the looks of an auto workshop-try and determine the individual levels of expertise and have the most competent person work on your car.
Anyways, after the scan I pulled almost 30 error codes ;-( Cylinder misfires, fuel pressure low (obviously due to the leak), Oxygen sensor kaput, Almost enough to fill 2 pages….


Screenshot of one out of the numerous pages of errors detected by the Autoboss scanner

Fuel sender unit (Fuel pump) left uncovered (black disc is the cover)...: Also notice the rough reconnections/rewirings done by our dear rewires. [Need me a shotgun..]

Man proposes, Internet disposes... My internet connection tonight is just too slow to do any meaningful posts on this thread...
There have been plenty updates though, and plenty milestones achieved...

Audi S8 D3 4E Perhaps...

Washed out plastic buttons for the AC controls, Hazard Lights, Traction Control and Car Stereo

to be continued... [Yawns]...

The Dashboard with CEL Illumminated, Brake Light blinking and Error on the odometer

Problem Number one; Funny local construction from the coolant reservior... (According to the former owner-it was to slove the problem of a leak) Yet the radiator was STILL leaking...

First impressions;
Apart from the faults I mentioned earlier; the first impression I got on entering the Audi was that it seemed to have a relatively small interior compared to my Pug 307-which seems to be a paradox when you consider that the 307 is a smaller car… Guess it has to do with the high roofline and bigger windshield of the Pug.

The steering wheel of the Audi Quattro also seems to seat relatively even at its highest setting, and with the Driver’s seat at its lowest… almost touching my knees. I had a similar problem with a friend’s W202 Mercedes C class. Hmmm… I never had such issues with my 307.

The doors of the Audi have this very satisfying way of closing with a soft thud that makes one feel so safe within… In comparison, my 307 doors sound rather too ‘jangly’

The sound insulation of the Audi is, to put it simply, wonderful... I had to strain to hear the horn when I sounded it... Initially I thought maybe the horn had a problem... Na JJC dey worry me o... lol

Finally... whew... Sorry this pic is not too clear... It was taken with my wacky Bold 5 Camera at night... Beside is my other love... My 307 which has to leave soon once I find a buyer [Sobs}

Mehn... I've been trying for hours to upload pix, both from withing the Nairaland upload menu, and externally from Photobucket. Nothing seems to be working.
This thread won't make any sense without pictures detailing my progress. :-(
I don dey tire o...

My proposed overhauls;
1. Fixing the Engine cooling, Fuel Supply etc. systems and AC back to factory specs
2. Fixing the problems triggering the CEL
3. Timing belt + Water pump and tensioners change
4. Transmission fluid and filter change
5. Getting her on some 18 x 8.5” Alloy Rims and matching low profile tires
6. Getting rid of the boring stock Head, and taillights… getting some FK Angel eyes (abi na devil eyes) headlamps and LED taillight units
7. Fixing suspension problems
Importantly, all these need to be done without breaking the bank, or making it more worthwhile to get a Tokunboh Audi A4 with similar specs. Would be sourcing all my parts from Siena in the UK… all would be brand new… and surprisingly, some are even cheaper than the quotes I got for some new/used.
Boy do I love challenges… ;-). I have a lot of friends who are ready to say “I told you so, you should have gotten a direct tokunboh vehicle”-am so looking forward to proving them wrong

Sorry Guys... Uploading pix is proving impossible... I have spoken with the mod... there seems to be a software glitch somewhere and he is also at loss.
Am trying to get the hang of photobucket so I ca use that... hope it works out.

pix

Pix... Ummm.. am having problems with uploading pix.... :-(