Stevey Y

Hi it would be very helpful if you could let us know what it is you intend to customise or try and activate as there is a lot you can't do on a model as new as yours, the newer models 2020 on are equipped with a modified software and SFD which is an inbuilt protection system which stops the owner from activating functions that the car may have embedded in the body control modules, I have OBD eleven pro and that struggles on occasions with SFD protected functions, the idea is you are working on an SFD protected function and your system produces a challenge code to the VAG mainframe and its accepted it allows you to carry out that task, if not it just throws it out. Steve.

Hi I would caution against this as there are two EGR systems on your car and as far as I am aware NO ONE has developed the software to disable both, the main EGR never goes but then in the DPF is the other valve and cooler which you can't eradicate due to the complexity of the software involved, as Cliff pointed out the blanking/deletion of the main valve will give you raised cylinder head temperatures due to the hotter gas and most likely premature turbo failure because of the extra thermal stress, apart from which what are you actually going to get for £250 apart from wallet destruction in the not to distant future. Steve.

Hi its doable but you will have to buy a new rear bumper, lower bumper trim and lose the existing rear box for the exhaust, all big money items the bumper skin itself is over £500 without the lower trim and new fixing brackets, can't see why you want to change it when you can't see it while you are driving and I am sure the driver of the car behind wont care either. Steve.

Hi any second hand engine you buy from any place will only have a milage and a short warranty, they dont do service history at vehicle recyclers. Steve.

Hi could well be, how many miles? Steve.

Hi find the pressure sensor and change it, probably about £20 for the part at least that will rule that option out. Steve.

Hi Cliff, struggle no more, the fuel rail pressure at idle [warm] is about 650psi, [cold] its about 850psi this helps atomisation of the fuel when its fed into the injectors, when you consider the Venturi in the injectors is less than four microns, a human hair is six microns, fuel fed in under that pressure will almost instantly atomise and become highly combustible on compression, in effect you dont really need glow plugs they just add an element of warmth that makes the swirl vapour even more combustable, the problem really becomes a problem when you add a DPF to the build, most diesels equipped with these need to achieve a temperature of at least 600 degrees to regenerate especially when most Audi diesels are post injection which means the injection process happens later this is called retardation and the fuel droplets are cooler, this is where the plugs come in and super heat the colder fuel thus making it combust at the front of the DPF core and start burning the soot and unburnt fuel from the core itself, so in essence if they did not have such high pressure in the rail the whole process is chemically impossible. Steve.

Hi try eBay in Europe the Germans seem to have a plentiful supply of low milage used parts. Steve.

Hi if you change it the easiest way is to shut the bonnet after and then take it for a drive for fifteen mins then five mins after park check the level, I guarantee if you open the bonnet before that it will give a low reading, what price a good old dipstick. Steve.

Hi check the exhaust heat shields and the mountings for the exhaust they are rubber and often fail. Steve.

Hi Steve multiple owners or high milage may well explain, that and its age when you consider that the suggested change intervals are 60k, they don't struggle to start in the cold mostly because of the insane pressure from the fuel rail. Steve.

Hi its the oil level sensor in the sump going south, they are pretty useless but the upside is they are fairly cheap and easy to replace, dont buy the Audi gold plated version as its made by Febi and their aftermarket version is less than half price, the whole sensor is calibrated by a bonnet switch on the slam panel so check the wiring up to that just to be sure but its most likely the electrics which are exposed to boiling oil. Steve.

Hi sorry for the late reply, [cab driver], yes the EGR cleaner cleans both as it has a high volume of Hydrocarbon in it which makes the soot particles smaller and burn a lot easier, I have used various forms of this chemical since owning my Audi and I never had to change the EGR valve. Steve.

Hi if you add a good quality egr cleaner to the fuel that may well keep the problem at bay

Hi I think you are over thinking this, the first thing I would check is the point of impact to make sure that there are no bits of squashed wiring, the code you have is for the main part of the EGR Valve which is at the back of the engine, the part you referred to at the front is the throttle valve not EGR and to change the rear part is about 4hrs labour and £150 for the part. Steve.

Hi definitely not they will be either at the bottom of the unit or the back, the only bulb that has an inbuilt ballast is the D5s fitted to later Audis/Alfa Romeo etc as an energy saving measure this also excluded the need for bumper mounted headlight washers, have a look on YouTube there are plenty of tutorials on how to change both ballast and bulbs on your model. Steve.

Hi yes unlike the old days when you had a valve at the inlet side of the matrix its all about continuity of water flow to optimise engine heat control, get it up to temp as quick as possible and within strict demarcation maintain that temp to reduce emissions, Diesel engines run better when red hot but the problem is they produce more Nox 1 so to reduce this they introduced bigger radiators and fan packs as a trade off for lower emissions against total performance. Steve.

Hi am pretty sure it has constant flow as its part of the bypass system the hot or cold bit is worked by the air control flaps inside the air intake thus commanding the cold air during summer and warm air during winter. Steve.

Hi no they dont go intermittent, if the bulb goes pink its the bulb, any sort of flashing or going on and off is the ballast unit which is separate from the bulb on D3s bulbs, my daughters lights went this summer so I replaced both bulbs and ballast units which is best practice, the oem ballasts are available on eBay for not much money. Steve.

Hi just read the earlier post properly [my fault] if its the 3.0 engine and is not running Adblue you should not get the problem I described the v engines suffer more with EGR valves and swirl flap failure, the way to combat this is buy a bottle of Wynns EGR cleaner and add that to the tank every month, with regard to upcoming faults it may be wise to get a scanner such as OBD Eleven so even if there is no EML that will tell you about oncoming faults, thats how I discovered the p2002 fault for the cooler, its worth scanning every couple of months so you can clear all the one time only faults these cars throw up which keeps the various control modules clear, all the other problems I mentioned will still apply, auto gearboxes need religious oil and filter changes every 40k otherwise the oil becomes acidic/burnt and will terminate the box, manuals are more forgiving with just an oil change every 60k. Steve.

Hi I ran my car up to 270k the biggest problem is the DPF cooler inside the DPF itself this becomes blocked with adblue crystals and fails, the parts are not that expensive but the labour is as you have to remove the front of the car to get at it, never had the alternator go but multiple rubber hoses and cabin sensors failed all expensive parts, if its a manual the clutch parts are £1500 or DSG if you can find anyone to touch it run at about £3000 all in, as you say lovely cars but you will need deep pockets to run one.

Hi some zoon of an engineer found out that a bag of silicate in the cooling system helped keep the antifreeze from deteriorating, they used to put the bags in the heater matrix but the problem is the plastic bags deteriorate and burst releasing the silicate granules in to the water which blocks the heater matrix, plan B later was to put a large bag in the expansion tank, the end result was the same the granules block the matrix but on my car you had to buy a new expansion tank and possibly a new matrix, the only reason I got away with mine was removing the bag from the expansion tank and flushing the matrix both ways with a jet wash then flush the block with the jet wash, it was just that my mechanic mentioned that some he had worked on had the bags in the matrix so they had to fit a new one. Steve.

Hi I think from memory on most models around that year instead of fitting the Silica bags to the expansion tank they put them in the heater matrix as you have minimal flow it could well be that the bags have collapsed, the heater system bypasses through the heater core so the car gets warmer quicker, you wont overheat because of the primary bypass at the thermostat. Steve.

Hi the previous owner details are no longer printed on the V5 just the current one, the V5 is not proof of ownership, most garages HPI check the vehicle before sale and there are multiple sites that for a small fee will check everything for you %100 guaranteed, the reason that PCP is cheaper is because you will never own the vehicle unless you pay the over inflated final payment, if you hand the car back you most definitely will have to find an extra payment for the slightest paint damage or any over milage other than what was in the agreed milage per annum, they state you can hand the car back at anytime but if you do they really dont like it, with finance at least you own the vehicle title after the last payment and unless you have a bad credit rating you can get very favourable terms from your bank. Steve.

Hi Gareth it appears the usual problem has reared its ugly head yet again. Steve.