Stevey Y

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.

Hi Steve, have you ever watched chasing cars, I would like to see a video of the official who serves the writ saying that the guy who paid three million dollars for his 1960 Ferrari GTO that he can never drive it again I would bet the film would start with the worlds supply of expletives and a hail of buckshot as the official left the premises like an unmarked missile, lets be honest these people who will try to make driving our cars illegal are the same people who own great big Range Rovers and run about in Jaguars all of their career, talk about double standards, bet you never see Boris leaving Number 10 in a Nissan Leaf. Steve.

Hi Ryan this is a tough one I honestly believe it will not be the turbo but there is an easy way to check, get an assistant to turn the key to position two where the dash lights up if you can see the turbo control box you should see it move the arm that opens and closes the vanes inside the turbo to the start position try turning on and off without running the engine to see if it comes up to position every time. The sequence for starting should be ignition on, glow plug light on doing its duty cycle as soon as that goes off the engine light will be on until the engine is cranked and it goes out when started, I am leaning more towards glow plugs being weak as the only time they throw up a code is when they are completely knackered and not when weak or under heating Steve.

Hi pretty much any where on the web or eBay, its a bit of a pain to do but I did the lenses on my old Mondeo you will need a good quality sealant to glue the new one in and almost surgical skill to trim the excess when cured but in view of the cost saving its well worth the effort, have a gander at the youtube vids first to get an idea of whats involved and some of them from memory have links to where you can buy what you need. Steve.

Hi you can buy a new glass a lot cheaper than a new unit, it all depends if you fancy taking the headlight out and have the patience to take the old lens off, plenty of videos on the subject on youtube. Steve.

Hi I think they are talking about the thermostatic shield on the water pump they are famous for sticking open and if they are changing the pump they will have to change the cam belt as a kit hence the price, better stuck open than shut and cooking the engine. Steve.