Audi A2 by Mtl - getting it back on the road as a weekend car

Quick update: after almost 1 year from when I have decided to put my A2 back on the road, it passed slovenian MOT without single problem. After 8 years of being just parked and not used. I am really excited to finally be able to use it as a weekend car. It still needs some work (mainly optical outside). The biggest job still to be done is clutch replacement, which is planned in near future.
I am 2 months behind the plan, but what can you do :).
 
mtl said:
Quick update: after almost 1 year from when I have decided to put my A2 back on the road, it passed slovenian MOT without single problem. After 8 years of being just parked and not used. I am really excited to finally be able to use it as a weekend car. It still needs some work (mainly optical outside). The biggest job still to be done is clutch replacement, which is planned in near future.
I am 2 months behind the plan, but what can you do :).
Click to expand...
A brilliant result,

Such great news which we were all confident would happen after seeing you tend to all the niggles this A2 presented you. Very well done. Another one saved!

Kind regards,

Tom
 
Today I had a first drive with the license plates on. Almost 200km, of which cca. 60km on one of my favourite twisty hill road nearby. I probably went 10 times up and down.
Observations: the car is objectively slow, but maaaan does it make you smile. I was reving it to the end uphill and I was still under the speed limit :). Also I completelly forgot how effortlesly changes direction with its 1000 kg. Woooow, that was really fun and it made my daily look like a fat bloke.
Also the clutch is at its end, I plan to replace it this week, together with the gearbox oil and cleaning the gearbox pyramid. Occasionally I had a problem getting it into the 3rd gear. Air condition gas refill is a must. It was 33 C today and huh...
After that there was time for photo shooting :).
I am really happy with the car and damn does it look good (still on the old curbed alloys, new (with center caps) are just waiting to be put on):
First drive (3).jpg
First drive (6).jpg
First drive (7).jpg

First drive (5).jpg

First drive (1).jpg

First drive (2).jpg
 
Last edited:
Evening,

You really have done so well with this A2. Extremely helpful posts for the community as you progressed through the list of jobs it presented you with. Please do keep the YouTube links flowing as they are a brilliant handrail for those who are faced with similar faults in the future.

Great pictures also.

Kind regards,

Tom
 
  • Like
Reactions: mtl
On Sunday I had another panoramic drive on twisty roads around my home. After quite a lot of years I went just for a drive with a car, with no reason. I used a motorcycle for that before.
Wooow, I didn't think I will enjoy this little car so much. :cool:
Before that I cleaned it and it was really shining :).
Audi A2 - Stanjel.jpg


One interesting observation: on my scratched alloys set I have Continental PremiumContact 185/50/16 tires that are 13 years old and were ment to be thrown away. On my other set of alloys (the same 16 inch SE wheels with almost no scratches) I have 1 year old Continental EcoContact 5 185/50/16 tires.
When I replaced the wheels I have immediatelly felt that the newer tires do not ''hold'' in the turns the same as the old set and did not give a lot of confidence to trust them. So, currently I am back on the old set and will just use these tires until I sell the set. In rain the car will not be driven, so it does not matter how the old tires are in the rain. I expect them to be really bad.
PS: I did not park the car on the bus stop, I just stopped to take the photo ;).
 
Last edited:
Throttle body and throttle body flange cleaning on 1.4 16v AUA engine.
The throttle response is now much, much better on first half of the throttle pedal movement.
The hole in the flange towards EGR pipe was 3/4 blocked with gunk, so I would say that also the EGR pipe and EGR itself needs cleaning, but sadly I did not have time to tackle that. Next time.
The work should take cca. 1 hour and is easy. But when removing the flange the gasket to EGR pipe fell down and I had to lift the car, take off the plastic undertray and find it. That took half an hour. :oops:
 
Last edited:
mtl said:
Throttle body and throttle body flange cleaning on 1.4 16v AUA engine.
The throttle response is now much, much better on first half of the throttle pedal movement.
The hole in the flange towards EGR pipe was 3/4 blocked with gunk, so I would say that also the EGR pipe and EGR itself needs cleaning, but sadly I did not have time to tackle that. Next time.
The work should take cca. 1 hour and is easy. But when removing the flange the gasket to EGR pipe fell down and I had to lift the car, take off the plastic undertray and find it. That took half an hour. :oops:
Click to expand...
Evening MTL,

Really enjoying your input. I have a rough running AUA which a quick TBA hasn’t cured. Guess I’ll be following your video tutorial in the coming days/weeks.

Thanks again for showing us non-mechanical types how easy some of these costly maintenance tasks can actually be.

Kind regards,

Tom
 
  • Like
Reactions: mtl
Ah yes been waiting for this, essential viewing, many thanks for making this ( and all your videos )

Justin
 
  • Like
Reactions: mtl
2work said:
Evening MTL,

Really enjoying your input. I have a rough running AUA which a quick TBA hasn’t cured. Guess I’ll be following your video tutorial in the coming days/weeks.

Thanks again for showing us non-mechanical types how easy some of these costly maintenance tasks can actually be.

Kind regards,

Tom
Click to expand...
What is a quick TBA?
I am also a non-mechanic but I do not have two left hands :).
And I enjoy working on my car, a kind of a rest from the other work.

PS: TB adaptation after the cleaning is a must, so you need to have a diagnostic tool. I used VCDS.
 
mtl said:
What is a quick TBA?
I am also a non-mechanic but I do not have two left hands :).
And I enjoy working on my car, a kind of a rest from the other work.

PS: TB adaptation after the cleaning is a must, so you need to have a diagnostic tool. I used VCDS.
Click to expand...
Evening MTL,

We're talking of the same thing but I should have expanded further. I meant Throttle Body Alignment (TBA). I also used VCDS to perform this task but still isn't perfect so guess I'll be removing the very same items to hopefully settle to engine at idle. All other possible causes have been investigated so far.

Thanks again for all the tutorials you provide, really helpful.

Kind regards,

Tom
 
2work said:
We're talking of the same thing but I should have expanded further. I meant Throttle Body Alignment (TBA). I also used VCDS to perform this task but still isn't perfect so guess I'll be removing the very same items to hopefully settle to engine at idle. All other possible causes have been investigated so far.
Click to expand...
Oh, I understand now. If the TB is really dirty, alignment will probably not help a lot.
If you have time check also EGR and EGR pipe.
2work said:
Thanks again for all the tutorials you provide, really helpful.
Click to expand...
I am glad it helps :). That is also the motivation for the videos.
 
Today I had another try at one of my favourite roads (bikers also love it). This time with a camera car :).
Here is one shot when following the camera car:
Camera car.jpg


I do love ATE brakes, but they do make a lot of dust :). This is just from today :(:
Brake dust.jpg


I love this small alu box on twisty road. Though my bike is really sad, because I do not use it anymore.

PS: My left low beam died when driving to the location. I was not really happy about that.
 
After more than half a year of fidling with the car and getting it MOTed and registered it was finally a time to test it on a really epic road Planinske ride in Slovenia. This road is especially known in motorcycle community because of its closed turns.
It was a blast and I hope you will enjoy it watching as I have enjoyed it driving :).

Also two days ago I have refueled the car and I did 440km of which quite some part was very fast driving (gas pedal on/off, full braking) on twisty mountain roads, the rest normal backroad cruising (between 80-90km/h) and a little bit of city driving. I have expected the average consumption of around 8 l/100km (hoped for 7 l/100km) and was left with my mouths open: 5.9 l/100km (47.88 mpg UK). I am very rarely using AC and because I use it only as a fun car there is no puddling along in traffic jams or short drives so the engine is in majority part in optimal operating temperature. I also use extensively coasting technique when not in crazy mode :). But still, I was amazed...
 
mtl said:
After more than half a year of fidling with the car and getting it MOTed and registered it was finally a time to test it on a really epic road Planinske ride in Slovenia. This road is especially known in motorcycle community because of its closed turns.
It was a blast and I hope you will enjoy it watching as I have enjoyed it driving :).

Also two days ago I have refueled the car and I did 440km of which quite some part was very fast driving (gas pedal on/off, full braking) on twisty mountain roads, the rest normal backroad cruising (between 80-90km/h) and a little bit of city driving. I have expected the average consumption of around 8 l/100km (hoped for 7 l/100km) and was left with my mouths open: 5.9 l/100km (47.88 mpg UK). I am very rarely using AC and because I use it only as a fun car there is no puddling along in traffic jams or short drives so the engine is in majority part in optimal operating temperature. I also use extensively coasting technique when not in crazy mode :). But still, I was amazed...
Click to expand...
I certainly did enjoy that 👍 It must have been great fun to drive! That was a good workout for the engine, I bet there's no carbon left anywhere now :D
 
  • Haha
Reactions: mtl
I do hope that the carbon buildup is out of the question now, since it will get a good stretch at least once every drive ;).
I just need to recalibrate my feeling when the limiter is up :). I still get occasionaly revlimiter to engage, because I would like to rev it a little bit more :).
 
A quick recap of the last (I really, really do hope it is a last) big job on my ''boxy'':
Clutch and transmission oil were replaced and starter motor renewed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top