Duke147

Well our car came with just one key and I was going to visit Audi for a replacement and was fully expecting it to cost over £200. But reading other threads, firstly @spartacus 68 recommended a VCDS and then @WELSHVIKING mentioned he had coded a battery to his vehicle using his Launch CRP123E. I never even knew batteries needed coding, but if it can code a battery, perhaps it can code a key fob? If I can save the cost of a dealership key coding, then perhaps a VCDS is worth purchasing, like the Launch CRP123E or similar if anyone has experience.

Funnily enough, and although not a VCDS (which I had to google), I had been advised by a friend to buy a OBD reader as LIDL had them on that centre isle and they were cheap and he knew I had a liking for cars generally. It has been very very helpful indeed. And journey number 2 in our new A6 had an engine management light pop up on the dash, P0101. MAF sensor fault. I was panicked until I read this was potentially just a sensor after googling. I've never undertaken any mechanics type of work, but after my little research on google, I had the MAF out of the car and was spraying it clean with all I had, which was an aerosol can of circuit board cleaner, thoroughly dried with a cool blower (hairdryer) and replaced the MAF, and engine management light has not returned, albeit just two 35 minute drives since. I have to say I was pleased with myself having saved a trip to a professional. I might try brake pads next as the other car needs them. ps The LIDL OBD reader has read every car I have every used it on, it is very basic, but it reads and clears faults. When it gives me codes, I have to google the codes, but for my light duty, it is good enough I think. However I am open to suggestions is you think a VCDS would be better and more indepth and still reasonable cost wise.

This is very much appreciated thank you Richard. Just so's that I am understanding you correctly, when you say:- It's ok Richard, I just googled before wasting the forums time, got ya fully understood now, much appreciated!

A little additional info. You decide if it is helpful.. https://www.forteuk.co.uk/news/forte-technical-tips-how-to-remove-adblue-crystals-in-commercial-vehicles/

When topping up an alternative vehicle with AdBlue purchased from screwfix, I spilled some on my engine bay and it immediately crystalised. I rushed home to hose it off. In the past, AdBlue had ran out in the other car and it stank just the same. After topping up with Screwfix AdBlue, it went away again, and so that was the likely cause. Now I fear both vehicles may have suffered crystalisation. Perhapr I'll drain the tank and perform a system flush if I find it easy as I now suspect something is preventing the AdBlue is not able to do its job in my other vehicle. In fact perhaps I'll try the crystal preventer as a lazy cheat first. The A6 only had a partial AdBlue refill, so that currently has space for the Forte type solution. In my days of learning vehicles, there was no such AdBlue and so I find myself owning vehicles with a system I have never had any education passed on to me as I did in a small way with other matters.

So after a litlle more research, it appears that Well just in case anybody else think this model needs a timing "chain", it appears that Audi were correct and that it is not required after additional googling to double check Audi's advice.

Brilliant, I shall take on board the advice to check cam shaft seals and also double check on the kit being as you say it hopefully will be.

BTW, I am thanking you all for responses, just being day 1, the forum won't let me do it per reply.

Tbh, I was asking here for any advise before reaching out to the dealership/independant to freely make suggestions. Surprisingly, I just called Audi and asked as to the cambelt schedule and amazingly they stated that there is no cambelt schedule "until there is an issue". Wowzers! Oh well, it seems the suspicions on the other thread on cambelt interval changes might have some weight. And for now I remain in the dark as a non-mechanic.

Any views on this product or is there a risk of turning soot into rock?

I like the independants generally, but although it was not an Audi independant, I once had a widely respected independant quote for an issue that didn't fix the job, followed by a second independant quote for an engine rebuild that wasn't required. This was on an older Porsche Cayenne which my regular garage said they didn't work on despite my good relationship with them, however I went back to my regular back street garage and sought their advice, they kindly accepted my bringing it to them and fixed it within 4 hours, apparently it was a brake servo pipe (i think from my poor memory) causing fuel ratio issues and very poor running, and the repair cost was negligable. My point is that sometimes the main dealers benefit from group knowledge base and I would hope have a rulebook for exactly the parts that "should" be used to produce a thorough job. Whereas as a non mechanic, I fear that an independant may re-use parts that would be better replaced ie gaskets and seals. I could be totally wrong though. But it is the type of job that I feel is real important to get right as I believe is not cheap. I will report back with quotes once obtained for the good of the forum.

Yes, we're very pleased with it and it drives straight and is knock free, which is a lovely experience.

Hi All, I'm Duke and am new to the forum. I've had several old Audi's over the years and we have just aquired a new to us A6 Allroad C7 3.0 218 TDI version. I have always wanted one of these and it has not dissappointed. We spent most of our budget on it and it is still 10 years old, but we feel we picked well, not going for the lowest cost, nor the most powerful. However we did pick a vehicle with almost FSH with main dealer history up to circa 67k miles and regular local garage having serviced since then, whom seem to have mainly conducted simple services, last one performed Nov/24. The reason for my asking is that I hear a cambelt is important and is due circa 100k miles which we are rapidly approaching. We do not have much spare cash, but it would be nice to keep this beauty on the road for another 10 years if possible, and so have decided that the cambelt is necessary. I have already been reading the forum threads in the non-member status for some time and I think I have determined that whilst doing the cambelt, it is prudent to undertake some other works as the access labour could be more effectively used as opposed to finding issues reveal themselves soon after a sole cambelt replacement, but jobs that would have been comparatively cheap if undertaken at the same time as a cambelt change. I would really appreciate it if you guys would recommend any obvious preventative tasks to have done whilst having the cambelt changed please, rather than me ad hoc trying to piece together the various threads that I have read previously, because my research so far has not specifically landed on my particular vehicle model or engine. Thanks in advance to all suggestions. This week, I'll obtain 2 quotes following the advice, one from the main dealer and one from our independant VW/Audi specialist whom actually seemed fair when I took my last car. I'm not hoping to blow the bank, but I feel I should be best advised before obtaining quotes so as to go in armed with a good idea of what is sensible way to proceed. And finally is the cambelt a job for the main dealership alone, or is an independant going to perform the job properly every time, ie to replace all seals etc with new whilst doing it?

Hi all, I'm new here, great to see you all. Here is a piccie of our new to us 2015 A6 Allroad 218 3.0 tdi, Duke:)