MRC Servicing

[rsmonkey918]

Felt compelled to post my first thread after a visit to see Doug at MRC on Friday for a routine 20k service and health check, followed by a B7 front brake upgrade. Don't want to embarrass him but the thorough, methodical and meticulous attention to detail was, quite frankly, brain-boggling and a real eye opener. For anyone who has been ripped off by the stealers in the past it was a welcome and quite fascinating experience to see how these engines hang together- including some effective home engineered kit for assessing air leaks in the intake system!
So thanks to Doug (and Lucas) for all your efforts- really appreciated. See you in a couple of weeks for the ARB and rear brake upgrade. Oh.. and the wheels!!
Incidentally the local Audi main dealer was talking about £650 including spark plugs- after seeing Doug in action I will never use them again for routine servicing/repairs on my RS4.

[GardinerG]

Hey Steve, thanks for the review. Am tempted to pop over to see Doug re Milltek/ARBs etc. You need to update your sigy now though!

[rsmonkey918]

Sorted- you read my mind! You must go over- forgot to mention that the MTM upgrade came up short as revealed by the health check, and both DV's were seized- all sorted along with the MAF- Doug suggested a replacement as it still apparently had the original still in. Potential problem as I was told they do start to gradually wear out/degrade imperceptibly and can then affect the exhaust gas temperature sensors etc. Interestingly the initial VAG-com assessment seemed to show all was well at tickover and Doug seemed reasonably impressed with things in general but did sound a note of caution as some problems can cancel each other out and make it seem as though all is well- as it subsequently turned out. The DV's were apparently nasty aftermarket upgrades and were changed for S3 diaphragm types. I just appreciated all the info Doug was imparting- it was genuinely interesting stuff!! No bull, no expensive solutions to simple problems, just sound advice and reasonable outlay. The car is going noticeably better now and sounds a bit hungrier too.
You won't regret it- check was £25, parts i needed were c.£120, service with plugs £250. Feel much more relaxed now, knowing all is well.

[neckarsulm]

MTM upgrade came up short as revealed by the health check

Don't fully understand this, can you explain more?

[Doug_S2]

1.35 bar to 1.2 bar, 342 on the new maf.

[neckarsulm]

Gotcha - so the car was underpowered due to usual problems of MAF and DVs?

Found this thread from when I bought my car (similar spec MTM Stage 2) with my data;

http://www.rs246.com/index.php?name=PNp ... ic&t=59703

In Feb 2007 with a new MAF my peak MAF was 345 g/s, boost seemed to peak at 2370 but I didn't record atmospheric pressure.

[Doug_S2]

underpowered for the stated 460 conversion - those figures are after the usual leaks, maf and dvs were fixed.

[rsmonkey918]

Yeah sorry didn't really make that clear- rookie mistake! As the engine otherwise came up pretty fit, I haven't ruled out turfing it back to MRC to liberate the requisite number of horses with a remap. Unfortunately the cats are 400 cell so improvements may be finite unless I really roll my sleeves up and/or pour my salary into Dougs bank account. Speaking to a couple of really nice guys on Friday- Spence can you hear me?- you can get gripped by a kind of power madness. Am.... trying..... to..... resist.....

[Doug_S2]

Steve - you have 200 cell main cats - miltek also offer 100 cell cats and no cats at all.

[S4INT]

Did some logs of my car after new MAF was fitted on Sunday (MTM 460 with 100 cell cats) - MAF maxed out on Vagcom at 364.08 g/s, boost maximum was 1.45 bar tailing off to 1.2 bar.

If you do the "rule of thumb" calc of MAF /0.8 gives you 455 bhp.

[jeffw]

My MTM 520 certainly hasn't made the figures it's meant too. I've had to have the injectors changed and a MRC remap to get it to 500ish

[neckarsulm]

If you do the "rule of thumb" calc of MAF /0.8 gives you 455 bhp.

on that basis mine gives 431 bhp from a Stage 2 430.

I'd love to know the basis for the MAF calculation, anyone know?

Are these engines pretty consistent as it's well know that in the world of mass produced cars some can be better then others due to tolerances?
Having said that they were built by a man in Wellingbough so are hardly mass produced.

[rsmonkey918]

Hmmm second rookie cock-up re the cat cell count!! I'll get my coat......

[lynchy]

thanks for the service doug ,very well priced and thankyou for all the information you gave me on future projects