Lettuce Build Thread, Fast Cars and Fast Women: Stage 2 and Beyond

[J.james]

Ok, great. I checked the VIN on the motor and it was from an AWD so should be good. Thanks.

Let me know how the job goes! I’ll be tackling this job in January or February. I have an auto 2012 a4 as well and I’ve been looking at CPMB motors.


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[s13erm]

2016 CPMA Swap went smoothly. I had an issue with a small crack on the upper oil pan, but I just used the one of the 2010 CAEB. LKQ went ahead and gave me a partial refund. Here are some pics of my swap through the process.20181203_145820.jpeg20181203_141418.jpeg20181219_193434.jpeg

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[J.james]

2016 CPMA Swap went smoothly. I had an issue with a small crack on the upper oil pan, but I just used the one of the 2010 CAEB. LKQ went ahead and gave me a partial refund. Here are some pics of my swap through the process.20181203_145820.jpeg20181203_141418.jpeg20181219_193434.jpeg

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Nice, I might have to bother you in the future if I run into some snags, hopefully not


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[The_Money_Pit]

s13erm,

Can you list what parts you had to swap from the CAEB motor to the new one? Intake and fuel rail, correct? Crank sensor? P/S bracket for pump and aux coolant pump like Lettuce did? I am just trying to guide the shop on what exactly needs to be swapped. Very much appreciate if you can respond. If was exactly like Lettuce's write up then no need to repeat. Thanks a lot.

[s13erm]

s13erm,

Can you list what parts you had to swap from the CAEB motor to the new one? Intake and fuel rail, correct? Crank sensor? P/S bracket for pump and aux coolant pump like Lettuce did? I am just trying to guide the shop on what exactly needs to be swapped. Very much appreciate if you can respond. If was exactly like Lettuce's write up then no need to repeat. Thanks a lot.

yup thats all that is involved. Below is a link to my build

https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...nto-2010-A4-B8

[lettuce]

Haven't really had much left on my to-do list for my car now that I have it pretty much exactly how I want it, but I had been in search of a little more muscle and figured I'd try out something I've had my mind on for a while. I was really unsure of how this would turn out as it's definitely a bold look, but threw caution to the wind and just went for it. Really pumped with how it turned out. Think this is just what my car needed to tie it all together.





I got them from tirestickers.com (not affiliated with them in any way). Spent about $140 on the full set of letters, which seem to be made out of the same kind of rubber my tires are made out of, and came with some rubber cement to permanently glue them onto my tires. Took about 5 hours total, about 80% of which was scrubbing the tires totally clean with some industrial strength degreaser to ensure good adhesion. Probably can cut the total time in half on a set of brand new tires.

Took em out for a nice road trip up to Vermont this weekend and put about 400 miles on them. The rubber cement they come with basically weld them onto the tires so I'm pretty glad I'm happy with them as I don't think it would be very fun trying to pull them off.

And for anyone interested, I have about 8000 miles now on the new motor and it's still purring like a kitten. Was planning on taking it up to the track for the last street night of the season on Wednesday but it was unfortunately rained out.

[19birel]

Not the biggest fan of tyre lettering, but you've pulled off the look well!

[RLwantsS5]

Not the biggest fan of tyre lettering, but you've pulled off the look well!

I must agree, but If you like it. Rock it.

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[whats77inaname]

I've been thinking of doing this, as well. Nice to see that it turned out spectacularly on your tires, so it gives me a lot more confidence moving forward.

[bamisthekey]

anyone in socal wanna help me swap my old b8 to a b8.5??

[yuning83]

My 2009 A4 was burning about 200 miles per quart. After researching around, finally decided to replace the engine. Bought a 2014 CPM* with 19k miles from a yard, had a shop put it in. Got the car back, and it still burns oil... I'm ordering PCV valve for replacement next. Other than that I'm lost, not sure what else to look other than get the shop to check to see where there is obviously leaks. The rate of burn seems about the same as before.... Spent about 6k so far. Any recommendation?

[lettuce]

My 2009 A4 was burning about 200 miles per quart. After researching around, finally decided to replace the engine. Bought a 2014 CPM* with 19k miles from a yard, had a shop put it in. Got the car back, and it still burns oil... I'm ordering PCV valve for replacement next. Other than that I'm lost, not sure what else to look other than get the shop to check to see where there is obviously leaks. The rate of burn seems about the same as before.... Spent about 6k so far. Any recommendation?

Oof. Are you sure they actually replaced the engine? Might be silly to ask that but I'd probably double check to make sure.

[linet90]

My 2009 A4 was burning about 200 miles per quart. After researching around, finally decided to replace the engine. Bought a 2014 CPM* with 19k miles from a yard, had a shop put it in. Got the car back, and it still burns oil... I'm ordering PCV valve for replacement next. Other than that I'm lost, not sure what else to look other than get the shop to check to see where there is obviously leaks. The rate of burn seems about the same as before.... Spent about 6k so far. Any recommendation?

Did your new motor come with a turbo?
My guess would be that the turbo is burning oil.

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[yuning83]

Thanks for the reply bud, followed your steps and actually printed the forum posts for the shop to do it. Anyway, the sticker on the front of the engine says CPM, I'm hoping the shop is not that shady, got good reviews. I did the PCV replacement last night, but the oil cap still sucks the same amount and engine hesitates when cap is removed, and then recovers. I didn't notice much difference. Took the old PCV off and opened the bell looking seal, looked fine. Maybe that came with the replacement engine. I'm not sure what else to do. Is there a way to look up engine code other than the sticker on the front?

I did feel the engine was similar once I got the car back, but since then it felt better. Maybe because I'm pushing it a bit more the ECU adjusted? I don't know, but the car feels good unlike before.

[yuning83]

Did your new motor come with a turbo?
My guess would be that the turbo is burning oil.

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I didn't get the turbo, my old engine has 63k miles on it, didn't think the turbo is dying. Is there a way to check to see if the turbo is the problem?

[linet90]

I didn't get the turbo, my old engine has 63k miles on it, didn't think the turbo is dying. Is there a way to check to see if the turbo is the problem?

You would either have smoke coming out of the exhaust or find a large puddle of oil in your intercooler.

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[yuning83]

You would either have smoke coming out of the exhaust or find a large puddle of oil in your intercooler.

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Before engine was replaced, my wife did notice black smoke coming out from the back when she was driving behind me. But I thought that was from all the carbon buildup due to oil burning. Where is the puddle of oil I should look for? Inside the intercooler?

- - - Updated - - -

You would either have smoke coming out of the exhaust or find a large puddle of oil in your intercooler.

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Thanks for taking the time to help man.

[linet90]

Before engine was replaced, my wife did notice black smoke coming out from the back when she was driving behind me. But I thought that was from all the carbon buildup due to oil burning. Where is the puddle of oil I should look for? Inside the intercooler?

- - - Updated - - -



Thanks for taking the time to help man.

No problem - I have the same motor that you had, and I have been down many rabbit holes with it.

First check the intake inlet, you will be able to see how clean it is from the turbo front. Then you can pull your left fog grille and pop the intercooler pipe. There would be oil in the pipe and the base of the intercooler. Note, oil here is normal to these engines but there shouldn't be puddles.

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[yuning83]

No problem - I have the same motor that you had, and I have been down many rabbit holes with it.

First check the intake inlet, you will be able to see how clean it is from the turbo front. Then you can pull your left fog grille and pop the intercooler pipe. There would be oil in the pipe and the base of the intercooler. Note, oil here is normal to these engines but there shouldn't be puddles.

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What did you do to yours? replaced your turbo? How much oil were you burning before and after the turbo replacement? Someone else mentioned that 2014 CPM* engine has the same oil burning issue... I'm hoping I'm not that special after all the work already put in. Man this sucks. 6k spent so far. Do you think the turbo can burns 1 quart per 200 miles? Keeping going down this road, I feel like I would have pretty much replaced everything you can under the hood... lol

[linet90]

Mine wasn't burning oil, it had a boost leak which ultimately leads me to a bad wastegate. I'm in the process of rebuilding the entire motor.

From Audi's bulletin on the matter, the oil-burning was due to a poor piston design. The new version was implemented into new models, so your 2014 motor should be good to go.

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[yuning83]

Mine wasn't burning oil, it had a boost leak which ultimately leads me to a bad wastegate. I'm in the process of rebuilding the entire motor.

From Audi's bulletin on the matter, the oil-burning was due to a poor piston design. The new version was implemented into new models, so your 2014 motor should be good to go.

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I hoped so, but if it's still burning oil. I'm out of luck...

[turboA4b8]

Does anyone know what kind of issues I might expect from a 2016 A4 2.0 engine? I'm thinking about swapping one in my 2009 B8. Any reliability, oil burning issues or preventive maintenance I should do before installing the new engine? That is if the swap is at all possible. I'm guessing the same ideas from swapping a 2013 engine to a 2009 would apply since it's still a B8.5. Any advice is welcome specially if you've done it before.

Thank you

[mayerryan]

Hey, I am currently swapping a B8.5 motor into my B8 a4. Just wanted to confirm that you used the injectors that came on the B8.5 motor, you didn't swap the ones from the B8 motor, correct? Just have to swap over the intake and the fuel rail onto the B8.5 injectors?

[Tusktopia]

Hey just in case you were still wondering the difference between b8 and b8.5.

The two generations are identical blocks is every way. The difference are that b8.5 are E85/flex-fuel compliant. If you don’t mind loosing E85 compliance, one could easily swap on the required parts from your B8 engine. No need to swap ECU.

(Total credit to Lettuce)

B8 vs. B8.5
• Intake and vacuum lines
• Fuel rail & main fuel line to HPFP
• Oil filter housing
• Accessory bracket
• Auxiliary water pump
• Crankshaft position sensor
• Two long studs on lower corners of the mounting flange on the head which the manifold slides onto.(B8.5 studs are slightly longer than B8 studs.)

here’s the motor codes for the b8/8.5.
CAEB=2009-12: A4 & 2013 A4 Quattro manual.
CPMA=2013: A4 Quattro automatic, flex fuel/E85.
CAED=2014-16: A4 Quattro manual & FWD
CPMB=2014-16: A4 Quattro automatic, flex fuel/E85.

Good luck

[lettuce]

Hey, I am currently swapping a B8.5 motor into my B8 a4. Just wanted to confirm that you used the injectors that came on the B8.5 motor, you didn't swap the ones from the B8 motor, correct? Just have to swap over the intake and the fuel rail onto the B8.5 injectors?

That's a good question. I honestly don't remember. If I had to guess I'd say I probably used the B8.5 ones.

[mayerryan]

Thanks! Just about ready to pull the old motor out. Got the whole front end off and starting to disconnect the harness and accessories. Your thread has been a great resource btw!

[mayerryan]

Got the motor swapped successfully, took about 4-5 days of working on it after work in the garage. Fired right up after the second crank! Now just trying to diagnose and fix why I am getting parking brake malfunction and climate control unit seems to just flash every few seconds and the buttons seem unresponsive.

[lettuce]

Minor update. A year and a half after putting the tire letters on, about a 1/3 of them had gone missing. I probably lost an average of about 1 letter per drive. Pretty disappointing considering how much time I spent cleaning my tires before installation. So since it was starting to look pretty stupid I ripped the rest off and threw them in a drawer in my toolbox.



I then went under the hood to investigate a boost leak I'd been suspecting I had for a little while now. On boost I'd hear a strange whistling noise from the driver's side front that was very distinct from normal turbo noises, and I had also felt like the car was slower than normal the last few times I'd taken it out.



I learned this trick from Zach a few years back. Got a PVC end cap, drilled a hole in the top, then clamped it into my turbo inlet hose. Filled it with about 30 psi of compressed air and searched around for the whistle. Turns out it was the post-intercooler silicone pipe where I cut out a hole for the meth nozzle.



It developed a little half inch split you can see there on the bottom left of the hole. Since it lasted about 5 years, I figured that was pretty decent so I just replaced it with the exact same hose and just made sure to make the hole a bit cleaner this time around. Took it for a test drive afterwards and the whistling was gone and the car felt like its old self again.

[19birel]

Any recent trips to the track? Have you considered a TCU tune, looks like those are starting to pickup steam with HPTuners becoming popular, seems like a great way to shave time

[lettuce]

Any recent trips to the track? Have you considered a TCU tune, looks like those are starting to pickup steam with HPTuners becoming popular, seems like a great way to shave time

Nah, no trips to the track recently. I'm getting out the the city soon so I'll be driving the car a lot more though. I'm sure that will include some track time as well.

Haven't heard about the TCU tunes. Just checked their site, I saw something for the 8HP but couldn't find anything for the 6. I've always felt the transmission was the weak point on this car from a performance standpoint, so I'd be all for that if they're available.

[19birel]

Nah, no trips to the track recently. I'm getting out the the city soon so I'll be driving the car a lot more though. I'm sure that will include some track time as well.

Haven't heard about the TCU tunes. Just checked their site, I saw something for the 8HP but couldn't find anything for the 6. I've always felt the transmission was the weak point on this car from a performance standpoint, so I'd be all for that if they're available.

I don't think they have all the supported VW/Audi modules listed, so I'd email them to confirm whether or not they support it. There's a few guys on here that have been brewing up tunes for the ZF8, perhaps they could do the same for the 6 assuming the capability with HPT is there. Could also be fun to learn tcu tuning as well and make your own map.

[lettuce]

So about 2 months ago I went to go drive my car one morning and it was making a pretty horrible noise whenever the turbo spooled up. Sort of like a dentist drill. So I checked a few quick things to rule them out and then started pulling the turbo out. Come to find out one of the fins on the compressor wheel had a huge chunk missing out of it.



I have no idea how this happened. Nobody I've talked to has any idea how this could have happened. Doug at Frankenturbo, the service tech who I sent it out to, my 92 year old grandmother I showed it to, nobody. Furthermore, I never found the missing chunk. There's no way it could have gotten past the intercooler fins, especially without damaging them, and they weren't damaged at all. And there's no way it could have blown back out the other way without getting past my air filter which was also still intact. The only explanation that makes any sense to me, and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, is that this fin was missing the entire time I had it on my car, and after all this time (5 years) it finally just now caused the bearings to go due to the imbalance.

Anyway, I sent this info over to Frankenturbo and they were super helpful getting everything back in working order. Which was especially surprising given its age, and the fact that I'm not even the one who originally purchased the turbo. In fact I think I'm the third owner. So for a very small service fee considering what a new turbo would have cost, I ended up receiving a brand new entire CHRA and compressor housing. I'm pretty sure I even got a new wastegate, since the one I got back looked brand new and the one I sent out sure didn't. Essentially the only things that weren't replaced are the exhaust housing and the wastegate actuator, and probably the N75.



Regarding the work itself, I had a hell of a time getting the turbo out. Every single bolt from the exhaust side back was completely siezed and melted. Pretty much everything needed to be cut off, including the HFC - which actually ended up being the most expensive part of this whole ordeal.



My original cat was a Eurocode, but apparently they don't make those anymore, so I ended up going with an 034 Motorsports replacement. The guys over at 034 were a huge help and their service is awesome so I have to give a shoutout to them. Also their cat is really nice.



Back to the turbo. The studs had to be cut off and drilled out, so I got an expensive carbide-tipped straight flute drill bit from McMaster-Carr and re-drilled and tapped the threads. If anyone ever has to do this themselves, the drill bit needs to be 8.5mm and the tap needs to be 10mm x 1.5. I didn't use helicoils though so if you do you'll need to get the right drill bit and kit to end up with that thread size.




The reinstall went about as smoothly as one could expect. I got the whole thing back in in about 2 hours. This is like the 10th time I've either removed or installed a turbo on a B8 so I'm getting pretty good at it. The one snag I did run into though was something I didn't know was possible. Apparently you can over-crush crush washers.



Other than that though everything went great. I even took this opportunity to finally install the PTP turbo blanket I bought a few years ago.



After getting everything installed I immediately (and bravely) took the car out on a weekend road trip up to the mountains where it didn't miss a beat. This is the last week the track is open for the year so I'm going to do my best to get up there to see if it's any faster, but it's supposed to rain pretty much all week so I'm not sure if that's going to be able to happen. If it does though I'll post the results here.

To cap things off, here are some comparison pics I took between my F23L and my old stock K03 which I thought were pretty interesting. (F23L on the right in all of these)

[19birel]

Awesome to hear Franketurbo took care of you despite having an older turbo. It'll be interesting to see what it runs at the track now, especially considering how many people have been posting 1/4 mile times lately.

[lettuce]

Awesome to hear Franketurbo took care of you despite having an older turbo. It'll be interesting to see what it runs at the track now, especially considering how many people have been posting 1/4 mile times lately.

Yeah I was definitely happy with how they handled it. And honestly the car feels.. identical. I doubt it'll run any faster or slower, I mostly just want something official that says that, and to head up there for fun since I haven't been up in a couple years.

[Nano909]

I don't think they have all the supported VW/Audi modules listed, so I'd email them to confirm whether or not they support it. There's a few guys on here that have been brewing up tunes for the ZF8, perhaps they could do the same for the 6 assuming the capability with HPT is there. Could also be fun to learn tcu tuning as well and make your own map.

The ZF6 isn't supported right now. Maybe with a bunch of emails to HPT, they might get to it? Lol

[lettuce]

My front passenger wheel bearing started to go recently so I ended up having to replace it. Man, that sucked. Looking through the wheel bearing DIY threads on here it looks like if you live in a warm climate it's a 5 minute job, and if you live up north it's a 5 hour job. Where the bearing assembly bolts into the spindle it had accumulated so much salt it had basically permanently corroded itself in there.

First day it took me about 5 hours with a blowtorch, slide puller, chisels, and 3 lb sledge before I gave up. Then I went inside and cooled down a bit, and ordered a nice new air hammer and chisel set since my hands were bruised and swollen from smacking everything I could see with the sledge all afternoon.



If you live in a place where it snows and they salt the roads, I honestly wouldn't even attempt this job yourself without one of these. This one was a bit pricey but you can get one for like $20 or $30 at a big box store that will probably do the job just fine. After spending literally 5 hours hammering, grinding, chiseling, slide-pulling, bashing, swearing, and cutting apart this hub barely making any progress at all, a few days later when I got this in the mail i hooked it up to my air compressor and had the whole thing off in less than 30 seconds. It's a life saver.



When I ordered the air hammer I also went ahead and ordered some new hubs. I seriously bashed the hell out of the one on my car and would be very surprised if it wasn't at least slightly warped, so I figured this would hopefully save me another headache. I purchased this bearing install/removal kit and it made pressing the hubs into the bearings take about 2 minutes, no hydraulic press needed. Also recommended.



The cheapest I could find the official Audi hubs were $270 which is insane so I rolled the dice with these $32 Vaicos. They were still one of the more expensive ones on Rockauto so hopefully they hold up. I'll let you guys know if anything happens. I also grabbed some new wheel speed sensors and rotor alignment screws so basically everything on my hub is now brand new which is pretty cool.

[CONative]

I don’t think you’ll have any issues with the Vaico’s. They are considered an OE supplier and I’ve purchased a few parts made by them. In fact my S4 has a Vaico starter and I think it might be the original.

Glad to see this thread still alive. You were an inspiration to me when I had to replace the CAEB in my ‘09 due to oil consumption. Never pulled a motor before that and now here I am doing it all over again with my B7 S4 to do the timing. So a big thank you for sharing your knowledge and taking the time to document everything for the benefit of the community.

Edit: realized my starter is made by Valeo, not Vaico. Either way I still think it’s a good alternative to OEM.

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[lettuce]

I don’t think you’ll have any issues with the Vaico’s. They are considered an OE supplier and I’ve purchased a few parts made by them. In fact my S4 has a Vaico starter and I think it might be the original.

Glad to see this thread still alive. You were an inspiration to me when I had to replace the CAEB in my ‘09 due to oil consumption. Never pulled a motor before that and now here I am doing it all over again with my B7 S4 to do the timing. So a big thank you for sharing your knowledge and taking the time to document everything for the benefit of the community.

Edit: realized my starter is made by Valeo, not Vaico. Either way I still think it’s a good alternative to OEM.

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Thanks for the vote of confidence. Been driving on it for a few days now and everything feels great, no vibration or noises so I feel pretty good about it.

And I'm glad I could help out with the swap. These cars can bring a lot of suffering on their owners so anything I can do to help alleviate some of that is well worth it. Good luck with the S4.

[B8Mistake]

Man, I just got done doing this exact swap today. DUDE, everything was identical(numerous prior(3) engine failures, same gear falling off old engine, CPMA swap from salvage to replace me CAEB, finding the CPS last. Lol, Etc.) Car has sat for 2 years since failure, finally want to enjoy it with newer low mileage engine.
WOW, I have such a Love/HATE relationship with Audi !!

[lettuce]

Man, I just got done doing this exact swap today. DUDE, everything was identical(numerous prior(3) engine failures, same gear falling off old engine, CPMA swap from salvage to replace me CAEB, finding the CPS last. Lol, Etc.) Car has sat for 2 years since failure, finally want to enjoy it with newer low mileage engine.
WOW, I have such a Love/HATE relationship with Audi !!

Wow, was your car modified at all? There haven't been too many reports of that balance shaft gear walking itself off so I never knew if it was because of the added power or if it was just this motor being its awesome reliable self.