May 24 - Aug 31 2018
Build Time : At least 40 hours
Total Build Time: 625+ hours
The lack of updates over the past 3 months is due to me trying to start the car successfully. As indicated in my last post in May, I was able to power up the car but found some minor issues. One of those was the gearbox being in limp mode.
First, the engine was started and coolant system checked and burped for air pockets - this took a while since the pdk cooling system is interlinked to the engine cooling system, and it all needs to be bled by jacking up each corner of the vehicle and moving the air around slowly... Once I was happy with the cooling (checked by making sure fans come on and turn off (cycle) correctly)...
Then, I could prepare for a test drive - this is where I hit a snag - the gearbox is in limp mode. Over the course of the next 3 months (10 weeks of working on the car a few nights a week, rest of the time I was away on holiday) I (with the help of AB) went over every little inch of the LS-PDK system to try and find the fault. We tried every thing (except changing the box, since that would require major component removal and coolant removal) but were unable to find the source of the problem... Finally, a solution was found which MAY be the key to the whole thing (not being mentioned currently as AB/I are checking further literature on the same) - the solution was applied and I was able to get the gears moving!! The problem is still not solved 100%, as the dash is displaying incorrectly and there may be a few minor issues, but the car is atleast moving under its own power!
SUCCESS!!
I will be back to the build mid Sep as am once again away for a little while...