Stevey Y

Hi if it has the fish eye projector lenses they are what is known as shuttered beam headlamps there is a metal plate that moves electrically to cut the light output for dipped beam and when it is moved down by the solenoid thats main beam, the access is via the port under the wheel arch and with the wheel off/on is fairly easy to get at and depending on what type of bulb D5s just twist out and D3s will have a plastic Collar which is a bit more of a faff but twists out as well. Steve.

Hi if you have access to VCDS you can do a reset on the tank level and see if that cures it, also on the advanced measuring values you can check the realtime current volume of the tank also where did you come by the 15 litre figure as when the refill light comes on they only recommend a 10 litre top up which is about right as I refilled mine today with 10 litres and the realtime level was 100%, think you might have overfilled the car that will definitely make it throw a wobbly. Steve.

Hi try what Dave suggested and if that won't work its probably an immobiliser issue. Steve.

Hi I think your battery may be failing as that would throw up most of the other codes, its worth getting a battery status check done with everything turned on, engine lights etc, and see what the voltage drop is like but from what you have described I think its more to do with lack of runs as its trying to tell you I need more electricity, thats why trickle charging is popular, my car is a 2016 with the original battery and no problem probably because it get charged for 150 miles a day as a cab. Steve.

Hi the moisture is normally gained when the seal is degrading on the headlight bulb cover mine is doing it a bit in very cold weather, if you remove the rear cover and give the seal a wipe over with a good quality white spirit and a non scratch kitchen pan cleaner it revives the rubber dry it and coat the seal with silicone grease, the other possible culprit is the vent hose on the unit sometimes they become blocked or go missing. Steve.

Hi if you buy a branded battery fro a reputable source say like our Halfords they will for a small charge code the battery for you as for the rest of it you can buy a lift pump quite cheap $ or alternatively buy a previously enjoyed unit from a breakers site once fitted you drive it for about two miles and when you are happy delete the old codes. Steve.

Hi the problem all remaps have is, the person who wrote the software is probably a computer geek with no in depth knowledge of mechanics, the whole thing relies on an ancient equation that for more power you need more air and fuel, the map just adds more fuel as it can't add air as that setting is already set so in an ideal world you would fit a free flow air filter and a free flow exhaust with manifold to gain any extra power with benefits, the problem is no one knows if the new map has cancelled out some of the monitoring functions in the ECU, I think the VAG guy was right and its the over fuelling that is causing your problem, no point in charging off and looking for leaks and a dirty MAF you will be better off back as standard, if you think remaps are wonderful idea why don't Audi sell them as a service item they would make a fortune but no they would rather still build something that is reliable, the other thing is the source of the VAG emissions scandal the ECU programming was so advanced it recognised when the vehicle was on a rolling road and switched its own mapping to bring down the emissions, ask Steve Q what happened when the cars were remaped with a retrofit software, he worked for VAG. Steve.

HI good spot, ask them if they do a club discount. Steve

Hi I would be very careful ruling out the battery as if you have no prior knowledge of if it was coded to the vehicle it won't matter how new it is the BEM module will ruin it in record time as Clifford pointed out most of the faults are low voltage so the prime suspect is the battery, the rest of it is as I say probably down to the lift pump in the tank. Steve.

Hi I would say a lot of the low voltage faults are battery related as it would appear to be on its way out, with regard to the high pressure pump they often throw that one up when the culprit is the lift pump in the tank as if its not working properly the high pressure pump is not getting enough fuel to pressure the fuel rail which in turn would cause misfires as the injectors are being starved. Intermittent is the word clue which means sometimes the low pressure pump is able to keep up. Steve.

HI its probably a dirty/loose connection under the seat, couldn't tell you which one without a diagram, but the easy way around it is leave the car overnight and then unlock it from a distance, get an assistant to open the door and keep the key out of range, this will give the airbag module time to drain down and it won't cause problems as they only work on 4ohms, then take off one plug at at a time and clean with electrical cleaner the connectors often become loose due to the seat moving back and forth when hoovering the car. Steve.

Hi the synchro mechanisms are mounted on the shafts for for each gear they are a system of speed rings and shims that make sure the shaft for gear 2 is spinning at a reciprocal speed to the next gear 3 when they mesh therefore you get a smooth transition, there is no synchro on first gear so from first to second its the second gear shaft that has to be up to speed with with the first gear cluster, it only ever differed on the old crash gearbox which meant you had to double de-clutch to slow the next gear shaft enough to mesh with the next gear up or down, the advent of hellicoil gears and synchro rings was the architect of todays modern gearbox. Steve.

Hi I suspect you have a leak in the system as it won't work without gas in it as it won't run the system dry. Steve.

Hi I ask what may seem a stupid question but have you ever changed the gearbox oil, I change mine every 50k and the difference with the changes is very noticeable. Steve.

Hi no as the plug caps are designed to be a perfect fit in tandem with the cylinder head plug port depth, to short means the current has to jump an inc to get to the plug, not ideal. Steve.

Hi the code you have is generic but looking at the design of the EGR valve it could just be full of soot this would stop the bypass system from working and normally means the control box is having a problem moving the EGR butterfly and the bypass flap which is vacuum controlled, if the unit is at the back of the engine its a real cow to get out, if its on the side of the engine its fairly straight forward to remove and clean, cheap way round it is buy a bottle of EGR cleaner and put it in the tank and run it, or alternatively buy an aerosol cleaner that you spray down the inlet trunking between the air box and turbo, read instructions remove trunking at airbox end and with the engine nice and warm spray at one second intervals until the can is used, I find Lucas turbo and EGR cleaner works well. Steve.

Hi its one of the levelling sensors but your diagnostic it would seem has not the capability to show which side, one of the members Thomas G did a fairly comprehensive thread on this problem might be worth having a read of that. Steve.

Hi it will have the turbo model stamped on a flat section on the inlet side of the unit. Steve.

Hi I have never heard of this one before I should imagine its a mission as most of the car was built around such things and is a bit of a shoe horn job, only place I could think of is in the boot or somewhere like that but I believe the tanks run to a greater extent on gravity to supply pressure for the pump, might be an idea to bend the pipe to fit. Steve.

Hi no, if you use the same number the BEM won't accept it and will carry on charging at the same rate as the old battery on the new one which will fry the battery in record time, if you are using any of the Audi approved range of batteries they will have a new BEM number on the new unit, if you are using a quality aftermarket battery with no BEM number just change the last three digits of your original number to get it accepted and there are a couple of videos on YouTube on how to do it using VCDS. Steve.

Hi Denso have been producing high end parts for cars for years, they have capitalised in the car parts market by buying older designs of car parts and developing them to another level, example being the injector systems that Ford were using on the MK3 Mondeo to replace the Delphi systems originally used which failed at a rate of knots the Denso fitted cars towards the end of production are the ones that never went wrong, it was basically a system that Bosch designed and sold the design to Denso as they felt they could take it no further, Denso did and turned it into a winner, I have used Denso MAP/MAF sensors on my last two cabs [Fords] as they definitely lasted a sight longer than the Ford or Marelli versions fitted as standard and you know what, my A6 and a lot of other Audis are fitted with Denso starter motors, must have something going for them. Steve.

Hi sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings but it does rather look as though it may well be Arson, I have driven over a million miles in twenty years and only ever seen two cabs spontaneously combust but those were moving at the time, in thirty years plus of working on cars I have never seen a car thats standing for a couple of days flame up, chocolate bars melting on the seats during the summer, dash cams cooked but this is new and sounds like its had a healthy dose of accelerant, I wish you luck. Steve.

Hi before getting the cylinder head removed I would get it diagnosed by a specialist so that they can read the live data on the engine and see if that throws up any electrical faults whilst running. Steve.

Hi Steve the new body will have to be recoded otherwise they idle badly, the EGR seems fine I have run a couple of function tests on it and moves quite freely which I would have expected as the valve itself is a worm driven shaft on the butterfly for the gas and doesn't have to move far as well as having only two main parts to the gearbox, on your car the throttle valve either works or not, might be worth taking off and cleaning just to see if it will do another couple of hundred thousand and its nice to know Kev has a spare just in case, I kind of think our Kev has an Aladins cave of spares for older Audis, I take off my hat to him. Steve.

Hi I would get it changed at about 80k the rule being 80k or five years, I would not be taking any notice of the quoted change intervals as they are based on average milage over time I always change mine at 80k and never had a problem the belt you have just replaced should be 30k or three years as if that one goes it climbs in the cam belt housing and causes the timing belt to jump and spins the cam lobes on the shafts and strips the rear timing gears, new cams, followers, timing gears not cheap. Steve.