My very own update thread by BaseDrifter

7 minute(s) of a 155 minute read

She's purring nicely. Started up fine, all vital signs look good.

Thanks, everything is still sitting pretty. No leaks. Got it all buttoned up today and took her for a spin, sounds great.

I also picked up a genuine vag com cable and was able to program the correct mileage into my new LCD cluster and finally finish that project!

7-15-2013

I decided to add up the money I've put into this car to give me an estimate of where I stand. I'm sure I'm missing a few things but this should be close.

7-26-2013

I had to replace the headlight switch again. A few weeks ago I noticed that my right rear taillight would go out when I turned the headlights on. Soon after that the interior lights would go out with the headlights as well. I threw in a new switch which fixed those two problems, but this one turns on the high beams when I turn on the left turn signal. I put a rubber band between the turn signal stalk and the headlight switch which has fixed it for now.

In my hunt for a new headlight switch, I also grabbed what I need to install relays for the headlights.

The write ups I found online discuss buying an automotive relay online and mounting it in the bay somewhere, I always thought that looked a little sloppy and wanted to do something more OEM looking.

I did some exploring under the dash and there are blank spots on the relay panel. Perfect! I snagged a few extra Audi 12v 40A relays and their panel connectors and I'll wire up a harness.

Now time to find the wires I need in the car. If I recall, the headlight wire is a yellow or yellow/black wire.

7-30-2013

I started a project I've been long avoiding...dealing with the mess of wires I've created behind the dash. Before tackling the headlight relay I wanted to clean up the existing wiring. Each little electrical project piled on top of another and I started splicing into existing lines I had run. Things started to get sloppy. Not my style.

I pulled everything out today. The goal is to have most everything run off distro blocks. I'm putting a grounding block under the center console and a hot box to the left of the steering column beneath the cluster.

The sound system wiring should be tackled as well, there's a lot that could be cleaned up but I'll deal with that later.

What seems to be the common state for my interior..

The first mess.

Even more!

8-1-2013

I've been slacking on taking pictures as I go, only have a few.

Wire loomed up to go from the lower center console to upper dash to power the vent housings and boost gauge.

Connections for the center vent housing and boost gauge.

New harness for the funk button.

Slowly plugging away...

Pins removed from relay plug.

Pile-o-pins

And I guess this is what happens when you don't bolt in the fender liner...whoops.

8-2-2013

Removed all 18 pins from the connector and wired up my new connections.

I modified the fog light relay to allow operation independent of the low beams while retaining the high beam cut feature. I accomplished this by removing pin 86 from the relay and installing a new pin wired to a distro box linked to post 75x.

Here you can see the old pin removed. 

New wire installed. Normally I would shrink tube over the mismatched wire color but in this case I left some yellow exposed for later clarity if needed. In order to remove the original pin and install the new one I clipped the side of purple pin retainer.

I taped up the exposed connector and zip tied it back on the harness before reinstalled the plug and relay. This is totally reversible and not a permanent modification, simply pull the new wire out and throw the old one back in place.

Finished wiring up the relay plug's harness. I ended up having to extend the ground wires as I cut them too short, whoops. I grounded the relays right next to the fuse box.

And installed! This was quite a satisfying moment. Doesn't get more OEM than this.

Tomorrow I will hook the relays into the headlight circuit and start testing functionality. If everything goes well I'll have it buttoned up tomorrow!