Magnet

Have you shopped around - main dealers, independents and trusted local garages in your area Andrew? I mention main dealers, since they sometimes have offers on such jobs. If so - personal opinion- avoid the free MOT gimmick! Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Dave, Chain/ tensioner wear is not uncommon on 8 year old vehicles across a number of marques. If this were mine, my main concern would be to get this sorted very urgently to avoid catastrophic failure - sorry about that, but any delay may be regretted. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Martin, SteveQ did list on one here within recent months. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Zia, See post earlier today. Let us know how you get on. Kind regards, Gareth. p.s. Apologies, just spotted your response.

Matching label/ part numbers on both belts then?? Old belt in tact and complete at a a single break point, and measured like for like on old and new?? Belt makes as a matter of interest? If yes, to the first two questions, then obviously the routing is wrong - assuming old and new tensioner and idler are a match. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Nikki, You are of course at a disadvantage of not having been able to do a sketch of the old belt routing prior to its removal - which is the normal procedure. Did the belt come with the snapped belt? Of course, if so, you could check old against new. Re. Parts Shop confirming the belt you have is indeed the correct one, this may benefit from independent confirmation. What make belt did you buy? For most of the main aftermarket belt manufacturers, you should be able to make contact with their technical section and confirm correct fitment via. reg. no. and/or VIN. Really worth doing. Alternative if you are convinced you have the correct routing, would be to buy a belt from a main dealer. Belt only should suffice, since you will know whether you have like for like tensioner and idler. Perhaps you could let us know how you get on Nikki. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Ray, Re tyres and harsh ride:- I think that the ride with any 35 profile tyre on a car built with sports suspension is going to be ‘harsh’ irrespective of brand - you just don’t have sufficient shock absorbing rubber to benefit from comfort. Moving to 17 inch wheels will allow higher profile and help to some extent. Other considerations:- have you checked whether the current tyres are XL? - or run-flat. Either of these will add to ride harshness. Non- folding mirrors:- worth obtaining a build record from a main dealer via. the VIN. This will tell you whether the car was built with folding mirrors, but are no longer working. It has been said that VAG equip all their vehicles with such motorised mirrors ( your age of car?) and all you need to do is to have them coded to operate. This is new to me and would be great. I’m not having that confirmed with our non-Audi, but…. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Mike, Would I be surprised that a 3 year old 27K battery on a s/s equipped car is starting to fail? - No I wouldn’t, based on hard experience of non-Audis doing that just out side the 3 year warranty, and particularly since your car is likely to have sat around unused for possibly months during Covid component supply issues. As said, simply testing battery voltage with a multimeter is meaningless. Yes, coding will necessitate diagnostics generally only held by main dealers and independents. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Mike, All other things being serviceable, the failure of the stop start system is usually associated with a below par battery. Appreciating you have check your battery voltage, but if that was with a multi meter, then that no- load test is almost meaningless. Stray warning light issues can also be characteristic of battery issues. Yes, I know the car starts well, so it is assumed that the battery must be OK, but the battery condition monitor will know differently! Even quite sophisticated battery test test equipment may not test all of the parameters monitored, so again beware of testing with ‘outdated testers’. A new battery - if needed - will need coding to the car. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Thomas, I guess you have a conventional manual handbrake, by the year of the car. Assuming the pads and calipers are in a serviceable condition, then it maybe wise to totally slacken handbrake adjustment to a point where the cables can be disconnected at both wheels. You can then sharply apply the footbrake and ensure both rear wheels lock up properly and then fully release properly. It would be great if your friendly MOT station could retest the rear brake efficiency and balance to ensure they are working properly - oops, just realised Ireland - so Government testing?? Once you have established correctly working rear wheel braking , you can then tackle the handbrake cable efficiency. Do both cables pull and release properly? Renew if any doubt. Your A4 may have the same set up as the similar year A3, whereby the cables pass through aluminium guide tubes, and they can stick within these tubes. New tubes will be necessary and I think these are main dealer parts only. Liberal application of WD40 may assist handbrake cable action and removal of tubes if necessary. Kind regards, Gareth.

Thanks Greg, Can any other owners confirm that Greg’s car isn’t actually missing some hold-up facility? If not, does anyone have some designed modification to sort this! Hoping someone can help. Kind regards, Gareth. p.s. Just a thought Greg:- our recently replaced non-Audi saloon had a similar recessed lifting handle in the boot floor, and when raised, this handle clipped over the rubber boot seal - which then held it in the raised position. Any possibility yours might do the same?

Hello Gregg, If it’s the heater matrix then you will be obviously losing coolant, and your ‘floor water’ will be tinged with antifreeze. Chances is it’s rain water ingress. Was the car parked with with the driver side facing the prevailing rain and wind? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Greg, There should be a short strap on the raisable floor base panel, that hooks into a plastic hook under the ‘parcel shelf’. That will hold the floor base in its raised position - well at least our humble 2006 has such an arrangement. That same short strap is what you grab to actually lift the base panel. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Mark, I think you are going to struggle to find a genuine replacement pipe for this 28 year old car. My suggestion is to get one made up in a copper based material - similar to that used on brake pipes. You might have to put a join in it at some point, for convenience of fitting. Obviously use the old one as a pattern. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Michael, It’s a Torx head - female - socket you need. Size ? Difficult to say from the photo. Have a look on EBay. There are a number of individual sizes, and even a cheap multi- size set for around £10. Probably not very good, but should do for single use. Let us know how you get on, and what size it turns out to be, thereby helping others in the future. Kind regards, Gareth.

Where has Manus gone?

Hello Manus, Are you saying the car is currently fitted with Continental tyres - or not? This 2 year old car has covered an average annual mileage of only 2,300 miles - ridiculously low, and highly likely to be via. short ‘shopping’ type tips where tyres seldom get up to temperature and journeys usually include regular changes in direction, which accelerates tyre wear. Probably the same tyres fitted on a vehicle driven on the motorway would cover twice the mileage. In effect, your comments don’t surprise. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello David, I could be wrong, but I don’t think you would now be able to formally reject it ( after 6 months), but if I was in your situation I would certainly be taking appropriate legal advice on that without further delay - you could start with the CAB. There may be a consideration to reject it, based on the date you first notified the dealer, and the fact that they have failed to efficiently solve the issue, even though you have given them opportunity and time to do so. It might be worth sending Paul a PM, since he hasn’t been on here for over 2 years - but I wouldn’t be awaiting his reply before starting to seek advice. Perhaps you could let us know how you get on. Kind regards, Gareth.

All to no avail. Why are we wasting your time, effort and brain power on an OP who cannot be bothered to return to the forum since he posted his plea for advice?

Have you checked the on-line MOT history, and when the last V5 was issued. £20K for a c6 year old S4 having covered 20k/a seems expensive to me, but you would need to check this out. Manual or auto? If manual, when was the clutch changed? If auto, when as the a gearbox oil service carried out. Suspension is likely to be getting weak at that mileage. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Ross, I think you are resting your hopes on something that is unlikely to be the case. If you raise the issue, you are letting yourself wide open to being convinced all will be well, particularly since you have already fallen sufficiently in love with it to put a deposit on it - without being pessimistic, you are in an emotionally vulnerable position. Still, it isn’t my money or my risk going forward. Trade seller? If so, be prepared to be convinced that the warranty will cover such an issue, but even if does, do you really want the responsibility of being subjected to the hassle of loss of use through substantial repairs? Good luck with whatever you decide to do. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Fakher, Symptoms are not untypical of clutch release bearing failure. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Ross, Others more knowledgeable than me on this, will hopefully colour in some more detail, but I believe this is within the year range of ‘low friction’ ‘skinny’ piston rings. This can result in engines devouring oil at an unbelievable rate of knots, and have little respect for what mileage it does it at. If it were me, I would be steering a wide birth around this and attempting to my deposit back. Indeed, it could be worth forfeiting the deposit if needs be. Kind regards, Gareth. p.s. This advice maybe disputed, and if so, I respect that alternative opinion, and will leave the decision to you.

Worth inspecting the belt, and it’s tension, as well as the belt tensioner. Could be typical of a slack belt. Kind regards, Gareth. p.s. Assuming P.S. is hydraulic.

Hello Nathan, An honest opinion would agree with your first few words. To ignore inspections of braking systems to a point where pads wear below 3mm is asking for trouble. Having said all that, the fortunate outcome is that only your wallet and shoe leather has been damaged on this occasion. When did you look at the front ones last Nathan? Apologies for being direct. Kind regards, Gareth.