Stevey Y

Hi I think its a bit harsh to condemn the car out of hand, everything has a value and leather can always be re-dyed and paint can be refinished if the basic structure is still good and the mechanicals are in order what's the problem, someone will love it, if it wasn't for these people we would be devoid of anything to gaze at when you visit classic car shows. Steve.

Hi it took me a while to find it but they definitely have a website with pictures of all the equipment they use which to be honest looks pretty old, that allied to the translation did not make impressive PR. Steve.

Hi have you tried YouTube. Steve.

Hi KSW are a Brazilian company who are currently trying to get a foot hold in Europe the same as NAPA, I am pretty sure your part came from ECP as they like anything thats cheap like NAPA, see how it goes but keep an eye on it, you can't beat a bit of Febi,Mahle,Gates,Ina,Delphi, they have all been around donkeys years. Steve.

Hi do you know which diagnostic platform was used, often as not your average Snap-on or any other unit wont go in to the ECU in any depth what you need is either VCDS or OBD Eleven they have the ability to do a deep interrogation of the whole system, it could be a faulty Maf sensor or a oxygen sensor, you wont know until its scanned with the right platform especially when around that year they began to change the cars software in preparation for SFD from 19 on, if you have an independent VAG specialist near you get them to read it, it wont matter that the garage you took it to can't find any faults, thats because their machine is not capable of finding them, the faults are there believe me the A6 logs everything I know that from my ownership. Steve.

Hi best start would be to get the car scanned for faults then work forward from there. Steve.

Hi most likely that the hose is old and not sealing properly, the oily mess is always present but you dont normally see it unless you have a slight boost leak in one of the pipes, the oil is from where the pcv vents in to the boost section and the valve itself will be on the rocker cover and will have a pipe that goes into the side somewhere below the throttle body so it transfers crank gasses into the induction via negative pressure, if you have a boost leak a lot of what comes out of the pcv falls down the pipe towards the intercooler. Steve.

Hi the restoration kits are a better idea short term as it wont take two days to do the job, if the inside of the lenses are crazed you will need new ones in which case I would find someone to do it for you its a nasty job if you dont have a heat box to put the units in and the right tools to remove the sealant, did a set once on an old Focus nearly two days. Steve.

Hi Cliff you are close but the facts are under TUV regulations the company that supplied the defective items are obliged to supply the non faulty parts for nothing to the producer of that vehicle, therefore the company that supplied the faulty item get beaten to death for it, so there are probably hundreds if not thousands of parts available in Europe but because of Audis spiteful policies toward the U.K. they procrastinate over sending parts as post Brexit they now qualify for higher import taxes, its not like they don't make quadruple the price for the parts by the time they reach the end user over here, I agree how can a ninety grand car thats almost new be so poorly supplied for parts, if you look at the bigger picture Audi as an alleged premium brand are going to lose a lot of customers via their parts prices and customer service, Ford are having the same problem with Puma manual gearboxes so you see queues of them in the yards of local dealers, its the Europeans being awkward, today I went to my local garage to order new brakes for my daughters car while I was down there a chap came in and wanted his four year old Range Rover scanned, turns out his auxiliary heater module had packed up so they ordered a new one from Land Rover twenty minutes later it turns up with made in UK stamped on it, apparently made in Wales, makes you think. Steve.

Hi as Cliff stated we can't hear it, it probably is normal they do rattle but you definitely have only two choices, live with it until it gets louder or go through the expensive process of having it changed now, your choice. Steve.

Hi whoever butchered the wiring originally did so to accommodate the LEDs I would be inclined to consult an auto electrician as they have the knowledge and the equipment to restore the wiring to standard, me personally I hate retrofit LED conversions as they are piles of Chinese cr@p, which don't last. Steve.

Hi is there any history of a service on your box, if not it may be the mechatronic unit is beginning to fail, only way to find out is have the car scanned for faults. Steve.

Hi there is a company called Just German Parts online they may do a repair kit, alternatively look on eBay as I am pretty sure they may sell that type of connector as they are standard across the VAG range. Steve.

Hi it would be very helpful if you could let us know what it is you intend to customise or try and activate as there is a lot you can't do on a model as new as yours, the newer models 2020 on are equipped with a modified software and SFD which is an inbuilt protection system which stops the owner from activating functions that the car may have embedded in the body control modules, I have OBD eleven pro and that struggles on occasions with SFD protected functions, the idea is you are working on an SFD protected function and your system produces a challenge code to the VAG mainframe and its accepted it allows you to carry out that task, if not it just throws it out. Steve.

Hi I would caution against this as there are two EGR systems on your car and as far as I am aware NO ONE has developed the software to disable both, the main EGR never goes but then in the DPF is the other valve and cooler which you can't eradicate due to the complexity of the software involved, as Cliff pointed out the blanking/deletion of the main valve will give you raised cylinder head temperatures due to the hotter gas and most likely premature turbo failure because of the extra thermal stress, apart from which what are you actually going to get for £250 apart from wallet destruction in the not to distant future. Steve.

Hi its doable but you will have to buy a new rear bumper, lower bumper trim and lose the existing rear box for the exhaust, all big money items the bumper skin itself is over £500 without the lower trim and new fixing brackets, can't see why you want to change it when you can't see it while you are driving and I am sure the driver of the car behind wont care either. Steve.

Hi any second hand engine you buy from any place will only have a milage and a short warranty, they dont do service history at vehicle recyclers. Steve.

Hi could well be, how many miles? Steve.

Hi find the pressure sensor and change it, probably about £20 for the part at least that will rule that option out. Steve.

Hi Cliff, struggle no more, the fuel rail pressure at idle [warm] is about 650psi, [cold] its about 850psi this helps atomisation of the fuel when its fed into the injectors, when you consider the Venturi in the injectors is less than four microns, a human hair is six microns, fuel fed in under that pressure will almost instantly atomise and become highly combustible on compression, in effect you dont really need glow plugs they just add an element of warmth that makes the swirl vapour even more combustable, the problem really becomes a problem when you add a DPF to the build, most diesels equipped with these need to achieve a temperature of at least 600 degrees to regenerate especially when most Audi diesels are post injection which means the injection process happens later this is called retardation and the fuel droplets are cooler, this is where the plugs come in and super heat the colder fuel thus making it combust at the front of the DPF core and start burning the soot and unburnt fuel from the core itself, so in essence if they did not have such high pressure in the rail the whole process is chemically impossible. Steve.

Hi try eBay in Europe the Germans seem to have a plentiful supply of low milage used parts. Steve.

Hi if you change it the easiest way is to shut the bonnet after and then take it for a drive for fifteen mins then five mins after park check the level, I guarantee if you open the bonnet before that it will give a low reading, what price a good old dipstick. Steve.

Hi check the exhaust heat shields and the mountings for the exhaust they are rubber and often fail. Steve.

Hi Steve multiple owners or high milage may well explain, that and its age when you consider that the suggested change intervals are 60k, they don't struggle to start in the cold mostly because of the insane pressure from the fuel rail. Steve.

Hi its the oil level sensor in the sump going south, they are pretty useless but the upside is they are fairly cheap and easy to replace, dont buy the Audi gold plated version as its made by Febi and their aftermarket version is less than half price, the whole sensor is calibrated by a bonnet switch on the slam panel so check the wiring up to that just to be sure but its most likely the electrics which are exposed to boiling oil. Steve.