troubled 3.2

[ynot]

Long story, get out your popcorn 

I am a carer for my 90 years young mother, she has most uncomfortable of all curvature of the spin, its like an s hook in both directions, extremely painful.

More recently she can only find comfort in an Audi cloth interior, seats are just right, but it also has to be a sporty type for the stiff suspension as otherwise she gets car sick, she has many troubles including stomach and car sickness, so the Audi fits the bill.

Now to go back a little, 5 years ago we had a Merc c180 coupe and she liked that & found that comfortable too, but after a year the front suspension went, so we put it in to the same garage for an 05 Audi A3 2.0 TFSI £4500, nice car & she loved it, so after a year it came up for MOT, took back to same garage for MOT, £800 later I thought I am not bringing it back here again as he said I am cheaper than the rest, but it wasn't cheaper than Kwik fit, you have more chance with them if something goes wrong, so the next year I take it to Kwik fit, £1500 for all round suspension, tyres that were new the year before & I only do around 7 miles a day 6 days a week & a couple other things, next year it passed no advisory, good I thought, its right at last, but over this time the front wings started to rust & by next MOT the rear calipers were sticking, I thought no more money in this pit and sold it.

Now I need another car, I suggested why not get another Merc C180 as she liked the last 1 and they are quite cheap, so off I go and get 1 just before Christmas £1800, nice car again I thought great were OK now for a while, but no, this Merc had leather seats & no where near as comfortable for her, O f*ck, I have to go find another Audi otherwise she can't go out in it, I find an 05 A3 V6 Quattro s-line £5495, just what I can afford & same A3 type car so should be great right, a bit pricey but looked mint 92000 miles, taken every last penny after insurance and tax, I am flat broke now.

I go see the A3 take it for test ride, bang on, go get my mum to see if its suitable as its half leather interior, I pull up outside the dealers & she says O that's nice just like the old 1, great I thought, took her for test drive, she loved it, paid 5K & the Merc, just glad to have a car she can travel in.

We drive away in the A3 & get about a mile, the engine management light comes on, I said to my mum we will have to turn round & go back, so he turns off the light & says its the MAF, I will get 1 & fit it ASAP, I said OK that's no big deal a MAF meter, in the meantime I noticed the rear wiper was not working, he takes car fits MAF meter & brings it back saying he will take it back & fit new wiper motor, OK I say, he takes it fits new wiper motor, O great I think all good now, is it F*ck, couple of days later engine management light back on, I am bouncing.


Under the new consumer rights act 2015 they are F*cked, you can take a car back within 30 days new or second hand if its faulty & get full refund.

Now I am p*ssed off & I want my money back, talked to trading standards they say I am totally in my rights to as for full refund.

Phoned guy up & told him I want my money back, he try's the old we will fix it, I say no I have had enough & I have the right to return for full refund, I say are you going to give me my money back or not after a lot of to and throwing or do I have to go down the trading standards route, he says well do that if you want, I say I don't want to, I want you to give me my money back, so he says go down the trading standards route.

I have been in touch with trading standards & registered the complaint to keep all above board, I went to hand deliver a note quoting consumer 2015 act & asking for money back.


The thing is he didn't have a leg to stand on legally, he has no CCJs I just don't get his refusal to give my money back.


I lost all faith in the car & all I wanted was my money back, after all I only bought the car 24/1/2020, in 10 days its been back twice & now I can't use it as the management light is on, so I had no car if my mum needs to go anywhere, & the guy knows this as the first thing I said when buying the car was I have to have a reliable car.

 

Then Coronavirus hits and lockdown, I think right I will have to let him try fix again, he assured me it was just a pipe, I say come and get it and fix it, now in the meantime I noticed the handbrake was sticking on as I tried to move it on the driveway, I say I want that sorted too, he agrees to do the work, takes car and 3 days later returns it, says its all right now, bril I think, its now 3 months later, love the car everything is great, but today the management light is back on, I am so p*ssed off with this fault, I don't want to take it back there again and be without the car again.

 

I have bought a code reader to try and read the codes and fix myself if I can, I can't find a manual for the 3.2, I used to do all my own mechanics as I don't trust others to do the work, but that was when cars were easy to work on and without all the electrical sensors, I am more comfortable working on 2 stroke bikes, have an RD250LC I am tinkering with.

 

I haven't worked out how to set up the code reader yet as it uses a mobile phone, it only arrived today and I am a bit of a technophobe.

 

I haven't been under the bonnet yet, a little scared of this cars mechanics.

 

Can anyone point me in the right direction of what and where to look, would also be nice if anyone could point me to a service manual download too.

 

Told you it was a long story, hope someone can offer some sound advice.

 

Cheers Tony

[audia4b5kev]

 RD250LC   oh  nice  still like the older rd  400e 250c 250b   yds7  lol am old    i still have my rd 400e alloy wheels   

[ynot]

Hi Kev, I am a 2T addict, I know my way around them well.

[Steve Q]

I'd take it to another garage for a second opinion and definitely keep on at trading standards. 

Cheers

Steve

[ynot]

I want to keep hold of the car now, I love it, but don't like the fault, don't really want to go through the court to pursue the case and loose the car now, can't afford to take it to a garage, who knows how much that could end up costing, its got to be something quite simple hasn't it ? It drives nice apart from a slight stutter now and then at low revs when pulling away, Its good on fuel too for a V6 3.2, I am getting high twenties around town, I am happy with that.

[Steve Q]

I think if you're not willing to pursue a court case then I think your only option is to save up and get another garage take a look at repairing it. 

Cheers

Steve

[ynot]

Yes, I think its starting to look that way mate.

[Steve Q]

Sorry I can't help more

[ynot]

I plugged in the code reader I bought to see what it said (took some time to work out how to use it) MAF meter again, low air flow it said, good bit of kit and that was only fault found, so I contacted the dealer, he took it again and said MAF meter and replaced the MAF meter again, because my code reader said low air flow, I bought a pipercross air filter too, as it should give more air flow, soon as car came back I fitted it, 3 days so far and all seems OK again, dealer said his mechanic was shocked to see it had gone, he said he fitted a genuine Bosch meter, I wondered then if the 1st 1 was a fake or this new 1, did some research and checked for all the signs of fake meters, checked all I can to see if fake, as far as I can tell it looks genuine, has the correct looking writing and tamper proof screws, couldn't check the sensor itself as I don't have tamper proof torque drivers, so fingers crossed, now wait and see if its right, though I am on edge all the time now looking for the light and praying it doesn't come back on AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!