The Blue Thunder Diaries - Yet more Disappointment
Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 7:24 pm
Warning! - This post is rated 7 on the 'Rant-o-matic' scale
A couple of months after finally getting the car 'sorted' (forgetting the turbo oil return pipe leak, coolant leak from the lower radiator pipe on the drivers side, etc.), I was finally preparing to put it on the rollers.
Took it up to Scotland last weekend and it was performing very well following a much needed 4 wheel alignment... until the bendy pipe blew off the bottom of my pass side turbo.
Had to nurse it round so many miles of lovely roads as best I could until a Kwik-Fit of all places sorted me out.
Paranoid as ever, I took the car over to Grizz today to get a healthcheck done before going on the rollers (and to check that my home install of my new boost gauge hadn't ruined everything). I was happy to learn it was all fine. Even managed to check the boost gauge against the pressure tester when Grizz did it, and was happy to see that it's spot on. Also checked lambda trims and no fault codes came up on Vagcom.
So, to the 'fun' bit. Met some S4 owners keen for a spin in a K04'd S4, so I was more than happy to oblige. After three spirited runs we got back to Awesome GTI and noticed smoke from under the bonnet. Fanf**kingtastic, I'd sprung a much more severe coolant leak, this time on the opposite side of the radiator.
Mentioned it to the guys just before it went on the rollers, they said it was nothing and wouldn't cause any issues (although they were very keen to make sure i'd signed the disclaimer first!).
So on it went. My arse was twitching like never before.
The 3 runs themself were actually quite uneventful, however I did smell burning, and immediately suspected the clutch. Naa... clutch is fine. The f**king exhaust has melted my rear bumper! Before and after pics to follow...
Once the run was over, checked the coolant level which had dropped by about half an inch. Filled it up before I drove the 30-40 odd miles home, then needed to add a litre when I got back. Boooo!
Had a rather disappointing 302.19bhp/379.85ft-lbs at the wheels. Was expecting more. Foolishly didn't take a photo of the plot when it was up on the computer (I was more worried about checking how much coolant was leaking from the engine bay). I'll have to post it when I can scan it.
Doesn't look right to me when comparing against plots from other K04'd S4's.
Torque shoots up until 3k rpms, then drops uniformly from there on downto 200ft-lbs.
Power also looks strange as rises fairly normally to 5k rpms, then dips down up to 6k and finally rises slightly upto 7k. Peak power on all three runs was at max rpms, I would have expected this a bit lower down the rev band?
Got home, ran Vagcom again and it's thrown a code:
16622 - Manifold Pressure / Boost Sensor (G31): Signal too High
P0238 - 35-10 - - - Intermittent
Overboosting? If so, any ideas why?
Wasn't too impressed with Awesome TBH. Car was on and off within about 10 minutes, figures quoted were only at the wheels, no use of lambdas and the RR operators didn't even bother to explain what was going on.
I'll be using Dyno Demon next time.
A couple of months after finally getting the car 'sorted' (forgetting the turbo oil return pipe leak, coolant leak from the lower radiator pipe on the drivers side, etc.), I was finally preparing to put it on the rollers.
Took it up to Scotland last weekend and it was performing very well following a much needed 4 wheel alignment... until the bendy pipe blew off the bottom of my pass side turbo.
Had to nurse it round so many miles of lovely roads as best I could until a Kwik-Fit of all places sorted me out.
Paranoid as ever, I took the car over to Grizz today to get a healthcheck done before going on the rollers (and to check that my home install of my new boost gauge hadn't ruined everything). I was happy to learn it was all fine. Even managed to check the boost gauge against the pressure tester when Grizz did it, and was happy to see that it's spot on. Also checked lambda trims and no fault codes came up on Vagcom.
So, to the 'fun' bit. Met some S4 owners keen for a spin in a K04'd S4, so I was more than happy to oblige. After three spirited runs we got back to Awesome GTI and noticed smoke from under the bonnet. Fanf**kingtastic, I'd sprung a much more severe coolant leak, this time on the opposite side of the radiator.
Mentioned it to the guys just before it went on the rollers, they said it was nothing and wouldn't cause any issues (although they were very keen to make sure i'd signed the disclaimer first!).
So on it went. My arse was twitching like never before.
The 3 runs themself were actually quite uneventful, however I did smell burning, and immediately suspected the clutch. Naa... clutch is fine. The f**king exhaust has melted my rear bumper! Before and after pics to follow...
Once the run was over, checked the coolant level which had dropped by about half an inch. Filled it up before I drove the 30-40 odd miles home, then needed to add a litre when I got back. Boooo!
Had a rather disappointing 302.19bhp/379.85ft-lbs at the wheels. Was expecting more. Foolishly didn't take a photo of the plot when it was up on the computer (I was more worried about checking how much coolant was leaking from the engine bay). I'll have to post it when I can scan it.
Doesn't look right to me when comparing against plots from other K04'd S4's.
Torque shoots up until 3k rpms, then drops uniformly from there on downto 200ft-lbs.
Power also looks strange as rises fairly normally to 5k rpms, then dips down up to 6k and finally rises slightly upto 7k. Peak power on all three runs was at max rpms, I would have expected this a bit lower down the rev band?
Got home, ran Vagcom again and it's thrown a code:
16622 - Manifold Pressure / Boost Sensor (G31): Signal too High
P0238 - 35-10 - - - Intermittent
Overboosting? If so, any ideas why?
Wasn't too impressed with Awesome TBH. Car was on and off within about 10 minutes, figures quoted were only at the wheels, no use of lambdas and the RR operators didn't even bother to explain what was going on.
I'll be using Dyno Demon next time.
