What's lurking behind the 8s dash!
 

Doom!
http://i645.photobucket.com/albums/u...n/DSCN1232.jpg

tbh, its not half as bad as i thought, my s2 was far far worse..

(also that saw in the pass footwell plays no resemblance in removing the dash. its only their by chance, i think it was outside the car from when i was cutting bits of wood to go over the blocks that are now holding up the car and i must have put it inside..:Confused:)

You've been busy

Thats coz you havnt got to the wiring loom yet.... :ROFL:

The loom is behind the heater matrix... Thats just a few connectors for the dash components... :D

Incidently, for a bit of cross-thread info, you can see the thick black foam-wrapped cable running horizontally between the steering column and the transmission tunnel - Thats the one that locks the gearbox in park unless the key is in....

Oh, and thumbs up for putting the bolt back in the end of the steering column when the steering wheel was removed.... Its a bitch if you lose that thing... +++

Always interesting to see what lurks below!

I see the brake pedal bush has split.

Is this a common failing Ian? As I think mines on it's way out, but replacing it with the dash in situ looks like a non starter?

You where dead right Ian, what I unravelled the next day was far more shocking.
I'm amazed at Audis looms, there is so much waste wiring, it could all be made so much less, for exsample every switch has it's own live and earth for the illumination running all the way back to the fuze box and earth tree. They could have just dazzy chained them.

I have extracked the wiring for the rear electric blind which I have transplanted in to my other s8.

I'm pulling out the whole loom so will post a pic when it's out and will weigh it too :)

On a another note, how come in the boot the earth from the battery is bolted to the body as well as other earth points around the car. I thought these cars where made out of alloy?
:Confused:

He said siemens *chuckle* :o

They are fascinating.... When I did all the work on Amars motor I became a bit of an expert on the fact...

Theres are 2 main looms, superimposed over each other. 1 runs what I'd call essential items, engine bay, lights, instruments, security etc. The other overlays the exact same path and does all the 'toys', blinds, interior lighting, leccy seats, memory functions etc. They are connected together only by one multiblock in the passenger front side. Impressive design, but not really sure why!

Audio is a totally seperate loom, taking a seperate power feed from the boot above the battery and takes a different route across the car to reduce inteference.

Engine/gearbox has its own loom too.

And finally, there are a pair of huge copper cables running from the battery in the boot, 1 through to the front for alternator/starter and 1 for the main power distibution in the passenger footwell.

The vast majority of things are individuallty fused in the drivers footwell, with any rear components (audio, leccy rears, heated rears, towbar) being fused at the rear.

There are however a significiant number of joins inside the loom where illumination, ground feeds etc are connected together and that does save a lot of excess wiring.

it is a beast though, and given the current copper prices, is worth a bob or two....

Interestingly, upto 1996 all RHD A8's had the same wiring loom. They were all wired for everything. You want a towbar or heated seats on a 1995 car, just plug em in.

Since 1997 every loom was bespoke...

Very interesting to see the guts of the car, thanks for posting.
Ian, would it be feasible to re-locate a smaller battery to the front and save some weight from those massive copper cables going to the back? Are all the looms connected near the front of the car?

Yeah like Ian said two thick cables run from the battery to the front of the car. One runs to the starter and one to the distribution board in the passenger footwell.



I removed the sola sunroof wiring today which is just a live and earth that goes to the board in the footwell where the live cable from the boot runs and to the fan via a relay. I guess this trickle charges the battery on sunny days.
It should be poss to fit the roof in any car and have it do the same
I have now got all the wiring inside the car free, it's amazing how much there is! Will post another pick tomorrow.