Stevey Y

Hi they can be replaced, if you go on to youtube there is a video about how to do it, its a bit intensive and involves taking the unit out and heating the edge whilst cutting the sealant away I did it on another car a while ago I think from memory the replacement glass was about £40 plus another twenty for the sealant but even with the time spent about eight hours it still worked out cheaper than a new headlight, the lenses are sold on the internet by loads of companies

Hi thinking about what your friend said, it could well be a blocked or collapsed crankcase breather valve which would cause the sump to pressurise and blow oil past the rings. Steve.

Hi sorry I cant help with that one, the only way to diagnose most problems is to plug in and read the codes have you any access to diagnostic equipment, a lot of people use OBD Eleven which is cheap to purchase and very accurate and can be run on your phone, if other than the light the car ran ok it would not be a major fault. Steve.

Hi could be the EGR if its water cooled they can sometimes leak but that would manifest itself as exhaust gas pressurising the water system, is it a lot of oil or are we talking small globules of emulsified oil as long as the water jacket is not full of it along with the expansion tank you are ok just live with it and monitor the presence of the oil, the only other thing is a perforation in the oil galleries in the block and if that was the case the water would be in the sump oil as well. Steve.

Hi, the 5w-40 is better at protecting the engine at higher temperatures if you do a lot of motorway driving or when the summer heat exceeds the mid twenties, 5w and 10w oils have virtually the same cold flow characteristics when starting the 30-40 end is where they are different i.e 30 is good up to 30 degrees ambient temp whereas the 40 is good up to 50 degrees ambient temp. As long as its synthetic I won't matter. Steve.

Hi if you get the compression checked and that is ok chances are it is probably the timing chain if its not belt driven, apart from that the other thing could be worn cam followers, either of the above are cheaper than a rebuild. Steve.

Hi the remap won't cause oil in the water, being as you have just about changed anything that leaks I rather suspect the garage involved has not spent a lot of time flushing the water system, I did a vauxhall Astra oil cooler for my neighbour last year during the lockdown and it took longer to flush the system than it did to do the cooler, despite our best efforts he still gets the odd bit of mayonnaise in the expansion tank but the car runs fine and has been down to North Devon and back a couple of times with no problems. Steve.

Hi Thomas, clearing the boot is a good shout to start with, if that won't work it has to be a bush I would try the rear roll bar bushes first give em a squirt of silicon spray and see if that cures it if not just work your way around every link i.e. top control arm bushes then lower until the noise stops then you will have the culprit as it was the last item you sprayed. Steve.

Hi good skills as it is easier to add oil than try to get it back out, the MMI oil level indicator is ok but I don't really trust it, so like so many others I am trying to source a Dipstick to put in the blanked off bit, in saying that the pre sixteen Audi models with the bigger engines seem to be easier to get in the UK and cheaper, the only Dipsticks I can find for my 2.0 CNHA engine are in America and with the postage the same as the item £40 its a bit steep for a spring steel rod with a plastic end. Steve.

Try eBay there are loads, just don't buy the ones that are 100w or got that big cooling fan on the back as they are to long and you won't get the back cover on what you need is H7 can bus error free 55w cob led, put some in my daughters Mito last year and with a 6000k rating they are far better, just make sure you get the bulbs that fit the standard connector. Steve

Hi no worries, my missus had an old Alfa 147 which uses a similar front suspension system and they are famous for this the only problem is that Alfa decided it was a good idea to use captive bushes on the roll bar which meant you had to buy the whole bar assembly with the new bushes on it, not cheap and then I had the glorious task of dropping the exhaust and subframe rear whilst supporting the engine on a small trolly jack, what Prawn thought that lot up god only knows, at least on the Audis like most other cars you can just change the roll bar bushes. Steve.

Hi try the rack ends if you can get an assistant to wiggle the steering slightly from left to right whilst you hold the rack end whilst the car is on the floor [not easy I grant you] you might feel the noise you describe, the rack ends have what is like a ball joint on the inner end and the bearing surface is a nylon cup which when worn produces the noise you describe. Steve.

Hi, it is not the suspension top mounts as they have no physical movement or bearing they have a rubber cushion on the top to stop it all from banging up and down when traversing bumps or potholes the suspension strut has no movement other than up or down which is regulated by the strut unit and spring, the actual movement of the hub is regulated by the upper and lower steering arms which perform an arc with the steering knuckle around the static shock absorber assembly. The symptoms you describe when parking sound more like worn anti roll bar bushes and drop links if you consider that the bushes become hard and worn over time they also lose their ability to grip the roll bar, the roll bar is basically a torsion bar that is gripped in place with brackets and bushes very tightly so that when the bar twists the bar makes a creaking noise because the rubber bush is no longer flexing minimally with the moving bar whilst gripping and the creaking is the bar moving inside the bush, if your drop links are worn rather than regulating the movement of the bar they just let it move freely which gives you the noise, if you look under the car when the steering is turned the ends of the bar move in different directions. The reason there is no noise when driving is that there is less resistance against the roll bar as the wheels are moving a lot faster than when static and friction is at its highest from the tyre against the road, arm yourself with a can of silicone spray and soak the roll bar bushes whilst an assistant works the steering, the reason there is no noise when jacked up is because the roll bar is hanging down universally both sides so there is no reason for the roll bar to twist as both wheels have no natural resistance to overcome from the weight of the engine and body when at normal ride height. This problem is endemic of this kind of suspension set up as conventional Macpherson strut set ups have a roller bearing which enables the strut to turn with the steering knuckle which presents less strain on the roll bar when it twists, the downside is that the steering is less precise and the handling is less sharp, try the silicone trick and if that cures it the bushes and drop links are fairly cheap Steve.

Hi Clive the Hydrogen technology is not as far away as you think, Ford had a fleet of Focus police cars on trial with Leicester constabulary ten years ago the police raved about the performance and economy but the only fly in the ointment was yet again the E.U. who were dead against type approval being issued for a hundred petty reasons, so Ford scrapped the project, so now years later there is heavy investment on the stock market in the companies who are producing this technology. as for government policies has everyone forgotten the Ultimate Idiot Tony Blair telling everyone to go buy a diesel as its better for the environment, then less than ten years later all diesel drivers were public enemy number one and since then diesel fuel has always commanded a higher price because according to the government they are more polluting than petrol, they forgot to tell us how much more CO2 the petrol engine produces, in the final analysis its all to do with revenue from tax where do you think they will get the ninety million a year they collect from the motorist fossil fuel purchases when its no longer available, my bet is the electric to charge your car will be about four pounds a kilowatt, how many times are we going to be dragged with our wallets one way then another, I subscribe to my dads theory that you can always tell when a politician is lying, their lips move. Regards Steve.

Hi I can agree with Thomas about OBD ELEVEN as the alternatives are somewhat more expensive unless you have a computer whiz in the family who can get a cracked version of VCDS off of the internet with a cheap Hex cable off of eBay. Steve.

Hi Michelle, sorry about the ECU fault it was the last item I would have thought of, but on a positive note if the ECU is still talking to the diagnostics it a going proposition and should be repairable there are companies all over the UK that specialise in this type of repair and they are normally very successful in repairing these units I use one in Kent and they have saved me a fortune over the years, please let me know how you end up. Regards Steve.

Hi why is everyone with green credentials hell bent on buying a golf buggy, observe the following, Battery life uncertain, disposal of old batteries a mystery,Lithium is highly toxic even the American fire brigade had to contact Tesla who were to say the least vague about how to deal with battery casing leaks, and in the final analysis I cant envisage anyone rushing out to buy a ten year old electric car. One of the Hackney proprietors on our circuit bought a Kia Niro brand new he was always waxing lyrical about how good they are until he tried to trade it in for another KIA hybrid, oh what a surprise with only 45k on the clock the dealers flat out refused to entertain it as they could not be sure of how much life was left in the battery, then they made him an offer, pay four grand for a new battery and two grand for the old ones disposal, then they said he could trade it in, thats real faith in your product. Driving around today subject to this conversation I was playing spot the full electric car, I only saw two a Nissan Leaf and a seventeen plate Tesla, where I live is definitely Audi country the place is saturated in brand new and almost brand new Q3-4-7 and generous sparkling of A4-6 Avants mostly diesel, I think personally electric cars are for people who don't know a lot about cars mechanically and have been sucked in by the hype without having studied the peripheral problems of getting rid of the redundant technology and its effects at least with what we drive now we know all about it, having looked at it logically I think the future is Hydrogen fuel cell or bio ethanol technology. PS the KIA was only two years old when the above tried for a trade in. Steve.

Anything they make is good, the Maximus is about the best all rounder I have been using their products for a few years I started just using the standard cetane booster which is good and moved over to the products like the Maximus, it must work as a couple of times I had to have injector seals replaced on my last Mondeo and the first time my mechanic did it he looked really fed up as he explained with 170k on the clock the carbon build up was probably terminal and he said he often had to take the head off and drill the injector out, I gave the offending injector a little twist and out it popped even he was amazed and after that quite looked forward to replacing the seal on the next injector, as he said to me he had never seen injectors that clean on a direct injection diesel unit, the last seal was replaced at 270k, the additive and good fuel definitely work. Steve.

Hi if you want a better additive that really makes a difference have a look at the Hydra Maximus additive it works for me, Redex will screw your fuel filter in record time. Steve.

Hi my Diesel is used as a taxi and I have been running round town a lot during the lockdown and even I noticed the drop in MPG to around 28-30 mpg, it is an unfortunate facet of the Diesel cars design that you have to take them on a long run every so often to give them a good clear out, with the restrictions lifting I had a good run out to Colchester the other day approx thirty two miles each way, when I refuelled at my local Shell on the way back the expected milage from full was 680 rather than 540 running around town and the car was a lot more responsive it just goes to show it works. town driving is always heavy on the A6 Diesels as the power band starts at 1500 rpm the other thing I have found is that brake wear is accelerated because of all the stop start as well as regeneration of the DPF is more frequent, as Gareth suggested keep an eye on the oil level as this would if dropping indicate engine wear as DPF activity is normally white smoke, try taking it out for a run of at least twenty five miles and see what happens, only other suggestion is steer clear of supermarket fuel as its cheap for a reason. Regards Steve.

Hi I think any car has hotspots for stone chips, I expect they know all about it but won't do anything which rather negates the anti perforation warranty, I have always used a product after respraying the offending area called Rhino film its thick and transparent and applied with soapy water and will take a world of punishment to the point where if it becomes opaque just take it off and apply another lot, its cheaper than paint. Steve.

Hi, try giving the gearbox an oil service and if that won't work then you have a real problem but it would a shame to get rid never really knowing if it might have been something as simple as a service, if it works happy days and it will make the car a more attractive proposition to the next owner. Steve.

Hi Gareth, the information and experience was from changing the wheel size on my last Mondeo whilst having a conversation with a neighbour who was German and was an ex Wolfsburg powertrain engineer who to prove a point weighed a 19inch wheel and tyre on some scales he produced and then weighed the 16inch wheel and tyre, there was four kilos difference to which he remarked can you imagine how much extra power will be used to drive the larger wheels, the simple question that resolves this is why is the VED higher on an S LINE 2.0 tdi than the SE Ultra 2.0 tdi apart from the difference in trim/spec the engines are the same, I asked the question by email to VOSA and their short reply was that the S LINE has bigger wheels, so working it back from what I have learned from the MPG gain on the Mondeo it must have to use more fuel to drive the bigger heavier wheels which equals more emissions. Steve.

Hi not really as its the mechanical side of it that is worn, but if you do get a new unit when separating the electronic driver from the calliper don't unplug the unit as when you finish putting the new calliper on the thing will go stupid and need recoding, just put the handbrake system into pad service mode and then do the work. Steve.

Hi I am assuming its a petrol model, the blue smoke could be valve seal wear, but the fan staying on sounds like a dodgy temperature sensor. Steve.