Magnet

Hello James, Great. Glad you have sorted it, and equally pleased you have taken the trouble to report back to the forum, which will be of help to others in the future. Unfortunately, such follow-up responses are rare. I’d certainly be happy to be able to work alongside you, once I could see you were a ‘genuine VAG sensor’ man only. There are some dubious aftermarket parts out there, and their use can lead to all sorts of ongoing issues when ‘it can’t be that sensor - I’ve just replaced it’ I tend to do what you do - buy quality parts at best shop-around prices. Many thanks again and kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Michal, You raise some good points, and I’m sure you will have a number of replies. Mine for what it’s worth would be £2000 budget buys you into problem territory, and your quest for an 80k mileage limit will be restrictive. If you are realistically talking 2007/2010 then the car will be 9 to 12 years old, and 80k will represent low mileage. Low mileage may sound attractive, but small mileage trips leads to increased wear, when compared with an average to high mileage example, where the car has been regularly running at optimum conditions. Another consideration is that at around your 80k miles, components will need changing, whereas on a higher mileage one, the previous owner will have already spent the money to replace such parts. We have a 2006 family A3 1.6 which has just turned 155k, and ........ no I’m not tempting fate! .....but we are hanging on to it! Mercedes vs. Audi - sorry can’t help. What I would say Michal is to broaden your mind’s search’s and assess the condition of a particular car of interest, and don’t just look at the mileage reading. OK, £2000 is a lot of money, but not in terms of buying a car. Another consideration would be to buy a cheap car and run it until it stops. Anticipated expenditure around your 80K limit? Cambelt and associated assembly, and far more. Beware , even if already changed, there are a fair % of substandard aftermarket parts which might have been used, and this is as worrying/potentially more expensive as it not having been done. Enjoy your search. If you are fully competent with assessing cars then I’d say it’s essential to take someone along who is. Good luck in finding something. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello David, Sorry to hear you were dissatisfied with the the A3 you bought. Interesting comment about spending £120 on discs and pads all round. Not sure about how this fits in to your recent experience - did you spend that on the car you just returned? If so, that again is interesting - can we take it that that was just the cost of the replaced parts? Diagnostics and next purchase? If you mean accessing codes which will show you problems, then beware that it can simply be a case of clearing all previous faults and presenting you with a print out confirming no faults found. If it were me, and I didn’t have much mechanical experience, then I would be aiming to get some knowledgeable and experienced opinion on any car I was intending to buy. While appreciating Trevor’s very good advice regarding ensuring the car has service history, the reality is that it may be a fairly rare find to come across a 14 year old car ( if it was a 2005 A3 you bought) which is likely to have covered around 170,000 miles on an average basis, and find it had a fairly comprehensive service history. I would anticipate that even if it does, it will probably still require replacing some wearing components. Well worth considering getting second opinion on your proposed n cut purchase David. Not sure what the terms of your initial purchase were, and despite good justification, rejecting a 14 year old car and returning it, may not always be that easy. Good luck with your next purchase. Kind regards, Gareth.

Sorry Ryan, but I’m none the wiser about the 30! in the initial post, or the current post where ......’full tank would be losing 1/8 of my tank in 20 miles’. Can you tell us what your current average mpg is? Can we just keep it simple and clear? Also, if this is a ‘computerised’ consumption, or an actual ‘fill to fill’ calculated consumption. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Ryan, Apologies, but I’m not fully understanding your post - probably predictive text issue or something- but ...’drove to work.....around 15 miles.......but it said on the dash I used around 30!’. Did you mean 30 litres? If this were mine, I would first be wanting to confirm and quantify the extent of high fuel consumption via. a full tank and the amount of fuel needed to return it to full for the mileage you had covered. If it proves that the car has a high fuel consumption then this needs to be addressed. Similarly if it turns out to be a computer calculation error then this is obviously a different issue, but to me, it’s not clear at the moment, which of the two it is. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Giammarco, Sounds a nice car. Have you forgotten to stare the price, or have I missed it? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Stuart, Sorry, as Cliff said, there doesn’t seem to be regular contributors who are into diagnostics to the same extent that you are. Having said that, some knowledgeable diagnostic folks do contribute from time to time when they visit the forum, but I well understand you need answers when you need them. Although I certainly respect the need for diagnostics, and well appreciate the benefits to be gained from such experience, another viewpoint is one of the old ‘cause and effect’. As I understand it, component x can be shown up as the culprit since it receives its ‘signal ‘ from y, yet the root cause is actually at y - not x. Of course, this doesn’t help you one bit, but all all I can do is apologise for the lack and response and hope someone might come along shortly. Meanwhile, kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Stacy, Sorry to hear of your problems, but could you clarify what was changed on Friday. You have a clutch master cylinder, and a clutch slave cylinder - there is no such thing as a ‘master slave’. If the initial clutch work was done comprehensively, then the parts used should have been flywheel (in your case); clutch driven plate, clutch pressure plate and clutch release bearing/ slave cylinder. All mentioned parts except the flywheel are known as a ‘3 part clutch assembly. Your symptoms sound suspiciously like issues with the slave cylinder ( which includes the release bearing) and is located within the bellhousing of the gearbox. If it is this, then it’s a gearbox out again job. Questions:- Did they renew this part? (I guess they must have) or certainly should have. What make parts did they use? Some aftermarket parts can unfortunately be of poor quality, and new doesn’t always = serviceable, even for a short space of time. Out going funds? It would seem that whatever they did last was not the cause, and if it were me I would be reluctant to pay for that job, and certainly any other rectification work necessary to get this clutch operating as would be reasonable to expect. Perhaps you could come back to us. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Glen, As with Cliff, glad to hear it appears to be sorted. I still maintain that 85K miles is unusually low for a DMF failure - wonder what happened there. £750 seems very very reasonable for a clutch kit, DMF and labour. You’ve done well at that price. Apologies, appreciate that’s a lot of funds, but there must be a little sunshine through the clouds at that price. Good luck and kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Simon, Apologies for being pessimistic, but I’ve tried all the various recommended on-line procedures for recommendations of sync.ing these, with no success. You may have better luck than me if you Google the various methods. Kind regards, Gareth.

Good move I think Simon, but I would suggest you ask questions about their diagnosis and reasoning, rather than just listening to what they say. Personally, I would not be doing anything with the car until they look at it. Perhaps you could let us know how you get on. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Simon, I’m sure there are others on here would will be more up to date on this than I am, but my slant on service intervals is -or at least was:- The monitoring system can be set for annual servicing if the vehicle covers low mileages, or If covering relatively higher than average mileages ( as you do) then it can be set for a Longlife schedule which generally comes up at around 18K depending on your normal journey. If (should be in caps) your car had been set on Longlife - and many aren’t since the dealer isn’t able to get you to have it serviced, then you are likely to have two services in your ownership, on this schedule. If it were mine, I would be returning with the car and asking them to check which schedule it is set on, and ensure it’s a Longlife one. Getting it serviced outside the main dealer? Yes, possibly if the servicing garage uses genuine parts and is VAT registered and I guess had access into the VAG system to record the service information. Question is, we use you really want to be arguing/ proving that the out-of-dealership servicing has had no effect on any problem that arises. Worth it for a few tens of pounds saving?? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Simon, Thanks for giving the forum a bit more background. So, is the heater control valve leaking? If it’s not, have you or the garage, found the source of the coolant leak? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Simon from the north of God’s country, Is the car loosing coolant? If not, there cannot be any connection (gasket failure) between coolant and combustion chambers - a la head gasket failure. Water pump? Well if around 60 years of playing around with motor cars counts for anything, then I’m still to come across a water pump which fails to circulate coolant without making its presence felt by making some sort of extreme protesting noises. Cam belt? diagnosis of this as the cause must simply equate to the dealer having a wish to upset your wallet! If this were mine Simon, I would be finding yourself a trusted local independent, before you spend even more money. Perhaps you could let us know how you get on. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello both, I must say, I share Envy’s concerns about the National Grid’s ability to cope with all of this. Whatever the immediate future, the energy to run vehicles must be found from somewhere, and I wonder what proposals are in place to ensure the demand on the system can be met? Do doubt someone has worked this out. The all important availability of access to sufficient charging points has already been raised, and without this being adequately sorted then we are going to end up trying to run these vehicles and encounter the same problems as if say current fuel stations were say 100miles apart. If the future is looked at from the current vehicle usage and you - let’s say- observe the volume of vehicles entering a supermarket petrol station in an hour, you will get a measure of the number of individual charging points you will need. Now, while observing said fuel station, work out the average turn around time for a vehicle to be refuelled, and then think about each of those vehicles taking say 2 hours to ‘refuel’ in a charging up comparison. Pessimistic? , but it’s worth a coat of thinking about. Then we have another thought about the valleys around here and their terraced houses. Long extension lead sales are going to increase! Assuming you can park anywhere near your house. Of course, that will also apply to many inner city areas as well. Oh, and where am I still going to be able to get fuel for one of two 80 year old plus cars? Too much to be thinking about! Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Andy, Sorry to hear of your leaking issues. Such things can be a pain and lead to misting up and smelly car interiors. Since no one else has replied, perhaps my reply may be of some use, but it’s nothing scientific I’m afraid! You have possibly already been-there-done-that, but:- Pick a dry day and thoroughly dry the inside of the car. Strip out the boot area side and floor coverings and the internal rear light surrounds etc. Take the back seat out if you can, but certainly be able to lift the seat base. Get a trusting, good sighted little friend, and equip him with a good inspection lamp or torch, and stick him in the boot! With your hose pipe set on a localised spray, start to spray the lowest parts of the car, while said friend looks for water dribbling in. It’s important that you simply concentrate on the lowest points and keep the water localised. Only when you are satisfied there aren’t any leaks at that level, then move up in gradual localised levels, until you get to roof level. Sorry, I know it’s obvious, but... Just water spray locally and take your time. Flooding the outside of the car with water is quick, but not so effective in homing in on the specific leak site/s. Possible leak sites include. Seams ( repaired?) , rear light seals, tailgate seals, rear wiper seal, rear screen, flexible harness fitting points where wiring harness goes from main body into the tailgate, roof seams or hinge points. Good luck and kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Nadz, Ask your local taxi drivers for recommendations for local diesel specialists. Their living depends on such specialists. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Mathew, I did make it clear that I sympathised with your disappointment, and that I thought your post would certainly be useful to anyone who may be contemplating buying an E-tron. At least it was a reply! - and an appreciation. I guess there are not many/none who have spent their hard-earned £70,000 on buying one of these or indeed are intending to, so the response was likely to be very limited, but if your post helps just one, it was certainly worthwhile. From a personal point of view if I’d spent £70,000 and had the dissatisfaction you have experienced then I would be ‘tamping’ as we say in these parts. Would be expecting to have slates on the roof and be paying council tax on it for that! Anyway Mathew, apologies for having bored you with my solitary response, but thanks again for making your post. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Steve, That’s great, but my first ( incorrect) thoughts were that the wording is typically what you expect from a trade sale, and might just put some people off - who would prefer to buy direct from, hopefully the long term owner. Of course, you could turn this on it’s head, and depend on the advert attracting buyers who think it is a trade sale, and will be spending their money with all the trade sale ad-ons such as warranties, finance and part exchange facilities. Good luck with finding it an appreciative new home. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Glen, Sorry to hear of your issue with the car. In the absence of other replies to date, my comments would be:- When you say you recently purchased the car - how recent, from what source, and what did the wording of the advert imply? It’s very difficult/ impossible to diagnose such issues without having the car. Down to the problem, 85K miles seems low to experience DMF issues, and indeed clutch issues in general, apart from possibly release bearing issues. Exceptions would be if the car has covered the mileage via. mostly frequent short local runs. Your neighbourhood mechanic may be right, but I would think this certainly warrants a number of second opinions before - as you say - spending a significant sum of money, only to find out you’ve been chasing an incorrect diagnosis. It this were mine, I would be seeking opinions from (a) a trusted local garage - probably leaving the car with them for a couple of days trial, and (b) taking it to a trusted diesel specialist and getting their opinion via. similar testing - this option being the preferred one. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello GS, It’s good to share your experience. Many thanks for that. Let’s hope Hauden gained reassurance, but it seems he has not been on this forum since early May. Shame really, since it’s always useful to have the promised feedback. Many thanks again and kind regards, Gareth.

Many thanks Trevor, and apologies it’s come your way. I do - to some extent- understand the limitations of the system, but surely the editing out #Removed# system is driven the logic of certain words which will have been inputted into the system on the understanding they might offend. Isn’t it just a question of adding the abbreviations as they occur? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Joe, Apologies, but as I read your post it infers you are originally from Europe, recently moved to Australia, but located in Chicago ( is there a Chicago in Australia?) Guess there must be. I could be wrong, but I fear the specific advice you require may not come in volume from a number of opinions on this U.K. forum. Can’t your new friends who offered you the advice to have a Revscheck tell you what it’s all about, and how to progress it for a selected vehicle? Sounds to me like you will get further faster, by asking questions at source. Good luck and kind regards, Gareth.

Perhaps it’s worth repeating:- ‘garage guy’ should = recommenced local diesel specialist. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Nadz, I wondered if it was a diesel before I got to your last bit of the post. ‘......by the time I take it to the mechanic....... he doesn’t see what I see.’ Why not leave it with them overnight? Better still in my book - get a trusted local diesel specialist to check it over - again leaving it overnight. Does it show any smoke or smell of diesel when it shakes? Injector/s issue possibly, but that would just be a guess. Kind regards, Gareth.