th3_f15t

A couple of nice pictures from today, which are also for the advert for the car: Feel free to message me if you're interested in buying.

The car is now for sale, I've sold off all the Stage 3/hybrid turbo parts and completed the major service work ready and looking to sort a few more issues before it goes. I've got an advert for it up on the classifieds already but will be going up on more public boards (eBay etc.) in the coming weeks. Sort of sad times, but I've just grown away from the performance world and entered into the world of Transporters, so moving on from this car to the next adventure.

Sorry for the huge delay in responding, needless to say things have been slow to the point of going backwards with the car lately. I'm overdue some major servicing now but money has been a real issue and prevented anything from happening. That, and now owning several other cars... My bad!

You know how it is, get a load of parts and make a plan, 2 months later realise those plans won't happen as quickly as you planned... Thanks to real life. Since changing jobs earlier this year my time commitments have massively changed so still getting used to them, as well as financially. So, before we begin, I had great plans to get the downpipe sorted, everything fitted and all re-mapped by now. Instead, I've managed very little except by an Audi A6 Avant as a daily driver. But this weekend I decided enough was enough, time to get her back on the road at the very least. The plan here was to drop out the passenger side driveshaft and replace it with a whole new one, including CV joints as my usual supplier of such parts only charge £41 for the whole unit. The old one came out pretty easy after removing the main hub nut and the 3 16mm lower ball joint nuts: Scarily this part takes as little as 60 minutes to get to here. New vs. old: Initially, I was very happy with the replacement part, it's actually 1.6mm thicker (the driveshaft, that is) than the stick part and everything is really well made. However, what isn't obvious from the last photo is the bolt pattern on the inner CV joint of the new unit didn't match up, nor does the style. So I removed the outer CV joint from the new one and put it onto my old driveshaft after cleaning it up. Was also working on my fiance's Polo Coupe S today, doing a mega thorough cooling system flush so got distracted by that job quite a lot. But she's all back together ready for a test drive either later tonight or one evening in the week (on private roads as still not got an MOT). Hopefully after sorting this CV joint out (which was an MOT pickup) and some better fuel plus additives I'll be back on the road fully. Watch this space.

Got me a Trackslag 3.5" downpipe with a silencer: The only problem with it at the moment, if you haven't spotted it, is it's a de-cat system so I'm getting a sports cat welded in so I can safely use it on the road legally. Also got a turbo discharge kit: Need to get a 175 bar fuel pressure return valve now then that's everything needed to get the engine sorted. Going to go to TSR Performance for my mapping as they're just over an hour from me so my most local tuner. Plus I've seen their work so know I'm in safe, tried-and-tested hands. May even give the car a wash this weekend...

You know, this and that... My post before last should give you some ideas...

So... After failing the MOT on emissions earlier this year I've neglected her completely. Until now... Things are happening.

Been chasing an electrical system fault for a while now, been driving me crazy. First symptoms were multiple ABS, stability and traction control, brake sensor and airbag warning lights flashing on the display as well as the display needles dropping to 0 while running for a second or two at random intervals. When the car is in this state, most of the modules refuse to communicate with my diagnostic kit correctly, when I do get to clear off codes there's no fixed time or pattern of events that transpire before it starts all over again. Started by checking all my ABS, DDC and Haldex connections, while doing it I decided to scrub the front wheels up: More recently I've been getting persistent airbag faults complaining of low voltage to the system and more errors talking of limited functionality due to communication issues. Decided to take the battery out and recondition it as it's still the original unit, now 6 years old and survived several cold winters, this year's being particularly difficult. It drew full charge from the charger for a lot longer than I was expecting but refitting it later today to see if anything resolves itself. Now eyeing up a Bosch S5 battery to go in. Also, people may of noticed I recently put the car up for sale but it's no longer available as I managed to get my hands on this kit: TTE420 turbocharger, next manifold gaskets, N75 valve, studs and tools for fitting the injectors correctly. Combined with my RS3 LPFP and injectors, HPA Motorsport inlet manifold and a planned exhaust swap should make for a good specification list. Will have to wait till I've firstly finished off the mk2 Golf GTI restoration (which is close now) and next a home move due to work and lifestyle changes. Further plans include getting the mk6 Golf seat wiring looms for my wingback so I can connect them up to the original cars heating wiring so I can get that feature working again as I'm growing bored of having what feels like a half-assed job of an interior upgrade. I did also finally unlock the rear middle seat belt and got two new seat winders for the fronts as I broke the driver's side while removing it to check the part number. Still not ruling out the possibility of parting with the front seats to make way for Cobras, so if anyone does want the front alone, no P/X, drop me a message with a cash offer and see where we go from there. It's a loose sale as I'm far from unhappy with the seats, they're still amazingly comfortable and look good as new but a set of Cobra Misano wouldn't be sniffed at.

Well, while trying to work out which ABS sensor has failed, I broke the securing tab on the rear left! Seeing as this is a common thing to have to a lot of people, here's a useful little video on how to repair them: Will be getting a new ABS connector and re-wiring it in, saves cutting wires up and having to solder things, which given that this is a major safety system, no bodge repairs here!

Thanks man. It's only because of changing jobs and moving home that I considered selling but it doesn't need to go so I'm not rushing or taking low offers. If she goes then so be it but already saving up for the TTE420. Just need to find a good tuner near Salisbury now.

In typical fashion, when you advertise your car for sale when you're not 100% sure you want to actually sell her, she throws a tantrum: https://youtu.be/TErGKS2ODB0 Car is in utter meltdown, but still runs and drives OK, despite having no DCC, stability control or any safety systems, but the ABS does still function so was a little confused as to what was happening. When I plugged in my diagnostic tool, I couldn't event access the modules to read fault codes on occasions and when I did get into things like the ECU it was reporting a failure to communicate with everything! Also ran a CAN gateway quick scan and almost every system reported issues... After a bit of research it seems that an ABS sensor is failing and causing the car to go mental, so I'll be disconnecting each one in turn to see if I get a consistent set of warning lights rather than the crazy illumination effects I currently get. Such an odd symptom but good old VW Vortex to the rescue once again.

Thanks man. If, however, I can source a cheap TTE420 then the game may change.

Been a quite winter for Viki to be honest, nothing happened. Got some nice pictures of her all frozen the other day and realised I've not yet shown the new wheels off: Sadly, due to changing careers and lifestyle choices, I will very, very likely be selling her now as I can't justify the cost of running her anymore. Seeing how things go and what interest I get for the car but progress is so slow and costly that I'm loosing the drive to carry on.

So my bodge job failed, and I finally found a seller on eBay that sold an OE part to replace it. Off with the old: The new: Should now be able to see at night as my lights won't be pointed all the way down (as the car thought it was super low) and also don't get error messages on the dash anymore which is nice. Noticed that my foot well lights aren't right, there's always a fault code present about short to positive and I noticed the other night they occasionally go bright for a few seconds then dim again. Investigations needed.

Been quite a while since I posted, mainly because nothing has happened. Only thing to report is I got told about a broken level sensor on my MOT and the other day I started getting error messages on the heads up display, so whipped the wheel off and sure enough it wasn't happy being completely up instead of down. Quick modification with the drill and some cable ties later: Hoping to get a new exhaust over the coming month or two, opting for a Scorpion exhaust system to completely replace my Milltek Sport system, getting another non-resonated one but the Scorpion have the active valve system on it so hopefully it'll quieten it down as I'm bored of the noise of the Milltek all the time now. Probably getting old...