New owner - few issues

[Jay30685]

Hi guys, new owner, never had an Audi before but I have myself a 2004 A3 8P 2.0 FSI. 

Starts and drives but has its few issues, haven't really looked into it yet but when I got it, I was advised that it smokes.. a lot.. white/grey, the water level descends rapidly as does the oil. 

So I've had it running and cannot get it to smoke, gets to temp, fans kick in, stays at temp and is fine. Compression test shows 140psi cylinder 1 and 130psi 2,3 and 4. Nothing wrong there so no idea why it smoked before.. oil seems to be dripping slightly from around the oil cooler area and water is either leaking from back of head gasket or thermostat housing. But is only going down very slowly. Oil level is not visibly dropping. I have not driven the car but had it running a couple of hours stationary.

 

The front and rear wipers don't work. Read somewhere to try disconnect bonnet catch electric plug to see if that cures it? 

 

The heater control is stuck on 21 degrees and the economy button won't turn off (I've noticed that the a/c pipes are not bolted to compressor)

 

Engine sounds like a diesel when warm (is this normal?!)

 

Exhaust manifold blowing.

 

So that's my Audi.. like I say I haven't really had time to check it all out yet but if anyone can advise common issues with any of the above, that would be great to save me some time!

 

Thanks in advance 👍

[Steve Q]

Welcome to the forum Jay :) 

youll find the members on here are a friendly and helpful bunch :) 

sorry to hear your having issues. 

i would have to agree with you that it sounds like the head gasket is leaking. 

With regard to the econ mode for the heater, this button will stay on if the aircon doesn't work. This is the same case as with my a6. Hopefully it's just a loose pipe because if it's the compressor your looking at around £1000 to fix. That's what I was quoted for my a6. 

The exhaust manifold blowing could be a simple case of a gasket failing worse case it could be a sign of a cracked manifold. 

Hope iv helped :)

cheers

steve 

[Trevor]

Hi Jay

I agree with all that Steve has said.

If you get the head gasket, blowing manifold and air con sorted over time, then you'll have a much more satisfying car to drive.

Worth the time and money I would think, but you are a better judge than me on whether it's worth it?

Let us know how you get on with it all

Cheers,  Trevor

[Jay30685]

Thanks guys,

The head gasket isn't something that worries me.. not much diagnosis required and the job is pretty straightforward. I have bought a thermostat and housing to eliminate that first but that's not a big worry to be honest.

Aswell as the economy light, I am unable to adjust the temp from 21 degrees, is this normal? A/c is something I can sort at a later date, as the pipes are removed from the compressor and have been tie wrapped up out of the way!! 

The wipers are a concern as I've unplugged the bonnet catch and no change.. well I say unplugged, someone has previously cut the wires that go to it, so I just unplugged it anyway. But neither the front or the rear wipers work so I need to find fuses and relays to check them.

Again exhaust manifold I will find out when I remove it, I definitely sounds like the manifold is split. I had the same issue on my BMW X5 3.0d but that wasn't as noisy due to being a diesel.

And it's definitely worth it.. I got this car at a very good price! 

Thank you 

 

 

[Jay30685]

Got a couple hours free after work today so thought I'd have a quick look at the Audi..

Well I think I have found the water leak.. it's a small black connection pipe that houses the temp sensor, it's broken, bit has been broken at some point, removed, bodged and re fitted!! 2 of the 3 bolts weren't even tight, no o ring to be found anywhere, the lip that houses the o ring sat inside the head, and lots of black sealant.. 

This is the area I assumed the thermostat housing was, so I was right in a way of where I thought the water was coming from, looking like the head gasket is fine 😁

The front wipers are fixed (fuse had been removed by my cousin (previous owner) and placed back in wrong place). 

Just need a replacement pipe now and can put it back together!

[Steve Q]

Glad you've sorted the wipers and your clearly on the way on fixing the water leak! :) 

repairs made easy as you clearly know what your doing! :) 

[Dan3222]

Nice to see some hands on stuff. Once you get that leak sorted I would be flushing the water system out. It looks like it's had a water leak product in it like rad weld for example. It could have been used because of this leak but alarm bells ringing for potential head gasket like you suspect!!

 

To find the manifold gas leak, get a bottle of slightly soapy water, a bit of washing up liquid is good. Spray solution onto the manifold when it's cold!! Start up the engine and keep adding little bits of water all over. You will see bubbles start forming where the gasses are leaking from.

 

Hope that helps!

[Jay30685]

Yeah it's all nice and easy repairs up to now!  Picking part up tomorrow so hopefully have water leak fixed. Will also be taking it for a drive to get tracking and 2 new tyres on front

Good idea on the soapy water! However, I think once I've removed the heatshields, I will find the leak/s pretty easily. 

I like to think I know what I'm doing haha.. I've always been hands on, do any and all work myself apart from what needs specialist equipment

[Jay30685]

Well I have a fixed water system, new tyres and tracked up, drives well but it's now decided to smoke (the previous owner told me about this but I've been unable to get it to smoke without driving it)

Two things I think could be a possibility, please correct me if I'm wrong..

 

Oxygen sensor bank 1 or 2 (or both)

Faulty injector/s

 

When my cousin first bought the car, I reset the EML for him as it had sensor bank 1 and bank 2 fault codes, it also sounds like a diesel making me think that at least one injector is sticking?

It only smoke whilst on a drive. Head pressure test was 140 130 130 130 so I can't see that being an issue. The smoke is blue/white and will only smoke on a drive. Not sat ticking over 

Thanks in advance

 

[Dan3222]

Can you elaborate a bit more on how the smoke presents.

is it on acceleration?

is it on the over run?

plus, have you wiped your finger on the inside of the tailpipe? If so do you have an oily residue all over?

i am thinking either Headgasket or valve stem oil seals?

[Magnet]

Hello Jay,

Well done on the good progress so far. 

Smoke isdues :- I would ask a question to add to Dan's. Do you know if this car uses any appreciable amount of oil? 

While we await your answer, I too would start to suspect possible injector/s problems, and wonder whether you have any stronger than normal diesel smell when this is smoking? May be difficult to detect on your own, so a following assistant would be handy! 

Diesels are not my field of expertise - what is!? - but if it's not burning oil, and it's not now consuming coolant, then it's not correctly burning the diesel it is being fed. So could well be injector associated issues. 

Fairly simple test - for those who have the equipment - is a leak-back test which will point you towards whether the injectors are serviceable or not. If not, an alternative to buying new (expensive?) could be to find a local diesel specialist who generally recondition these at a more reasonable cost over new.

Kind regards,

Gareth.

[Dan3222]

My bad Gareth, I thought this was a petrol. Then injector problem could well be over fueling and causing white-ish smoke.

[Jay30685]

Right, I've taken it for a drive, it only smokes (more blue than white) under hard acceleration, driving normally is fine but blue smokes under hard acceleration.

 

I'm now thinking piston rings.. regardless of the compression test, I think the oil seals are giving way 👎

[Magnet]

Hello Jay,

The compression test will confirm what it says, and despite good sealing compression rings, the oil control rings may well be rather past their prime and not adequately preventing oil passing through the rings and getting burnt. 

Having said that, you don't tell us whether the car is actually now known to be burning oil and if so at what rate. What mileage has it done Jay, and what do you know about its servicing history - or lack of it. Not meaning to be unkind, but judging by the photos you posted of part of the engine it looks like the dear little thing might benefit from a bit of loving care in the servicing department.

I say this, since if it were mine, I would add some oil flushing agent and follow the instructions for its use. Then drain the oil, treat it to a good (say VAG or Mann) oil filter and add fresh - say fully or semi synthetic 15/40 (a bit heavier than recommended probably) to the  max. line, then monitor the smoke and consumption from there and see how it goes. 

Kind regards,

Gareth.

[Jay30685]

Sorry forgot to add that, it's done 128k, no idea on service history as it came with no paperwork, looking around the engine bay, it's had a hard life so is need of a bit of care and attention, something it will get, I am considering pulling the engine out and fully rebuilding it, with all new internal and external seals, gaskets, bearings etc, it's tappy at the top end as if it's been ran very low on oil, I've paid £370 for the car and can do all the work myself so I think it will probably be worth it if I went down that route.

However, it does not smoke under normal driving, only towards the top end of the revs under acceleration

[Jay30685]

Also, I have not done many miles on it 20 at most, oil level doesn't appear to have moved in that time, but it's not enough miles to tell really as only smokes when input my foot down, I drive my van most of the time, car is only for when I have the Mrs and kids with me which isn't very often at the moment. 

I am actually a mechanic, currently going through the process of setting up my own garage, however, I am very unfamiliar with German cars and have always pointed people to local German car specialist due to everything being coded how it is, my diagnostics is next to useless on these, looking into getting the diagnostic equipment for them though and see how I get on with this one as to whether or not I decide to get into them or not. I also have a Merc Vito van and that has been straight forward to work on so far. 

 

So, as previously stated, I will flush the oil, change the filter( whilst fixing the oil leak near water cooler and filter housing) and see how I get on over the next few weeks. It's not used very often and was hoping there would be a common problem on them that caused it, but have high suspicion now that the piston oil rings are letting go.

 

I'll update once I've driven it more etc 

 

[cliffcoggin]

Jay.

Unlike you I am not a mechanic, so I see things a little differently. It doesn't matter to me whether a car is made in Germany, Taiwan, France, America or Timbuctoo, they all use internal combustion engines which all work the same way. That means if it is burning oil then the possible faults are:

[1] Rings or bores are worn, though your compression tests suggest otherwise.

[2] Valve stem seals are worn.

[3] Crankcase ventilation is allowing oil into the inlet manifold.

Given all the other faults you mention and the lack of service history I begin to wonder if have have bought a dog. Is it really going to be worth investing time and money to put it right?

[cool]

I just ordered a new audi a3 Sportback s-line. Based on what car and carwow reviews, I asked them to downgrade sports suspension to dynamic suspension (as on SE models). This is because 60% of my driving is on local B roads and A  mostly. I still have time to change my mind to revert back to standard sports suspension. Any advice/experience you have had on sports and SE suspension, deeply appreciated.

[Dan3222]

Hi Dayan,

 

You might be better reposting this question as a new thread as you will likely get a better response.

Could one of the Moderators do this for Him?

 

[cool]

Thanks, Dan.