Stevey Y

Hi sorry to learn of the violation of your wallet but on the plus side at least you now have a usable car which will last you a while also the added benefit that if the fuel system fails again any time soon you have a large bill to beat them with along with the thinly veiled threat of trading standards, I hope you have no further troubles and your confidence in the car returns. Steve.

Hi, try the VCDS by all means but as I said from what you described it sounds as though the mechanical part of the calliper is having problems reaching the disc hence the weak hand brake, however recent the pad change 8 months is a long time considering the winter etc for road dirt ingression salt etc, as I said the stainless pad runners should always be changed with the pads, I didn't do this the first time I did mine and ended up with a similar problem over £8 worth of parts, the brake fluid should be changed every 30k or two years I have always adhered to this as it stops alloy rear callipers from seizing as brake fluid is hydroscopic and will absorb water from the atmosphere which then pools in the piston chamber and rots it. Regards Steve.

Hi from what you describe I would suggest stripping the brakes down on the rear as they may be sticking, if you have recently had the rear pads done its possible that the clip on stainless runners they operate on have not been changed with the pads unfortunately most people don't bother with these and they are a recommended consumable change. you can do a visual check on the pads to note their condition but if they are about three quarters worn best practise is to replace them with the runners, you possibly could clear this with VCDS but the problem will quickly reappear within a couple of drive cycles. Steve.

Hi, sorry for the late reply I have been busy with work, as for it dying on you this can happen to any car so I wouldn't take it personally I had it a couple of times with my Fords one of which cut out at 80mph on the M25 with passengers on board I could almost hear the rosary beads being counted as managed to shimmy the car across three lanes of traffic and get to the hard shoulder, it turns out the water pump was soaking the crank position sensor with red hot coolant, I was a bit P.O. as the pump had only done 15k. Anyway got it fixed and we did the next 80k with no problems, unfortunately its a fact of life that most vehicles over 100k will have some sort of problem and I am sure if fixed it will still be a usable vehicle for years to come, BTW I can't work out how he managed to get a fault code for the injectors unless they were already there before it stopped working. Clean the system replace the two injectors and the pumps and as long as the mechanic is thorough it should be fine. Steve.

Hi just a thought but is your VCDS an original Ross Tech version or A cracked version off of the web, I have both and there are definitely a lot of things you can't do with the cracked version. Steve.

Hi if you did not save the codings from the original set up and write them down you won't be able to do it especially if you had no long coding for the new clocks they would not have worked properly either, so now the BCM has spat its dummy out. Steve.

Hi I have worked on various different diesels and they all have bits of brass in the system due to the fact the high pressure pump loses bits of itself but even the high milage ones still run fine, the injectors have small filters fitted to the top where the feed pipe joins the injector to prevent the large debris going in to the actual injector, I would be trying the lift pump in the tank as from the strange noise you describe I would take that as the lift pump was failing which would cause the high pressure pump to be noisy just before the engine shut down. by the sound of it your boy has decided to change just about everything but the fuel rail is a bit excessive as you can take them off flush them through and then hit them with an airline, as for the injectors how would you know if they were shot unless the engine is running with the diagnostic plugged in showing anomalies with the live data. Steve.

Good shout, I have made the pilgrimage to the national Alfa day at Stanford Hall a good few times, what a first class venue beautiful scenery a bit of history and a good dose of classic Alfas. Steve.

Hi Chaps I am glad you have published this I was beginning to think it was just me or the area I work in, the BMW drivers round here don't indicate as most of them only have one hand on the wheel, normally the left hand is on the wheel the right supported by their elbow is on the door frame whilst the index finger on the right hand is supporting their nose. The Zafira owners club is in the next town so you only get the odd one comes our way normally driven down the high street at mach 1 by some over weight bird and her mates with their Bingo wings flapping through the open windows. The Astra boys round here are mostly seen at night appearing at great speed on any 30mph road while trying to get to the next drug drop, they all wear a uniform like a Dominos delivery driver but theirs is a base ball cap and an Adidas track suit and a well moody facial expression. The Corsa is an infestation without any cure same uniform as the Astra drivers but they have bigger wheels and exhausts and even less brains, I am surprised they did not mention Fiat 500s as I have been to to pick up a good few survivors in the middle of the lanes at night where their mate has stuck it down a ditch, I even got called out to one who did not want a cab but just needed towing out and said I have a rope can you tow me out it still starts I have tried it, after I explained the second word was off I pressed the no show button and departed. Steve.

Hi go on Breakers Yard or similar online they contact car breakers all over the country who may well have exactly what you want. Steve.

Hi I can't see properly from the photos you posted but if your car has the same lenses as Steve the lack of light problem is easily solved as all the Audis around the 1998-2010 suffered with the same problem the projector light bowls lose the chrome on them and have poor output, try a company called Retrofit lab they do a rather nice line in replacement bowls that are a lot less expensive than new units, I helped fit some to an A3 and the results with standard bulbs was astounding. Steve.

Hi good skills, just observe the position of your old actuator arm when fitting it to the new unit, they are pretty simple things really as they are a stepper motor that increases the signal voltage as you press the throttle down at least two of the feed wires will be can bus and one of them will be analogue, the can bus circuits for diagnostic purposes should ideally rise in voltage together with a variance of no more than five percent this is checked against the analogue reading by the ECU and if all is within accepted values it will start to pen the throttle valve as per the pedal demand. Steve.

Hi I have to smile this job either makes you lazy or so money orientated that you get an early ticket to a pine box, I think the car will give you the boost you need and you only appreciate its extra features when you do things like I did the other day and lifted the bonnet on my mates Skoda Octavia, without the hydraulic assisters they do take some shifting I know what you are going through as there are times when you wish you could pull up take their money, smile politely and just pull away without them, I had a good day today first for a long time I got a Polish guy who was going some 50 miles and did not speak English, paid up front and did not utter a word the whole journey, my kind of job. Steve.,

I wish you well with your new cab and I hope it raises your income, I expect they use the same bulbs and boot buttons on a couple of other models so I can't see it being more expensive unless you mention A8 just get the part number and see what else it fits. Safe journeys mate. Steve.

Hi Nick I would definitely get a second opinion as I know my guy got me to buy a new belt for one of my cabs even though it had only been on there for three weeks and the water pump had started leaking so that was being done under warranty by the supplier, its a bit like using brake pads that have only half worn on new discs. When I bought my car the service history said it had been fitted with a new belt kit under warranty at 36k because of a squeaky idler pulley so they had fitted new pulley tensioner and belt as its good mechanical practise, as for the journey thats fine its stuck open not shut which would be a new world of problems. Steve.

Hi, Just an educated guess but I have worked on a couple of 1.6 Skodas and the map sensors on them are at the front of the engine where the boost pipe runs across the front and the MAP is mounted on a rigid plastic pipe in the middle, easily spotted as its the only thing on the boost pipe under there that has wires and a plug on it. Steve.

Hi Jon, I looked at these this morning just not the one Kev found which to be fair at that price has to be worth a punt, I would genuinely believe it may well do the job based on Kev extended knowledge of older Audis especially as he only has a couple and you don't keep this one man collection going without having some idea about whats, what. they are very different from Ford/Vauxhall as they don't come with the pedal attached which should make it easier to swap. Steve.

Hi Jon just spoken to a mate who has suggested that you try and get the manufacturer number off of your old unit not the Audi number he says its probably a Bosch part so look for any other numbers other than the Audi one. Steve.

Hi don't just buy a job lot, just buy the one that looks the same as yours with the same part number bar the letters, I know they are a pain in so much as they get the engine to have flat spots which will make it a bad drive, I am pretty sure that it will work apart from which the garage should be able to get the current part number out of the main dealer, BTW I used my old Ford as a cab and it already had 130k on it when I fitted the new pedal, believe me when I say if the position sensor gets fixed you should see 160k easily. Steve.

Hi, no it was a Map sensor and an oxygen sensor and then rear pads all of which I bought without the correct letter at the end of the part number but fitted and work ok, I think its a bit of smoke and mirrors as remembering back to my Ford days I had to get a throttle position sensor and ended up going to Ford to get it, the price for my one for 2.2 titanium x was £104.00 but I think the guy on the parts counter must have been on a promise as he pulled me to one side and suggested I bought the £46.00 item with different letters on the end of the part number, apparently this one was fitted to the Focus and most Volvos at that time, the only difference was the letters which commanded the different price, it worked perfectly for the next 160k and the only difference between what I bought and should have bought was the Focus pedal did not have the holes for the go faster alloy pedal cover, soon sorted that, mark the holes on the new pedal, drill the new pedal and pop rivet the cover on. Steve.

Hi I think that your problem is that there was probably a part number supersession shortly after your car was built, I have had the same problem with my car but have found out that the supersession part number is not recognised but the old number minus the letters is, if the part looks the same it probably is the same as I am led to believe they changed the letters at the end which designates the year they changed suppliers. Worth a try. Steve,

Hi Clifford, lets try again, I was not suggesting the glow plugs had all failed at once just that they may be weak due to age/wear if you go on the net there are plenty of testaments to the problems old glow plugs cause without actually throwing up a code, the codes are only triggered when the plug fails, open circuit or to ground. With regard to the guesses yes they are just that but based on prior experience of problems like this I thought it was worth suggesting the two most likely candidates that won't cost the earth to change, maybe I should tell him to go to Audi and chuck a few hundred quid at it, thats the idea of the forum to remotely advise people from your own experiences, example being Don G he had a MAF code up so he changed it and still had the code back so I guessed from experience that the MAP sensor would need changing, he changed it, the code and light disappeared for a hundred miles but the EML re emerged but this time with a DPF code so I again from experience advised him that the DPF would need a regeneration and the codes clearing, he did just that and the car is now running well with no lights according to his last post, I am sure if you have any more concise suggestions this guy would be all over you like a rash, hate to state the obvious but the guy knows a bit about cars but not enough to satisfy the need for conclusive evidence required apparently.

If you read the post Clifford the Easy Start did not work so with regard to low compression if it was that low the engine wouldn't start at all let alone start and run ok on some occasions, its a duty cycle fault not compression.

Hi Gareth, I agree with the no avail bit, you do get quite a bit of this on this forum , using reverse psychology I think what happens is they buy these cars off of the back of rave reviews from their mates and a lot of other experts who have never owned an Audi but know someone who has, the old statement They Never go Wrong is applied and its a done deal, no consideration is given when buying older vehicles so they get very aggrieved when they go wrong as they were told it wouldn't. Both yourself and every other long term member on this site are all aware of the fact that at some point your car will go wrong, thats the whole point of this forum but certain individuals such as this one expect someone with the most sketchy information to pull the right answer out of their backside or if in this case it sounds like It may cost money they shy away from it, I bought my first Audi off of the back of my mechanics statement, if you look after it like you have with your other cabs its its more than good for the miles, he was right they do go wrong same as anything, but not that often. Steve.

Hi the cold weather thing is a myth as these engines are post injection regeneration engines and rely heavily on glow plugs during regeneration and when starting, even my car has the glow plug light come on for a couple of seconds if I start it after running it and in the mornings from cold when the ambient temperature is ten degrees its at least ten seconds before it cranks when the lights gone out. Steve.