Gogeees Nemo Blue S6 Avant Buiild Thread "Nautilus"

[Gogeees]

Hello AZ,

I am new here to the AZ forums, but have already gleaned so much useful information so I thought I would start a thread to compile my successes and failures.

I come from a family of Audi nuts. My dad has had several URS4's, one that my brother is still currently driving/constantly repairing. Father Bought this S6 in 2012, as the 3rd owner. Car traveled from the original owner to Southern California where it has lived the majority of its life. In 2017, My dad bought a hot rod B8 and so the S6 was my hand me down.

A week after my dad gave it to me the transmission grenaded itself. After doing some research I decided to go with the O1e 6-speed swap. Found Phil at Audis4parts.com it Tuscon, and decided to drive the car 500 miles to his shop and have him perform the swap for me. Came with a 6 month warranty so it was a no-brainer. Drove the car out there with my dad following in my Golf, dropped the car off, immediately turned around and drove home for a total of 999 miles round trip. Three weeks later flew out to pick the car up.

I was super happy with the work Phil and the guys at Audis4parts.com did with the swap. The car came out super clean, and is a blast to drive now. Picked it up at the end of October and went camping on my way back to Socal outside of Yuma. Beautiful area and found some fun roads to get used to the new setup.

After getting back home the front passenger window clips failed, quick and easy fix. Also repaired one of the vacuum pods in the intake manifold that had torn itself open, and replaced the majority of the airlines up there.

Let my brother drive the car to Lake Tahoe for new years, because his URS4 has no heater core. Just my luck the AC compressor seized on his way home and threw the serpentine belt at 5 am outside of Sacramento. Got the car towed to a local shop, and had them replace the compressor. They suggested replacing the dryer and orifice too, but my brother was cheap and just told them to get it back on the road. Car ran fine for 3-4 days before the new compressor seized on my way to work. Drove it for a few more weeks with no air, until the compressor completely seized after work one day.

My wife immediately wanted me to sell the car, as she is 4 months pregnant with our first. I have somewhat convinced her to let me keep it, as I am going to do the repairs myself to hopefully save some money. I keep telling her it would be a great family car, hopefully she fully comes around once I have it running again. Bought the Bentley service manual and have been slowly purchasing all the parts I need to flush the ac system and replace all the parts, and do some other maintenance/upgrades.

Purchased and awaiting to go on

Compressor
Receiver/Dryer
Orifice tube
Condenser (which I'm not sure I need to replace)

Performance Intake manifold spacers
Valve cover gaskets/Rear cam shaft plugs (leaking a fair bit of oil)
A set of Hotchkis a6/s6 sway bars I found on Craigslist
A new cruise control/wiper stalk (cruise control isn't working and troubleshooting with Phil came down to the stalk being bad)
Also bought a fuel filter, cabin air filter, and oil filter/oil!

My work is gracious enough to let me work and store the car in our warehouse, which is making this all possible. Also nice as we have air, but sadly no lift yet. Boss said we can get one when we move to a new warehouse at the beginning of 2019.

Will update this post with more pictures ASAP, and my future plans/wishlist. Sorry for the wall of text, thanks for reading!

https://i.imgur.com/D2C8igA.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/AJG7614.jpg

Left my work, drove a quarter mile and the compressor started seizing. Turned around and when I parked back at my work I heard a pop right when I stopped. Compressor blew and spilled it guts.
https://i.imgur.com/GQBcNUi.jpg

[Gogeees]

Got the front apart and into service lock position. I am stuck removing the viscous fan to get at the serpentine belt tensioner. My pin wrench is too small (its a bicycle tool) and not giving me enough leverage to break the fan free from the pulley. Will try again after it has soaked overnight in PB blast. Probably should just buy the VW special tool. https://i.imgur.com/mB0rj1Z.jpg

[8520]

mmmm nemo.

Welcome. Nice ride.

[SteelyS6]

Welcome, nice to see a fellow enthusiast putting in the effort to keep one of these beauties on the road.

If I were you I would just take the rad/lock carrier off to access the AC components. Once you do it a few times it will be quick. I also find if your working on the engine for any length of time it's easier on the lower back.

That should also allow you to use a punch or dowel to lock that fan pulley and get some good leverage on that reverse threaded fan nut.

Great family car, I owned one for 4 years. Now living dangerously with two allroads.

[Gogeees]

mmmm nemo.

Welcome. Nice ride.

Coworkers keep asking me if i just washed/waxed it. It just catches the light so well sitting in the warehouse, even when its dirty!

[Gogeees]

Welcome, nice to see a fellow enthusiast putting in the effort to keep one of these beauties on the road.

If I were you I would just take the rad/lock carrier off to access the AC components. Once you do it a few times it will be quick. I also find if your working on the engine for any length of time it's easier on the lower back.

That should also allow you to use a punch or dowel to lock that fan pulley and get some good leverage on that reverse threaded fan nut.

Great family car, I owned one for 4 years. Now living dangerously with two allroads.

Thanks, decided to pull the rad lock off and only broke one part and only dumped coolant on my self once! The coolant vent hose from the upper rad hose to the the reservoir came apart in my hands when trying to disconnect it. With the whole lock off you can bypass taking off the fan and get the serpentine belt off easy. Thanks again for the tip.

[SteelyS6]

Do you mean the plastic tee fitting between the coolant reservoir and upper rad hose. It's fairly common for that fitting to break. Replace it with a brass tee fitting and some hose clamps.

With the front off your A/C work should a little easier now.

Good time to clean out radiator and condensor, I used a garden hose and compressed air. But even blowing out all the debris carefully out of the fins will help.

Being in California you will want that A/C working well.

Happy wrenching!

[Gogeees]

Do you mean the plastic tee fitting between the coolant reservoir and upper rad hose. It's fairly common for that fitting to break. Replace it with a brass tee fitting and some hose clamps.

With the front off your A/C work should a little easier now.

Good time to clean out radiator and condensor, I used a garden hose and compressed air. But even blowing out all the debris carefully out of the fins will help.

Being in California you will want that A/C working well.

Happy wrenching!

This rigid line below the reservoir and Y connecting it to the upper rad hose. It was super brittle and fell apart in my hands when I pulled it out. I couldn't get the rad hoses off at the first clamp so i went to the next one that had the pinch clamps and it was easier to get off.

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-volkswagen-audi-parts/radiator-hose-vent-tube/4b3121107c/

[Gogeees]

Organised my work area, the pile of parts to go on keeps getting bigger... Must stop procrastinating.
https://i.imgur.com/JKZJImm.jpg
Tools.
https://i.imgur.com/CqJp1eI.jpg
Compressor off!
https://i.imgur.com/hAuMe0T.jpg
Black death in my reciever/dryer.
https://i.imgur.com/t1z9i0d.jpg
Car has not had a belly pan for the last year, thanks again to my brother. Remind me to never let him drive this car again. There is metal under there somewhere.
https://i.imgur.com/xuUz9b4.jpg

[Gogeees]

Any tips on flushing the evaporator and restrictor? I have everything from the firewall down done. Somehow have to connect a hose to the the low pressure side and blast out everything from the high side, or vice versa? Trying to not spray flush solvent everywhere because that is what i see happening.

[8520]

You got me. I never had to do that on any c5 I’ve owned

[rollerton]

Any tips on flushing the evaporator and restrictor? I have everything from the firewall down done. Somehow have to connect a hose to the the low pressure side and blast out everything from the high side, or vice versa? Trying to not spray flush solvent everywhere because that is what i see happening.

I think if you want it done right and don't want to deal with seized compressors you do your project, and take it to an A/C shop that can evacuate and refill it? You'll have to anyway to get it recharged, might as well have them do it all in one shot.

[Gogeees]

You got me. I never had to do that on any c5 I’ve owned

I figured it out after watching you-tube for an hour. Only blasted flush solvent everywhere once when the air nozzle came loose from the hose, always double check before you try to pressurize the flush bottle.

Flush hose on one side, drain hose in the other (I think it was drain in the low pressure, hose in the high). Ran out of flush and it is still pushing out chunks of metal. One more bottle of flush should be enough.

[Gogeees]

I think if you want it done right and don't want to deal with seized compressors you do your project, and take it to an A/C shop that can evacuate and refill it? You'll have to anyway to get it recharged, might as well have them do it all in one shot.

That would probably be the intelligent thing to do, but what would I do with the recharge manifold and refrigerant I just bought? I researched some more and figured it out, blasted the majority of the metal out, but ran out of flush solvent. I am going to pick up two more bottles of flush, but hopefully only need one. All the lines are clear now and ready to go back on. Replacing the receiver, orifice tube, condenser and compressor. After the next bottle of flush goes through the evaporator, there is going to be no more metal/gunk anywhere left in the system. I would like to think I'm doing a more thorough job then I would get from the local AC shop, because I wont rest until that solvent comes out clear. I did watch you-tube for an hour so I am practically an AC expert now.

[A6C5V842]

Nemo and 6MT.

Done!

Do all you have to in order to keep that epic machine on the road. I know I am!

[Gogeees]

Got the car running again, WOOHOOO! New compressor, condenser, accumulator, orifice and flushed everything else. Changed the oil, flushed the coolant and cleaned up the engine a little. Car is driving great, just need to charge the ac system sometime this week. My only issue now is that all the passenger doors are reading that there open when they are all closed. Driver door is fine. Did i forget a plug somewhere or are the door switches stuck? Will poke around and let you guys know what I find.

Hopefully this weekend I can get the AC charged, sway bars on, and do the valve covers/cam plugs.

[Gogeees]

Got the car running again, WOOHOOO! New compressor, condenser, accumulator, orifice and flushed everything else. Changed the oil, flushed the coolant and cleaned up the engine a little. Car is driving great, just need to charge the ac system sometime this week. My only issue now is that all the passenger doors are reading that there open when they are all closed. Driver door is fine. Did i forget a plug somewhere or are the door switches stuck? Will poke around and let you guys know what I find.

Hopefully this weekend I can get the AC charged, sway bars on, and do the valve covers/cam plugs.

Windows and sunroof not working ether. Going to check the fuses to make sure nothing popped. Maybe the Comfort control module went bad? Car has been in a warehouse for almost 2 months, don't think any water got in there.

[Gogeees]

Blown fuse #14, replaced it and everything is working again.

[SteelyS6]

Nice work, glad you got it sorted out!

[Gogeees]

Nemo and 6MT.

Done!

Do all you have to in order to keep that epic machine on the road. I know I am!

Shes back! It's been so long I forgot how much I missed driving it.

https://i.imgur.com/WziCmda.jpg

[Gogeees]

Nice work, glad you got it sorted out!

Easy fixes are so nice. Just going to keep my fingers crossed that the AC system has no leaks, otherwise it will be a hot and miserable summer.

[ShelbyM3]

Nice work.


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine (http://r.tapatalk.com/byo?rid=87676)

[A6C5V842]

Gorgeous. I just moved away from Fullerton. We were practically neighbors!

[Alex JB]

Glad you’re rollin again, love that blue colour.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Gogeees]

Spoke to soon, fuse 14 popped on my drive home from work. Still no CEL or any other issues though, so it's kind of a win? I read that the common place to find shorts are under the driver seat, and above the sun visor/vanity mirror, or maybe the dome lighting. One of my reading lights was out while it was still working so I will check there first.

[Gogeees]

No longer shorting after disconnecting the rear driver side foot-well light cord, the notorious black one under the driver seat. Back to celebrating!

[Gogeees]

Got the car recharged for basically the same price as doing it myself. It is so nice having AC again and drive the car in general. Put on my front sway bar, got stuck on the rear bar. I am having trouble getting the stock bar out from under the exhaust. Disconnected the rear exhaust hangers and rear cross support brace connecting the two and I still couldn't get it out. I ended up giving up and bolting the stock one back in. Was seriously contemplating cutting the mufflers out.

[n8henn]

Couldn't you just remove the back section of the system by loosening the 2 sleeve's and removing rear section from the hangars? The whole rear section should fall at that point unless your system is completely welded together.

- - - Updated - - -

Beautiful car BTW! Love that shade of blue.

[Gogeees]

Couldn't you just remove the back section of the system by loosening the 2 sleeve's and removing rear section from the hangars? The whole rear section should fall at that point unless your system is completely welded together.

- - - Updated - - -

Beautiful car BTW! Love that shade of blue.

I think it is one piece from the cat back. I will double check but I think that dropping the whole system is the only way to get the old bar out and new one in.

Thanks man!

[Gogeees]

Wife drove out to palm springs with her coworkers, so I had all day Saturday to wrench on the car and go for a spin. Went for a nice cruise up Glendora Mountain Road and the surrounding roads, beautiful area outside LA. Car is very solid with the new front sway bar, and everything is running strong after a good Italian Tune up.

https://i.imgur.com/58p6Mkl.jpg

Album here
https://imgur.com/a/IxjM0b9

[Gogeees]

Picked up a Tonoga RS4 style short shit kit with a spherical bearing upgrade (a la JHM) from a fellow Audi enthusiast cleaning his garage. The reduction in throw made it so much easier to shift and it has much better feedback when you engage the gears, the transmission should come like this. Washed the car real good and of course noticed a few new issues besides being reminded of everything else I need to fix. Need to pull the passenger fender and try and bang out the dent caused by tire debris on the freeway several years ago. Also need the cowl for the mirror as it got hit on the rebound. The car needs a full paint correction and has several chips and scratches that need some love. Found I need a new rain tray, mine cracked on the passenger side right above the cabin air filter. https://i.imgur.com/lrU6gK2.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Kfsuouy.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Kmwtgnd.jpg
Noticed a nice chip on one of my spokes.. Awesome.
https://i.imgur.com/YskY1Jw.jpg
Also noticed that my seal for my Antenna on the roof of the hatch is leaking, which is the cause of my drooping headliner. I ordered a new seal, but now i need to repair my alcantara headliner as it is only drooping in the hatch where this damn antenna has been leaking. I'm hoping I can fix it and avoid having to track down one out of parts car. Will keep you guys posted on this one.

Need to track down a center console navigation switch from someone parting out there c5.
https://i.imgur.com/jS3UKlw.jpg

Replaced the front grille badge and a quick headlight polish and seal, really made all the above issues feel a lot better. Baby steps.
https://i.imgur.com/6z8z4v0.jpg