Tech

Repair kits are available for specific manifolds now. Your Audi parts department can check for you by the vehicle VIN.

Open the bonnet and remove the large plastic cover between the bulkhead and the base of the windscreen, as though you were going to access the battery. Check for water building up in that chamber. If it has (which it probably has) remove the blocked drain grommet underneath the battery (you will have to move the battery out of the way first).

Sounds like the coolant system has not been bled properly after they replaced the pump. Does the heating get hotter when the engine is hot and you raise the engine revs to aprox 3000 RPM, then cool again once idling for a minuet or two?

Very perculiar, I have never come across such problems with the start stop system before. It is quite a mature technology now and has been around on the A4 since 2009 so all the common issues have been ironed out. The first point does indeed sound like a stop start system issue but points 2 and 3 sound like engine fueling/management issues seeing as the start stop is doing its job and attempting to start the engine. Did any of the faults occur when you was out in the car with the Technician? It may be difficult for them to find due to the sporadic nature of the fault if they have not experienced it first hand. It's Sod's law that the perceived fault doesn't occur when it goes into to workshop.

Chippo, I do not like to discuss my position too much on here as the manufacturer has a dim view on staff presence on forums, but I am one of the senior technical staff in the network. I just keep a presence here to try and offer a bit of technical advice to people where I can. The pads you have in your Honda currently, are obviously the one chosen by the manufacturer for the best combination of usability and efficiency for the type of driving they expect the average S2000 driver to be doing. There is always a compromise to be made with any vehicle component, with brakes it is the compromise between high efficiency when hot and good co-efficient of friction when cold. Racing pads tend to be really good at staying efficient and stopping the car well once they are warmed up (when mated to the right discs of course) - however, they tend to be not so good when cold, and quite noisy/squeal too. The pads fitted to small city cars tend to be much more quiet and have a good co-efficiency of friction when cold (less pressure required on the brake pedal), but would fade quickly under racing conditions. There is always a layer of pad material left on the disc after bedding in, this helps give a good co-efficiency of friction, but it is when this layer is unevenly distributed due to the wrong type of brakes being fitted for the driving conditions that juddering can occur. What exactly were the start/stop failures you have felt? Have you demonstrated them to a Technician at your local Audi Centre?

Its pretty common, I find it is due to those cheap road re-surcacings where thy put a layer of tar down followed by a layer of the loose chip pings instead of doing a proper tarmac job. The small sones get covered in tar and whipped up then stuck to the inside of the brake disc back plate. I have never seen any home-made modifications to stop it.

Hi Elle, Sticking windows on early A1's is indeed a known issue, caused by manufacturing residue in the seal. Take it to your local Audi centre and they should clean it and apply a special spray free of charge for you. If this is a bit inconvenient for you, I suggest you use brake cleaner (from your local auto wholesale/Halfords) on a piece of cloth but you'll need to get right into the channel of the top of seal to get it all out. You'll probably notice that the one touch up/down has stopped working on your windows too if they are sticking that bad so to reset that: Close the windows and release the window switches then hold the switches in the close position again for about 10 seconds, that will re-set it. Bet bet is to give Glasgow Audi a call.

Well, you have kind of answered your own question with regards to incorrect fitting. You would be surprised at how many people fit new brake discs to a car without cleaning surface deposits from the hub at all. This has obvious implications. The bedding - in procedure (something I consider part of the job of fitting new brakes) is also crucial. Warping, from an engineering point of view, is in fact very rare on well manufactured brake discs. We have been speaking of warping, I guess, as what people mostly perceive as disc warping. Most people consider the following symptoms to be a sign of warped brake discs: Juddering when braking High run-out measured with a DTI Discrepancies in disc thickness when measured around the disc with a micrometer Of course, this could be a sign of warped brake discs, but 99% of the time is is not, it is just that people know no better because 'warped discs' is the commonly assumed cause, and they have no access to equipment or knowledge of methods to check otherwise. What is mostly the case is an uneven deposit of brake pad material is left on the surface of the brake disc, causing the variations in thickness that are perceived as 'warped' discs. This is of course colourless and not detectable visually. The most common cause of this is that the brakes have overheated due to mis-use. As the pads reach their temperature limit the transfer of pad material to the disc surface becomes uncontrolled and deposits unevenly. As these deposits are then 'baked on' they remain to give that annoying brake judder which is diagnosed as 'warped discs'. Holding the brakes on once stopped can have consequences if it is following heavy braking (e.g. an emergency stop on the motorway followed by being sat in a traffic queue). This is not due to hot spots on the disc, but rather imprinting pad material to the disc and having the same effect as above. The work load of the brakes between from and rear is much more evenly split nowadays. As the brake compensating valve/proportioning valve has become obsolete and its function replaced by the ESP system the rear brakes can be given a much higher proportion of the workload than in the past. The brakes are applied more or less evenly between axles until the point where there is a chance of the rear brakes coming close to locking, then the EBD (electronic brake force distribution) function of the ESP serves to maintain set fluid pressure to the rear brakes but allow the fronts to keeps increasing, thus rendering a compensation valve superfluous. I personally have not noticed much difference between the mileage that cars with EPB get and ones with mechanical handbrake get and same with the clutch. Of course, it is very much down to driving style and ability, more so than anything else. Tech

Hmm, I've been keeping up with this thread and a few good points have been made, but a few slightly mis-informed ones too. So here is my input: It is worth remembering that Audi are not the only company fitting EPB, even Citroen have been fitting them since 2004 and I do believe one of the very first examples of a production car with EPB was in fact the Renault Modus, about the same time as the A8. It is a very good point that feedback has been taken away from the driver to an extent, and there can be a delayed reaction in the auto release of the parking brake. Hot spots on the discs are really not a concern, the car needs to be held by some sort of brake when stood so whether it is the footbrake, a mechanical parking brake or an EPB, the discs will still be clamped (unless the parking brake works on a drum design such as the Q7). I have never known a set of brake discs warp due to hot spots, it is usually due to imperfect fitting during replacement or overheating due to poor driving. The emergency brake specifically is far better on an EPB style system (if you haven't yet tried it, make sure your on a quiet road first!) It also really does de-clutter the centre console and saves having to make a strange shaped armrest to fit around the handbrake such as in the BMW 3 series. Of course on the downside, the parking brake is a pain to release if the car looses battery power or ignition functionality. One thing is for sure, EPB is here to stay and Audi are only one of many manufactures using the technology. Here is a statement from Audi suggesting the benefits of the system, make of it what you will: The electromechanical parking brake offers many advantages over the conventional handbrake. Greater freedom in designing the interior The handbrake lever has been replaced by a button. This allows greater freedom designing the interior layout, especially the centre console and footwell. More functions available to the customer The electronic control system and CAN network means the electromechanical parking brake includes additional functions for the customer, such as hill-hold assist. Easier to manufacture Since the handbrake lever and handbrake cables are no longer needed, production and assembly of the vehicle has been simplified. Capable of self-diagnosis The electromechanical parking brake is a mechatronic system, so the system functions are continually monitored. The handbrake cannot be applied or released electrically if the battery goes flat but the brake callipers can be mechanically released by a qualified technician.

Ah right I see what the problem is now Mike. For the auto release of the electromechanical parking brake to work you need to have the drivers seat belt fastened and the doors closed, obviously as a safety feature. You only need to depress the foot brake and manually release if you haven't got your belt on or if you have a door open. I'm guessing you leave your belt off to turn around and see better when reversing out of your driveway?

Hi Mike, I am now on my second of the new shape A3's with the electromechanical parking brake. It should work in reverse too. One thing that is apparent with the new A3 is they have gone back to the operating logic of the old A6 parking brake where the EPB control unit must register enough torque from the engine and lifting of the clutch to disengage. Therefore, you need to sometimes apply more throttle than you might expect to have. The also do have a short term hill hold assist feature as standard, which holds on the brakes on a hill for two seconds, just enough time to switch your right foot from the brake to the throttle without ever needing the parking brake. This works on the inclination of the hill you are on and the gear you are in so if you are facing uphill and have it in first gear, it will hold on briefly, but if you are in reverse it will release straight away. Likewise if you are facing downhill and have engaged reverse, the hold assist will hold for two seconds, but if you have first gear engaged, it will not. They do have the optional hill hold assist that you mention with the button for long term hold assist, but they all come with short term hold assist as standard. Try it, the whole system works together quite well when you get used to it. You'll probably find you then only use the parking brake when you actually park up or feel your going to be sat in a traffic queue for some time. Tech

Hi, injection pumps are not uncommon for failing on this engine but it is a very expensive guess. Usually when they fail the car will not start at all. Other than that, the 2.5 TDI is usually a strong engine. It may be worth checking for metal swarf in the fuel pump though. Tech. PS. If the fuel pump does turn out to be the issue, these can be re-conditioned much cheaper than they can be purchased new.

Check the condition of the vibration damper at the back of the propshaft in front of the Haldex/differential unit. If you can move the outer metal mass forward and backward excessively or it doesn't return back to position, this may be the problem. Tech

Yes Mike798, you are correct in thinking that the cooling fan run on period and odour is caused by the DPF re-generation. The DPF can reach temperatures in excess of 700 degrees centigrade during the re-generation period. If the engine is switched off when the engine is running in re-generation mode, the cooling fans have to run to circulate air around the engine bay and cool the very hot DPF (usually bolted to the back of the engine) to prevent excessive heat build up. Tech

Well found