Stevey Y

Hi worse case scenario is get another plug from the breakers with a suitable amount of wire left on it at cut and shut the wiring and solder it together. Steve.

Hi its probably the fan control unit on the fan pack, big silver box on the fan housing. STEVE.

Hi have you any transmission rebuilders in your neck of the woods as they keep parts like that from units they have scrapped along with other serviceable parts. Steve.

Hi Budget tyre won't help, Prestivo is not one I have ever heard of, example being as a cab I use a lot of rubber in a good year so went to my local tyre supplier for new fronts, as he didn't have my usual Nexen tyres in my size he asked me to trial these new tyres he was thinking of selling called Stomil, ok I said, as soon as I reached the first roundabout all hell broke loose and it sounded like both front bearings had collapsed so I took it back and gave him a test drive, he wasn't impressed so he fitted the only other tyres he had in that size Semprit which were dearer but wouldn't take the difference in the price, these were about as quite as you can get with a 68db noise rating and peace was restored, there are so many mid range good tyres out there, Next ,Debica, Roadstone, Mid range is as low as I go. Steve.

Hi have you thought about having the system recharged as over time the fluid degrades and the connecting pipes leak. Steve.

Hi I spent a couple of years buying tailgate handles for my Mondeos at £40 a pop, after every winter going into spring they would start mucking about eventually bought the Chinese version which was only £10 so bought two and have never used the other one, some of the stuff they do is pretty robust for the money. Steve.

Hi give it a good soak in WD then using a small electrical screwdriver under that square tang at the front next to the pink square and prise it gently out whilst pulling it away from the tank, once you get it going give it a wiggle and it should fall off, don't be surprised if the tang snaps off but thats no major drama as its a tight fit anyway and you can put a good quality ty wrap on it just to give it a bit of extra squeeze. Steve.

Hi Shaf the first picture nails it as you can plainly see the top of the spring is not sitting in the spring mount and has one coil wrapped around the top of the spring mounting if you look at the other picture as this one its sitting in the top mount on its rubber vibration cushion, technically you should always replace springs in pairs as what is classed as the good side has a fair amount of corrosion at the top, tbh the bad side looks like its been fitted upside down. Steve.

Hi sounds like they changed it for a standard ride height shock, the S line will have factory tuned suspension which is normally 20mm lower. Steve.

Hi I don't know about voltage expected or otherwise, if you can post a picture of the plug on the sender that would be good then we can get a good look at the release mechanism, I think the plug may have corrosion within its connection holes so if you can get it off the smart and cheap way would be drown it in contact cleaner and try again. Steve.

Hi Max I would recommend one of the pro units as they do a couple on eBay that work with Android and IOS which would save having to get another phone it also has a 200 credit pack included, if you look on youtube their are a couple of tutorials on what it does and how to set it up, Carista and Carly are both cheap and won't do what you want as for the money they are a bit limited in their ability to interrogate the ECU, do a bit of online research or alternatively email the supplier first and tell them what you need. going back to your first posts two questions did you have the new battery coded and where did you get the dash reworked?. Steve.

Hi the bulb in the picture is halogen and a Euro bulb with offset pins it should have the wattage etc on the side they are pretty cheap to buy, if the LED has gone its scrap but there are plenty about on the net either s/h or aftermarket. Steve.

Hi Nathan is all we got was a post on the previous replies but no post from your self.

Hi you can get the bulbs cheaper on eBay and with the flickering in mind you will need to buy new ballast units, 99% of the bulbs on eBay are E marked so therefore are road legal, Limastar and Lumex are a good shout and still E marked on the higher Kelvin options. Steve.

Hi the bulbs in your car are probably 55W D3s or D1s either way the ballast is separate it is most likely at the bottom of the headlight there is no ballast attached to the bulb, the only bulb with the ballast incorporated are 25-35W D5s that is found on much later models. Steve.

Hi again as Steve said don't buy cheap, the guy in the van is not a good shout and the mapping will lead to future problems, alternatively leave it alone as the accelerated insurance premium will add extra cost, and both the modifications this and a previous post could land you in a world of pain if you haven't declared them to the insurance company, they will be pleased to tell you where to go if you had an accident and neither mods were declared as it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to work out that no AUDI as standard is fitted with coilover suspension therefore their next port of call would be to check the ECU, its like a paper trail to a disaster, in essence anything fitted to a road vehicle that is not standard is a get out for the insurance if not declared with the exception of aftermarket where the supplier can prove they have supplied this part at some point to the manufacturer, then its legal. Steve.

Hi have you or a friend not got an old android phone laying about, just get any old battered phone you can get as long as its android it should work a treat, I bought one as a bat phone, [urgent contact for those who I want to speak to] as I turn my work phone off otherwise they drive me nuts, its an old Samsung and came in at £20 IOS won't work with a lot of things reliably as most are running Android that includes taxi booking apps. Steve.

Hi Max you won't regret it I faffed about on my previous Ford taxis with a generic Delphi software it was ok for some things but not for others I then graduated to Forscan and it was a Ford specific software which allowed me to replace and adapt just about anything on the car and on the later models to do DPF regenerations at two in the morning when the light came on for the DPF blocked, it also told me why the thing was blocking and what had caused it, thats why I bought VCDS when I bought the Audi and before that OBD eleven was just out otherwise in view of the cost I would have bought OBD Eleven instead. Steve.

Hi if you buy really cheap and universal it won't do what you require, old formula, if you buy cheap and it won't do the job you have wasted both time and money, spend a little extra and it works the only loss is the extra money. Steve.

Hi good solid software platform that is manufacturer specific, a lot better than generic code readers as they often miss problems because they can't connect with certain modules on the car, it also has the advantage of different software stages from basic to garage level. Steve.

Hi have a look at OBD Eleven its cheap to buy and very effective, you might baulk at spending money on it but it will pay for itself in a very short period of time and the amount of tasks you can perform is outstanding, I.E. battery and new parts coding, there is a guy on here Thomas G he has had it for a while and reckons its the best thing he has ever bought and if you consider the average garage will charge £40 for a scan for about an extra £30 you can have your own scanner and use it when you like. My VCDS was about £350 so you can see what I am aiming at when you can get a lot of the same features for less than a third of the price, have a look on eBay and youtube. Steve.

Hi, wise words from the garage I think, did they also mention air suspension problems as well as gearbox problems, normally people sell high milage models of that year designation for a reason, you might be better going for a Q5 or similar as they have the hight etc and you have more chance of getting a lower milage example for just a bit more money, Steve.

Hi Max have you had it scanned for DTCs I will bet money on it that the answer is in the system somewhere. Steve.

Hi Jonno the Mini has a Peugeot SPA derived engine and believe me they drink oil as they get older, I have serviced my nieces Mini for the last five years and even though the milage is very mild less than 3k a year whenever I get it there is always less than half the sump capacity left in it, the mechanic I use reckons they should have been a diesel the amount of oil they use, Yes the Focus and the C30 use the same engine but it is originally a Volvo engine anyway, the difference being Volvo lent Ford the engine design years ago but Ford have gone for broke by developing it in to the Ecoboost which according to my contact in Dunton is living on the edge and if you inadvertently loose coolant you are guaranteed head gasket failure and most likely a redundant engine. The Golf GTI engine is a different animal but this to will burn oil if the previous owner has used rubbish fuel which will blow holes and cracks in pistons as well as cracking rings through pre detonation you can only use 98 super unleaded in them, as for the Mazda the serving and parts are outrageous if you use a main dealer but with regard to the torque steer I would put that down to bring style especially in wet weather, I can get my A6 to torque steer if I give it enough with the lead divers boot in the wet its a penchant of front wheel drive cars I am afraid. Steve.

Hi as an alternative its a no brainer and has to be the Volvo, it won't set the road alight but its good solid engineering, the Ford and Mazda engines are in the top five of engines to avoid the Vauxhall and Renult I would avoid personally as they are quick but costly to repair and normally ragged within an inch of their lives by the previous owners, unless you can find either of the above that have been previously owned by a vicar or a district nurse. Steve.