What's missing?

[6stings]

Nothing missing on your car that I can see...looks same as mine, but with less salt corrosion

Thanks for the photos, CHB!
The generator on my photos is a brand new, that's why it looks clean
The old one was just like yours. It died in the middle of the heavy traffic last autumn. I was lucky that the insurance covered a 40% of the Audi service bill.

The reason I repeat the question about the gap, is that I don't understand why the generator is not protected by some gap-cover on FSI's. On TDI's the intercooler covers the gap, so no dirt can get in directly to the generator, if I remember the look of the TDI engine.

Yes, I found some picture of 1.4 TDI front inside look:


Maybe I should just cover the gap, the salt they use here is a killer.

Cheers,
Darko

 

[Birchall]

Careful, covering the gap might just reduce the air flow to the generator and it runs hot anyway.

Steve B

 

[6stings]

Careful, covering the gap might just reduce the air flow to the generator and it runs hot anyway.

Steve B

So, it's eather runs it hot or runs it wet and muddy

Thanks, Steve!

Darko

 

[Birchall]

So, it's eather runs it hot or runs it wet and muddy

Thanks, Steve!

Darko

Hi Darko

I know what you mean, I am just thinking that since the A2 is generally well designed (apart from things like the rear shocker dust protectors and the soft touch coating on the climate buttons etc.) surely they would have figured out that it would suffer from water ingress?

As for the mud, are you using the A2 as an off-roader, where are you getting mud from? (just kidding)

Steve B

 

[6stings]

Hi Darko

I know what you mean, I am just thinking that since the A2 is generally well designed (apart from things like the rear shocker dust protectors and the soft touch coating on the climate buttons etc.) surely they would have figured out that it would suffer from water ingress?

As for the mud, are you using the A2 as an off-roader, where are you getting mud from? (just kidding)

Steve B

I wasn't kidding
Every day on E39 is an off-road experience.
The 'mud' is a mixture of water, salt and asphalt dust! Many people use winter tyres with spikes, they grind the roads to dust.

It's a nighmare, believe me! The problem is even bigger when this dirt dries, the stuff turns into concrete

Cheers,
Darko

 

[Birchall]

I wasn't kidding
Every day on E39 is an off-road experience.
The 'mud' is a mixture of water, salt and asphalt dust! Many people use winter tyres with spikes, they grind the roads to dust.

It's a nighmare, believe me! The problem is even bigger when this dirt dries, the stuff turns into concrete

Cheers,
Darko

WOW, you need to protect that alternator then don't you!!!

Steve B

 

[6stings]

That's why I was crying about the gap.
I'll film one of my journeys on E39 next week, you'll see what happens

Cheers,
Darko

 

[chb]

You live in Norway for gods sake! Cars are designed to run in Southern Greece as well as far north Europe. So I would not be worried about your alternator overheating.

 

[6stings]

You live in Norway for gods sake! Cars are designed to run in Southern Greece as well as far north Europe. So I would not be worried about your alternator overheating.

Nothing can overheat up here. I'll cut an aluminum cover plate for the gap, that will be easy to fix.

Cheers,
Darko

 

[chb]

A car overheating in Norway:
http://youtu.be/NsYOTERciOU


(posted by coincidence on Facebook today by a mate who's in the UK fire service).

 

[6stings]

Now that's what I call a CO2 emission

 

[6stings]

Here's what's you get after a couple of hours driving on E39 and FV465. The car was nice and clean this morning
http://youtu.be/c4KrElkf3CQ

http://youtu.be/qz2Z1_VostA

http://youtu.be/VLEdSCdFZ_s

http://youtu.be/Wm7rT2TQlyM

http://youtu.be/Qt2Mmn6M9sU

Cheers,
Darko

 

[chb]

That looks every bit as bad as UK salt. And to make things worse you have country and western music.

 

[6stings]

That was on a dry, sunny day. Too bad that this stuff almost never dries and I drive a lot in my work.
And the local Radio Lyngdal makes it worse, it's true
Not my kind of music, far from it:
http://youtu.be/6QGiFfGLwGU

Cheers,
Darko

 

[6stings]

No more water-salt-dirt through the 'gap'!







Made of 0.7 mm steel plate, leftover from some house project.

Cheers,
Darko

 

[a2sumo]

Such a shame to add "steel" to an aluminium car. I would have found some plastic card. But i guess the resultant lack of salt entering the engine bay is worth adding steel. cheers mike

 

[6stings]

Such a shame to add "steel" to an aluminium car. I would have found some plastic card. But i guess the resultant lack of salt entering the engine bay is worth adding steel. cheers mike

I have 2mm thick aluminum plate too, don't worry about it, Mike
It was easier to cut it from a thinner and more flexible plate to get the dimensions and place the screw holes where they should be. Now I have a template and wil cut a new plate soon.

Cheers,
Darko

 

[manhattan$]

Can you post the template sizes for us all. Thanks.

 

[6stings]

Can you post the template sizes for us all. Thanks.

No problem!
I thought first that the gap had all angles 90 degrees, but it hadn't really.
To make it simple, seen from the front, I cut 41.5 x 17.2 cm rectangle and than adjusted the bottom side, which had a wider than 90 angle on the left (the front light side) and sharper than 90 on the right (the radiator side).
As the result, it came with the 41.0 cm left side and 41.5 cm right side. I just measured 41.0 from the top, draw the line and cut that little piece.
Then I fitted it in from the top, of course, and marked the 4 screw holes, from the inside, right through the 'intercooler' mounting holes, I guess, since there are 2 holes on each side of the gap.
You see that the screw holes on the right are closer to the edge, that's because there are some round radiator mount things that don't allow to fit the plate 17.6 cm wide

I made it about 2 mm shorter than the gap, so there's a small opening on the top, but it was dufficult to squeze it in when I cut 41.7 cm

Hope the picture helps.



Cheers,
D

 

[6stings]

A new gap-cover was made today, this one of 1 mm thick aluminum plate, black painted on one side.
Actually, three plates, cut in about 2 minutes by a lovely girl at the metal shop. She took 150 NOK, about £12, for the job.

Here's the steel plate after a short drive, just a little wet road



Aluminum plates





Steel template and aluminum plate





Numbers



Aluminum plate mounted



Mini-gap



Cheers
Darko