Captdave

12 hours ago, alpha omega said:

well done david.....though no eml light has come on i know with having high mileage i need to do my inlet maifold and is it possible to clean the egr valve on my audi a4 tdi 2011 avant rather than buy new. and does anyone have a guide to do this with pictures all the best everyone

Hi Steve,

Yes it is possible to clean the EGR valve, I did mine with brake cleaner rags and a tooth brush and its quite easy however you should test it with a little vacuum pump to make sure it holds pressure (mine did not)

Not so long ago the engine management light (EML) was on most of the time on my 2004 2.5 TDI C5 allroad. It would go off occasionally but would very soon come back on again.

I tested it with my Launch OBD11 reader and it came up with the following faults PO401 and P0402.

P0401 means insufficient exhaust gas recirculation

P0402 means excessive exhaust gas recirculation

So having some idea of what the problem was I decided to carry out a few tests around and on the EGR valve.

First test I did was to check I had a vacuum going to the EGR valve. I did this by getting the car warm and then pulling off the vacuum pipe and putting my finger over the end and it had a good suction.

Next test was to disconnect the electric plug to the EGR Solenoid valve (this is controlled by the ECU and tells the Solenoid valve when to open and supply vacuum to the EGR valve) With the plug disconnected no vacuum at the end of the pipe so that proved the solenoid valve was working as it should.

Third test was to use a little vacuum tester (20 euro from Amazon) on the EGR valve itself. I found the EGR valve was unable to hold a vacuum at all and rapidly returned the gauge to zero telling me that the diaphragm inside the EGR valve was faulty.

The next step was to order a new EGR valve from Autodoc and proceed to change the valve which at first sight looks a bit tricky but it is quite straightforward once you get into it.  TOP TIP to remove the two allen headed set screws you will need a six mm allen key on a socket I used a quarter inch square drive allen Key with a very small extension around 2 inches otherwise you will really struggle to get the screws out. You will need to remove the Turbo heat shield first which is only help in place by a couple of screws.

Once the allen screws are out you need to remove the inlet manifolds so you can gain access to the two 13mm bolts that hold the EGR valve onto the bypass pipe. They come off very easily again with a socket driven allen key and extension.  Now you need a 13mm combination spanner to undo the two 13mm bolts you may need to twist the EGR valve a little to get at them and off it comes.

At this point I used my vacuum tester on the new EGR valve which help the pressure perfectly where the old one would just open and then close straight away.

To my horror I discovered there was a real filthy mess inside the inlet manifolds and inlet ports on the cylinder heads in some cases restricting the flow by around 40 percent YES 40 percent at least.  So I had to clean all this mess out and this is a dirty filthy horrible job. I used brake cleaner and rags in my garage but still made a hell of a mess much better to do it in a parts washer or take it to the car pressure wash YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

When it is all cleaned up you can reassemble in the reverse order which does not take long and give it a try.  My EML light did not go out straight away but after a few minutes before I even got the car out of the garage it was off and has not been back on since so a great result.

Incidentally the car has never run better which is unsurprising considering all the gunk that was in the manifolds and the EGR valve being unserviceable.

Hope this helps I was just a bit bored today so thought I would post about my EGR valve work.

All The Best

Capt Dave

While doing the cam belts l noticed the gearbox oil cooler is connected to the radiator so there is a seperate circuit within the radiator that further cools the gearbox oil which l found a bit strange. The gearbox oil comes from the gearbox to its own little cooler then from the cooler to the main radiator then back to the cooler and returns to the gearbox. I found this strange but l am sure there is a very good reason for it other than making it very awkward to remove and refit the radistor.

The cambelt waterpump and thermostat are all changed along with all the various pulleys and adjusters. You dont really need the special tools if you carefully mark all the pulleys with tipex or similar. I also did the valve cover gaskets which were leaking badly and changed the o rings in the radiator top and bottom hose. You do need to lock the fuel pump pulley but that is easy to do with something that fits in the hole like a drill or parallel punch. The engine was filthy from all the oil leaks and that took a time to clean.  I also checked the camshaft oil seals but they were fine and didnt need changed. I got most of the spares from Autodoc who have been super and l cant recommend them highly enough.

Its quite a big job but if you work away steadily you will get there l am 73 and a retired mechanic my non mechanic mate is 75 but we managed fine it took a few days in my garage but the end result is really good.  My non mechanic mate is !Removed! good at bodywork so he did some great work on a couple of dents and scratches.

Wisshing you all a happy Christmas and great New Year and thanks for your help so far.

Capt Dave 

Anybody had problems with the gearbox oil cooler heat exchanger if you like. I think mine may be leaking oil into the coolant. Just doing a cambelt change among other things and noticed what looks like transmisión fluid in the coolant on striping it all down.  Just wondering if any body else has had this problem. 

Any thoughts on changing the led cluster language to English.

Turns out it was a faulty LED in the cluster all working great now after sending away for repair.

Hi Guys,

My A6 C5 allroad is up and running and l am really pleased with it. I have renewed the front wheel bearings which were very noisy and sent the instrument cluster away for repair which now works beautifully. My problem now is its all in Spanish and l would like to change the display to English but l may have a knob missing as l have no knob to access the menu which should be on the central console but it aint so does anybody know if it should be there (the knob) or is my model different and can be adjusted in another way.

Cheery Bye

Capt Dave

Hi Guys finally l have my A6 Allroad on the road and its great however l have a problem with the LH indicator warning light in the instrument cluster.

Is this just a light bulb that can be changed or is it a major drama having watched a few videos it seems easy enough to take out the instrument panel but l cant see any bulb holders.

Anybody else has this problem 

Cheers

Thats great thanks for that

David 

Yes sorry l realised that after l pressed post not to worry.

Just received your message it didnt come up on email so do you still have it then.

I dont suppose you still have this will it fit my 2004 A6 C5 avant

Hi Guys

My A6 2004 has a lot of paint wear on the light switch and a couple of other switches like the heater fan has anybody tried to repaint these and if so do you have a paint code please.

Captdave

Cheers Tony

I will not play with it anymore until l get the gearbox back in then l can fire it up and see whats what.

David

Hi Steve,

I am new to the A6 Allroad can you tell me if the suspension will pump up to all 4 levels without the engine running and without the car moving obviously. I might be trying to fix something thats not broken unless I can find the answer otherwise.

David

It all seems to be working fine holds pressure no problem just will not select any level other than the lowest. I took off the valve block to have a look and the car went very low but on reassembly the pump kicked in and raised it to the lower level again.

I suspect its the Suspension Control Unit thats goosed.

Hi Guys

Just got my a6 allroad yesterday and fitted a new compressor but it seems to want to stay at the lowest level and the warning light on the dash is flashing.  I cant start or drive the car just now but the lights come on with the ign and the compressor gives a  little  whirl every few minutes but will not raise the car if l push the up button. The lights on the buttons serm to work ok.  

Any help greatly appreciated 

Thanks for that very informative 

Hi Guys,

Newboy here again l notice in some posts there is mention of a VAG Scanner is this a dedicated scanner for Audi cars. I have a normal OBD11 Scanner a Launch CRP 129 That seems to work on most cars will this do the job or wil l have to buy this VAG Plopper thingy.

All the best

On 5/14/2023 at 12:57 PM, a6blacked007 said:

Since a bought mine 6 weeks ago 

 

●Full service oil air filter oil filter cabin filter fuel filter 

●Disks and pads all round 

●New main thermostat 

●X2 front tyres 

●New xenon front bulbs

●New floor mats 

●New clutch kit & dmf

●Drivers side wheel bearing 

●Newer style rear lights

●Dynamic side mirror indicators

●GPS antenna off ebay 

●Locking wheel bolts 

●New wheel centre caps 

●Replaced air con pressure sensor and regass

●Replaced xenon headlight module passenger side 

●Replaced passenger and drivers wing mirrors 

●Drivers side alloy wheel Professionally straightened 

🫡

You have been a busy boy

Are you sure yours is goosed have you triec changing oil and filter.

All fixed up hopefully found one in Edinburgh which will be on its way here shortly.

Hi Guys l am urgently looking for the above gearbox can anybody help please.

Captdave