Magnet

Many thanks Ryan. Really pleased you were able to find the fault and fix it, and great that you were able to let the forum know. Your bad experience and it’s resolution could stand someone in good stead in the future. Many thanks too for the kind Christmas sentiments, and we obviously return these good wishes to you and yours. Enjoy! Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Benjamin, As Steve says, you could try ECP who seem to trade off continually offering discount off ‘retail’ prices. Their sister company Car Parts Less often have the same products cheaper, with lower % discounts! You could also try Car Parts in Motion, who I’ve found are cheaper more often than not ( no connection). Also worth searching EBay for competitive prices on branded parts. Always worth investing in quality bought at the most competitive price. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Nicholas, Thanks for being in touch, and sorry to hear of your issue. It does indeed sound as if your year old battery is defunct, and/or the car has developed a parasitic drain. The car should unlock with the key, and since it doesn’t, I would be tempted to give it a generous spay of WD40, leave it for 10 mins and try again following another squirt. Be careful if the lock has a sliding shutter across it, since these have a habit of trapping the small plastic tubes attached to the WD40, sometimes resulting in a half day out with a locksmith! Carefully slide and hold the shutter open with a small screwdriver or similar - with respect for slipping and scratching paintwork! Perhaps you could let us know how you get on. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello David, Thanks for being in touch. The actual scheduled mileage or time to change the air filter? Having said that, I would not leave an air filter in operation for 55 K miles even if it was correct. Can we take it that the total mileage the car has covered in 6 years is 27.5 K? - bit under 5K/a. If the 55K mentioned is correct then the main dealer has been right in not changing it, but even so, I would have thought that there would have been a time limit on this. Some swear by the importance of full main dealer service history, others swear at it! Personally, I see little merit in spending probably north of £100/hr (+VAT) labour to service an out-of -warranty vehicle, but… Incase it helps David:- Our humble A3 (now 6 to 7K/a) gets an annual service using Quantum Longlife oil, with the oil filter changed every year, and the air filter every two years. This seem simple, and perhaps over- serviced, but for the cost of the air filter - why not? All the power out of an engine develops via. air which comes through the filter, so that filter has to be clean at all times. That’s why I ensure it’s treated with respect. Hope some of this helps, Kind regards, Gareth.

No Ryan, not within the tailgate. Open the tailgate and look up to the top right? hand side near where the tailgate hinges. You should see the covered linking harness running between the body and the tailgate - obviously it will be flexible. Don’t go taking the tailgate card off - no reason to at this stage. One thing at a time! Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Ryan, Many thanks for being in touch with the forum, and Season’s Greetings to you and yours. Having done what you have done, my next port of call would be to check the section of wiring which runs within the flexible rubber covered harness between the main body and the tailgate section. If you carefully peel back the rubber at one end, you can then inspect the wires which run within the rubber sleeve. This is a favourite area for wires to break due to years of flexing when opening closing the tailgate/boot. - particularly during this colder weather when the wires become harder and more brittle. Please come back to us Ryan, if you find broken wire/s and we should be able to advise on the best way to sort it. Perhaps you would be kind enough to let us know anyway. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Ken, I think you have knocked the nail on the head as far as problem solutions are concerned. It is this follow up that makes any of the threads meaningful, and regrettably there are a fair percentage of ‘open threads’ where the persons seeking advice do not come back to let the forum know what the outcome was. The reality is that I don’t feel that this particular forum is that different from others in that respect, but….. For my part, I don’t mind offering advice - some meaningful, some not - and this lack of response doesn’t really disappoint too much in terms of ‘why do I bother?’ , but it’s the lack of useful feedback for other’s benefit which sometimes frustrates. Having said all that, it is a breath of fresh air when some good folks do come back and post the outcome. Great! Many thanks again Ken, Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Dave, My limited experience of Hankook pointed them to be no more than mid range tyres, and that thought stayed with me until I noticed Mercedes etc. were fitting them from new - I guess the same with Audi? Another family member had a couple fitted as replacements on his owned from new KA, but was not impressed with the service mileage they achieved, and returned to Michelin. Of course, this is a very narrow experience window, and may not be representative. If there indeed isn’t anything special about the Hankook fitted to your car, and Andrew is right, then you might have a free choice of other brands. Perhaps others with SQ7s can give you best advice. This probably doesn’t go for much of a recommendation, but I’ve always stuck with Michelin on our humble A3, on the basis they seem to provide more miles/£ - albeit more expensive than most to buy. Hopefully others will be along shortly Dave and offer you more specific and meaningful advice. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Jacob, Thank you for being in touch with the forum, albeit under unfortunate circumstances. If I had to guess on whether the outer ‘lens’ is available as a separate part, then I think my guess would be it wouldn’t be. Could I suggest you check this with your local main dealer, and if so, it may be worth having a look on EBay etc. to see if anyone is advertising a secondhand one, or even an aftermarket one. Failing this, you try one of the on line breaker link contacts - Partsfinder is just one - and registering your ‘want’ on there. If any of the linked-in car breakers have one, they will then notify you direct. If all this fails, and you have to go down the route of buying new, then perhaps you can let the forum know, and I could then suggest a couple of main dealers who would probably offer you some discount. Kind regards, Gareth.

My family would like to send season’s greetings to all who visit this forum, those who try to help, and those who administer the forum for our benefit. May you all have a peaceful and safe Christmas, and it would be great to hopefully look forward to a return of being able to do what we once took for granted. Take care. Best wishes and kind regards to you all. Gareth.

Hello Marlon, Thanks for coming back on this. Did you get the tyres checked by a tyre retailer today, as you intended? Sorry, it could be me, but I’m not understanding what you mean about a brake disc slapping about and 5mm of uneven wear. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Gary, Many thanks for coming back. I feel sorry now about my rather flippant reply - each to their own, and I have a thing about originality, and I really shouldn’t influence your decision. Flaking lacquer? I would think it’s unusual for the original lacquer to start to peel on a 5 year old car, but I could be wrong again here, when I wonder if any degree of refinishing has been carried out on the two affected wheels. I’ve seen evidence of the adverse affect of wheel cleaner sprayed on before high pressure car washing, but that usually manifests itself as ‘milkiness’ on the lacquer coating. If it were mine, I would be tempted to take it to a trusted local wheel refurbishers and seek their opinion. While there, they are likely to have examples of various colour finishes which you might like to consider. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Gary, I’m very much with David. Bronze wheels on a lovely example in factory spec?? Blinking heck, the last time I saw that was on a John Player Special in the 1980s. Didn’t like it then, and not really had a change of heart since! Still, as they say, beauty is in the eye of the holder. There again, it is also said that love is blind! Just an opinion Gary. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Abdul, Thanks for being in touch. The car would appear to have given you good service. Apologies, but I’m a little confused as to why you have suddenly abandoned your local garage who have looked after your servicing and MOTs needs, and moved to an Audi main dealer for your MOT. Anything to do with any element of ‘offers’? Anyway, re. the now necessary repairs:- It sounds as if you are again intending to entrust these repairs to your local garage again, and that would seem to be a good move to me. Worn bushes and suspension arms? No debate in my book - replace the arms complete with new bushes, otherwise you are going to have to pay labour to remove and refit new bushes into your old arms - not economic sense. I would spend once and wisely and invest in Lemforder arms. You can buy these at competitive prices via. EBay search, but if you are a follower of a certain abbreviated to 3 letter on line factors who offer attractive discounts on so called retail prices, then you could find yourself buying one of their own brands at an attractive price! Um. If you are entrusting the supply of the parts to your garage, then beware that they may be enticed to buy the ‘best deal’ parts on offer from their local motor factors. For me, I see no reason to depart from Lemforder. Track rod end covers:- I’d simply replace the TREs as a pair - try Febi. Spring? Yes replace both, but get your garage to double check that one is actually broken! Shock absorbers - yes you can change them, but I would be tempted to give them a good coat of inspection, and leave them alone if not suspect. Hope some of this helps, Kind regards, Gareth.

Many thanks for filling in the detail Zubair. It sounds as if this car has been correctly serviced with you from new, and judging by the the fact that the gearbox required replacing (at not much over 40K? miles) it doesn’t sound as if it’s given reliable service in return. I feel for your plight if you do indeed have to fund this latest repair, particularly since I would guess that the warranty premium itself has not been unsubstantial. I think if this were mine, and I find the warranty doesn’t cover the clutch issue, then I would be writing or e-mailing Audi Customer Services and placing the full history of this car before them, and asking for a (substantial?) contribution from them. If this fails, and I hope it doesn’t, then I would strongly consider getting this work done at a trusted local garage, since Audi clutch parts alone are extremely expensive in comparison with an alternative -equally good - aftermarket brand/s ( the forum can advise). Perhaps you can keep us updated on how you get on. Many thanks again for coming back. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Zubair, Thanks for being in touch with the forum, and sorry to hear of your issue. The only certain way of finding out whether this work is covered by the warranty or not is to carefully read through the small print of the warranty handbook/document, since what they will and will not cover, will differ with different warranty companies - you will find the devil in the detail as they say. If I have to prejudge then I would say it wouldn’t surprise me if it isn’t, since clutches would be considered wearing parts, and wear is unlikely to be covered. Perhaps you could come back to us with the outcome Zubair once you have studied the warranty cover in detail. Incidentally, what mileage has the car now covered? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Marlon, Many thanks for being in touch with the forum, and sorry to hear of your issue. I’m equally sorry, but in my view, I think it’s going to be very difficult/ impossible for anyone on here to isolate the cause of this noise - from the sensible variety of possibles you mention - without actually inspecting the car. I hope this doesn’t come over as being unhelpful. If this were mine, I would be first taking it along to my trusted local tyre retailer and getting them to remove the offending wheel and thoroughly inspecting the tyre, since this could ( in caps) be the source of your problem, and you have to eliminate that possibility without delay, for obvious reasons. They should also be able to do a basic check on brake pads, ball joints, and shafts while the wheel is off. However, if they cannot find any problem with the tyre/s, then I would be booking this in to a trusted local garage to get a full assessment of the problem. The car is obviously trying to tell you something Marlon, so I would be treating this inspection with some urgency, for your and other’s safety. Perhaps you could let us know how you get on. Kind regards, Gareth.

Thanks Eric, So you might have potentially 3 cars which may be of interest. You then select the the one that best suits your gut feeling and pay your £260 to get that inspected. Not an exorbitant pre-purchase insurance premium? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Ken, And there’s me thinking it’s just me, going through my old and cynical phase! Well at least the old bit is correct, and as for the cynical bit, I really do feel that that part of me is showing through - unfortunately. For my part, I try to be polite, logical, and hopefully constructive, but (as with most forums?) there seems to be an air of ‘I want, you know, you tell’ - seldom thanks, and that’s OK if it must be, but as you say Ken, very often not even an acknowledgement, and certainly a general absence of follow up, which is the most important part, since this is the part which will assist others in similar problems in the future. My sincere apologies and thanks to those who take the trouble to return to the forum and give an update. Perhaps some of this is understandable when you consider some folks come to the forum asking for advice on, let’s say the source of a noise, and their expectation maybe that the forum can isolate the cause FOC without any access to inspecting the vehicle. A failure to be able do that may perhaps disappoint, and put the forum in bad light. I’ve been wondering for a little while about the general effectiveness of my involvement on here, so your your interesting comment comes at an opportune time Ken. There again, it might be just us two who share this opinion Ken. Still….. Many thanks and kind regards, Gareth.

Many thanks Eric, I obviously cannot speak for Cliff, but there hasn’t been any misunderstanding of your situation on my part, and your latest summary simple restates what your individual posts has stated. Re. AA/RAC inspection. OK, £260 is not insignificant, but I would look at it like this:- Do I know enough about vehicles to form my own comprehensive judgement? If the asking price was £260 more than I originally thought, would I walk away from it? I’m sorry you feel the forum has not provided you with the degree of advice you sought, but the bottom line is any car with known faults at a test drive, must either be bought with knowledge of these faults, or the faults corrected by the seller prior to a retest. Again, I cannot over stress the importance of a knowledgeable inspection of any vehicle, if the buyer is not armed with the experience to fully assess it. Positively the last bit:- Any stories behind any used vehicle will rest with the last keeper. If that keeper has been short term, then be suspicious. Make all attempts possible to contact the last keeper before committing. Read the boring small print on warrantees, and decide if the warrantee is of any practical use if buying at a distance away from your home. Although the forum hasn’t given you what you want, hopefully some of the experience with this potential purchase will stand you in good stead. Good luck, and kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Dan, I too would forget about fancy one way valves, and indeed a procedure which is essentially what you have done. I would still follow my procedure (and apologies for repeating ) :- engine running to assist servo operation. Your Dad gets on the business end with the spanner, and a tube (with one way valve removed -to minimise restriction of flow) over the nipple and the other end in a jar. Your job is to pump the pedal until it is as hard as you can get and at this point, you shout HARD to your Dad. This is his queue to open the bleed nipple to force the pressuring fluid out. He then quickly retightens the nipple. Repeat this say four to five times in a row at each wheel. Top up fluid, and repeat at other three wheels - ending up at N/s front. If this fails then a trip to a garage to get it vacuum bled. Let us know how you get on Dan. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Dan, Have you bled these brakes by having the engine running and getting an assistant to rapidly pump the brake pedal until it is as hard as it can be? At that precise moment, you open the bleed nipple. Repeat on each wheel - starting with the furthest away from the master cylinder. Perhaps you could let us know if you have, and how you get on if you haven’t. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Eric, Understandable confusion - and now lack of it - regarding whether you are indeed (still) thinking about buying a 2010 A3. That’s fine, everyone now is clear on what you are wishing to do. I too think that I cannot add anymore to whatever debate there now is left, and I am in danger of repeating that already repeated! The last bit that can be reinforced Eric:- When someone asks for advice, it is generally to confirm what they intend to do is sound. That is proving difficult in this case, so far, but who knows, someone else on here may well fully support what you want to do. I think this boils down to a question of you placing your faith in warranties ( of which I guess you have read the small print) and the dealer’s reviews. I genuinely wish you luck. On a question of ‘ticking ALL ( your caps) the boxes? About 25 years ago I was advised that if I wanted all the boxes ticked, then I had best write out a cheque for a new car! Sound advice, and I bought a car which didn’t tick some of the boxes , and didn’t regret it. Compromise can be king. In the end Eric, you will make a decision which suits your heart. Let’s hope that decision proves to suit your mind. Kind regards, Gareth. p.s. Since you really want to buy this car, why don’t you spend some funds and get it inspected by the AA before committing to buy?

Hello Eric, My money is on the principle that he is very keen on selling you this car, and it’s my gut feeling this time - you have fallen in love with this, and want to buy it. I’m basing my logic on the fact that you are not dismissing the limitations of so called warranties, as a fall back, and trying to convince yourself that all will be well anyway, because the warranty will give you complete cover of repair costs - so what’s to lose? If it were me, I would give the following a good coat of thinking about:- Even if (in caps) the warranty will cover all (in caps) expenses, are you really prepared to put up with the potential of all the associated inconvenience? Good cars are selling well at the moment, so why is the dealer trying to ‘sell’ you this car? As an important aside:- Are you intending to buy a 2010 (as your profile shows) or is your current car a 2010? If you are intending to buy a 2010, was this the period where some Audi s were suffering from high oil consumption? Wonder if you could help out with advice on this bit Steve Y.? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Lee, Thanks for being in touch. I take it you are also using the E10 fuel. On the basis of simple things first, I just wonder if it’s worth leaving the current fuel level drop to reserve, then half filling the tank with the ‘old’ E5, and monitoring that. Perhaps you could let us know Lee. Kind regards, Gareth.