accelerator / gas pedal fix

[fritzvis]

Hi,
I'm new to the forum and just introduced myself in the proper section of this forum. I'm a new 1999 Audi 80 Cabriolet 1.9tdi owner. I bought the car with a broken gas pedal.
I was very lucky the broken of pedal was still with the car when I bought her.
That seems to be a very common problem for these Audi models. Since a completely new system is quite expensive I fixed the pedal myself. It worked out really well. I managed to keep the original pedal and spring movement from the pedal. here's how I've done it:

- drill a 3mm hole through the pedal base. there is a spring inside try to imagine where spring is and drill through the center of that spring.
- use a piece of thread rod of about 2.5" long with diameter of 3mm
- drill 3mm holes in both sides of the original pedal, measure correctly. You can see a line where the pedal broke off. holes should be on that line because pivot point for spring movement was at that point on the original pedal.
- push pedal onto it's original base and from the sides push thread rod through pedal and pedal base.
- put a washer and cap nut on left side of thread rod
- now shorten the thread rod on the right side to desired length (with Dremel tool)
try to shorten the thread rod to the length that when washer and cap nut is installed all the way on the thread rod, you have about 1mm of play... use thread lock glue on capnuts!
- paint the cap nuts black with a touchup pen and now you can hardly see they're there. pedal moves and feels like before. fix just cost me £2.5

[mikes2]

welcome and a good job.

Mine's been held together with a self tapping screw for the last 12 years

[Colin Aitchison]

Man after my own heart, DIY fix are always the best and good photos, well done, very happy to see you have found us and have joined in the fun of keeping classic Audi's on the road.

[John.]

Originally Posted by fritzvis

......1999 Audi 80 Cabriolet 1.9tdi owner. I bought the car with a broken gas pedal.

tdi cab.......didn't know there was such a thing! A rare car perhaps?

A great write-up you've done there.

[fritzvis]

Originally Posted by John.

tdi cab.......didn't know there was such a thing! A rare car perhaps?

Hey John,

I don't think it is very rare, I admit it is not the most desired engine for a cabriolet and would prefer a V6, but in a country like Belgium with very high taxes a 1.9tdi engine would be a good choice and gives you good mpg... that is why you find them here more often I think.
The previous owner that sold me the car was 81 years old, and drove the car constantly from Belgium to Spain, so that is probably why he chose a diesel engine. Car has 190.000 miles on the clock but starts on first turn of the key, no smoke, no nasty noises, no leaks. I have complete service book and last invoice of beginning of this year of £1500... Eventualy the man sold the car because he struggled to get in and out of the car lately

[John.]

Originally Posted by fritzvis

Hey John,

My tdi has similar mileage and like yours starts first time and not a smoker, I confess to knowing it has a leaking oil pressure switch and I've done nothing about it

[quattrodave]

These 8 valve TDI engines are in all sorts of VAG vehicles, our 2002 golf TDI with the PD version is on 184,000 miles and starts first turn of the key every time and uses no oil but can kick out quite a bit of black diesel smoke if I boot it though, but 60+ MPG on a run is brilliant.

Liking the fix, unfortunatly my plastic bit has been missing for 19 years so no use me trying to fix it unless I can find one on ebay !

[Alburglar]

This is the OEM Pedal fixing.

[fritzvis]

Originally Posted by Alburglar

This is the OEM Pedal fixing.

hi Alburglar, that must have been the RS fix option

[Alburglar]

Originally Posted by fritzvis

hi Alburglar, that must have been the RS fix option

Yes it's the heavy duty RS2 group B fixing bolt.