[teddyca]

First off I am sorry. LOL This job sucks. I am a fairly decent back yard mechanic. I have put H/C on my old Z06, I supercharged my current C7, installed nitrous on my C8, etc. I am just saying I am not just an intake kind of guy. With that said this job SUCKS!!!! I am going to lay out for you what I did and I hope I can help. The videos online suck, and the threads here are all over the place. For me I am a 2017 A8 with stock manifolds and precats. I dont always frequent here but if I see a reply I will try to chime in ASAP. I ordered my starter from GMpartsdirect and went with OEM. I also used some Cool IT aluminized heat barrier that is adhesive backed and wrapped the starter along with the solenoid since I had it laying around. Heres what I can tell you.

-Jack car up as high as you can, it will help. disconnect battery. Dont fricking lock doors if you carry to another day. If you do like I did, there is a key hole behind the plastic piece next to the door handle, then you get to climb your monkey ass to the back of the car and connect the battery to open trunk lol.

-remove heatshield. 3 10mm i think bolts. Its a pain to wiggle out but it will come. If its to much do next step and then starter is free and helps

-remove 2 starter bolts. They are long

-remove cross brace. This messed me up. I kept thinking the damn motor mounts were on it. LOL No they are not. Dont be silly like me. There are 10-15 bolts holding it in. Once they are all out, it will seem like its loose but still in place. They wheel well carpet snakes under it, and actually hold it up. In the front the is a hook, I didnt actually take it out I just laid the back down when I needed it. leave it up for now

-take out the O2 and set aside still connected

-remove the 4 nuts on the precat to manifold and the 2 at the xpipe. It should be loose

- Now let the x brace down and lay it on your chest and get the precat out.

-Spend the next hour figuring out how to get the 13mm nut off for the power wire and the 1 wire harness. I really cant explain how to do this. Everyone says something different. I broke off the black plastic tab in the way for the power wire and it made it 10X easier lol. Harness you have to lift the saftey tab and just fight it. This is by far for me the hardest part because its so tight.

-Get starter out. Wiggle it, spit on it, rotate, cuss, drink a beer, and when it finally comes out, take a break and regroup.

OK you are half way there. Thats the good news. rinse and repeat, you now get it. I didnt loosen or remove my exhaust manifold, I didnt kick the dog, or smack the wife. Its wild you have to do so much for a starter, but well it is what it is. I can honestly say my car has NEVER and I mean never started so effortlessly. I have a maggie so there is a bit more pressure on the pullies but this ole girl fires right up. I hate that I waited 7 years to do this. My car has 30K miles and is a 5th. I dont drive much, but after leaving me stranded twice last month I was done. In CA right now we are dealing with 100+ days so that heat was a killer. Good luck my friends. If I can help just 1 guy taking the time to write all this shit up is worth it.

[cthulhucaller]

Originally Posted by teddyca

First off I am sorry. LOL This job sucks. I am a fairly decent back yard mechanic. I have put H/C on my old Z06, I supercharged my current C7, installed nitrous on my C8, etc. I am just saying I am not just an intake kind of guy. With that said this job SUCKS!!!! I am going to lay out for you what I did and I hope I can help. The videos online suck, and the threads here are all over the place. For me I am a 2017 A8 with stock manifolds and precats. I dont always frequent here but if I see a reply I will try to chime in ASAP. I ordered my starter from GMpartsdirect and went with OEM. I also used some Cool IT aluminized heat barrier that is adhesive backed and wrapped the starter along with the solenoid since I had it laying around. Heres what I can tell you.

-Jack car up as high as you can, it will help. disconnect battery. Dont fricking lock doors if you carry to another day. If you do like I did, there is a key hole behind the plastic piece next to the door handle, then you get to climb your monkey ass to the back of the car and connect the battery to open trunk lol.

-remove heatshield. 3 10mm i think bolts. Its a pain to wiggle out but it will come. If its to much do next step and then starter is free and helps

-remove 2 starter bolts. They are long

-remove cross brace. This messed me up. I kept thinking the damn motor mounts were on it. LOL No they are not. Dont be silly like me. There are 10-15 bolts holding it in. Once they are all out, it will seem like its loose but still in place. They wheel well carpet snakes under it, and actually hold it up. In the front the is a hook, I didnt actually take it out I just laid the back down when I needed it. leave it up for now

-take out the O2 and set aside still connected

-remove the 4 nuts on the precat to manifold and the 2 at the xpipe. It should be loose

- Now let the x brace down and lay it on your chest and get the precat out.

-Spend the next hour figuring out how to get the 13mm nut off for the power wire and the 1 wire harness. I really cant explain how to do this. Everyone says something different. I broke off the black plastic tab in the way for the power wire and it made it 10X easier lol. Harness you have to lift the saftey tab and just fight it. This is by far for me the hardest part because its so tight.

-Get starter out. Wiggle it, spit on it, rotate, cuss, drink a beer, and when it finally comes out, take a break and regroup.

OK you are half way there. Thats the good news. rinse and repeat, you now get it. I didnt loosen or remove my exhaust manifold, I didnt kick the dog, or smack the wife. Its wild you have to do so much for a starter, but well it is what it is. I can honestly say my car has NEVER and I mean never started so effortlessly. I have a maggie so there is a bit more pressure on the pullies but this ole girl fires right up. I hate that I waited 7 years to do this. My car has 30K miles and is a 5th. I dont drive much, but after leaving me stranded twice last month I was done. In CA right now we are dealing with 100+ days so that heat was a killer. Good luck my friends. If I can help just 1 guy taking the time to write all this shit up is worth it.

Well that sounds like an old school good time. Any time you have to support something with your chest while doing the other work makes it more fun. Bonus points if there is a nice little rock sticking in your shoulder.

I have moved to a luxurious life, as I bought a harbor freight moving blanket that I fold in half and put under where I am working on a car, no more stray rocks or cold concrete for me.

[teddyca]

HAHA Oh it gets better. When the x brace was in place, I initially didnt realize the liner was holding up the brace. I fricking grabbed it to slide me back and it slammed down and smacked me right in the mouth. If it was open I would of busted my teeth and had the "dumb and dumber" look with a expensive dental bill. Instead a little fat lip. LOL

[cthulhucaller]

If there is no pain or blood, there is no successful repair.