Stevey Y

Hi you probably moved the seats when cleaning and this has thrown up an airbag code, the only way to cure this is get it plugged in and find out which seat is causing the problem if the fault is current you will have to remove the connector for that seat and clean it with electrical cleaner, but only do that after the car has been standing a good few hours. If its not a current fault just get the light put out, as the software on these VAG cars tends to hang on to codes even when the self test says its now clear. Steve.

Hi the left hand is definitely the ballast unit if it was doing it before the way to test the right hand beam is to sit in the car and see if the right gets brighter if you put it on main beam, if not the shutter system in the unit is stuck/defective, these headlights work on the following system, low beam is when the little electrically operated shutter is in the up position, main beam command drops the shutter so you get the full light from the bulb/reflector, the flickering is because the ballast unit that feeds the bulb is on its way out, HID bulbs require a steady high voltage this causes the element to electrically heat the salt crystals in the element these develop luminosity and give you the bright light via the reflector with none of the heat involved in a Halogen gas driven bulb. My neighbour spent over £300 on genuine Volvo HID bulbs before he asked the question and I got him another ballast unit £60 and he went and bought another Volvo bulb, problem solved, a bad ballast will eventually terminate your new bulb, the ballast unit is either behind the bulb cover, underneath the light unit or mounted on the side of the light unit its a large square thing encased in alloy.

Hi sounds like a dodgy ballast unit on the left light. Steve.

Sorry that was meant to be 200,000k

Hi Gareth, at that milage the shocks are probably at the end of there service life if you take into account the tyre wear in the video, the shocks are oil over gas and don't have to leak to be knackered which is why springs break as they are doing most of the work and the damper unit is just following the spring about like a bored husband in a dress shop, I have always changed the shocks and springs on my cabs at around 120k and noticed a spectacular improvement in handling and tyre wear, example being my last MK4 Mondeo estate after switching to heavy duty shocks [Bilstein] and Kilen springs the ride was as sharp as a razor and stayed that way until I sold the car another 2000k later, I would also like to point out badly worn dampers increase your stopping distance by twenty feet from any given speed as the tyre is trying to grip with no gradual compression from the damper and spring, saw this at a trade show I attended and it made pretty grim viewing as you can have the best discs and pads available but if the rest is knackered the end result is the same, longer to stop. Steve.

Hi Abdul, it looks like quite a shopping list you have developed there, I think changing the shock absorbers is a good shout as you will get your money back in record time with the extra milage out of the tyres as for the arms you can get poly bush kits but in all fairness they are three times the cost of the better quality arms, changing both ball joints makes a great deal of sense and as for the two grinning idiots on the video I think I would grin as well if I had just made my company that amount of money pro forma the shielding is a five minute job and a couple of self tapping screws, the tyres I pay what they want for one tyre for two good mid range tyres and believe me I know all about tyres as I run my A6 Avant as a cab, it might be worth buying all the arms and bushes upper/ lower as a kit off eBay at around £250.00 you can replace the lot. Steve.

Hi there you go, you have just unearthed a potential problem and cancelled out the one with the belt kit, please post your outcome as it helps others who may have similar problems and won't leave anyone else reading this wondering, I wish you the best of luck. Steve.

Hi Phil Sorry to hear of your loss $$ but the moral of this story as with many others is if it aint broke don't fix it, I understand the obvious benefits of having the EGR mapped out as mine runs like a steam train when regenerating and the valve is jammed shut during that process, the thing you have to bear in mind is far finer minds than ours have developed these engines to run reliably with the given horsepower and that includes drive train components, as soon as you up the BHP It puts extra strain on the components and may cause premature failure of those components, last piece of advice, leave Mountune alone with your Focus and never darken the door of Mr Crutch again I learned the hard way as well, I wish you luck. Steve.

Hi you need to get the vehicle plugged in and read for codes. Could even be the cam timing has slipped when was the belt last changed? Steve.

Hi Steve, stick with Audi as have you not read yet, the investment rules are to be relaxed next year to allow more mining and oil exploration as the current legislation banning extra investment has caused fossil fuels to become rare and forced the prices up sky high which in turn is causing Hyper inflation in most of the worlds economies, the dozy Barstewards have finally realised that if they carry on people won't be able to afford a loaf of bread let alone an electric car the restrictions are to be lifted for the next five years giving us a good supply of diesel/petrol for ten years after that, UP YOURS GRETA. Steve.

Perhaps this guy should remove an o and s from his posting title.

Hi, Clifford your analysis is not to far off the mark, I honestly believe a lot of these people rock up expecting an instant concise diagnosis based on the flimsiest of information and then take the possible reason and run off into cyber space with a cheers easy attitude, I personally now don't wonder why a lot of these first post problems don't get a reply, I admire people like yourself Gareth, Steve who along with a few others keep trying, I have come across the same situation on the Ford forum where one of the guys who used the forum worked for Fords and handed out good solid information like confetti and eventually got fed up with being ignored and never did post again, a massive loss to the forum and those who actually had thanked him. Steve.

Hi Stevie, I can't argue against the reliability and appeal of the pickups but I am glad its not only me who's noticed the cars are overpriced cr@p, what on earth is going on in the minds of the buyers of these cars it seems to be a kind of Monocular buyers syndrome, I really believe these people are readily brainwashed by the salesman. and only learn by the mistake when in a couple of years what they have for sale is about as popular as Covid, still there are those out there suffering the depravation of buying an approved used dealer car and that includes Audi unfortunately. I think even when my A6 has expired as a cab I will be hard pressed to get rid of it. Steve.

Hi gents, I had my first ever sit-down in a Hybrid today and to say I was disappointed would be an understatement, one of my fellow drivers had the back of his 2017 Skoda Superb caved in by another motorist and has been given a 2019 Toyota Corolla Hybrid as a replacement cab until his one is fixed, he kept telling me what a fine drive it is so thought I would take a look, to start with as an estate its cramped and does not even compete with my old Mondeo estate for room, the seats are some cruddy nylon material but comfortable enough, every other gadget known to man is on a fixed MMI replica, the doors are very thin and light and the interior plastics dash etc are made from rather uninspiring black hard plastic, here is the best bit if you sit with the ignition on position two as I often do when on the phone for a length of time say twenty mins the car starts itself so it can top up the drive battery, how is that running for fifteen mins cutting emissions furthermore I am running a five year old battery which when i turn off completely after using the phone still starts the car when I want it to, looks wise its still an ugly car even my old MK4/5 facelift Mondeo estate had more presence than this thing, it sat well and looked like the old MK4 on steroids, I defy anyone to say that the Audi styling is as bad as the Toyota and the trim is the same even the older Audis still turn heads how the Toyota justifies a second hand price tag of around £20,000 is beyond me as it is soul less when you look at what you could get elsewhere for the same money, it really made me appreciate climbing back into my Avant, the driver came and spoke to me just before I clocked off and admitted he actually can't wait to get his Skoda back. Steve.

Hi sound like it could be water ingress in a fuse box, was the new throttle sensor recoded. Steve.

Hi good skills Steve and well put, but have you not noticed the pattern, I heard her waffling on a radio talk show the other day and giving the host a roasting because he made a couple of counter points, the world is full of hormonally challenged old rotters who just can't wait to have a go at anything male because they hate us, I come across this a lot in my line of work as we have the worlds supply of middle aged dames around my town who's opinions are never wrong. Prime example, I picked up a fare a couple of weeks ago who wanted to go to a railway station in another town, why I don't know as she was going to London and our local line half a mile away goes straight through that station she was going to, anyway when she was turning out of her road she demanded to go through the lanes, I explained that it had rained and the temperature was only 2.5 degrees allied to the fact that they don't salt the lanes it was not best policy to go a longer more dangerous route, my god she exploded big time when I went the other way, she said I am paying for this, and I explained I was an owner driver and paying for the car and if she wanted I could drop her off, no charge, and she could try and get a driver of another vehicle to take her the way she wanted, she declined and contented herself with putting in a complaint to the company about me, they listened to the audio of the journey and found me not in the slightest bit wrong, they suggested she take her complaint to licensing who would also have a copy of the audio, she again declined, had her as a fare a week later and she was all sweetness and light, How are you and all smiles, amazing what an HRT patch will do, I wouldn't let it get to you as she will disappear into the abyss of politics as a nonentity sooner than you think. Steve.

Hi I would be getting the car scanned for faults, you say that you replaced a calliper but no mention of if you re programmed the new calliper as they are not plug in and play thats why they tell you not to unplug your original calliper as it loses its values. Steve.

Hi if you recently had the rad changed its probably the last of the air escaping when you remove the cap, if its not overheating don't worry as if you top it up to between min-max when warm it should stay there except when very hot and it will register max because that is why its correct term is expansion tank. Steve.

Hi Brett heres the pictures from parts catalogue.

Hi guys anyone noticed that Jaguar are already selling previously enjoyed refurbished F Pace electric models for a knock down price, which raises the following questions, how long has this model been out and why are so many being returned, I wouldn't mind betting the new R8 will go down as being as popular as a steaming hot glass of pork fat, why would anyone take something that well built by a specialist factory and turn it in to a milk float, in addition to which my insurance broker has already told me that most companies are running shy of offering terms for Hybrids in view of the massive repair costs or replacement vehicles, if we support the current range of proposals eventually car ownership will become a distant memory for Joe average. Steve.

Hi I have a VAG parts system if you can give me your VIN I can have a look on that for the part numbers but in all honesty if you are thinking of going to Audi have a Trauma kit available when they give you the prices, they wanted £160.00 for the part I wanted which I got from a VAG breakers near me who were on eBay for £40, big saving for a little looking/phoning about, have a look on line as there is a good chance someone is breaking the same car or near as damn it. Steve.

Hi I think the diagrams you have looked at will cover that as the estate versions are only a few inches longer which is only a body extension on a current platform, therefore the shielding etc is probably the same, theory/ practise I damaged part of the side shield over the fuel filter mount and bought one s/h from a breakers near me from a saloon that was a year older and it fitted perfectly on my Avant. Steve.

Hi Arnott are very clever in so much as their units carry uprated parts that are normally prone to failure on the O.E. parts fitted, if you get one its one of those things over time that you can actually see where the extra money went. Steve.

Hi, you most certainly have a case and yes if you can run to it get a solicitor involved even if its only advice, it is indeed their problem as the car was not fit for purpose, as for Audi approved I wouldn't give an old snotty tissue for their idea of checks the AA are about the most honest and precise checkers of car faults as they have no allegiance to any dealer and by the sound of it a trained Ape would have spotted that fault, I have personally witnessed the obscene lack of attention to detail with their service plans, go in hard and fast while you still have the whip hand time wise and don't let them string you along, the uneconomical repair bullocks won't hold water as wether or not under sold won't come into it as they were happy with that price, they sold you a car that is defective and not as advertised so taking in your after purchase fiscal outlay you obviously intended to keep the car and want it put back to as advertised condition, they are not known as Audi main Stealers for nothing. Steve.

Hi I can understand Jaguar having this problem as their software programs are abysmal along with the wiring and Can Gateway protocols ask any AA-RAC technician and they will tell you they hate working on them, as for the VW Caddy thats an ECU strategy program fault, I have come across this before with my mates Mazda 6, every time it came up for a service just before the due milage the DPF blocked light would appear which meant they had to force regeneration it at every service, we broke the cycle by forced regeneration before the service due came on and the blocked light still appeared and I finally worked out that it was part of the software programming so they could charge for the extra work as well as the special Low Saps oil at £70 for five litres, we got the DPF strategy programmed out and the core removed and guess what 9k later the blocked light appeared again just before the service due light, so how can something that has had the restriction removed be blocked, Transits have Adblue problems so do a lot of other makes, why, because clever old Audi, BMW, Mercedes all have heater elements in the Adblue tank to stop the stuff from crystallising when cold. Steve.