Well Hello There Fellow Technicians And Hivers!
It's one of those again, one of those absolute wrecks that we have to fix. You know it's beyond my brain capacity to understand how one can get your car up till this point.
But with that said there is nothing we can't fix!
The problem with vehicles that are brought in with such a bad condition to start with well there are always some problems that lay waiting in the shadows and that the clients can never understand.
Let's see, the car came in with the transmission already worked on, by the looks of it it was already removed and just refitted to be able to move the car from one place to the next.
Along with that the transmission had no megatronic with it and that is an essential part that we need, we will see what we can slap together but there might be a chance for the software to be locked hence we would need the original TCM.
Then the radiator, the bumper and a whole bunch of other stuff was removed. I saw that there was even a old head gasket inside the vehicle so I'm really hoping on those oaks to have done their job right!
If not well probably not our problem but I'm sure the client will make it ours.
Now before I do anything I decided to give this vehicle a proper pressure washing! This vehicle has been standing for almost two years now and the rats have made it their home. So out they go along with all their poop!
The fly-wheel is in no condition to ever work again! Whatever the client says that it might have or not it's been standing for two years and the "dual mass" capability it once had was all but gone!
So out with the old and in with a good second hand fly-wheel, the customer is already tight on funds and we are most likely not going to even charge them for the fly-wheel. So there ya go.
I remember when we went through the vehicle to check what extra problems their might be. Back then we did quote the CV joints but the client refused to have them fixed along with the transmission. He didn't even wanted to pay for a cleaning and re-greasing.
How people neglect their own vehicles like this is something I really can not understand. Yes Audi parts might be more expensive than most but if you can't afford it don't try to look rich by driving an Audi. Besides every second bloak is driving one of these anyways you wont stand out much with an Audi A3.
Since we waited for some of the parts I thought it would be a great idea to start assembling all of the parts that were unnecessarily removed to begin with.
The bumper, the radiator and the gigantic airbox that bolts down on the bumper as well.
Usually when we receive vehicles like this they've been sent to a workshop where the oaks have absolutely no idea what they are doing.
What that means is that you need to scour the whole vehicle and look for stuff that was done improperly.
An example of this is easy, they removed the radiator and when I re-fitted those I saw that they disconnected the aircon pipes as well and for no reason at all they just disconnected them and left the aircon radiator right there.
See what a mess!
After I fitted the bumper I jumped straight on the radiator!
I have to be honest here. As much as I despise having to work on vehicles like this once you get going it's actually quite fun!
It's almost like building a Lego set without the how to piece of paper! And when everything is successful the feeling is amazing!
But why though? Why pull out the whole damn radiator? It's not even in the way of anything when wanting to remove the transmission.
Well This Won't Work.
Okay now I'm just assuming and that isn't how we do things. I'll clean this TCM nicely and fit it back to the body.
I'm glad the customer brought one for us, although this isn't the one that was removed from the transmission in the first place though. It's one he bought somewhere somehow and most likely some backyard techie who told him that this thing is working like a dream!
After removing the plate and doing an inspection of the inside of the mega-tronic system it does look to be very clean inside.
Might be that it only needs a little bit of a cleaning and it'll work fine after all. Although I'm not too sure about the actual computer part if it will be compatible with the vehicle at all.
Popping the lid on this!
I am surprised! Really I am! This is one is indeed very clean!
It's not rebuilt in anyway but it is without a doubt not in a bad state! Hydraulically everything will be working as it should.
Damn now I kind of want to pull it apart because I opened such a beautifully clean meg while it was ganky on the outside and more than often dirt particles do tend to fall inside. Albeit I did open it very slowly but the parts I removed from it I will without a doubt give some cleaning love!
This is one lucky client! So far.
Okay I know most people would have absolutely no idea what they are even looking at here!
Apologies! It's not the best photo!
So I've skipped a step there but after closing up the megatronic and fitting it to the transmission so that we were able to reset and fit the clutch I went straight ahead and popped it back into the vehicle.
At this point I already had the transmission lined up with the motor and all I needed to do was add the bolts and join them together.
From here on the work should go fast but there is still the possibility of having to remove the mega-tronic to change the computer on it.
It looks like a vehicle again and not some wrecked piece of steel and plastic!
Well if you can manage to look past the biscuit of a wheel and the broom stick holding the bonnet open.
I have to say I feared for my life bending down underneath that hood! I was waiting for that bonnet to come smack me in the head!
I have to say if I were to buy an Audi A3 it would surely be the four door sedan that has the boot compartment as well. Otherwise I have no liking to even drive this crap. Really it's unpleasant and it rides hard on the road.
I'm sure this looks a whole deal better than it did! Except for the air intake pipe that is a bit on the crumbled up side but that is okay. The oaks that stripped it must have ripped it out of place.
The only thing it needs now is another pressure washing but with some nice degreasing soap and then a major service! Damn then this will be driving like a beast again!
Oh I think I forgot to mention that the client will have to pull out a few extra notes to pay for a new TCM otherwise we can't do much with what we had.
This Is Why!
This right here is why no matter what I did on a vehicle, NO MATTER WHAT even if I just added some air in a tyre I always check the oil and water of the vehicle! We've had some close calls on starting vehicles where the oil didn't even show up on the dipstick!
Oh yes more than once!
This is barely there! I decided to add a few liters but we won't bill the client we've got lots of old motor oil that is still very clean, well cleaner than what this vehicle has in.
But we don't even mention it because if something then happens it would be an "Ahhh but you fiddled with the oil it's your fault!
Dated 31/07/2023
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