Stevey Y

Hi thats the central comfort control module, ECU, have you tried deleting any existing phones off of the MMI as I had this problem when I first bought my car there was a couple of old random phones on it with when de bonded allowed my existing phone to connect, I will see if the bluetooth module comes up in situ on my parts system. Steve.

Hi much to my surprise my daughter announced yesterday she had purchased two tickets for today as a birthday present so I wouldn't be working this Sunday, I am not quite sure what I expected so with an open mind we set off on the 260 mile round trip, I have not been to the museum for a number of years so I was looking forward to that. When we arrived there was plenty of parking so we ate our lunch and went in, plenty of Audis mostly sport models and a smattering of older cars, some guy was talking to my daughter about leasing a new car but fortunately she is my girl and has learned the value of not paying nigh on £600 a month for something you will never own, the stalls dotted about were mostly overpriced food and coffee apart from one Autoglym stand with adverts telling you how much you could save on the day on polish etc. but the discounted price was still very strong, there was a distinct absence of any parts stalls or representation from Audi specialist, in saying this there were very few models that were not nearly new and is all you could hear was R8 owners revving the nuts of of their cars and should you venture anywhere near a lot of the cars is all you got were suspicious looks from the owners, I only had a conversation with a real live wire who had bolted a supercharger on his car. On the plus side I got to spend the day with my daughter and went round the museum, I also managed to look at Steve Qs starship milage 02 plate estate, other than that if they hadn't had the museum I think we would have gone home a lot earlier, maybe its me but all the other car shows I have been to last year had a bit more about them, prime example being last years national Alfa day we spent seven hours at it and came away very happy having purchased some springs/shocks off of a 3k MITO for sixty quid and having been invited to sit in an SZ and one of the new Guilias, I think the organisers could take a lesson in something for everyone, even the Ford show I visited last year was like a whirlwind of things to see and stuff to buy, even the dealers on site were only to keen to let you sit in and play with the models on display, I can't see me doing this one again as I found the level of non proactive conversation breathtaking, I think I will stick to trying to help with problems on the forum and do the shows I normally go to.

Hi coil springs take at least a couple of hundred miles to settle if its excessively high it might be they have tightened the carrier arms with the wheels hanging down, when completing this type of work you would normally put the car on a flat ramp MOT type and when the car is sitting at its normal ride height then tighten the lower arm bolt. Steve.

Hi if the items you are looking at are the same as yours with only a different letter they will fit as the letter is just a manufacturer year designation. Steve.

Hi there is a rolling ball device in the spool that the belt is wound onto which normally gets dry and full of gunge, if you remove the trim and hose it down with silicone spray it normally starts working again if you get it in the released position and work it back and forth so it revolves the spool whilst spraying, WD40 works better but it stinks for ages afterward. Steve.

Hi it sounds like a cam timing issue, yes I know it has not jumped on the chain but I have seen it where when the rocker cover is off the cam lobe buckets have worn to the point where the cam lobe digs into the bucket and the lobe on the cam moves as they are only a press fit onto the shaft which throws the valve timing. Steve

Hi got out early today to make a start on my driveshaft replacement, I had a call from my daughter saying that her car fuel tank had been syphoned to the tune of about thirty quid, it transpires that most of our neighbours have been done as well, the police as usual don't give a Rats !Removed! about it and dished out an incident number and said it was a closed case, why we had a 4% increase on our council tax for these wastes of oxygen is beyond me. Anyway I digress, I did a bit of digging and came up with a fuel cap specialist who I phoned and explained my problem and yes he does locking fuel caps for most cars so I ordered one for the Q3 based on the fact that the only cars that had not been interfered with were our little Mito a Fiat 500 and a Honda all of which have locking fuel caps, I went to my mechanic to pay for my driveshafts he got me and behold he has been having the same problem with customer cars left overnight so he had put a scrapper out front with a couple of gallons in it with a special additive, a table spoon of valve grinding paste which apparently kills just about everything in the engine in record time, the fuel has gone but whoever uses it is in for a very nasty surprise, so if anyone is interested please ring the following, 01691 596677/07952384324 at around twenty quid its better than losing fuel to some !Removed!. Steve.

Hi fitted the new shafts today and peace is restored, the new shafts have very thick rubber boots so I have high hopes for their longevity. Steve.

Hi, was recently given the job of putting new callipers on my mates twenty two year old Renault Kangoo van the rubber hoses were the original ones and showed no sign of wear or abrasion so left them as is, the van has done 170k and has always had the brake fluid changed regularly which reinforces my point about corrosion from within, as for breaching the outer/inner rubber I have never seen that in my lifetime as most hoses are double sleeved with a nylon braiding between the two skins and if you look at it logically a random piece of flint would have to do the same amount of damage to a new hose as an old one, I have seen braided hoses fail as the centre rubber rots out underneath the braiding but being as there is no manufacturer based standard for these they don't really apply and most people fit these for aesthetic purposes, this type of hose falls down on the fact they have no expansion capacity under heavy braking and definitely nowhere near the stretch capacity of an ordinary hose. Steve.

Hi the wings are the same and car mats will be to as they share the same platform, the only difference is in the shell as that will have different strengthening fillets for rigidity and a bigger sill bar running through the rocker panels below the doors through to where the back of the monocoque, as for the plug read the part number on it and match it up to a repair plug on the internet. Steve.

Hi running a 2016 Avant as a taxi its now done 117k but during that time it has shredded a couple of outer C.V. boots and talking to a couple of other cabbies with the same vehicle its a recurring problem due to the constant steering turns we make, I have always bought the boot kits from TPS, not cheap, but now its shredded another O/S outer boot and the other side has excessive end float, oh well I will get two new shafts which are fitted to both FWD manual and auto boxes, as well as being the same size both sides, my bubble was burst today when I enquired about two new O.E. units from Audi, the friendly parts guy said they were £860.00, so I asked if that was both sides to which he replied NO thats each, after I scraped myself off the floor he suggested I try TPS who could give me a trade deal through the garage I use, what a saving, they only wanted £750.00 each so I have bought two shafts from my local spares shop for £400.00 the pair with a two year no quibble guarantee, at least that will give me time to source two second hand units and refurbish them with the rubber boots rather than the over expensive plastic items sold by VAG, this recommendation was given to me by one of the other cabbies who said he had fitted rubber boots and not had any problems for the last two years, moral of the story is swing the wheels out and have a look at the boots, private owner every three months, me now every two weeks, you would think the dealers would want to shift what will become very soon redundant stock at near reasonable prices but no they will take the pixx to the bitter end and end up selling it for cost when no one wants it, what a waste. Steve.

Hi try ringing Audi they should be able to tell you which version of box your vehicle is fitted with, your problem could be as simple as it just needs a service its possible the valve block has become gunged up but as you have not provided any milage its difficult to provide a concise analysis but I suspect yours may be Tiptronic. Steve

Hi Gareth the only thing that can be done is when taking on a new signee make sure that they have to read the propriety section and further to that if they post a problem they must supply ALL information pertaining to that fault, codes/pictures, after all that is a small price to pay for joining a forum with no subscription and last but not least inform the forum if the advice given was successful. Steve.

Hi Gareth on one of the Ford forums I was on there was a guy who was head of powertrain control at Dunton and his favourite answer always was, no one can help you if you don't give all the information you can supply, they either went away or stumped up with the goods and achieved a result, I often wondered why so many posts went unanswered, I now know why, a complete lack of information, codes where possible are the Holy Grail of engine management problems and decent pictures are the key to any other faults, still I suppose the majority of the posters are happy and thankful when they get replies and a result and that makes the key board pounding worth the effort. Steve.

Hi I have run all of my cabs on a preemptive maintenance schedule and covered over 900,000 miles and never had to change a rubber brake hose on the fronts, or a metal brake pipe for that matter Fords used alloy brake pipes and there lies the problem [bi metal corrosion] in fact the last car went to its new owner with over 270k on the clock, the thing that causes most problems with any brake pipe is lack of timely fluid changes as its the water in the fluid that is the catalyst for premature corrosion, apart from which to get the correct length and shape for a copper replacement you will have to present the original as a pattern and pray the people who do it have the correct kit to follow that pattern bending and angle tools, it is nowhere as simple as it looks and if you manage to kink the copper pipe its game over. Steve.

Hi don't tell me yourself and Gareth don't know someone who will do it for £200 including genuine parts, as I said before they buy these cars based on a myth of never going wrong, they don't do the what if calculation based on the age and milage plus history they just soak up the thought of riding round in an Audi which is apparently invincible, as realistic and experienced individuals we know better but I can't help but be in awe of yourself and Gareths tenacity and resolve to keep trying to answer some of the inane questions on here, I too share your frustration Cliff. Steve.

Hi I believe you may get access by removing the splash guard on that side the other side is more tricky as the water bottle is housed there, I wouldn't think you need a new bumper as its probably just pushed out of the holder that is moulded on the bumper, even if one side of the holder is broken I have got away with it before by cable tying the unit to the bit thats still on the bumper. Steve.

Hi Thomas, I would be getting that one done soon as if its never been done you are now entering due to age/milage the twilight zone. Steve.

Hi you will need the serial number on your original unit, google in Audi radio codes and their are loads doing it based on your information for a small fee they will email you your code within 24hrs, if there is no label on the unit it will be stamped on the body of the unit. Steve.

Hi personally I would leave well alone until they actually need replacing then you can get nasty with the flexable/metal pipe connection and have a go at it with some heat and a lot of plusgas it will come free eventually you just have to be patient and careful. Steve.

Hi Thomas just keep going as long as the belt is changed and the brake fluid regularly you just have to wait and see what occurs, bit like me I have just hit 117k so both driveshafts decided to self destruct ££££, there are some things that happen due to the law of diversity but my problem comes under Murphys Law. Steve.

Hi give it a large dose of Cataclean for Diesels this stuff works on cats/dpf and at about £15 a bottle is worth a go and a lot cheaper than Audi. Steve.

Hi you posted at the same time as I did, this is great stuff to have codes, it would appear that replacing the injector was correct but he seems to have missed p2425 which would cause the majority of the bad running symptoms this code applies to the EGR cooler control solenoid, I had this with my daughters Q3 its a solenoid with a white cap with made in the U.S.A. stamped on it and it sits on a bracket to the right of the inlet manifold and apparently is a common problem as the wires [two of them] to the connector seem to snap and thats what causes the problem, I got a temporary repair by soldering the broken wire and then bought a repair plug from eBay and made a permanent repair, I checked the pipework to the solenoid as well as this is another failure prone area. Steve.

Hi most likely as in the old days injectors were plug in and play but since 2002 most vehicles will require recoding as the ECU won't know the status of the new unit until its coded to the car, in essence the ECU will put the new unit into default [running rich] which is the cause of the smoke. Steve.

Hi yes thats about the long and short of it. Steve.