D.I.Y Guide A3 Quattro/S3: Gearbox,Transferbox Clutch, Starter Motor, Drive Shaft , Subframe Removal

[Iceman567]

Hi Guys
I apologise in advance for the lengthy guide but its a big job. Audi don't charge a grand for no reason.

this has been completed on my motor but I have a feeling that the 3.2 Quattro ,S3 and TFSI Quattro systems will run a similar setup.

I recently changed my gearbox and transfer box etc etc for my 57 plate A3 2.0TDI Quattro 170.
The reconditioned T Box sprung a leak so I thought I would do a bit of D.I.Y guide for my second round of spannering, for any one wanting to delve into the transmission system.

I'm not an Audi Tech I've done it in a way that worked for me. I wont take any blame if you use this and start breaking stuff .

so any way here you go I hope this helps any one decide whether its doable task for your self.
please excuse the lists but a far amount of tools are needed for the job.

MORAL... trust me you'll need some

Brew Kit, Smokes,food, Beers in the fridge for after or during.. a good playlist and a nice clean dry place of work.

TIME
the dealers quoted me around 9 hours for the job.
realisticly with out the use of 4 posters etc I would give your self a good 2 maybe 2 and a half days. I did it in 12 hours on the garage floor over 2 days .
defiantly get a mate for a hand (what's a crate of beer between mates???), well atleast for the gearbox split and drop, you will 110% need a hand with that as it is a bit cheeky.

Standard Tools

A decent set of ring end spanners 8mm-19mm 1/4" or 3/8th" socket set, to get into tight spaces.
TX socket bits (general range)
Phillips screw driver
A couple of sturdy old style screwdrivers
Decent set of Hex keys 5mm-10mm
Breaker/Knuckle bar
Nylon Mallet + a Ball and peen hammer ( you never know )
Inspection Torch and a Small pen type torch like my 2 favourites below.

Snub, Snip and normal pliers
extendible magnet picker upper
A Nice piece of wood , if you catch my drift....no pun intended.

just a generally well equipped tool box

Special Tools
Spline Socket set like so <<<LINK

16mm crows foot

super long 6mm Hex, there is a vag tool how ever I chopped of the bend of an alan key then used a bit of loctite496 to super glue it into a 1/4" 6mm socket with a 1/4" drive extension, the whole thing is 15" long. pictured bellow

3/4" socket set (at least a 27mm socket depending on the type of outer CV joint Bolt, bear in mind this will need torquing to 200NM (if you have a normal bolt head as opposed to the hex type).
Torue wrench
pressure bleeder if you break into the clutch system (cheap on amazon)
clutch alignment tool if you do the clutch

10mm multi spline socket


LE
33-50cm axle stands , so you can get the gearbox from underneath the car.
2 trolley jacks or 1 bottle and 1 trolley
transverse engine support frame, if your dropping the box out.
wheel chock unless you like to live life on the edge.

COSHH
WD40 (obvcourse)
Loctite freeze and release (honestly an absolutely amazing bit of kit especially for the gearbox to mount threads if there a but stubborn)
air duster if your feeling a bit cheeky
degreaser carb cleaner etc.
relivant oils if you drop them
a sufficient amount of dot 4 to bleed the clutch 3-5 litres just in case you mess up

soooooo after that death list I can start, back to school stuff , flat level ground, had brake applied keep in control of the keys just kidding. crack off your wheel nuts and outer CV nuts through the centre cap with your 27mm or 11mm hex key ( i'm not to sure on the hex size you'll wanna check) super tight so will need some pursation. get her jacked up on axel stands remove both of the wheels, then remove the airbox and battery and battery tray, if you need guiding on this then you probably shouldn't go any further.

Drive Shaft Removal if you only need to drop the transfer box you only need to remove the drivers side.
now some people may frown and I know this method is not super good for the cv joints but it will save a tonne of time and its okay if you do it once or twice with care.

• Full lock the steering wheel to the right.
• on the drivers side (right hand side) remove the heat shield which is secured with 2x 8mm hex lugs, if they are tight get a 8mm spanner on the alan key.

• carfully place a screw driver in the veins of the discs (if your on your own) like so
  
• undo the 6 x M10 splined bolts connected to the output flange there only 40NM so not to tight
  
• completely remove the outer Cv Nut

now carefully pull and pry the outer joint out of the wheel station, with the steering at full lock, once it is released from the splines it will pop out and wah lah no disconnecting ball joints. the method is the same on both sides.

Starter Motor Removal please note if you only need to remove this you dont have to touch the wheels and drive shafts
super easy job once the battery etc is out.

• remove 2 earth cables (13mm) and 1 electrical there is a bracket securing some more cables on the lower starter motor bolt which is secured with a 13mm nut.

underneath pic is bellow

• remove the starter motor bolts watch out for the CSC hydraulic pipe there's enough flex to get the bolt out and in but be very careful, if your changing the CSC you may aswell disconnect this. with your new CSC there will be a cap so plug that on and drain the excess fluid in the pipe into a container watch out though brake fluid is nasty.
• finally disconnect the reverse light cable from the gear box, be careful with this as I damaged mine.

 

[Iceman567]

Gear Selector Unit and Intercooler

• so first thing is first undo the 13mm nut on top of the selector unit

• remove the metal clip on one selector and carefully pry the other.
• give the selector plate thing a wiggle and i should come straight off, mine was a little stubborn.
• don't worry it can only fitted one way because of the pattern of the splines.
• after this remove the 2 x 13mm bolts securing the cables to the gearbox
• next there is a 13mm nut securing the cables to a bell housing bolt underneath the intercooler pipe, its tricky to get 2 because of the thread how ether a deep 13mm 3/8" drive will get it.
• intercooler pipe
• the big silver pipe is the intercooler pipe this needs removing to get to the top 2 bell housing bolts.
• there is 3 T27 screws securing it to the engine, easy to find.
• once the screws are removed there are 2 clips one to the turbo and one under the car in the front of the bumper passenger side, heres a pic of the turbo one.

what ever you do don't undo the jubilee clips it will complicate things further with leaks once you've finished the job.

• now disconnect the electrical connections at the front of the vehicle mounted on the pipe.
• finally remove the pipe through the bottom of the car, it is so much easier with the selector unit and starter motor out of the way.
• its a bit of a wriggle just watch out for the fans, they are pretty bendy so don't worry to much.

AND BOOM cable tie your dangalies ...like so.... then grab a brew, smoke, biscuit or what ever.

Transfer Box or as Audi call it Bevel Box Removal

with all of the above done you can now crack on and remove the Tbox, if you want the box to be lighter you can drain the oil, the sump plug is the big round hex plug below the output flange.

• the first bolt we will tackle is a 16mm absolute pig. it is located closed to the front of the car on top of the Tbox. i would HIGHLY recommend using a crows foot on it as it can take forever undoing it with a normal spanner due to the clearances. it is the 16mm bolt in line with the L marking below.

• next remove the one to the right of it ,alot easier, 1/4" ratchet 3/8 step up and 16mm 3/8" drive socket is ideal or a 16mm ratchet ring.

• next disconnect the propshaft from the t box. there is 3 x 10mm multi spline bolt, use the gear selector plate to put the box in and out of gear so you can undo them and spin the prop around to access others.

• next is to use your special 6mm hex for the internal bolt of the transfer box. be really really really really carful with this because if it breaks your F'ed sounds silly but make sure you assure your self Righty Tighty Lefty Loosey .

• put the gear box in gear and smash your hex bit down the little hole on the driver side output flange.

and a pretty long bolt will pop out.

• undo the transfer box brackets there is 3 x 16mm bolts all secured into the engine. there is an 8mm hex slot on the bolt heads which i used to undo the middle and top bolts (8mm spanner on the end again). the one behind the turbo downpipe is a bit of a nightmare but is possible.

• next remove the bolts securing the bracket to the Tbox

• which are the top 2 middle bolts.

and the bottom bolt above the drain plug.

• next crack off the final 2 Tbox to Gbox bolts but DONT remove.or the box will fall to the ground in the next step.

• the next job is to crack of and pull back the bell housing bolts so the gearbox doesn't disconnect fully .....but so you have enough room to remove the t box...... how ever only crack these bolts off for the time being, until the subframe is removed.

• the first bolt out of 6 is the 18mm engine to gearbox bolt.
  
• its the bolt in the middle of the pic with a 11mm hex centre.
• undo this bolt fully then wind it in a couple of threads, this will act as a sort of puller to open and close the gearbox.
• now CRACK OFF the remaining mounting bolts there is 2 on top of the GBOX as shown
  
• a 18mm deep socket 1/2" drive will be ideal here
• next there is a 16mm bolt below the bottom starter motor bolt location
  
• next the 2 16mm at the bottom of the Tbox
  
• now we will come back to this section but first we have to remove the subframe.

S

 

[Iceman567]

ubframe removal

• put a jack under the dogbone bushing.
• 
• remove two 13mm bolts that connect the exaughst to the frame
• disconect the oil pressure sensor and unclip it from the subframe.
• undo the 2 x 13mm antiroll bar bolts
• 

• then the 16 or 17mm bolts
• then finaly the 18mm bolts which are really tight
• do this on both sides of the car
• then undo the dog bone bolts
• 
• lower the jack
• and your subframe is removed
• replace your jack under where the dog bone was bottled into.

Transfer Box part 2
with all the above done

• wind all the bolts back as for as possible with out removing them
• remove the bolt pictured at the top of the tbox furthest to the right for clearance purposes
• 
• this will give you room to remove the tbox with out hitting the turbo down pipe
• remove the final 2 x 16mm bolts securing to the transmission
• gently but forcfully riggle the unit off no brute force is required at all just the right angle.
• and thereyou go the tbox is off.

Gearbox Drop

• secure engine with transverse beam and secure the gear box to it.
• put a bottle jack or trolley jack on the sump as close to the bell housing as possible but not on the oil pressure sensor unit.
• put a trolley jack in the centre of the gear box
• remove the chasis to gearbox mount from the bush and gearbox by undoing all 6 bolts ... i would crack off the left 3 first then remove the right 3 then remove the left 3 ... i used a screwdriver to steady the mount as it bends under force being connected to a rubber bush.
• 
• remove remaining bell housing bolts.
• wiggle back
• check for any more fittings
• split it and drop with the jack
• do all your clutch, fly wheel business.
• it can be a pain but persevere.
• now refit in the reverse to what you removed
• when refitting watch out for the tbox bracket put it back on before you fully mate the gbox to engine
• and watch out for the shim in between the bell housing and engine... if you bend it , it will catch on the back of the fly wheel.

sorry for the lasy bit guys my internet went nuts and deleted half of it, so it's a bit brief.

i hope this guide helps some of you guys and gals out

any problems or edit ideas or question give me a shout I'll be happy to amend

cheers for reading

 

[D3mon]

Epic!

 

[Iceman567]

Cheers been meaning to do this for a while because I couldn't find all the info in one place when surfing for it .
finally got round to the pics yesterday

 

[S3Alex]

Very well done.

I do none of the work on my car,but for those that do,this sort of thing is invaluable.

 

[Bazzle]

Nice Tech write up, well done

Baz

 

[shadow1993]

I got my mates dad to do this, but in the process he managed to fall off the ramp and injure his shoulder so i ended up doing it with my mate...

Long bit of wood to support the engine when the box was out and the bracket was off.. more of an eastern europe style.

Thanks for the guide im sure it will be useful for a lot of people!

 

[Steven Wilson]

Any idea if it's exactly the same for a audi a3 2.0TDI non quattro

 

[SootySport]

Who's a clever boy then.

 

[Tony Peters]

Thanks very much, its amazing to find such a good write up that answers all my questions!

 

[Chris-bt]

Cheers for the awesome write up! I don't suppose you could update this with the images again as they say they're unavailable due to photobuckeet

 

[IanP19]

Cheers for the awesome write up! I don't suppose you could update this with the images again as they say they're unavailable due to photobuckeet

I can see the photos still using Tapatalk app on mobile.

Failing that if you use Chrome you can get an extension that displays the photobucket images (great for old threads). I use photobucket hotlink fix.

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

 

[ch1z64]

I can see the photos still using Tapatalk app on mobile.

Failing that if you use Chrome you can get an extension that displays the photobucket images (great for old threads). I use photobucket hotlink fix.

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

Be handy if you could send a link or detail how to do it for us non computing techy's .

 

[IanP19]

Sure, download chrome (https://www.google.co.uk/chrome/)

Then go to:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/...nk-fix/kegnjbncdcliihbemealioapbifiaedg?hl=en

Add to chrome (right handside of the window that pops up).

And you should be good to go, you don't need to do anything then, just browse as you would normally do.

(There might be other apps out there that also do the same thing and maybe better but I use this one and it seems to work)

 

[ch1z64]

Sure, download chrome (https://www.google.co.uk/chrome/)

Then go to:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/...nk-fix/kegnjbncdcliihbemealioapbifiaedg?hl=en

Add to chrome (right handside of the window that pops up).

And you should be good to go, you don't need to do anything then, just browse as you would normally do.

(There might be other apps out there that also do the same thing and maybe better but I use this one and it seems to work)

Cheers mate for the write up . These are what were needing

 

[Daveyonthemove]

Awesome. Was considering getting a garage to fit my clutch and DMF, but this could be a lengthy DIY job instead.