Oil service light

[Felton]

Hello, I took my 2024 A6 40 TFSI to Halfords to have an oil and filter change. Everything was fine apart from they were unable to turn off the oil warning light on my dashboard.

They tried for at least 45 minutes but gave up as there's a gateway in the software that they cannot bypass.

To be fair they advised me to take it to an Audi dealer to remove the warning and they would reimburse any costs.

I called Audi only to be told that as I didn't get the car serviced by them they wouldn't remove the warning.

This now leaves me in a predicament. As you may know as long as you take your car to a reputable company who use genuine OEM parts, this is acceptable and won't effect the warranty or resale.

Not sure what to do so any assistance would be appreciated.

Thank you.

[Stevey Y]

16 minutes ago, Felton said:

Hello, I took my 2024 A6 40 TFSI to Halfords to have an oil and filter change. Everything was fine apart from they were unable to turn off the oil warning light on my dashboard.

They tried for at least 45 minutes but gave up as there's a gateway in the software that they cannot bypass.

To be fair they advised me to take it to an Audi dealer to remove the warning and they would reimburse any costs.

I called Audi only to be told that as I didn't get the car serviced by them they wouldn't remove the warning.

This now leaves me in a predicament. As you may know as long as you take your car to a reputable company who use genuine OEM parts, this is acceptable and won't effect the warranty or resale.

Not sure what to do so any assistance would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Hi the reason for this is the year of your car, VAG fitted all vehicles with SFD software protection which stops anyone outside themselves from performing a lot of simple functions so they have to do them and charge a shedload for it, it used to be that you could do it on the MMI but thats gone, the only way you can do it now is with OBDEleven pro which has the ability to disable SFD, its not too expensive and would be a worthy tool for the future as you can also reset your inspection milage as well, I discovered all this when I bought a 2021 Passat so I bought OBDEleven that allowed me to reset it all, then I discovered on YouTube that you can reset it all by using the trip distance button on the dash, but in saying that I have since re adapted a sensor and coded in my new battery, all in all its saved me about £400 in diagnostic charges at  the dealers.

Steve.

[Magnet]

Hello Paul,

I would suspect that you use Halfords to service this virtually new car - worth tens of thousands of £s, to save a little money. If your Halfords centre is anything like my local one, their tool chests are surrounded by a certain three letter national motorfactor’s own brand filters - emblazoned by a once respected bought out brand name. Would I use them on our 175K car? No, I would use well respected aftermarket ones, but of course it’s your call. 
Can we take it that they are able to formally record this servicing information on VAG’s computerised service history system -? 
I doesn’t surprise me that VAG are not making it easy to  extinguish servicing lights, and really who can blame them? 
Please don’t think I have any support for main dealers, but I do think - for right or for wrong - that using them during the warranty period does give you a better chance of getting warranty claims sorted. After that, simply use a trusted local garage. 
Kind regards,

Gareth.

 

 

 

 

[Felton]

2 hours ago, Stevey Y said:

Hi the reason for this is the year of your car, VAG fitted all vehicles with SFD software protection which stops anyone outside themselves from performing a lot of simple functions so they have to do them and charge a shedload for it, it used to be that you could do it on the MMI but thats gone, the only way you can do it now is with OBDEleven pro which has the ability to disable SFD, its not too expensive and would be a worthy tool for the future as you can also reset your inspection milage as well, I discovered all this when I bought a 2021 Passat so I bought OBDEleven that allowed me to reset it all, then I discovered on YouTube that you can reset it all by using the trip distance button on the dash, but in saying that I have since re adapted a sensor and coded in my new battery, all in all its saved me about £400 in diagnostic charges at  the dealers.

Steve.

Thanks for the response Steve. Much appreciated. I'll look into OBDEleven pro.

[Magnet]

Any answers on the computerised service logging on the VAG system Paul. 

[Felton]

2 hours ago, Magnet said:

Hello Paul,

I would suspect that you use Halfords to service this virtually new car - worth tens of thousands of £s, to save a little money. If your Halfords centre is anything like my local one, their tool chests are surrounded by a certain three letter national motorfactor’s own brand filters - emblazoned by a once respected bought out brand name. Would I use them on our 175K car? No, I would use well respected aftermarket ones, but of course it’s your call. 
Can we take it that they are able to formally record this servicing information on VAG’s computerised service history system -? 
I doesn’t surprise me that VAG are not making it easy to  extinguish servicing lights, and really who can blame them? 
Please don’t think I have any support for main dealers, but I do think - for right or for wrong - that using them during the warranty period does give you a better chance of getting warranty claims sorted. After that, simply use a trusted local garage. 
Kind regards,

Gareth.

 

 

 

 

Hi Gareth, thanks for the response and yes it does save money. Audi would charge around £100 more than Halfords just for an oil change. Plus it's convenient as Halfords are 10 minutes and Audi 45 minutes away from me. 

I've had allot of Audi's and have always used Halfords for Servicing. It's never caused an issue in the past, whether it's warranty or reselling the car.

It's just disappointing that you spend allot of money on a car and all I'm asking for is for them to plug a laptop in to reset the service notification. Halfords would pay for them to do it !

Thanks again.

Paul.

[Felton]

3 minutes ago, Magnet said:

Any answers on the computerised service logging on the VAG system Paul. 

Thanks for your response. I'm not sure, Halfords didn't mention anything other than there's a gateway that thier system can't bypass. They tried for a while but just gave up.

I guess this is going to he a problem for anyone not using Audi for servicing! 

Thanks again

Paul.

 

 

 

[Magnet]

Hello Paul,

Using a third party to service the car, then asking the main dealer to switch off the service light?
Some would say, it’s a little like buying a steak in Tesco, and asking your local restaurant to cook it. 
Thanks Paul, and sorry to chase, but the forum would be interested in the answer to logged into Audi’s system or not. 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 
Overlapped post. 

[Felton]

6 minutes ago, Magnet said:

Hello Paul,

Using a third party to service the car, then asking the main dealer to switch off the service light?
Some would say, it’s a little like buying a steak in Tesco, and asking your local restaurant to cook it. 
Thanks Paul, and sorry to chase, but the forum would be interested in the answer to logged into Audi’s system or not. 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 
Overlapped post. 

Lol. Yes it is like asking a local restaurant, but I can only ask Audi to do it so I'm stuck. 

I'll obviously have to reconsider where I take it for the next service !

Just answered the other question.

Kind regards

Paul.

[Magnet]

I probably shouldn’t judge, but the majority of buyers now are savvy enough to first check the VAG system for the service history. If you are not sure if it has been recorded or not, then it will cause concern in the future, and depends on your record keeping to confirm it has. 
Whichever way you look at it, buyers are going to favour dealer serviced vehicles during warranty, rather than third party serviced ones. 
OK, I appreciate you save £100, but that’s less than a coffee a week, on an annual expenditure or ‘monetary investment’ running into tens of thousands. 
Still, just one persons view. 

[Magnet]

Might be worth trying an independent who doesn’t use 

xxxxland filters Paul.

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

[Felton]

12 minutes ago, Felton said:

Thanks for your response. I'm not sure, Halfords didn't mention anything other than there's a gateway that thier system can't bypass. They tried for a while but just gave up.

I guess this is going to he a problem for anyone not using Audi for servicing! 

Thanks again

Paul.

 

 

 

 

7 minutes ago, Magnet said:

Might be worth trying an independent who doesn’t use 

xxxxland filters Paul.

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

I'll look into it Gareth.

Thanks

Paul.

[Stevey Y]

20 hours ago, Felton said:

 

I'll look into it Gareth.

Thanks

Paul.

Hi from the top, as long as you have the first service with the dealers you are then entitled to take the car to any garage that turns over £30,000 a year + and pays VAT to have it serviced, as long as they use O.E. parts, Hengst or Mahle oil filters and Quantum oil all is good, these people know the vehicle is under warranty and by law have to fit the right part as they dont want any fall out in the event of a warranty claim, as for the service history Paul will have that in real time with his bill and resume of what's been done which to my mind is better than the the two sheets of Andrex that Audi supply with minimal information, when I first acquired my car at 36k I applied for their version of service history is all it told me was they had investigated a squeal on the front of the engine and replaced the timing belt and replaced it, when I phoned Manchester Audi they refused to tell me what parts they had actually replaced as it infringed data protection, really?, my suggestion is Paul arms himself with the right tool which will more than pay for itself at the next service and then have the ability to do his own resets, £100 is not to be sneezed at, as for future buyers if they have done their research they know its not worth the Andrex its printed on and how many times have we had posters claiming they have full service history from a dealer and they wont honour the warranty, you know full well what they are like.

Steve.

[Felton]

23 hours ago, Stevey Y said:

Hi from the top, as long as you have the first service with the dealers you are then entitled to take the car to any garage that turns over £30,000 a year + and pays VAT to have it serviced, as long as they use O.E. parts, Hengst or Mahle oil filters and Quantum oil all is good, these people know the vehicle is under warranty and by law have to fit the right part as they dont want any fall out in the event of a warranty claim, as for the service history Paul will have that in real time with his bill and resume of what's been done which to my mind is better than the the two sheets of Andrex that Audi supply with minimal information, when I first acquired my car at 36k I applied for their version of service history is all it told me was they had investigated a squeal on the front of the engine and replaced the timing belt and replaced it, when I phoned Manchester Audi they refused to tell me what parts they had actually replaced as it infringed data protection, really?, my suggestion is Paul arms himself with the right tool which will more than pay for itself at the next service and then have the ability to do his own resets, £100 is not to be sneezed at, as for future buyers if they have done their research they know its not worth the Andrex its printed on and how many times have we had posters claiming they have full service history from a dealer and they wont honour the warranty, you know full well what they are like.

Steve.

Great response, thanks Steve 👍