[MisterP]

Best thread for ages, keep it coming

[Shaunee]

Feedback on some of the common “issues”

I thought I would also add some feedback on my experiences over the past 3k miles of use in respect of, shall we say, some of the more common problems reported with the RS3.

 

To add some context this is a second car for me.  More of a weekend blaster in reality.  However, saying this I have managed to cover just over 3k miles in 12 weeks.  This has predominantly been down to the running in, wanting to get that out of the way, and also a Scotland Road Trip I undertook in the RS3 last week.

 

I’ll digress slightly, but if you have never done a full on road trip around Scotland…. I would highly recommend you do it.

 

I’ve been threatening to do this for years and now wish I had years ago.

 

What a fantastic place to drive…. Yes there are still places in the UK for doing that! And the scenery… simply wow!

 

 

 

 

 

Over 6 days we covered just over 1500 miles in the RS3, and it was faultless from a drivers perspective.  Opening the car up over the highlands was great and the car was effortless to drive quickly.

 

Oil Consumption

I haven’t owned a VAG car for some years now, and when I did they weren’t renowned for chomping oil.  Whilst I’m not suggesting they are chompers now, they do appear to have a leaning towards an engine that tends to consume oil.  Due to this I have regularly monitored the oil level.

 

Prior to going on the trip to Scotland the dipstick was at MAX, so that was after 1500 miles.

 

As soon as arrived back at home (just over 3k miles in total), I parked the car up in the garage and left it for 10 mins and then checked the dipstick.

 

 

As you can see it is virtually MAX.

 

The next morning I checked it again (cold) and it was at the same level one side and two diamonds down from MAX on the other side.

 

After I went down Santa Pod at the weekend I checked it again when home (warm).  It had returned to MAX on both sides.

 

If it’s used any oil over the past 3k miles it is certainly minimal.

 

I’m quite anal about the running in process and whilst I don’t smash the backside out of the engine during that period, I certainly ensure it gets a varied workout, with plenty of mixed loading.  Using the box often and engine braking quite a lot. Whether this has helped with my oil usage, who knows, but it’s the approach I have always taken with new engines.

 

I will obviously still monitor oil usage but based on what I’ve done so far I can’t see consumption being an issue, especially as I’ll normally only do around 5k per year and I’m on fixed 12 month services.

 

Brake Squeal

Not one bit of squeal or brake performance issue so far.  Not saying it won’t happen, but nothing has materialised yet.  Discs are clean and pads look 100% with no sign of accelerated wear.

 

Knocking Rear Top Mounts

Quiet and no noise.  My car is a March 16 build date iirc, so not sure if that makes a difference.  Again, no issues thus far.

 

The car had quite a heavy workout over the Highlands, but as of yet, none of the common issues have really reared their heads.

We’ll obviously see how this goes moving forward.

Edited by Shaunee, 15 August 2016 - 06:36 PM.

[Alex]

Shaunee sorry to clutter up your thread with a pointless question but what app/software do you use to hide your number plate like that?

Edited by Alex, 16 August 2016 - 05:53 AM.

[Shaunee]

Hi Alex,
I use a radial blur filter in Photoshop.

[Alex]

Thanks for the reply, oh so pic softwear then! Great work on the thread. Keep it up.

[EddieRS3]

Great thread mate, quality detail and easy to follow. Just what we like ! 

[booker]

Cracking job Shaunee, keep it coming!

[Shaunee]

**WARNING - Borefest Update**

 

Oil

Whilst I appreciate this might be a really dry subject to some, others may know this already, but I assume some people won’t (as I’ve seen a few questions about this crop up in relation to the RS3).  

 

The amazing subject of oil…..

 

So what oil do you need for the RS3?

There are effectively two VW specifications of oil for the RS3, and these are dependant (in-line with manufacturer recommendations) dependant on what type of servicing your car is setup for.  That is whether your RS3 is Variable or Fixed servicing.

 

For Fixed Service intervals the specification recommendation is VW 502.

 

For Variable Service intervals the specification recommendation is VW 504 / 507.

 

Why the difference?

Effectively the 504 / 507 specification is classed as “longlife”.  Both specifications are fully synthetic, but 504 / 507 has a different composition (additives) to ensure the oil maintains its desired properties for longer.  Hence why the service interval on variable (using longlife oil) is longer than the fixed interval.

 

So the first indicator as to which type of oil you need would be initially based on what your servicing schedule has been set to (coupled with what oil resides in already - see next point).

 

Will I cause any harm if I use 504 / 507 specification oil in a car with a Fixed Service?

No, although there is an argument that you are using oil beyond the specification you need (and it will normally cost more).  It’s down to you though in reality.

 

On the flip side to this though, you really don’t want to be using 502 specification in a car which is set to Variable Service intervals!

 

Oil Weight

The second element of oil choice is based on the weighting of the oil, however, don’t assume that the weighting dictates the alignment to any specific VW specification.  It doesn’t!  Hence the reason for highlighting the VW specification first in this discussion.

 

The weighting is expressed in the format of xxW/xx.

 

These numbers are to do with the viscosity (thickness) of the oil, both at cold (first number) and at normal operating (second number) temperature.

 

The norm for the RS3 appears to be 5W/30 although 0W/30 is also available (maybe others?) against the VW specification.

 

Personally I would tend to use the thicker (5W) oil, because if there is any piston blow by, which is probably the reason for the oil consumption of VAG engines (loose tolerances on ring to bore clearances), a thicker weight when cold may at least help reduce usage during the cold start-up period.

 

On another note, I never let the car idle on the drive (for instance) when it’s cold.  This, imo, will only add to wear acceleration.  I get in it and off down the road to get the car up to normal temperature as soon as practically possible.  That isn’t by thrashing its pants whilst cold obviously! Lol

 

Can I mix oil of different grades and specifications (in respect of what’s been discussed here)?

Physically yes, but it would be common sense to ensure whatever oil has been put into the engine as part of the servicing regime, the same viscosity and specification is maintained with any top ups.  As long as viscosity and specification is the same, brand of oil should not matter.  You also wouldn’t want to mix specifications if your car is set to Variable Servicing (as previously stated).

 

To finish off with I ordered some oil for top-up purposes (just preparing myself in case lol) from Opie Oils.  I’ve never used them before, but I know they’ve been around for some years now.  

 

I ordered 5ltrs (4+1tr) of Castrol Edge Titanium FST 5W-30 (VW 504/507) on Friday and it arrived today… all for a very good price of £40 delivered! In comparison, Halfords wanted £67 for the same amount!! Ha

 

 

Oil choice shouldn’t be an area of confusion, so hopefully this helps with making it simple.

 

One last piece of utterly boring information for you is that I have also just had this delivered today, to carry on with the recent styling theme changes.  A rear boot RS3 badge….. In black.

 

I’ll get around to fitting this when the weather permits!

 

£6 off eBay

http://www.ebay.co.u...=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Edited by Shaunee, 17 August 2016 - 05:46 PM.

[Arcam]

**WARNING - Borefest Update**

Oil
Whilst I appreciate this might be a really dry subject to some, others may know this already, but I assume some people won’t (as I’ve seen a few questions about this crop up in relation to the RS3).

The amazing subject of oil…..

So what oil do you need for the RS3?
There are effectively two VW specifications of oil for the RS3, and these are dependant (in-line with manufacturer recommendations) dependant on what type of servicing your car is setup for. That is whether your RS3 is Variable or Fixed servicing.

For Fixed Service intervals the specification recommendation is VW 502.

For Variable Service intervals the specification recommendation is VW 504 / 507.

Why the difference?
Effectively the 504 / 507 specification is classed as “longlife”. Both specifications are fully synthetic, but 504 / 507 has a different composition (additives) to ensure the oil maintains its desired properties for longer. Hence why the service interval on variable (using longlife oil) is longer than the fixed interval.

So the first indicator as to which type of oil you need would be initially based on what your servicing schedule has been set to (coupled with what oil resides in already - see next point).

Will I cause any harm if I use 504 / 507 specification oil in a car with a Fixed Service?
No, although there is an argument that you are using oil beyond the specification you need (and it will normally cost more). It’s down to you though in reality.

On the flip side to this though, you really don’t want to be using 502 specification in a car which is set to Variable Service intervals!

Oil Weight
The second element of oil choice is based on the weighting of the oil, however, don’t assume that the weighting dictates the alignment to any specific VW specification. It doesn’t! Hence the reason for highlighting the VW specification first in this discussion.

The weighting is expressed in the format of xxW/xx.

These numbers are to do with the viscosity (thickness) of the oil, both at cold (first number) and at normal operating (second number) temperature.

The norm for the RS3 appears to be 5W/30 although 0W/30 is also available (maybe others?) against the VW specification.

Personally I would tend to use the thicker (5W) oil, because if there is any piston blow by, which is probably the reason for the oil consumption of VAG engines (loose tolerances on ring to bore clearances), a thicker weight when cold may at least help reduce usage during the cold start-up period.

On another note, I never let the car idle on the drive (for instance) when it’s cold. This, imo, will only add to wear acceleration. I get in it and off down the road to get the car up to normal temperature as soon as practically possible. That isn’t by thrashing its pants whilst cold obviously! Lol

Can I mix oil of different grades and specifications (in respect of what’s been discussed here)?
Physically yes, but it would be common sense to ensure whatever oil has been put into the engine as part of the servicing regime, the same viscosity and specification is maintained with any top ups. As long as viscosity and specification is the same, brand of oil should not matter. You also wouldn’t want to mix specifications if your car is set to Variable Servicing (as previously stated).

To finish off with I ordered some oil for top-up purposes (just preparing myself in case lol) from Opie Oils. I’ve never used them before, but I know they’ve been around for some years now.

I ordered 5ltrs (4+1tr) of Castrol Edge Titanium FST 5W-30 (VW 504/507) on Friday and it arrived today… all for a very good price of £40 delivered! In comparison, Halfords wanted £67 for the same amount!! Ha



Oil choice shouldn’t be an area of confusion, so hopefully this helps with making it simple.

One last piece of utterly boring information for you is that I have also just had this delivered today, to carry on with the recent styling theme changes. A rear boot RS3 badge….. In black.

I’ll get around to fitting this when the weather permits!



£6 off eBay
http://www.ebay.co.u...=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Good summary on the oil front, no matter what service schedule you are on I would use the 504/507 spec oil. I have recently (1k miles ago) switch to 0W/30 shell helix ultra and it has not used any yet, but I would say my carefully running in helped as I only used 1lt in 8k miles Inc 2 track days.

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

[Shaunee]

It is a personal choice for sure. The only thing I would say is that theoretically, if you cover low mileage then the advantage of the LL oil is somewhat diminished. Again, type of use is also a factor as well as level of tune IMO. My views above are based on a stock car.

Based on the pricing of the oil from say Opie, it's not really a problem as it's not much more expensive in any case for the higher spec oil.

[joshsully8]

Quality thread mate


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Shaunee]

Rear RS Badge

Decided to replace the rear RS3 badge today, with the black one recently purchased.

 

 

This time I wanted to mark the original badge out as this is a three piece badge.

 

All I did was mask below the original badge and mark where each specific character was…. Saves any guessing come positioning of the new one!

 

 

Same kind of deal as with the removal of the rear rings.  Apply heat and then slip a credit card down, however, when it came to removing the R and red block that method didn’t work.

 

Due to that part of the badge being mega flush with the panel I had to use some dental floss (couldn’t get the card behind), which acted like a cheese wire.  Just hook it around the top left hand corner and slower pull it behind the badge to the opposite corner.  Comes off in seconds that way.

 

Once removed I cleaned it up as with the rings.

 

 

With the guide in place and the relevant marks, repositioning the new badge is really easy.  The characters on the new badge were ever so slightly smaller, but it doesn’t make any different in reality.

 

 

I might be tempted to pull the rear exhaust tips off and get them powder coated in black, when I get the wheels done.  Just to finish off the rear.

 

Due to get the car on the dyno this coming bank holiday weekend, fit the secondary decats and Tuning Box.  That’s when I can get stuck into the logging and the real fun begins.

Edited by Shaunee, 21 August 2016 - 01:24 PM.

[RS3Pilot]

great thread, can you explain what the tuning box is/does?

[Shaunee]

great thread, can you explain what the tuning box is/does?

 

I'll go into this in a lot more detail when I do this specific update.

 

Simplistically a tuning box sits between certain sensors reading data going to or coming from a sensor, from or to the ECU.  A tuning box can basically "alter" data between what is read in and what is sent out of it.

 

This ability allows, for instance, boost to be increased based upon other readings.  The ECU thinks it's still requesting it's original target (and achieving it).  The outcome though is the turbo is running a higher boost pressure, as the tuning box has manipulated the data.

 

Like I said, I'll explain in a lot more detail when I complete the next update.

[jimojameso]

Absolutely loving this thread so far Shaunee. Keep up the good work

[B-100]

This thread is amazing, love the detail you go into!

[Shaunee]

Thanks for the continued positive feedback guys! Makes this all worth while.

 

I like to think I can improve content and information on each new project.  

 

I've just planned out the things I aim to go through, test and capture this weekend for the first round of performance mods and dyno time.  I'm currently looking at getting 38 different dyno graphs with all sorts of data comparisons! 

 

It might take me some time to construct the next update!   

 

Nerdfest inbound! 

[RobRS]

A great thread with excellent info & attention to detail.   
Looking forward to more........

[Arcam]

Styling Mods
So before we delve into the performance side of things I thought I would make a start with completing a few subtle styling mods.

Whilst we all know what an 8V RS3 looks like, here are a few pictures of mine as I picked it up from Audi.







Obviously beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and the RS3 styling takes a bit of a battering from some. In my eyes (well… I do wear glasses!) the RS3 (as with the rest of the RS range, R8 to one side) is pretty much a Q car. Understated, but does what it needs to from a performance perspective.

Based on the previous performance cars I’ve owned the RS3 is quite understated…. but I like that. It’s a change for me and quite a pleasant one. However, I thought I would add a few minor changes….. perhaps not to everyone’s taste but they are what they are.

Wing Mirrors
As you can see from the pictures above, my car originally came with the standard matt silver wing mirror covers. I wanted to change these to either black or carbon. Yes, I appreciate there were other options for different colours from Audi, but this car was dealer stock, so I made do with what I had.

I managed to get some carbon ones off eBay for £100, which was cheap, but they used OEM covers and had carbon fibre layered on. I thought for £100 it was worth a punt. After a speedy delivery they turned up. The quality was very good…. I was impressed.



I had heard conflicting stories as to how you could remove the outer covers, with and without taking the whole assembly apart. After a thought process upon receiving the new ones, and seeing where all the lugs were located, I decided to have a go at removing the OEM covers WITHOUT taking the assembly apart.

The way to do this is by inserting a credit card (or equivalent) where you see in the picture below.



Once you’ve pushed the card in far enough, you’ll see that the clip in that area will release.

If you then move the card to the right of the picture, you will start to release further clips. You then need to move the card all the way to the left. Once done, you should notice the right hand side starting to come away from the mirror assembly. You can then move the card up that vertical side to further release the cover. Finally give the assembly on the right hand side a slight pull and it should really start to open up.



Now comes the bit where you need to be careful, but slightly forceful at the same time.

Whatever you do, do not pull the cover up. There is a horizontal clip at the left hand side (closest to the car), which will break off if you try to pull the cover up and off. You need to pull the cover into you from the front, gently but with a short / sharp action. It will just come off if you do this and all the clips will be retained.

Once the cover is off you’ll be left with the assembly behind the cover…… and no broken clips (if you do it correctly).



The first mirror took me about 10 minutes as I was doing everything carefully to find my way around each clip. The second mirror took me about 2 minutes. I didn’t break a clip on either OEM cover.

The next bit is really easy….. you just push the new cover on, exactly how you removed the OEM cover. It clips straight back into place.



As I said, quality is top notch and for a £100 they were very good value.

They have the desired effect, especially with the car being Daytona….. Looks quite stealth with black trim.

Something I should mention about the mirror shells is if you get them and you have the side assist option the covers need to have the cutouts for the LED to display the proximity alerts.

I don't see an option for the ones with side assist and I can see you don't have that option on you motor so you may not be aware of it.

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

[Shaunee]

100%

 

I forgot to mention that, as I don't have the side assist fitted...... your point is absolutely valid though.

 

I've just edited the original post (reference your point).

 

Thanks for highlighting it.

Edited by Shaunee, 24 August 2016 - 05:43 PM.