by "Garrett Davis" (GarrettDavis)
Published 01/03/2017 at 12:47
by "Garrett Davis" (GarrettDavis)
Published 01/03/2017 at 12:47
Tags: Expedition Allroad
; Audi
; audi allroad
; offroad allroad
; Allroad
STARS: 7
Finally reached the point where we could tear into the Audi and remove the engine. It definitely wasn’t easy, but after 7-8 hours, we got it out. The key phrase of the day was, “Fucking Audi...” followed by some head scratching.
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
Luckily my buddy is pretty familiar with this engine in B5 S4s, but there was just enough different on the A6/Allroad platform that there were plenty of head scratching snags to tend with. I’m just glad this this was a Southern California car, and with the exception of some of the exhaust hardware, most everything came apart without too much hassle. That being said, I think the impact wrench saved us at least an hour when all was said and done.
This is my first time doing anything this involved on a car that wasn’t old and American (therefore, extremely simple), so it was an awesome learning experience.
Anyway, onto the pictures! First, we had to reposition the car to get better access to the passenger side (need to remove the axles to clear the transmission later on). We threw on a set of B6 S4 18" wheels that my buddy had lying around to move it, and with the air suspension totally flat, the Allroad was properly slammed to the ground:
Front bumper off:
Front carrier off next, A/C fan and condenser intact to save for later without having to recharge the system:
Took off one of the covers and found part of the shredded timing belt:
I pretty much forgot to take any pictures whatsoever for the next 2 hours or so when it came time to remove the connections to the ECU. It turns out on the A6/Allroads, Audi put an anti-tampering case on it, meaning we would either have to drill out the bolts or cut the cover on the harness to get it off. We didn’t bother with either, and just decided to pull the ECU out with the engine intact for the time being:
I’ll have to drill those out at another time, but we just wanted to get the engine out. With the axles out and everything else seemingly ready, we hooked up the hoist:
And after messing around with getting the AC compressor and lines out intact, disconnecting the shifter linkage and finding a few things here and there that we forgot to unhook (like draining and disconnecting the power steering lines, and one fucking ground strap that was holding us back that took forever to find), the engine finally came out:
This motor mount had completely let go, despite being unbolted from underneath, which was pretty funny. 165k miles will do that, I suppose:
And there we have it:
And the colossal mess to clean up after the fact:
Other misc. shots of parts and things to save:
This coming week we’ll be swapping all the parts needed from the old engine to the new, mating up the transmission, and if everything goes to plan, dropping the new motor in by the weekend. Fingers crossed we don’t run into too many snags that will prevent me from having it running this time next week (not likely)!
"OPPOsaurus WRX" (opposaurus)
01/03/2017 at 12:51, STARS: 1
slammed to the ground lol. I drove to work for 2 days like that. Not a good ride.
"Jcarr" (jcarr)
01/03/2017 at 12:58, STARS: 2
I still regularly see people driving around in GMC Envoys whose rear air suspension has crapped out or malfunctioned. Most of the time oblivious.
"Garrett Davis" (GarrettDavis)
01/03/2017 at 13:00, STARS: 0
Hah, I bet that was fun. Those bump stops aren’t exactly built for comfort...
"cletus44 aka Clayton Seams" (cletus44)
01/03/2017 at 13:02, STARS: 1
New cars are scary to work on and German cars are scary to work on and new German cars are the scariest to work on. That looks terrifying.
"LOREM IPSUM" (lorem---ipsum)
01/03/2017 at 13:03, STARS: 0
You may be able to grab those bolts with vice grips and twist em out.
I’ve had luck removing similar ones that way anyway.
Good luck with the rebuild! The whole engine-out timing system service has always caused me to mentally scratch Audi and VW from my prospective cars to own list.
"Garrett Davis" (GarrettDavis)
01/03/2017 at 13:09, STARS: 1
Not bothering with a rebuild, already have a replacement engine from a B5 S4 that I just completed the timing belt service on, as well as some other things that needed addressing on the new engine:
http://oppositelock.kinja.com/expedition-allroad-squeeky-clean-internals-edition-1788965218
http://oppositelock.kinja.com/expedition-allroad-i-have-turbos-now-and-theres-no-cu-1790147059
Thanks for the tip on those bolts, I’ll give it a shot, but I’ll most likely be swapping the whole harness over anyway, so there really isn’t any reason that I can’t just swap it all attached as is. We’ll see what happens.
"LOREM IPSUM" (lorem---ipsum)
01/03/2017 at 13:11, STARS: 0
Even better!
Best wishes on the build. I bet you’ll be extremely happy once she’s back together and Allroading!
"Garrett Davis" (GarrettDavis)
01/03/2017 at 13:12, STARS: 0
It’s definitely a complicated car, especially with this engine. So far no one thing has been too terribly difficult, but as a whole, there is just a fucking ton to do. So many complicated little parts and details...
"Garrett Davis" (GarrettDavis)
01/03/2017 at 13:14, STARS: 0
Thanks! I can’t wait to get it going again, I actually haven’t even driven the car yet. I bought it with the blown engine as a project, so we’ll see how my blood sweat and tears pay off!
"OPPOsaurus WRX" (opposaurus)
01/03/2017 at 13:15, STARS: 1
nope, i thought I was going to shatter all the glass and my spine
"merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc" (merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc)
01/03/2017 at 13:24, STARS: 1
At least after this, you should fear no car project. Anything should be fairly simple by comparison. Good luck putting it back together. Have you researched if there will be issues with the new ecu and coding it to the car? VAG has all the modules coded and serial numbers stored somewhere within the vehicle computer. Might need to borrow a vag-com to make it all communicate properly. Good work so far, good luck the rest of the way.
"merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc" (merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc)
01/03/2017 at 13:27, STARS: 1
The allroad timing belt can be done in car, but you pull the whole front end apart to get to it. Now the 4.2, 5.2 3.0t, 3.6 engines.... that’s another story. But they are chains anyway. But VAG decided to locate them at the rear of the engine so those have to come out to service.
"CaptDale - is secretly British" (captdale)
01/03/2017 at 13:35, STARS: 0
OMG!!! I took apart a 69 Sprite and 5 years later it is still not together. I don’t think I have the patience to do your vehicle.
"Garrett Davis" (GarrettDavis)
01/03/2017 at 13:37, STARS: 1
The ECU from the Allroad will stay with the car. I don’t have the ECU from the S4, but it wouldn’t work anyway for exactly the reasons you’ve stated, as well as the immobilizer in the gauge cluster. From what I can tell, everything else should hook up just fine with my factory wiring, with the exception of the secondary air injection, which the S4 engine is lacking. I’ll need to get in contact with a tuner to get that sorted out in the software, otherwise it will throw a CEL permanently. Luckily that’s a pretty common mod anyway, so tuning to exclude the SAI is pretty well known and well documented.
Thanks man!
"Garrett Davis" (GarrettDavis)
01/03/2017 at 13:47, STARS: 1
Haha! Damn man, 5 years? How will you even remember how to put everything back together??
This has definitely been a hell of a project so far, but I’m loving it! I’m actually surprised at how cheap everything has been so far.
"CaptDale - is secretly British" (captdale)
01/03/2017 at 13:56, STARS: 1
I took 12 gillion photos and have a pretty comprehensive service book and there is plenty of online info. Plus she is just sitting in my storage locker wasting away. So who knows what I will remember.... I mean I can’t remember what I had for dinner 4 nights ago.
I bet, it does look like fun.
"jkm7680" (jkm7680)
01/03/2017 at 17:51, STARS: 1
As usual....
