Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Is this something I can reasonably do myself? It appears just unplugging cables, then plugging new ones in, making sure they're clear of the exhaust and then putting some heat shielding conduit on them. A meter of conduit is a fiver. The cables are 30-40 quid a set. Quotes I've seen on forums for the work are 200-300 including parts at independents and 300+ for dealers. It appears a common thing on 2010 TSI for it affect, in particular, number 3 HT. More recent models had the routing in a different place, tied back with proper heat protection.

It is perfectly doable yourself. Just take your time and do one cable at a time. For peace of mind, as you're disconnecting plug leads, it wouldn't hurt to renew spark plugs while you're at it.

Am not to sure it is straight forward if it £200 at an independant. Or is my idea of pricing that far out?

@CYOA Have you looked on the briskoda forum, they have been helpful to me in the past. Have asked on the owners club.

Looks a bit of a pain but probably doable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCdVucIV4hw&ab_channel=CycloneCyd

It is still not anymore than normal.

EDIT So what is £200 or is my pricing that far out.

Anyone got a favourite exhaust repairer in the Edinburgh area?

Up at my mum's over Xmas and the exhaust Y-pipe has split: I think it's going to need either welding or a fabricated repair section, so reckon the chains are unlikely to help.

Doing some minor work on the rally car, unearthed an absolute can of worms of wiring that now needs removing properly.

I’ve de-pinned as much of the redundant stuff as possible and zip tied it into branches which I’ll re-wrap in Tesa loom tape

3 Attachments

Fucksticks. There was a van abandoned on our road overnight, I got rather closer to it than I should have done when trying to get past.

2 Attachments

I’ve had loads of work done by Mackinnon motors https://g.co/kgs/kvQZHX

Although not an exhaust repair specifically.

Thanks. One of my mum's neighbours recommended David Scott on Pinkhill near the zoo: he couldn't touch it until the new year, but suggested Automak on the Glasgow Road.

Dropped it off to them at 2, and got a call before 5 to say they'd fitted it in and it was done. Very reasonably priced, so that's a recommendation from me unless it falls off again a few miles down the road ...

Has anyone any experience of EGR deletion. I had one side - seemingly the exit blanked off. Should I blank off both sides?
Trying to organise remap but tuner is off until new year - not sure my temper will hold out until then!

Yes, depends on the vehicle. Is the egr vacuum or electronicly operated?

It’s a 2007 Audi. I’m not sure which.

No idea. Just looked at seemingly the same issue on various forums and saw figures bandied. I'd love to get a quote myself but all 3 local garages have been shut since. Nearly bought a set yesterday (Bosch ones with the heat protection wrap stuff) but read a review of the site that said it can take weeks to turn up and I need to drive next week... Anywhere that does next day reliably (or Monday/Tues latest?)

Is there a GSF near you?

Had good fun tooling around on snow and ice in a Land Cruiser with studded tyres for the last few days. Amazingly effective in some pretty hairy driving conditions.
Not much of a boon for fuel economy mind.

Thanks, there is and they have it in stock 5 miles away. It's unbranded and doesn't come with heat proof conduit and is 90 quid reduced to 50 or so. Compared to the 35 quid for the Bosch one. But needs must etc. Think I'll give it a go... Am assuming that a new cable will stop the slightly underpowered feeling I'm getting from a cable with a hole in and some electrical tape covering it. If not then there's always Tuesday when the garage opens. Slightly concerned about a repeat event in the future if the cable burns through again. Wonder if there's a way to tie it back safely from the exhaust.

'Bremi' is in my hands... Off to the beach now but will try later..

Had to go and pick up a T30 driver to take the wire housing off but the first one came out pretty easily. I didn't have the new ones with me, just wanted to test I had the right tools. I'll take the rest out tomorrow for good measure and replace them all with new, but attached is the problem cable. It was baked hard. The others seem fine/flexible but still inclined to replace them all. Hoping that it does the trick.

Though I'm hesitant to put on the 'marten protection' (the new leads don't come with it) that was currently on them as I don't think it did much on the heat protection front and was actually the stuff that had melted on the exhaust so I wonder if it got too close (by being 5 x the diameter of the cable itself) and basically cooked the lead?

3 Attachments

Lead is proper fucked ;)

Do you mean that black crinkly stuff?

Then auto factors usually have this stuff on a roll. But finding one near you.

That's the stuff. But my query is whether I need it? I can't see what it does apart from melt.. it doesn't seem any more heatproof than the cable itself and all it does it make the cable hotter by getting hot/melty itself and being in close proximity?

Is it there to prevent rubbing/ chafing of the cable?

Maybe? It obviously doesn't do a great job on pre 2012 1.2 TSIs before they made the modification that kept the lead a bit more distanced. I guess I'll just get used to checking it every couple of months. Might also buy a spare set of leads to have on hand should it happen again.

No idea, but that crinkly plastic stuff usually goes brittle with time and heat cycles. The cables are are consumables as time and heat cycles make the cables go hard and fail.

Some people wrap the HT cables with tin foil to help heat dissipation but no idea if it works.

So took the headlamp out of the X type, which involved removing the bumper. Which I found that a majority of the bolts are missing. Yet two torx bolts that hold the wheel arch inner had had the heads stripped.

Then the joy of opening the headlamp using a hot air gun and scraper...that took an hour of being careful not to damage the lens or the back. Now how do I repair a broken plastic adjuster? How do I take the inner reflector out without damaging the other plastic mounts.

EDIT So with time and warming the plastic bits at little so I can separate the lens and the mounts. Now how to bond the plastic adjuster.