Nollywood

Thanks bud!

The engine bay cover is of the VW Passat B5.5, I just ordered it through my dealership.

Prospeeder

Do you have the part number still? I just never have seen one of those

Nollywood

3B0119487C

Nollywood

I replaced the crusty hood latch, and discovered the latches for I4 and V6 cars are different, they also differ between aircon and non-aircon.

For the first time in 6 months, the car is on the driveway, and I hosed down, and washed off months of dust. She looks pretty good. All that's left is to have the new S8 manual ECU matched to my instrument cluster, connect the 3 fans and coolant pipes, replace bumper.

And of course, get the aircon charged up, and the car tested and taxed.

Nollywood

Tomorrow, the radiator will have the angle on the top outlet altered. I will then fit the 12" curved-blade inner (puller) fan, then fit the radiator for good, with the top retainers in place.

I am running an OEM B5 S4 pusher fan in front of the radiator, with a 10" 120W curved-blade slimline beside it. The OEM S4 pusher, and the inner puller are being controlled by a B5 RS4 harness and matching controller. I will run the front 10" pusher independently.

Nollywood

My radiator is done, no more clearance issues.

But more importantly, the car now runs the way it should. I had the immobiliser coded with VCDS. This meant pairing the new S8 manual ECU with my instrument cluster (after extracting the SKC / PIN).

I could have gone with a simple immobiliser defeat, the issues with this are a flashing immo warning. This will be stored in the cluster as a DTC, which will certainly prevent any sort of future coding. I'm stoked!

I'll post a quick video later.

Nollywood

Update: 7th May, 2016:

After listening to the Audi A8 D3 power steering vane pump whining and groaning, and frothing the fluid, I was convinced it was not compatible with the B5 A4's rack, and I was quite prepared to put the front end in service position, and replace the pump.

I decided to give it another bleed this morning, and after about 2 minutes of loc to lock action, it gave a load gurgle, spat up a bit of fluid, then became quiet as it was in my D3 A8. I made an extension to the fluid reservoir, so I could put in more than the usual amount of fluid, without losing any. It worked, so that's all well.

I tested the alternator output with a digital multimeter, and it's dead. Hopefully, I'll be able to replace the combined voltage regulator and brush assembly with the alternator in situ, otherwise, service position calls.

I have been running the engine with the C5 RS6 oil cooler sandwich plate inlet and outlet take offs bridged with a loop of rubber hose. It came off while I was getting to grips with a nice, quiet PAS pump, so I shut the motor off pretty quick. I might as well do an oil change, so I ordered a genuine C5 RS6 oil filter, and Audi's Quantum Longlife Fully Synthetic oil. The oil has been delivered, though the filter won't be with me until Tuesday.

I also purchased some genuine Audi G13 concentrate coolant, though I have been running the motor with plain water. I would be pretty narked if I had to lose the expensive stuff, if the front end had to go into service position. The cooling system will be filled up and bled, once I'm satisfied the alternator doesn't need to be pulled.

I'm a bit of a stickler for OEM, and the incorrect Turbo Diesel sticker on the lock carrier bugged me. I got the part number for the sticker that would have been on the D3 A8, ordered it, and it was delivered. I removed the incorrect one, and carefully applied the correct one.

Nollywood

Up on axle stands, just after I bled the power steering. I'll have a shot at replacing the alternator voltage regulator while it's in this position.





Power steering fluid, Audi G13, Audi Quantum Fully Synthetic and the defunct Turbo Diesel sticker from the lock carrier:



Much happier with the correct sticker:

Nollywood

A quick teaser. No more whining, groaning power steering pump. Note method used in extending the fluid reservoir capacity during the bleeding process, highly recommended to prevent fluid loss:

Nollywood

With the engine all running, without a single DTC, it is time to fit the cooling fans.

With my previous V8 swap, I ran a couple of slimline 14" pushers, 80W each. One had a manual override, which meant I could control the fan at will. The engine never overheated, but this time, I'm playing it safe. This is one of the reasons I have not fitted the fans until not, as I wanted to have a good think about the route I decided to go with.

I am running a 9" 120W puller on the engine side of the radiator, and a couple of genuine B5 S4 280mm (approx. 12") 300W fans as pushers on the outside. While it's pretty easy to rig up some sort of control relay for the 120W aftermarket fan, 300W units are a different matter, and require a different approach, if the goal is not to fry the harness, or burn the car down.

I could have gone aftermarket, and purchased one of the myriads of controllers commercially available, if a much neater OEM solution didn't exist.



An OEM B5 RS4 twin cooling fan control module, and...



...an OEM B5 RS4 fan control module wiring harness. This replaces the stock A4 harness, that runs between the left fender and wheel arch liner. Connection is in the left kick panel via the 10-pin grey plug. The brown ring connector goes onto the earth post, while the long red ring connector goes across and just above the left to right footwell, where it is bolted to terminal 30 (permanent 12V+). An extra relay is required on the relay panel, the control module is fused independently, and that's it on the inside. The rest is all plug and play in the engine bay.

9" 120W puller fan:



OEM B5 RS4 280mm 300W pusher fans x 2: