W12 Service
 

Decided it was time to give the old girl a major service as she is coming up to 72k. Duly ordered all the necesary from TPS - oil, filters, spark plugs and I also decided to do a gearbox drain and replace the filter cartridge in there as well. Interestingly there is a lot of discussion about the right gearbox oil to use for the W12 as it is different from the other A8's - the right stuff is blue in colour and costs about 3 times as much as the usual 'gold' coloured oil. I also ordered some K+N air filters as they were just the same cost as the Audi Genuine ones, but sadly they didnt fit so I had to stick with genuine ones.

Starting at 8am Saturday morning the engine service went smootly. Fitting the spark plugs is a bit of a faff as you have to take off half of the inlet manifold to get at the plugs, but not as awkward as I thought. Engine service was done by about 11.

When I drained the oil from the gearbox it was very brown and smelled awful and certainly wasnt blue by any stretch of the imagination. Getting the sump off the gearbox was probably the hardest part as both sides of the exhaust had to come off - one side was easy as I had replaced that earlier this year but the nearside was in a poor state and the bolts had rounded off, additionally when I put any pressure on the flexy at all to move it it just fell off in my hand - not good!. Anyway, finally with the pan off the gearbox removing the old filter and its oil seal was dead easy, and the new one just slipped into place. There was very little swarf on the magnets so a quick clean and a new gasket and after much dripping and draining it went back together.

Thats about as far as I have got at the moment as I am waiting for the nearside exhaust section to be delivered from TPS (sadly on back order so who knows when....:-( ) as I cant re-oil the gearbox properly without starting the engine and I dont fancy standing next to the manifold down pipes while the whole thing comes up to temparature, I'd like to keep my hair for a few more years !

Once I get it back together and test drive it I will let you know if this fancy expensive blue fluid is worth it or not.....

I did also get around to fitting the carpeted spare wheel well liner (ooh, the luxury) - DAB and illuminated sills are still pending....

Photos of the carpeted spare wheel well please! +++

He'll be wanting a little cushion to rest it's head on next!! :p

Heres the carpeted well, complete with almost clean spare wheel :)

The exhaust arrived Thursday, the gaskets on Friday and I got around to fitting it on Sunday. Once that was in place in topped up the gearbox, went through the proceedure with the gearstick in each position, checked the level again and then did the final check and put the plug back in when it was at about 40 degrees. Since then I have driven it about 30 miles and it really does feel smoother and gearchanges are imperceptible - except for a slight change in the burble from the exhaust you can really not tell its changed gear, so I am over the moon with it! Whether the blue fluid is really any better than the regular stuff I dont know, but it seems to be the standard fluid for any of the big engined or high performance Auto's (S4's S6's etc) so I guess there is some merit in it somewhere...

Whilst tinkering on Sunday I also got around to fitting DAB. The hardest part was finding a space to cram it in around all the rear entertainment stuff! Other than that it was an easy retro-fit - change the aerial adapter thingy at the top of the rear screen and run the new aerial cable into the boot, add in another connector on the fibre loop and tap into 3 little wires (before anyone comments (IT) I did use Scotch grips and they do look unsightly, but no-one will see them - I dont trust myself with soldering equipment)

Once plugged in it worked instantly, with no diagnostics necesary - I did go in and add it to the installed list but it didnt appear as though that was necesary - it made me feel better though having another tick in a box! It works brilliantly and hasnt yet hesitated or cut out or done anything un-toward.

Yes, the sills are still pending.....

Nice. Just need to pop a bit of B&O in there now..... :p






.......See, I didnt even mention the scotch grips :hammer:

Yes, after a brief (yet somewhat expensive) 'pootle' around the local back roads at lunchtime, I'd concur its probably the smoothest box I've ever driven in any 8......

If only the comfortable ventilated massaged ride with uber-click gear changes wasn't made overly stressful by its blatant love of flashing up single digits on the MPG readout....:o

I have just ordered spark plugs and will be doing them later today. Any chance you can list the part numbers for every thing you ordered there please so i can go and do the same to my car :) im willing to bet my gear box fluid has never been changed. Unlike my d2 wich had a change and new filter every 20k miles. Im also going to do an oil and filter change. Would also like some infor on fuel filter ? And its location to change ect

Thanks david +++

OK, so my shopping list went like this:

W12 Specific Parts:
12x Spark Plugs Part No 101905600A
1x Oil Filter 07C115562E
1x Sump Plug N90813202
2x Air Filters 4E0129620D
10 Litres ATF Oil G055162A2
Gearbox Filter 09E325429
Gearbox Gasket 09E321371

D3 Generic:
1x Fuel Filter 1J0201511A
1x Pollen Filter 4E0819439A

To Change the spark plugs you need to remove the upper section of the inlet manifold (as per photos) and as such the correct proceedure is to replace the gasket when you refit it. I didnt bother with this because my gaskets looked fine (they are actually part metal so quite robust) and they cost around £70 each.
Check the back of your service book for the recall stamps and see if there is mention of the coil pack recall - its sure to have been done by now on your car, it was quite a few years ago. If you cant do that call any Audi garage and they chould be able to check if there are any outstanding recalls on your car. The updated part number is 07C905715A so if all else fails have a look at them when you get the manifold off.
Fuel filter is located just in front of the offside rear wheel. There is a small section of undertray which you will need to remove to gain access to it. The fuel lines are connected via two plastic clip on fittings so you just have to depress the white plastic clip (you fat bitch :ROFL:) and the fitting will slide off the filter. BEWARE the fuel will be under pressure so get ready for a petrol shower, or at least have some rags handy. After that its one bolt that holds the filter in a plastic cradle, remove refit and job done. +++

thanks David your a star +++

im off shopping

my coil packs were all done on 29-09-2011 witch is bizar because it had the new engine on the 30-11-2011 so are they the same coil packs i wander ? ...... it also had the drivers air bag replaced, and aparently there are no re calls what so ever for the auto open boot ? ... how strange.

how much did all the service parts cost you in total David ?

i better brace myself ..... lol