What's in the workshop this weekend? . . . General VOD
 

Well, I bought another one :p This one literally saved from death with not a moment to spare! A friend has a unit on a scrap yard, so when a D2 rolled in, he called me straight away. FL1 3.7 Quattro, sport seats, blown gearbox. "I'll be there in 2 hours" +++

£600 later, I had this:

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1555919842

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1555919842

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1555919842

A one-owner 3.7 quattro, with sport seats (not a Sport model mind). It was bought new at Exeter Audi as a company car, and then at the end of its company service was bought from the company by it's driver and kept by him until about six months ago when the gearbox failed at 117K. It appears to have had the same private plate from new until it was disposed of.

I could tell as soon as I opened the door it had suffered some serious water ingress - it smells like a locker room and there is mould all over the place. Still, a decent haul of parts for the money. At least, that was the plan :ROFL:

I got VCDS on it to read the gearbox codes and see just how exploded it was, and curiously there were no 'incorrect ratio' codes normally associated with a blown 5HP19, just loads and loads of sensor and solenoid failures. The ECU was the same - it had three pages of codes :eek2:, and the ESP unit also had half a dozen. I immediately went under the bonnet and opened up the electronics box to find it dripping wet inside :tuttut: Could it really be this easy...?

All the ECU codes cleared fine, as did a couple of TCU codes once I'd cleaned up all the body harness connectors. I had a spare FL ESP unit so I just swapped and recoded that, and that was also fine. I didn't have a spare TCU of the right code though, so pulled that out and opened it up...

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1555919842

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1555919842

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1555919842

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1555919842

Oh dear! Still, I had some time so I got out the isopropyl alcohol and a toothbrush and got scrubbing.

After an hour of it sitting on a hot radiator I put it back in.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1555919842

Result! :cool: It drives absolutely fine, and no more drivetrain fault codes. It really was that easy +++

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1555919842

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1555919842

To celebrate, I gave him a bath and named him General Vod :D

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1555919842

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1555919842

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1555919842

Only two minor bits of body damage

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1555919842

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1555919842

Of course now he's working and has a name, he can't be a parts car any more can he? :tuttut:

Well that has to be the shortest "What's in the workshop this weekend?" thread ever, but great to see another D2 saved from the crusher. +++

I'm not finished yet :ROFL:

Amazing how some people just simply can't be bothered to find out what is wrong. When there is obvious water ingress then it is highly likely to cause issues. Having said that, it gives opportunities for others (MJ) to buy them cheap with an 'easy' fix.

Well done MJ, you deserve some easy ones, although as you have said, 'this one isn't finished yet'!

The crazy thing is that it's already had a gearbox rebuild at some point! I guess it must have been out of warranty so when it started having problems again they just bailed on it rather than investigating.

This is my hit list prior to MoT on Tuesday:

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1555928832

Not on the list is 'remove swimming pool from driver's side carpet' and valet the interior so it doesn't smell of old socks :o

Good work and it’s just so important to keep as many good D2s on the road +++

Would you not replace both front springs as a pair?

Nice save +++

What's your plans for the car? Courtesy car perhaps, for when those of us who don't have another vehicle need to leave our cars with you? :)

If I was fitting new, yes, but I have a used one of similar mileage and the name of the game at the moment is to pass the MoT for as little outlay as possible. After that I'll drive it around and iron out the bugs and then decide what to do with it.

That is one potential option :)

Good point. I forgot that (a) it wasn't a customer's car and (b) you probably have one lying around!

I should have known better than to question it :D