My Murple

MikkiJayne · #1 19th October 2019, 08:13 PM

Hi all,

You probably remember the Merlin Purple S8 that Dezzy found in Bristol a little while ago. Its been sitting in the workshop since I picked it up as the drains are all full of leaves and I wantd it to dry out before I did anything else to it. I had to move it today so beforehand I hoovered up all the leaves and then gave it a bath.

Overall, its pretty straight but the paint is fairly battered. The bonnet has been painted badly and has lots of damage to the lacquer, and the boot is covered in cat scratches. Some other paint, some other scuffs and scrapes.

The front end looks like it has been sand blasted!

The interior is very tatty swing grey, second only in awfulness to blue. Its filthy, trashed and stinky so will be replaced with a stock black interior.

Who at Audi thought this colour match was acceptable?

The passenger door card is completely destroyed - shame, because it's extended leather.

The alcantara headlining is closer to platinum than swing - much lighter than the leather colour. That is staying so will just get cleaned. Not canon for an S8 with black leather, but never mind. It'll still be a nice place to sit once it's finished.

Spec wise, it has:

Solar sunroof
Factory towbar
Leather pack 1
Heated rear seat with lumbar support and broken electric headrests

No heated screen, which is a shame.

Now the elephant in the room - the gearbox. I spoke to the owner before picking it up and it had a full rebuild in 2017 (at 290,000 miles!). He said it went in to limp as soon as drive was selected (classic F125) and then wouldn't move at all (classic clutch pack failure) which is an odd combination of faults. He'd had an F125 fitted and it made no difference, and since the gearbox was out of warranty he'd decided to get rid of it. I assumed from the description it was the usual exploded clutch basket. No big deal.

I could tell something weird was going on when it drove on to the trailer just fine - no limp, moved quite happily. Odd, but I strapped it down and brought it home. It drove off the trailer, and drove round the yard just fine - curiouser and curiouser.

The only code stored in the TCU was F125 implausible, but it's had a new one right? Wrong - his mechanic had fitted a used F125 with the same fault!

Currently all the indications are that the F125 is the only problem so when I get a chance to put it on the lift I will strip and rebuild the switch and see how it behaves.

Well done to Andrew for calling that one

The reason it wouldn't move at all in limp mode is that the previous owner lived on a hill which it couldn't handle in 5th gear

The plan for this one is to replace General Vod as general runabout and tow car. Vod will be for sale as soon as I've sorted out a few niggles, to pay for murple parts. It'll be a pretty slow 'fix things as they break' project rather than a full overhaul.

Nognar · #2 19th October 2019, 09:05 PM

Love the colour and a great project, feels right that it’s in safe hands.

What on Earth has happened to the door card? It’s been a little mangled at some point in its life!

MikkiJayne · #3 19th October 2019, 09:25 PM

There's a fundamental design flaw with the extended leather door cards in that some of the leather is actually outside, since the weather seal is actually on the card itself. On most examples this manifests itself in the leather discolouring and peeling off the back of the door card as the glue gets wet, then it shrinks as it dries and pulls tight. This pushes the weather seal further off the door, compromising the seal, and so the cycle continues.

This one is an extreme example of that problem. It's lived outdoors all its life, drains blocked, crud in the door shuts, and the leather has just rotted away.

I'm researching a way of fully waterproofing this portion of the leather in order to prevent this from happening. Most waterproofing agents have an optical impact on the leather though, mostly adding gloss, so its a matter of finding a product which is effective enough without looking obvious.

Nognar · #4 19th October 2019, 09:35 PM

Interesting stuff, I never realised that.

Though never had a D2 with extended leather, it does look like a really lovely option.

I just spent a few hours today when it was dry repairing a blowing exhaust on my D2 2.8 QS, the coupling sleeve size needed if anyone wants to know is 49.5mm

notorious · #5 20th October 2019, 08:26 AM

This extended leather door cards problem is documented in ELSA.
Audi released an updated version of extended leather door cards with full plastic perimeter, so that leather actually starts only inside the car.
There is a photo of this new door card in ELSA too.
These door cards were replaced under warranty.
I never seen one though in reality and don’t know if they have had a separate part number.
There was no official recall to fix the flaw. Only an advice that these new door cards are available if customer complains.

RS6 · #6 23rd October 2019, 06:37 PM

love that colour!! keep up the good work

Is that a sun glasses holder i spy mine hasn't got one?

johnny_quattro · #7 25th October 2019, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by notorious

This extended leather door cards problem is documented in ELSA.
Audi released an updated version of extended leather door cards with full plastic perimeter, so that leather actually starts only inside the car.
There is a photo of this new door card in ELSA too.
These door cards were replaced under warranty.
I never seen one though in reality and don’t know if they have had a separate part number.
There was no official recall to fix the flaw. Only an advice that these new door cards are available if customer complains.

Thanks for this info. Not sure what Coulsdon Audi would say if I turned up, asking for new door cards for my nigh-on 20 year old car!

I feel quite an affinity for the Murple S8 - it's almost like a sister car to mine, with extended leather door cards in a similar state. Alcantara roof too, and a number plate very close to my originally-registered plate of W208 EWL. Looks like an Oxford registration, if I'm correct.

Fredde · #8 6th August 2024, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by notorious

This extended leather door cards problem is documented in ELSA.
Audi released an updated version of extended leather door cards with full plastic perimeter, so that leather actually starts only inside the car.
There is a photo of this new door card in ELSA too.
These door cards were replaced under warranty.
I never seen one though in reality and don’t know if they have had a separate part number.
There was no official recall to fix the flaw. Only an advice that these new door cards are available if customer complains.

Hello do you have pictures of this door card? I'm currently looking for a fix on my extended leather doorcards with this issue and I think the oem solution will help.