Magnet

Hello Ben, Sorry to hear of your issue. Perhaps a couple of explanatory comments:- Such play/wear is unlikely to occur in a week. Detection of all issues, or potential issues at a MOT station cannot be taken for granted. Things are missed or even considered not worth of comment. Garages carrying out replacement of specific components cannot be relied upon to inspect, leave alone assess wear, in other components. It very much depends on what they are specifically asked to do, compared with what may appear to be a common sense approach to associated components. Good MOT stations, good garages, reliable in depth inspections? Ideal world yes, in reality - questionable. Anyway to move forward:- excessive ( in caps) play at a particular wheel should be account for by a specific fault. OK, possibly rack or inner rack joint is a possible, but are they confirming this? You would need some fair degree of wear to account for the wheel movement you describe. My first port of call would be to check for any the wheel bearing movement, by jacking the car up securely and attempting to move/rock the wheel ‘in and out’ at the 12 and 6 o clock positions. I.e. push in at 12 while pulling out at 6 ,or vice versa. If you find play here, then hold your foot on the brake while someone checks again. No movement at this second tests would suggest wheel bearing issues. Free movement at 9/3 o’clock suggests steering wear. Perhaps you could come back to us at this stage. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Sargaraz, Are you saying you changed the battery in the fob because it stopped remotely locking and unlocking, and it still doesn’t lock and unlock with the renewed battery? So it’s not that you’ve gone backwards, it’s just that it hasn’t sorted it. If so, it might be worth Googling ‘reprogramming Audi key fob’ or similar. That should give you various ways to try. Hope you are lucky and one of the methods will work for you. Unfortunately none of them did for my spare fob, so it would be off to the Audi dealer/ independent and spend some money to get it reprogrammed. Kind regards, Gareth.

Thanks for coming back Michael - sounds good. Mintex pads? Um! Once a well respected brand, now just a bought-brand name? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Michael, One suggestion I would make is to invest in good quality parts if you are going to do this work yourself. Don’t scrimp on costs when benefiting from DIY savings. For filters I only use Mann or Bosch ( no exceptions) if not using VAG parts. Oil - I use the appropriate grade of Quantum Longlife (was/still is? recommended by Audi). Brake parts - suggest EBC if not using VAG. Consider brake fluid change if not done within last 3 years. Kind regards, Gareth,

Hello Pink, Sorry to hear of your tale of woe. I can understand you don’t want to get ripped off with the repair of this vehicle, but more importantly I would think you would need to have confidence that you are getting a good job done - not a cheap job. Without appearing pessimistic, you’ve done a good job of modifying Audi’s styling! What appears apparent is it will certainly need a new door skin and mirror, and the panel below the door (cill panel) is also damaged and this is a structural part, and to replace it would be comparatively major surgery. To repair it, would to some extent be a bodge, so......? Costing?? First and most important aspect is you must have knowledge of the quality of workmanship of the bodyshop you choose to do the job. That’s a difficult one, and you simply need to ask around for recommendations. Reputable (not too large) used car sites in your area can usually help with recommendations, but get a least a couple of estimates. Most important that you get a good understanding of exactly what they are going to do, and you have confidence in their ability and trustworthiness to do it. Do you want a cheap as possible job done? If so, simply do not repair it, but live with it. If you are not too fussy about the quality of the repair but cost is king - again do not repair it - it could stand out like a sore thumb. Affect on the wallet?? Expect to pay around £150 for a mirror, possibly around £300 to repaint a door ( excluding cost of door skin and fitting). Cill replacement/repair?? Any reason why you don’t get this done on your insurance? I would suggest that if you are in two minds about getting it done on insurance or not, then just don’t approach them in the first place, otherwise they will be privy to your accident and increase your premium. Not sure how much of this will help. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Cliff and Adam. Thanks Cliff. I can understand your dislike (hatred, perhaps not) of WD40, but whatever is said, it ( and it’s superior? counterparts) do assist in assessing whether plastic components are suffering from undue resistance to electrical forces which should operate them. If it offers a cheap temporary resolution to an issue, then in my book, it’s done what you wanted it to do, and can easily be removed with a couple of squirts of brake cleaner. Simply renewing the solenoid? Yes, of course, that principle can be applied on the basis of changing any component which may be thought to be at fault, or has been shown by others to be at fault at some time. But, it will always be a guess that it is faulty, hence my and Cliff’s advice to first test the supply to it - if you have the meter and the experience. Kind regards, Gareth.

Sorry Daniel, it’s probably me, but from your write up, I’m not sure if you want a grommet or a replacement motor? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Adam, You can of course simply renew the solenoid in the hope that it may solve the issue. To me, the more sensible approach would be to check the voltage supply etc. to the unit first. If you don’t have the necessary meter or experience, then it would be worth investing in the half an hour of the services of a trusted local auto electrician to ensure you spend wisely from that point on. If you don’t like the idea of a squirt of WD40 then there are other such ‘lubricants’ some containing PTFE which you could try. A squirt of something is cheap and always worth a try! Kind regards, Gareth.

Sounds a bargain for someone John. I’m sure they will find a good home. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Scott, Can you feel any ‘roughness’ through your foot when this noise occurs? Any strange feel/noise at clutch pedal when you are actually changing gear on the move? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Cole, Since your post is tagged onto a 4 year old thread, can we first confirm your vehicle is running on air suspension? When you say ‘.....it’s a sensor but it’s not...’ can you confirm you could indentify which of (the possibly 4?) sensors it is, and you have actually replaced it. If it’s not a sensor or an air leakage issue, then common suspect is the compressor, and the offending component within that is usually the fibre type piston ring. If it turns out to be this then it’s worth talking to ‘BagpipingAndy’ who makes these and lists on EBay. Perhaps you could come back to us. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Jay from the Homeland, Until I read down to ‘....had thermostat changed...’ this was pointing to a a barn door thermostat issue. What else could It be? Before we move on Jay, was the replacement a VAG or aftermarket make? Kind regards, Gareth.

Apologies Stewart. Wrong end of the stick! Dipstick aptly comes to mind! Silly Billy, as was once said. Of course, Tom gives you the correct interpretation, and I would agree it is time to be concerned about the possibility of oil dilution. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Stewart, Please excuse my ignorance on the latest models, but does the car have an actual dip stick, or just an electronic level switch? Your post, suggests it has a dip stick, but just to be sure. If a simple level switch, the handbook should state at what level it kicks in and what quantity needs to be added to return it to full. 1 ltr? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Mick, Thanks for coming back on this. I think if this were mine I would be looking for another trusted local garage. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Mick, Sorry to hear of your issue. So they have now changed 4 coil packs and changed the original spark plugs twice. I think it would stretch the imagination a bit to believe that 3 sets of spark plugs, including 2 new sets could all be faulty! The garage must be capable of establishing which cylinders are suffering from a misfire - it would not be all of them, or the engine would not run at all. So question to them is which cylinder/s is affected. New coil packs they may be, but reliably serviceable they may not - depending on the brand. Whatever, it should be possible to swop the coil packs around to establish whether the misfire stays on the same cylinder or not. It should not be rocket science for an average garage. If new coil packs and plugs are serviceable, but problem returns, then I would be wanting to check the wiring to each of the coil packs to see if there was an intermittent bad connection/partial break, which would account for the problem. If there is, then it’s possible that actually working on the engine may improve or disturb a poor connection, but a poor connection it continues to be, and will continue to cause issues. The above can only be a guess, since I’m sure you will appreciate it’s impossible to diagnose anything at a distance. Perhaps you could keep us posted on developments Mick. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Colin, In the absence of any other replies, can I confirm that the car is fitted with a conventional (circular) speedometer rather than a simple digital reading? If it’s a conventional speedo, then what would be wrong with superimposing a conversion scale to Km/hr, so the needle point will indicate the km/hr as well? Having said that, I would be surprised if the display cannot be altered. Tried a VAG main dealer? Kind regards, Gareth.

Make of replacement battery Ivan? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Alex, Although you might get some estimate on here, I think a far quicker and realistic estimate will be obtained by nipping this around to your local tyre/exhaust centre -independent would be better. This will result in finding out exactly what is wrong, rather than assuming, and of course will give you a precise cost to put it right. Perhaps you could let us know how you get on. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Dan, Thanks for coming back on this. Yes, the caps are plastic, unlike my when -I-had-hair period when they were metal. Plastic yes, but pressure cap yes. Issues there are usually associated with unexplained coolant loss, and in reality is unlikely to be the cause of your problem, but worth a cheap shot. Coolant pressure test:- Appreciating you like to do things yourself, and this really is to be applauded, but the economics in this case hangs on investing in the equipment which you may not use again, vs. paying to get the test done - with an input of the expertise and advice from those conducting the test for you. Obviously, a personal choice Dan. An additional bit of background:- Does the car overheat? Since you have invested in a diesel, it would probably be to your advantage to find a local trusted diesel specialist who would be handy as a point of reference. Apologies for boring those who might have read this many times before, but worth having a chat with your local taxi boys - they usually know who to go to, and to avoid, in the local diesel world since their living depends on such people. Auctions, eh! Well you win some, you lose some. More so of an issue now where owners sell their vehicles to the likes of I Buy Any Shed etc. and all are destined for auctions. The favoured route to buying is often buying privately, where vehicles can be road tested before purchase. Very often not a lot more expensive than buying at auction where you have to pay additional ‘commission’ charges. Perhaps you could let us know how you get on Dan. Kind regards, Gareth.

OK June. So we are talking two vehicles in your ownership - clear now, but not before. Simply with an aim of trying to save you some funds:- if the steering geometry is out of alignment then you are going to notice some degree of uneven tyre wear. Are you? Of course, you can Google anything to death, and find out all the bad news - good news and comment travel slower! Just wondering if you test drove this vehicle before you bought it. Sorry to appear unhelpful, but I wonder why you bought it, having had a less than favourable view of the rented car. Can’t you take it back, since it’s considered dangerous? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Dan, Simple things first:- try replacing the reservoir cap with a quality replacement. Cylinder compression testing and possible head gasket failure? This test really isn’t the most informative of tests unless the head gasket has failed between two adjacent cylinders. A more meaningful test would be to have a coolant pressure test done on the car. Trade seller or private sale? How was the car described? Even with a private sale, the car’s condition has to match the advertised condition. Kind regards, Gareth.

Thanks for coming back on this June. Do you know if there was any uneven wear on the tyres you recently replaced? Kind regards, Gareth.

I would not ‘....try a new battery....’ - simply check the one already fitted to assess whether you can eliminate that as a possible cause.

Isn’t it in the boot on the side panel - on the same side as the filler?