Stevey Y

HI the best thing to do is get it plugged in and scanned for faults, other than that it could be any of the following, throttle body, plugs, coil packs, low fuel pressure, if you see what I am driving at I guarantee there will be a dtc or two in there which will identify the problem. Steve.

Yeah I see your logic as most modern car owners haven't even got a basic socket set but seem to be tech savvy which is a shame really as if you purchase something like OBD Eleven Pro for about £140 that has the same level as VCDS when it comes to coding and activation, bit like a starter kit and if you don't want to go any further so be it. Steve.

Hi I wish you luck as it is not for want of trying and I think your analysis may well be correct, thats the problem with the later cars and yours every thing is daisy chained together so if one part fails it might be caused by the next part down the line beginning to fail, bit like MAF and MAP sensors they communicate but 9/10 times you just get a code for the MAF so if you replace it the problem reoccurs as its really the MAP that was failing. Steve.

Hi Ken, totally correct as unfortunately this seems to be an ongoing problem with VAG engines from late 2007-2014 they really should have done a recall but were just content to keep selling the new and improved tensioner, I am going to see the garage I use for cam belts and clutches he has over forty years knowledge of dealing with this type of thing and will no doubt give me his honest no nonsense opinion on what happened in your case. Steve.

Hi it looks like the ECU has locked itself out because it thinks it is being stolen which I think may be the immobiliser which is mounted in the cluster, just try this before you hurl the unit back to ECU Testing, disconnect both battery terminals and touch them together for thirty seconds and then reconnect the battery if that won't work its probably the cluster in which case give them a ring and email the diagnostic scan to them its guaranteed which is a plus but if you explain what happened after the refit I am sure they will be able to help you, at least you know its not the ECU. Steve.

Yep but what I was trying to point out was why pay them when you can do it yourself without going through the British Embassy is all you need is VCDS.

Hi oil pressure is virtually instant it has to be or the big ends will knock, I don't know what milage you have done but if you have never changed the chain/tensioner it is of the old variety, most hydraulic tensioners have a spring inside which holds the position of the piston against the chain for a couple of seconds until the pressure from the oil arrives, VAG in their infinite wisdom chose to use another design which uses a ratchet system similar to a rack on steering, the idea is that the ridges on the piston when the oil pressure drops engage with a small male ridged pawl that sits above it and stop the piston moving back maintaining the pistons position against the chain mechanically, my guess is the pawl on your unit has failed and stripped its teeth away allowing the piston absent oil pressure to go further into the tensioner housing therefore making the distance to engaging with the chain far greater than normal and allowing it to jump, apparently this is quite a common problem and guess what VAG now do an upgraded version with a spring in it. Steve.

Hi only way to find out is by having a diagnostic scan which should throw up the fault. Steve.

Hi why do you think all car manufacturers refer to the UK as Treasure Island, because they can sell us basic models for a premium rate without telling you what else is available as I said before a lot of extras are built into the cars but have to be activated, take a look at youtube thats how I got the key fob activated opening and closing going as well as the auto mirror tilting when reversing, all done with VCDS. It was all there just needed waking up. Steve.

Hi the item in the previous post looks just about right, I at first baulked at the idea of paying for a diagnostic device until my wife pointed out how many evenings I had come home stressed to the eyeballs about a light on the dash or it wasn't running right keeps missing and then we had the day off afterwards to go book it in to the garage I use, then driving round with the problem for a couple of days before it went in. My Wife and Daughter forced the issue seventeen years ago by making me choose a unit and that was my birthday present, I have never looked back since as I have built my unit up with different generic softwares and cables the latest being VCDS which has paid for itself ten times over, I had only had my car two years and it started what I would term as misfire , plugged it in and got a code for oxygen sensor bank 1, bearing in mind I had no light on the dash I bought another sensor for £60 and changed it in twenty min, saved myself a ton of labour and the garages mark up on the part, I can change my own rear pads as I have the parking brake service mode facility I even changed the throttle body on my daughters Q3 and readapted that, should you wish get the basic unit but I guarantee you will be looking to upgrade sooner than you think as if you work out what you save on garage bills its a no brainer. Steve

Its not a leaking valve problem they all do it if you let them sit for to long the oil in the valve syphons back.

Hi OBD Eleven is a good shout especially if you get the Pro version as this has most of the functions that VCDS has, part of the problem lies with not retrieving codes which will tell you whats going on inside the cars Can Bus system, loss of communication etc, I do not believe for one second that the ECU has gone west but if you get the correct manufacturer specific software platform you can code new parts to the car I.E.new battery, make adjustments, read live data whilst running, perform readapting of new parts, without the DTC reading facilities its like going to your doctor and telling him your nose hurts he will certainly want to look up it and pull it about a bit and have a blood test done. If as you say you have worked with Can Gateway systems before this should be a piece of Pixx for a man of your calibre and enable you to erase all the one time two years ago codes that are probably taking up valuable storage space in the various control modules on the car, I get it on my cab and once a month I have a clear out of all the random codes like the boot motor implausible signals where some Wassoc has tried to shut it by hand rather than use the button to close it, there are NO fuses in the instrument cluster and if you get a diagnostic unit you won't be flying blind anymore or relying on garages to tell you whats wrong and OBD Eleven is about a third of the price of VCDS. Steve.

Hi if you are going for new discs all round just buy the high carbon drilled discs as if you get drilled and grooved they are very noisy when having to stop about half way through the pad life and if you look at most standard performance brakes on say Merc/Porsche they are drilled only, apart from which grooved discs annihilate the pads in record time. Steve.

Hi good skills, you have saved another future classic from knackers yard, top choice, no other feeling in the world like blasting down the motorway during the summer, windows down soaking up that wonderful howl. Steve.

Hi I am glad it worked out, assumption about the service time is they are possibly snowed as their reputation is growing and if you look at what greedy dealers want to charge for a replacement, no wonder they are busy. Steve.

Hi the problem is caused by soot accumulation on the throttle valve inhibiting the motors ability to move the butterfly inside the unit, best policy is buy a new one and re adapt it. Steve.

Hi, yes it cold be a water cooled oil rad as they seem to be all the rage as the cooling effect on the oil is a lot more precise than with a conventional aftermarket cooler which relies solely on incoming ambient air which if cold overcools the oil and can lead to bearing failure, I think it might be a bumper off job but thats no big deal as on most modern cars its just a skin, I took the one off of our Mito in the summer so could replace a head light, about two hours from start to finish and that was because most of the fixings were rotten. Steve.

My god Cliff I can't believe you have gone over to the Dark Side what bought that on, were you bitten by a technophobe when you went shopping. and yes the oil pressure keeps the chain tensioned and accommodates the slack as the chain wears, I only became aware of this when a friend did his Polo oil change and left it to drain overnight when he tried to start it the engine just turned and kept firing past an exhaust valve or two, turns out the tensioner only holds pressure for about an hour whilst draining the oil and the cam timing had slipped. Steve.

Hi it is possible that the third rad is an oil cooler for the gearbox if its auto if not it may be for the engine oil. Furthermore if its for engine cooling alone its highly unlikely the main rad and auxiliary rad would fail at the same time. Steve.

Hi Clifford, a lot of the petrol engines have Hydraulic cam chain tensioners, which when the oil pressure starts to slide down is what causes the chain to rattle, my guess is that the cams are not holding the pressure and if its creeping down that fast on a warming engine it would be stupid to run it until the cam chain jumped a tooth, then its game over. Steve.

Hi is that not always the way, I wish I had a tenner for all the one post problems where they get a wealth of GOOD advice and either don't like the answers because it may involve ££££ or they are not that desperate and can't understand why no one has come up with the cheapest fix going, no codes, nothing, wouldn't mind betting if it was plugged in it would be a load of low voltage problems as suggested [battery], but that won't be right as Audi batteries last the life of the car, don't they? Steve.

Hi yes the cap could still leak as you won't have used sufficient coolant to cause it to boil as the pressure loss is one way which is out as a fine mist I have even had it where the cap locks down and over pressurises the system and caused the thermostat housing to leak, for what a new cap is its worth trying. Steve.

Hi, if the ECT is not on the thermostat housing it will be nearby the thermostat somewhere I am not familiar with that particular engine but the principles are the same, yes that is the right coolant sensor you are reading on VCDS and the clue lies in the sensor reading VS the realtime radiator temp reading the sensor reads higher but not high enough so the PCM thinks the engine is cold all the time and will step up the fueling to try and warm up but if the coolant sensor will only go as far as 74c the engine will think its cold all the time, they work on the principle of the temp of the water gets higher the resistance in the sensor will lower itself until it reaches the prescribed temp, also some of the engines are fitted with dual thermostats, if you pm me your vin I will look on my parts system. Steve.

Hi it sounds more like the cylinder head temp sensor as that would give poor fuel economy, if the new thermostat is the type with a sensor in it that would have been new. Steve.

Hi possibly the header tank cap as the seals deteriorate with age and let by water vapour when the water temperature is high for prolonged periods. Steve.