Leaderboard

It looks like a urinal. 🤣

Hi Mike, Man on Fire, two tips for the fuel filter when changing either get one of those old fashioned Cafe plastic sauce dispensers £1.00 from your local cheap shop and fill it with diesel from that, or the clean way is sit in the car don't try and start it just cycle the ignition on/off for about 10 seconds fifteen times and the lift pump will fill the filter, the oil filter housing is easier if you buy a filter cap removal tool which fits on top of the cap and depending which model you buy will have a nut welded to the metal remover or if you want to be really flash buy the one with the 3/8 drive port for an extension bar. Steve.

So, I decided that Friday would be a better day to do this - as my mate Dave was available to give me a hand today... I start off by breaking down the vast cardboard box the under-trays came in, and use it as a working surface to stop stuff getting on the driveway. I jack and axle-stand the car up, then lay out the parts and tools I'll need on the garage floor... I begin with a couple of easy jobs - replacing the £305 £19 hose 😆 - Beelzebub's spring clip was positioned by Dave with the biggest set of plumbers grips I've ever seen - the metal end was held in place by the clip built into the turbo... Then the main feed from the MAS to the turbo - I tightened the two 10mm bolts up using a short ratchet, as space was tight (plus I have hands like shovels). I used a trick a mechanic mate of mine showed me years ago to set the right hand bolt in place. I put a couple of layers of kitchen roll between the bolt and the socket, making it impossible to accidentally lose the bolt before you get it started... OK - time to get a bit grubby. I get under the car and unbolt the front engine mount from the block - colloquially known as the Snubber. As you can see, this is likely the original one, and is badly perished - in fact, it starts coming apart in my hand. I cut it off using a Stanley knife and bin it... It is remarkably easy to get the new bush on... ...and I manage to refit it, by carefully tightening each of the three bolts securing it in turn, saving me having to loosen the nuts on the socket... Whilst underneath, I reach back and undo the two remaining fasteners holding the damaged gearbox under-tray in place and bring it out... It seems to have a hard life... 🤨 I come up for air and fit the new battery cover in place - working as designed for the first time since I have had the car 😆 Next up - new fuel filter. I must go back and check the old one to see if it has a date on it - because I'm pretty sure it was the original...😱 There's an excellent tutorial guide on how to do this - pretty simple - job here. I fit the two remaining turbo hoses, from underneath the car, without any drama - my hands were too dirty to take pics, though... We start the car up - it took a long time for the diesel to get to the injectors via the new filter - and let it idle for a few minutes to warm the oil. It sounds way better already... 😃 This should be tightened to 25Nm - says so on the (plastic) lid. OMG - it was tightened to Godzilla hand tight. My oil filter socket started slipping - so we put a layer of cloth between the filter top and the socket for some extra stiction, which worked - but that was not 25Nm... 🤨 Once the oil was warm, we switched off and Dave volunteered to go underneath to drain it. A bit thin and watery, he reckoned. We changed the filter and O-ring - tightening to exactly 25Nm when done... 😃 Filled up with 3.8 litres of Quantum's finest, then started up again and checked for leaks. There being none, Dave, once again, nobly volunteered to get back underneath (I'm going to owe him so much beer) and fit the new gearbox and engine under trays - which at least had the advantage of coming with new fasteners. I must say, the quality and fit of these was a bit disappointing. Time will tell whether they are up to the task... 🤔 I started reassembling the top of the engine - replacing the air intake duct and - finally - fitting the engine cover. We removed the axle stands and then checked the oil - exactly on the 'Max' mark 👍 Time to take it out for a test drive. As soon as I drove out onto the road, I knew we'd fixed it. It picked up immediately, without any smoke and - critically - without any intake roar. I drove down to the A47 and drove about four miles in 4th gear - the revs around 4k, then turned off and stopped the engine. On restart, the DPF warning light had gone out - Yay! 🥳 I drove back home and ran the OBDEleven. As expected, it had numerous faults, but I just cleared them all and rescanned it. It came up with the expected three faults - all relating to the after-market radio I have fitted. Most importantly, it does NOT have a P2279 code... 😃 Job done. 👍 Thanks everyone for your help and advice - this place is a great resource. Mike 😎

I'm another victim of the servo fault. First time I had the message on the dash was approx. a month ago and because it said its fine to drive I`ve ignored it. It would be intermittent for weeks until this week when it would stay on all the time. I`ve done over 200 miles since the issue appeared for the first time. I'm really glad I found this forum, otherwise I wouldn't have thought much of the issue as it said it is ok to drive... I really got worried yesterday when I read stories of faulty ABS. Luckily for me I have 7 days of the Audi approved used warranty left so as many people here suggested I`ve phoned the Audi roadside assistance. They didn't have any Audi technicians available today but they asked me if I want the AA or the VW technician to come out. I`ve asked for the VW technician and he was at mine within 1 hour. When I said what the message on the dash says he knew straight away what the problem is, even before he spoke to me he said he knew it will be the servo sensor. He didn`t have any spare ones but he said he will phone the local Audi service and will ask them if they have any in stock, but highlighted that if they don't, I should not be driving the car. Luckily they had a few in stock so he went to get it and was back within 30min. Took him 1 minute to replace it and 15min to record it on their system and the job was done. Im so happy that even though I drove the car for a few weeks with the faulty servo sensor it didn`t cause damage to the ABS unit. Of course the technician confirmed that all models form the VAG group so VW, AUDI, SKODA etc. that use this sensor have the same issue and he has seen a lot of cars where it caused damage to the ABS.

Hi Stuart, Welcome to the forums. I had a similar issue with the rear seat release (from the boot), on my Q5. Luckily i had it fixed under warranty. They said the cable had unhooked from the release handle because the cable had 'stretched'. I laughed and said it is less than 2 years old and i rarely use the release. Sorry, i don't know how to fix it, but hopefully it is a quick fix for you. Joe

harmonic balancer

Looks great,hope you get a load of pleasure out of it ,I have A3 saloon as well and I love it,good luck Dave Wise

Thanks Steve. I always thought that it was Trade Parts Supplies, but looked it up and it seemed to say ….Specialists - anyway TPS will find it! Definitely account holders only now? Appreciating what you say about on line/ local factors having access to all the data, I still come across examples where they want part nos., and getting that information isn’t easy. As you rightly say- of course we can understand main dealers simply not wanting to provide owners with part numbers, so they can go and buy them elsewhere - I wouldn’t if I was a dealer - but cannot argue with the OP’s views re customer service. …. Kind regards, Gareth.