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well, they put a new battery in today - mentioned they have changed 20+ battery this week, I did say how come they said it was OK a month ago - got a few umms and aghh and thats what there test equipment said it was fine - load reading and hygrometer readings (do they still do that !!!!!) just been agro really as i have not trusted the car would start and for £200 it was not worth it , i wish i had insisted they changed last time any way £186 for a battery - stop / start car The key fob , for both keys came up with an error - new battery needed !!!! had a play - checked withj garage and they said no errors when the delivered it back this afternoon anyway - i have never changed a battery in the fobs - 14 reg car - so i changed 1 fob anyway and now both keys are OK - strange see how it goes when i dont use for a while and if i get the error again Thanks for all your help and advice here

thanks, that was my discussion with the garage , why they didnt replace the battery when in last November So they will be taking it back in to sort out and properly test as mentioned , and replace

measured battery again today - 3 days since car used 11.57V after a 24mile run at high revs (nolonger get warning) 12.1v Also photo of the battery make/model info

short update, the local garage has agreed to look at it again and refund the £51 i will update with what they find , not online now till next week but - thanks for all the help

Thanks, good point, will call them tomorrow Yep, these guys are just a few 100yds away - easy walk , but they still insist on picking us up and delivering the cars back to us SO i guess I'm paying for the privilege a little or maybe a lot I suspect i will get the £51 refunded if a new batt is needed But we do use halfords for lights etc as they often go on a weekend

thanks I will look into Halfords, our local one has been good They have often come out and sorted things for us - Family been going there for years I was surprised at the changes , but often they do not charge for checking things and changing lights etc Where would you recommend ???? i usually use the local garage as they have been good to us , and often fit things in quickly , sometimes for free and for tyres etc they will match the F1AutoCentres on Price

thanks I did say that to the garage , when they looked up when they changed the battery and said it proably needs replacing - BUT they tested everything (£51 charge) and said all was fine, clearly its NOT so i guess i will call again tomorrow it seems to start fine , no issue , in a garage but cold yep, you can just make out AGM in the image i posted

thanks so much for the reply That was the discussion i had with the garage when they looked up the age and they said they would check it all OUT yep, they did get a decent battery and coded it into the car , as its an autostop/start thing I wonder why the garage said the battery was fine last month , best ask them next week

I get a "Battery LOW warning, battery will charge while driving" Warning, after leaving the car a few days - then once i take for a drive , its ok , until left a few days again took it to the garage and they tested the battery (replaced 5 years ago ) and the alternator and could find nothing wrong I suspect something is slowly draining the battery ben left for exactly 7 days - and got the error message Car started first time I should have measured the battery without the car on at all - But didnt Went on a 20mile run keeping high revs and then i thought of measuring the battery every few days so straight after the 20mile run its 12.16 V DC I see that 12.6 should be the nominal, maybe i should go on a much longer run .... and see if i can get the voltage higher The garage did test the Battery for any drain , thats what they said , for condition as they know its 5 years old and changed it for me 5 years ago - also they thought maybe an alternator fault - but that was fine I have no idea how this drain would be found I had the nearside light repaired , they found an issue with the control unit and took the light out and replaced the control unit and bulb - as suggested by a mate of the garage in Audi (saved a hundreds £££££ ) as a new light would cost about £700 and not sure what that included !!!!! I have a post about the HID light here

thanks , cant find much on youtube for the ballast , just 1 video and its not that clear

thanks Where are the ballast units ? thought they where on the back of the bulb

Hi I have a A3 2014 reg , and the dipped beam buld intermittently goes - I got the warning about it - which was on all the time - BOTH the dipped and headlight do not work I popped into halfords to get a bulb change - which i have done on other cars - as its just as easy for them to put the correct bulb in BUT they say its a HID bulb and they cannot change as its a wheel arch removal on the way home , switched the lights on and it worked ok for about a mile and then went again purchased the bulb DS3 (they checked the reg) - £50+ looking at youtube videos , it does appear wheel off, arch out and then either an anticlockwise twist or some complicted spring assembly got a low level jack and axle stands , garage cant get to it for weeks , been waiting for the rain to stop long enough to start on the job , as i cannot get it into my garage and jacked up with enough room to work on. just a little concerned it may not be the bulb And i purchased 2 bulbs as i read something about colour changes etc , so i may get around to doing both sides Also supposed to be some high voltage on the bulb BUT my question , DO these bulbs go intermittent , I assume a problem with the ballast thing on the back of the bulb - hope so , and should you change in pairs thanks

yep, thats exactly what its supposed to be, BUT, they said that the remote cord would not work if the solenoid was broken. from the conversation, this happens frequently, he even said often, when he gets the calls ,they usually don't have any petrol or very little, but if i could get to the garage they can pop the flap. They would not tell me how they did it, but it must be easy, they do not have the wheel lock, and the wheel stayed on the car and i dont think they took any interior trim as it had a child seat in, and nothing moved. They must have a tool, that breaks the plastic lock, the plastic part attached to the flap itself. know they had to break the plastic inner surround to replace the solenoid I was surprised at the price , i thought that would be the cost of the solenoid alone. Then they did a full car check and video , and i was really surprised that the cam belt needs replacing every 5 years or 140,000 and apparently the time scale has been increased from 4 years. Plus various other things, full service, brakes , brake fluid , almost £2K , so thats when they make the money.

Discussions with Audi, and based on the call its a known issue, and I had it fixed this morning, they even offered for me to POP in and they would manually open so i can use and get petrol in. Not sure how they got in, but they had to replace the plastic on the flap, hinge etc, no need to remove interior or remove the wheel. £96 all fitted parts labour vat included, 2yr warranty on solenoid , fitted while i waited about an 1hr, good covid safety too. Must be a very easy way in , possible breaking the plastic on the flap, not sure how. This should really be a "NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE" as the remote cable should work, but they said if the solenoid is faulty, the remote cable does not work.

thanks, yep, garage said it was a big job, so expensive I suspect

thanks Steve, Yea suspected that maybe a fight Any clues on removing the interior, been trying to find a youtube on how it all comes apart , not done a lot of that, and usually loads of hidden clips I can see just 2 screws near the rear, but nothing at the front...... and if i do get the interior out , i'm wondering how that may help , or is a metal box with the solenoid screwed in from the front ? and so nothing to be accessed from the rear anyway.

no problem, thanks for trying to help

thanks , ried that as mentioned

Hi, Went to petrol station and could not release the petrol filler flap Dropped the back seat, and the emergency release cable , also did not work tried a bit of WD40 around the side of the flap near to the solenoid no change tried opening the car locks , waiting a minute and unlocking again (shown as a fix on A6 same issues) Garage say they will have to take the interior out and its quite a big job any suggestions ? I have a quote for a new flap, hinge , solenoid and sticker from Audi main dealer for under £100 - NOT Painted so i'm thinking maybe cheaper to break off the flap, maybe cut off with a multitool m BUT sparks will be a big issue around petrol filler, so not likely a goer, any more unders how to break without damage to the rear panel itself, I could live with a slight mismatch in colour on the flap, rather than spray the entire rear quarter All ideas welcome

The paint work has a black fleck in it , which is not really noticeable in the photo spent most of today playing in it / driving it , managed to get Playlists to work on the SD card , so now I have most of my music on a 16GB SD card The CD player although works well, is in the glove compartment, so not so great, but reads MP3 added a gallery, put further images there