Stevey Y

Hi I probably didn't read the first post comprehensively, I know how sensitive the electronics are on these cars I have had the same message on my car a few times but it clears itself after a few drive cycles, sort of thinking it might just be a coincidental fault and there is not a day goes by that I regret getting VCDS as I scan the car every month and find loads of one hit codes that when deleted don't ever appear again, I am of the conviction that some of these faults are written in by the software writers to appear at certain milages to make work for the dealers, might be worth consulting an auto electrician with the codes you already have from the IDOS system at Audi, I don't think its anything to do with the replaced fuse, are you sure all the fuses you removed were pushed home properly?. Steve.

Hi Steve I am sorry to hear of your problems, in my humble opinion the obvious route would be a standard rebuild as performance rebuild would be a bit much in view of the milage, too much stress on an old lady, better to rebuild the original engine as standard and the rest of the money on restoration of the chassis, my friend who owns the garage I use bought a MK3 Escort Cosworth as a basket case, basically a rolling shell with all the trim inside it and no engine, £8,000 he is now driving himself mad building an engine that will run about 400bhp the parts costs are horrendous thats without his time and expertise, I can see it with this car as they are rare but what you must consider is will the car you own ever be classed as rare and will it warrant vast expense in view of the imminent arrival, therefore to get the best of both worlds rebuild the engine and see how it goes as the other route is you appearing on CAR SOS in ten years or so. Steve.

Hi I strongly suspect that its the reader coil that has had a meltdown when you connected the charger, did you connect it to the battery directly or the jump posts under the bonnet as direct battery connection of a charger is a big NO,NO on these vehicles. Steve.

Hi Steve, it was just a shame I trashed the balljoint rubber boots as they were spot on for 150, 000 miles but I now know that when these degrade that I can get away with poly bushes on the inner, just found out Audi do a repair kit, yep the inner bush although at £95 inc vat you might just as well pay the extra £20 and have a whole new arm, Audi price £220 per arm depressing their sense of humour. Steve.

Hi Gents, I started to suffer some weird handling on the front of my A6 so I ran the car down to the garage I use so I could borrow a ramp, soon saw the trouble it was the Banana arm bushes as named in the trade, A.K.A. front rear lower control arm, anyway managed to get a deal on Lemforder replacements they must be o.e. as someone had ground most of the VAG numbers off of the castings, I assumed that the whole arm and balljoint must be knackered so I butchered the balljoint boots with a forked joint splitter only to find the balljoints themselves were perfectly serviceable even after 150, 000 + miles, on reflection I could have got away with fitting power flex bushes on the inners, hey ho time is money, but I thought I would publish this as they reckon these are a weak point on Audis, so if some monkey MOT tester tells you they are gone make sure they look like this before you launch your wallet at them. Steve

Hi Tony I run my car as a cab so have a look at the pictures of my filters at 9k every changed every three months. Steve.

Hi sounds like you are on the right track with the injectors but before you throw money at them have a leak back test done as that should tell you definitively, did a Skoda recently that was loosing 30ml of fuel in 40 seconds thats where the fuel pressure was going, you have replaced everything that normally causes your symptoms, normal leak back should be about 3ml a minute. Steve.

Hi best policy is every 9k or annually whichever comes first. Steve.

Hi as you quite rightly point out no one has yet reported in on the performance of the tyres on newer models, I think it will be pleasing to actually find out real time how you are doing at 10,000 it might instill a bit more confidence in potential new owners, I sort of gained the impression from the author that he might be doing near what I do a month about 2,800 miles a month, I wish you all good luck with your tyres. Steve.

Hi had a quick look and it is most likely yours is the one with the sensor mounted on the cylinder if there is no obvious sign of a pedal switch, they are a bit of a fan to change as you have to remove the scuttle cover and the the box under the ECU and a ton of connectors to get at it, good video tutorial on YouTube its the same for that years A6. Steve.

Hi good question, with the transducer there is no way of checking as they are solid state, I agree with the clutch master cylinder switch idea as a while ago I had about three on the bounce all failed within a month of fitting they are plastic crap, not sure if yours will be the same as mine but I will look on my parts system and see if its the same with the switch sensor mounted on top of the master cylinder. Steve.

Hi the part number you gave was for the main in tank sensor/pump there is also a secondary unit next to it under the rear seat but I just found a new Bosch unit on Autodoc for £150.00 and they are not hard to fit. Steve.

Hi are you talking the ones on the low pressure pumps or the one on the end of the fuel rail. Steve.

Hi have you had the battery checked as some of those codes are low voltage. Steve.

Hi I don't think you have read the first post properly at no point did the author mention 4000 miles, come to that no other person involved in any reply mentioned that figure either, I think the original post mentioned 7-10k which I would personally take in view of the fact same as me does a fair amount of driving over a month, if you only use the vehicle over short distances on mostly good roads you will probably achieve higher milage, driving style will always impact tyre wear but if you read the post he states he is getting 25k out of the tyres on a discovery which would indicate he is not using rubbish rubber or driving like a lunatic, the other fact is Q7s have a well documented reputation for tyre wear, they can't all be lying. Steve.

Hi if the washer got between the belt and the crankshaft gear the washer has probably moved the belt timing only way to check is strip it down and re time it, if it still won't turn [by hand ] then something is bent its no good trying to turn the engine over without it being timed up as there will always be a loss of synchronisation between the two elements camshaft/crankshaft so that means an open valve. Steve.

Hi any garage should be able to check the compression electronically, chains can last anything from 60k to 200k dependent on oil service and oil grade used and they won't rattle on start up way before that you will develop what seems a misfire which is the crank/camshaft synchronisation going to pot, the chain guides are made of nylon and are prone to wear or breaking up, thats why I suggested getting a diagnostic scan as if there are any faults to do with the timing, walk away, there are a few of them on here that have had cam chain problems with much lower milage, at the end of the day the whole car has done in excess of a 100k and everything is tired suspension, engine, gearbox and speaking from experience with my car at 150k I am experiencing suspension bush failure and that is not cheap, given the age of the vehicle and the milage unless you intend to do a lot of the work yourself I would be inclined to get something else with less miles, its cheap for a reason. Steve.

Hi treble smoke is very possibly is either valve stem seals or a sticky compression ring, turbo seals I doubt but an easy check is remove the intake for the turbo and manually pull the vane boss up and down and check back unforward for end float should be about 1mm up and down with no end float from side to side, I would also be checking for scanned faults and any history of cam chain replacement as at that milage all four chains are well on their way, if its dirt cheap buy it and run it until it dies, turbo recon about £600 for the part and a cam chain change anywhere over £3000. Steve.

Hi yes the dash lights will still work the only other thing I can think of would be the pick up on the ignition switch, start from the beginning, did the car crank ok before you changed the battery and who changed it, you stated that you replaced the switch was it new or second hand, the switches should have a transducer ring near the barrel or around it these are very prone to voltage spikes. Steve.

Hi wherever you take it to get the work done will probably remove the filler flap and send it to the paint mixer and they will scan it and mix the paint to that, mine is a grey pearlescent and apparently the guy who did the work said there are about five shades of that paint code so he removed the flap and gave it to the paint supplier and bingo perfect match. Steve.

Hi if you have a wheel specialist in your area they will be able to advise you on the spacers as they will have the information as to what size spacer will bring the offset back to factory on the new wheels. Steve.

Hi no lack of coding will only knacker your new battery in record time but won't prevent the cranking, a lot of the codes are very old according to the dates on the faults I can only suggest that you clear them at some point, the only code of interest is P2015 as if the throttle valve is not reaching its start position that would prevent it starting but not cranking, what diagnostic platform are you using, due to the lack of any relevant codes for cranking failure it could be an immobiliser problem, I think this might be a auto electrician job as they will be able to test continuity of voltage between the key and starter and the immobiliser function. Steve.

Hi just because it has not got stop start it will need to be coded as the stop start has nothing to do with this, but the battery energy monitor does and thats what controls the charging from the alternator, with regard to the clutch position sensor I am not sure what type you have if its on the pedal its clearly visible and will be sitting just above the pedal so when you press the clutch down you will see the little pin in the unit start to drop down, if the sensor is on the clutch master cylinder you have to change the whole unit, easiest thing to do is get the vehicle scanned for faults as I am sure that will tell you straight away as at the moment it could be a starter, crank sensor, clutch switch, sorry I can't be of more help. Steve.

Hi most Ford timing belts are a dream to do, [except for the new Transit] where you have to do the wet belt if you have any sense, the guy I use has the universal cam pin kit for Audi but still had to use drill bits to lock out some of the gears as the kit didn't have the right pin for my engine, I swear they do this on purpose to stop people having a go themselves, the pin and locking kit I bought for my 2.0 MK4 Mondeo worked on the 2.0lt and both my 2.2lt models, I think you have to go for TDC and find bits to fit the holes, most of the engines are the same but are given different designations to confuse everybody, DETA,CNHA, CDUD. Steve.