Great info! Thanks!

I don't understand why the zine link was glibbering all over .032 being optimal though. Everything I've heard in the past about gap on a boosted car is that when you increase boost, you need to decrease gap because all that extra air rushing in at high pressures will blow the spark out if the gap is too big. Perhaps my memory of the subject is faded, or I misinterpreted what I read years ago, but even by logic having a smaller gap on a tuned car makes more sense...

Big thanks on the link for the coil packs though, that's an excellent deal; mostly because the revision E packs have red heads, which I think would look sweet in my engine bay haha. Pricewise its sixes- my dealership only charges $25 per pack, and a 4 pack of NGKs is about 16 as well give or take.

What I'm curious about though is what exactly the difference between the two revisions is? If I recall correctly, the part number listed in the europaparts link on the rev E packs is the same as what all 4 currently in my engine are- which is supposedly the latest revision after the recall a couple years ago. But my understanding of the revision codes is that the higher letters of the alphabet are the latest revision- thus the rev F's, which are the black ones, are what should be in my car, no? What throws me off with that is that the new pack I just bought a couple days ago after my little mishap was also, according to the dealer parts dept., the latest revision. I know that cuz he asked me if I knew if I had the latest revision, which I answered yes due to having the full maintenance report on my car from the dealer that had done all the service prior to my buying it which stated the packs were updated to the latest revision, and handed me the pack that he said was the most current. Any thoughts on that one?

 

The last time I owned a car that had a turbo, I was really young, there was no internet, and it was a Murkur. I loved that car, and hind sight being 20/20 I would have kept it after the turbo went at 88K miles. With that being said, this car has had a huge learning curve for me, and I have been primarily doing my research and getting my ideas from this forum and the 'zine.

Now, all I had to go by was that thread when I did my packs and spark plugs. I would have never guessed that there would be so much involved with plugs. So when I had my inspection done last month, I went to a VAG tuner here in NH to have the inspection, clear all the logs then tune to stage 2. When we were reading, the tuner got 2 soft codes. One was for a misfire, the other was for low fuel. When I saw the misfire code, I told him straight up that I had just replaced the plugs and coils. He then asked if I kept the gapping that the plugs came with, regapped smaller or bigger. I said bigger, and that I probably didn't do that great of a job doing it. He then explained to me exactly what you said. So when I finally get around to doing my N80 valve, I will probably pull my plugs and check the gap, and regap accordingly.

Now the low fuel soft code bothers me. The tank was half full......

Hugh is a great guy there. Their shipping is decently priced and usually your purchase is shipped out the same day as the order.


I'm really not sure what the difference is between the revisions. I have F on mine, because it really doesn't matter about the color in the engine bay, I never see it unless I am under there messing around, and that isn't very often. Plenty people are running the rev E, and I'm pretty sure that Hugh wouldn't sell them if they were bad.

 

Hmm. Well thanks again for all the info, I'll poke around about the coil revisions some more- I'm not in a hurry on those yet.

On a side note, did you have a writeup on the rear sway bar that you followed? Or did you just figure it out by looking at it? I assume its pretty straightforward, but thought I'd check about it anyway, just in case- as mine is currently in transit

 

I read this to get a good feel for the job, but once you get under there, it's pretty self explanitory. In the write up, it mentions to unbolt the exhaust hanger all together, I just popped the exhaust off from the rubber hanger instead.

Happy wrenching!

I've actually been driving my truck the last few days, people get way too stupid on the road in the winter up here.....

 

Excellent, thank you very much my friend Can't wait

I hear ya about people and winter driving. Folks in Utah seem to forget every year that they figured out how to drive in snow the previous year and without fail for the first 3 or so months of winter, proceed to think they're invincible and 75mph down the freeway in a blizzard is no match for their big ol 'murrican diesel truck, or think that a feeble flurry that's not even sticking to the road is going to cause them to slide all over the place so they better go no more than 5mph down the freeway. Idiots.

 

Not much going on. Haven't had the chance to change out N80. Car is sitting in my garage still, had a good snow storm last night, so it looks like I'm driving the BMF for a while. Not that I mind, it keeps the miles down on the car.

 

Poor little Audi, sitting in the warm garage for the last 2 weeks. I would love to drive you, alas, I think you take to long for your leather seats to warm up, because it friggen freezing here.....

 

Decided not to do the spacers and springs, and they are now for sale. (clicky) May still do the B5 caps, but right now, keeping it simple.

 

So, for the las few months, the Audi has sat in the garage. Just sitting there, nice and warm.

Yesterday I finally got a chance to do a few things.

I changed the sparkplugs to NGK BKR7E coppers with a gap of .028. I felt I was getting some misfiring, and when I pulled the iridiums out, I noticed a good amount of carbon fouling.

I finally got around to changing out the N80 Valve. The OEM clamps are a pain in the *** to get off, but I got them off with a pair of snips and pliers. The hose itself was a bit on the stubborn side, as I had a hard time removing them from the valve. So using a small flat head screwdriver, I pried up the end of each hose and shot a little WD40 in there. Then I worked the hose from side to side until the valve could move easier. Once the valve could spin in the hoses, I could just pull the hose off easily.

When I replaced the valve, I used regular stainless steel hose clamps. Took about 15 minutes to replace, with most of the time dedicated to getting the OEM clamps off as well as popping off the hoses.

I removed the cover for the motor and set it aside in my garage. You know, the one that has the rings on it and says 2.0TFSI on it. I removed it (it just pops off) because it friggen rattles and pisses me off. The same with my "Retired Coast Guard" license plate frame. Rattled like an MF. However, my plate still rattles and it is super agrivating to me. The plate screws seem to be a tad too long, allowing the plate to rattle, so I'm going to throw some rubber "O" rings behind the plates to tighten them up a bit. I can't stand the rattling. Can you tell?

So it was so beautiful and warm here in the great white north of souther NH, I decided to wash all the cars starting with my truck. After I washed the truck, it went into the garage, where I think it will remain until at least the first camping trip. Washed the Audi and put it into my wife's side of the garage while I washed her minivan. Threw a little spray detail wax on th Audi, pulled it out of the garage so I can start driving it again.

On a side note, the Audi sat in the garage for so long, the battery was very low/flat, so I had to push it out of the garage and give it a jump start with the truck. With that said, I want to be sure that my Unitronic Stage 2 tune has not been wiped because of it. Anyone hav input on that?

Driving the truck to work every day for the last couple of months, I had forgotten how much fun driving the Audi was.......

I still am selling the H&R springs. I'm not going to lower this car, but am still going to do the front cups. Hopefully soon.

 

Your engine cover probably rattles because you're missing the rubber thingy from one of the snap-in points. That's what happened to mine. I noticed it started rattling loudly, and when I pressed the cover it in the middle it would stop. I removed it and saw that the middle hole had no rubber sleeve or whatever you call it, so the side of the cover makes contact with the engine. The cover vibrates with the engine anyway, but it never made a sound before the rubber part was gone. Maybe a dealer would have this? Anyone?