Stevey Y

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.

Hi Gents, my throttle body is showing signs of failure, engine runs on when turned off sometimes as well as a low voltage error code very occasionally, so I had to buy a new one, Audi wanted over £400 for just the valve no manifold then your in for another gasket at £10 but managed to find a unit with a new manifold o.e. for £170, now this is where it gets interesting, most throttle valves on diesels fail frequently because of a build up of sticky tar hanging on the butterfly from where the EGR system meets the PCV system and burns out the butterfly control motor as it is not free to move, the other consideration over milage is the swirl flap operation which becomes bogged down in the same mess, the brilliant part about the Audis Ultra technology is the throttle manifold has it own built in swirl design as per the picture and being as it only carries oil vapour and more oxygen rich air and no EGR gas the valve lasts longer, the EGR is a separate unit which is mounted by the side of the throttle and introduces gas further down the manifold, this is drier and has less chance of mixing with the PCV gases and re burns more efficiently, the other thing I would like to point out is the list of vehicles this part fits which is due to VAGs policy of globalisation, one part fits different models different engine capacities. Steve

Hi thats the timing belt tensioner, don't know when you last had it done but with those things they are best left alone as when it was done the pulleys would have been pinned out and the tensioner set to the diagram supplied with the kit. Steve.

Hi as you say you can't tell from the the videos visually but the the noise rings bells and from the other clue about the emissions failure I would hazard an educated guess that one of the injector seals is blowing by, its a little copper seal that goes between the injector and the seating point in the cylinder head, had it on a couple of my Fords and the sound is familiar, if you follow the clues it points that way as if you were losing cylinder pressure the emissions go up as its not combusting the charge properly, a higher density of unburnt fuel through the exhaust. Steve.

Hi well done and a brilliant photographic documentation of each step of the process, the kit used is definitely a bit of me and I think you are in danger of becoming a seriously good DIY motor mechanic plus there is the satisfaction of knowing its done right!, the alternator clutch has a grip like my missus on my credit card so you have no chance of removal, if you had to do the job again you could do it in half the time as you say its a learning curve. Steve.

Hi if you buy the expensive [£15 trim removal kit] off eBay it makes life damage free except for the panel spring clips which deform easily, upside is you can buy the clips on eBay as well. Steve.

Hi if you can possibly post some pictures of the new motor/water tube connection we might be able to work a solution. Steve.

Hi I can concur with Steve Q as the additional Ethanol added makes it less stable but allows the refiners to make more money as it is a cheap filler as per gov regulation, remember these are the people who told us that we should buy diesel vehicles as they are better for the environment and then spent the last decade trying to hang diesel owners out to dry, I agree with you stick with E5 if you can. Steve.

Hi Tony my car does the same I think its because its linked to the rain sensor on the front if I have my front wipers on auto it does it first thing in the morning if its wet and during the day when its just started to rain. A dying motor normally manifests itself when the wiper refuses to park the blade in the correct position or won't work at all. Steve.

Hi if you look to the top of the boot with it open you should see a black armoured section of cable that runs between the boot lid and the bodywork both ends will have a rubber grommet on either end of the armoured plastic, some you can get one end grommet out and pull it back to expose the wires inside, unfortunately you normally have to get both grommets ou and cut it all with a Stanley knife to fully expose the wiring which Murphys law says is broken right in the middle of the armoured covering where it flexes, I did my daughters Alfa one back last march and just put in some extra short sections in between the broken wires which I soldered in and made repair, I then replaced the split armoured piece using washing up liquid to get the grommets in again and filled the plastic ribbed bit with black silicon and pulled the split together with small tie wraps until the silicon had set, then cut the wraps which left it nice and moisture proof, I believe you can buy a rear section with a new bit of armoured pipe but they are not cheap. Steve.

Hi Gents just bringing this out in to the forum domain, I have found a wonderful little service kit on eBay, its made by a company called Alco in Europe who have been going for fifty years making high quality filters they even make their own filter mediums in house, I have used these filters for 18000 miles [two services] and had no problems whatsoever, every part fits as it should and is very well made, the kit contains Air,Oil and carbonised cabin filter as well as a new sump plug and for forty quid its a good deal which only leaves the oil and fuel filter which if you are DIY is sub a hundred quid for all your parts. Steve.

Hi if you look on the government web site it tells you the years of cars that won't run well on E10, but in saying that E10 has caused a lot of problems with later cars as well the upside is if your cars are not on the list you can take some of the guess work out of it by buying a proprietary fuel additive that will alleviate any problems you might have using E10, there have been people with later cars posting on this site that have been having problems with E10 causing sensors to play up and as extra ethanol will eventually corrode metal parts . I can see why when they change back to E5 the problems cease, European blending of fuels is different from U.K. blending which is why the fuel is delivered raw and blended at refineries such as the big site near me and it is blended to our regulation and then checked by weights and measures before its allowed to be sold Steve.

Hi never quite sure with these as 11 on they altered a lot of things to make it easier to get at them for the dealer mechanics, might be an idea to remove the fan pack as that would give you an extra few inches, some pictures would be excellent as I can see how it comes apart, I admire your persistence and am sure the problem can be solved without removing the front of the car. Steve.

Hi if you take the top plastic cover off above the radiator which from memory is two plastic plunge clips that should give you a better view of it all, mark where each pulley touches the belt with tippex and do a drawing of each pulley and the way the belt travels either behind or over that particular pulley, good kit Dayco and INA are used as o.e., I wouldn't get involved with changing the alternator freewheel clutch in situ as they can be an absolute cow when the alternator is out of the car and on a bench these clutches normally fail way after the alternator and as most replacement alternators have a new clutch fitted its probably a fruitless and consuming exercise, only other tip is make sure you have the belt running true when you pull the tension pin out to release the spring tensioner as you will need Neanderthal strength to pull it back again if you get it wrong and remember to turn the engine over by hand a few turns to settle the ribs on the belt into their grooves, I have seen the new belts try and ride off of the crank pulley. Steve.

Hi I don't know which diagnostic platform you are using but it may well be the new motors need re adaption/relearning, this enables the new part to relearn its operating values it would appear that anything on these cars that has a butterfly in it needs this process, my neighbour fitted a new throttle valve to his old VW Polo which then idled like a bag of bolts until we did a reset on the body and after that it runs like a sewing machine. Steve.