Magnet

Indeed, a Merry Christmas to all you good folks on here, and hoping Father Christmas fulfills your wishes. Stay young and believe in him, and when you do grow old, decide to grow up tomorrow, and even then do so disgracefully! Enjoy the break, and wishing you good health and enjoyable motoring in 2018. Kind regards as always, Gareth.

Hello Ryan, I guess you mean Polish. Were they wealding high pressure washer lances which also deliver cleaning chemicals onto evetything? These chemicals will take the skin off your hands and is almost guaranteed to turn your lacquer milky in a year or so. They generally don't consider these chemicals active enough to deal with wheels! - so they use a super one which rusts up your discs in no time at all, and combined with the force from the lance, is sure to find its pressured way into delicate ABS sensors etc. Could well be the root of your problems. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello 'Lost', I'm rather lost (pardon the pun) as to why you are continuing to persue an interest in this car, since it is clear it was not serviced (cared about?) and there is obvious debate in terms of it qualifying as an Audi approved vehicle. Unless I liked trying to solve mysteries and taking subsequent chances, then if it were me, I would be simply walking away and looking elsewhere. The buyer holds the ace card- his money/ business. If you want to get to the bottom of this then I would ask - Have you seen a V5 for this vehicle? If not, I really think you ( or any buyer of any vehicle) should. My stab at this is it's an ex lease car, (in early for some unknown reason??) but a stab it is. Interesting to read Beezil's comments on why it would be highly unlikely that the leasee would not take it in for a service if it was a no cost to them maintenance contract. I have a family member who has had on A4 estate as a company car and it is just coming up to the end of its 3 year lease where she doesn't have to pay a penny for maintenance. Service light has been on for a couple of months. Bless her, she has no interest at all in cars and just hasn't got around to taking it in for service! Possible this vehicle had a similar driver? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Amar, Sorry to hear of your issue:- Some things to note/do:- 200 to a max of 240 miles per 60 litre tank full equates to 15 to a max.of 18 mpg not 25mpg by my arithmetic, so this is even worse. I note you say you do not floor it constantly, so how regularly do you floor it and would you say your driving style may be generally "enthiastic" ? I notice you are in the London area so wonder about traffic and stop starts and its affects. Still, this mpg seems a bit alcoholic. With regards to recalls and history, it might be worth checking on the American sites to see if this model year were recalled in any States over there which might lead you to more information over here. Bear in mind that this vehicle is still under warranty, and Audi have a responsibility to prove its economy is within reasonable limits of its design figures, and others more knowledgeable than me on this might be able to confirm there is a set test which can be conducted by the Audi dealer. Last but important point. Who was the previous recorded owner? If not Audi, have you attempted to get in touch with them to find out if perhaps this was the reason they sold the vehicle on. My guess is however that it was registered to Audi but the actual operator could have been anyone. Any clues anywhere in the car? Kind regards, Gareth.

Sounds a great recommendation/advert for them Dan.

Hello Jamie, Diesels are not really in my range of experience, but I would go along with the article Paul has found. I guess we can take it you had the air filter renewed with a good quality one before the remap. Not to have done, is a bit like wearing a new flash suit and not changing your underpants! Can we ask if the your local specialist was a diesel specialist or an Audi specialist - hopefully a diesel one. I too would have had a stab at this being an injector issue, and it all depends on what was checked and what was done. The basic check for injectors is a leak-back test, and if one proves to be at fault then it can usually be cleaned, repaired and recalibrated. In your case it depends exactly what was done to this/these faulty injector/s. If it were mine, I would be seeking out a local trusted diesel specialist ( if the one you have been to isn't one - and if he is, is there another one about?). Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Roger, I would certainly agree with Paul's advice on this. I notice you are in France, and it is reasonable to assume that there is unlikely to be a great dal of experience of labour rates over there. Without wishing to appear unhelpful, isn't it simply a case of telephoning your local Audi dealer, an independent ( if you have such a thing) and your local garagist. The answer you want should come from this route. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Craig, I could well be wrong, but I would have thought that your knock, no-knock symptoms are not purely down to where you get your petrol. My suspicion is there is something unreliably temperamental going on here - dodgy camshaft sensor or the like perhaps. Worth getting this plugged in when you have the symptoms. Having said all of that, I've given up using supermarket fuel in our cars (as of this year) and all in the mind it might well be, but I would certainly say that the cars are performing better on the supposedly like for like grades of fuel. A pal has an aging diesel and was plagued by the EML light frequently coming on. He changed to non supermarket fuel and after a short spell, that car has decided to give up on illuminating the light and gives a lower fuel consumption. OK, I appreciate there will be many with alternative views, but for me it's now non supermarket fuel at a neighbouring station at around the same price. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Paul, It might be worth bearing in mind that this 1.6 car's engine revs high per 10mph in top gear - I would say c 3,500 rpm - at least - at 70 mph so it's working quite hard, and is never as economical as a lower revving engine. We have a non-Audi petrol car which just tops 2,000 rpm at the same speed as comparison. People get hooked on mileage, but tend to ingnore the 'work' the engine is doing to attain that mileage. If we compare our non Audi with the 1.6 A3 driven at 70mph, it's easy to see that the Audi engine has 'turned over' one and a half times more than the non Audi in the same mileage, or expressed as mileage , it has done 1.5 times the mileage. Speed and power may not be high on the agenda, but the engine still has to work rather hard even during non enthusiastic driving. Having said all that, this one has covered over 145k so......... Good luck on finding what you want. Kind regards, Gareth.

WHello Paul ( the original poster), I think you will find there isn't anything special about the Special. It's Audi's badging (well I don't think they actually badge it as such) for Basic and as far as I'm aware, they were all fitted with the 1.6 engine. If you want performance, walk away' but.......We have had one in the family since new and it now has c146K miles under its belt and has been ...... No, tempting fate! SE? In my book was always 'Special Equipment' - a mid range specification. Kind regards, Gareth

OK, so the seems you have a significant problem on one cylinder, and since your mate has a garage then I would have thought it would not be too much of an issue to remove the cylinder head and the one piston to assess the problem - assuming this has not been done. if it has been done then you will know what the plan of action will be, which might be reboring this cylinder and fitting a new piston etc. Can we assume there hasn't been an oil pressure problem with this engine ( high oil consumption sometimes leads to low oil levels and low pressure). It seems you are in a fortunate position of having a mate in a garage, and if attending to the one cylinder is not going to be the full answer then it might be worth looking at a second hand engine as an alternative to rebuilding yours. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Mark, Sorry to hear of your problem. I think it might help if we know what damage has been caused to this engine and how. It should then be clearer what work will be needed. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Alan, Without being patronising, it would seem to know your way around a volt/continuity meter, so I guess you should be off to a good start. If we start with your last mentioned issue - the battery is draining. To me this would be my first port of call, and I would want to find out why, before I worry too much about the roof not working. Maybe part of the same problem, but maybe it is, until it is proved to be. To do this you will need a more sophisticated meter than your average DC/AC volts and resistance meter, since you will be measuring currents and likely to be subjecting the meter to greater currents than the mA most meters will handle. Blown meter will be the result otherwise! The logic is simple - you connect a lowish current amp meter between the removed negative lead and the batery post (switch off your interior lights etc. ) and measure the current taken after the alarm has 'gone to sleep'. This should be mA, but if the battety is draining then it will be higher. Now remove each fuse in turn until you lose the current drain. That will be the fused curcuit which is at fault, and you will now need to find the fault in that curcuit. It could quite possibly be the roof curcuit, but you need to confirm or refute that before assuming. Back to the roof issue:- I would have a guess ( and a guess it would be) that your 'shorting' problem is in the section of harness that gets flexed when the boot is opened and closed. I appreciate you have tested it but such areas are notorious for cracking insulation as the harness continually flexes over the years. Obviuosly this time if year is worse as the harness hardens in the cold weather. Good luck with your checking, but very often such annoying faults are worth an investment of a couple of hours with a local trusted auto electrician. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Rob, Well spotted in noticing this issue. If it were me, I would be proceeding from here with caution, since this car obviously has a known problem and I think it is not unusual for all cars of this age will have (further) faults which might not manifest themselves until it is purchased and used. I would guess it goes as read that this car is not being sold by an Audi dealership ( too old), but can we take it it is being sold at a used car lot - or is it a private sale? My first port of call would be to inspect the V5 and find out how long the last keeper has owned it. Short ownership? bad sign - walk away quickly. If a reasonable period of ownership then I would be contacting the owner and have a chat about their experience of the car. If it's a private sale then I would again walk away unless it is very cheap and you are prepared to spend money. Back to the problem:- could be one or more suspect injectors ( at c £150 each - don't quote me, could be more or less), or possibly water entering a cylinder via a faulty head gasket or similar. Full service history is fine, but it certainly is not the be all and end all of any guarantee of freedom from mechanical issues. Good luck with whatever you decide to do. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Shalin, Has this car been in for an emissions recall by any chance? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Rob, Very pleased to hear your advanced exciting news. Just wondered if you really were actually going to have this car registered prior to 1st January since technically, it will otherwise be a year old within 3 weeks of you owning it. I appreciate the dealer will tell you it's ongoing value will not be affected, and a 67 plate vehicle is a 67 plate despite it being late 2017 or 2018 registered !?? But....... Dealers clap their hands at being able to register vehicles during the quiet month of December, so it might be worth bearing this in mind to make sure you get totally unbiased advice. If it were mine, there would be no second thoughts about waiting for Father Christmas to arrange its delivery a week after Christmas. Enjoy - and sometimes the enjoyment is greater if you have to wait a little. Think about studying the brochure on Christmas Day - in anticipation! Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Richard, To get your head around this issue its worth bearing in mind that you are getting yourself in a twist about a debatable 15 thousands of one inch! i.e. your quoted 0.4mm difference between front and rear treads. A !Removed! paper as we used to say. Now in theory you can run the fronts down to an even 1.6 mm remaining, but come what may, you will need to bite the bullet and renew the set since you will otherwise be at the worse possible case of maximum tread on the front and minimum tread on the rears until you change the rears some weeks later. Kind regards, Gareth. Whats wrong with the three letter word "!Removed!" then?

ZHello Illya, I'm not sure how much of this is going to be of positive help, but I think you are doing the right think in going your homework. Appreciating these (6?) stack CD changers may have been able to have been fitted in the glove box on this particular model, it was not uncommon for them to have been fitted in the boot or even under the passenger seat when they were in vogue. In my experience, these units can be unreliable in service and can tend to jam - boots and even inside convertibles can be a harsh environment. You could be lucky, but worth bearing in mind. Yes, there will be a dedicated connection lead designed to fit back into your existing original equipment. I seem to recall Alpine was a volume brand for these. Now certainly not my field of expertise! - but I'm sure there are many members on here who will advise you - but have you thought about the more up to date and comprehensive, and probably more reliable ways of downloading music into the car, rather than playing CDs. Good luck with it, Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Richard, The theory is that out cannot renovate 'modern car' leather since it is lacquer coated - unlike the leather on cars of some 20 years plus age. Having said that, I have used leather cleaner on a non-Audi car with some favourable results, and the products I used were by the well respected Autoglym group, who's polishes I also use. They do a cleaner and a conditioner, and it's really up to you to decide if the conditioner is required, since if the theory applies, you are only conditioning the lacquer layer! There are obviuosly other products available and one that comes to mind is by Poorboys? ( American origin?) - seems to be well respected by some. Hopefully, you will receive other replies and recommendations on here, but you might also like to look on other forums - try Jaguar and Volvo for a start. Kind regards, Gareth.

Many thanks Dave, Always good to have the correct angle on these things. Kind regards, Gareth.

Can someone confirm or refute this :- I was in with my local ( local chain) tyre depot yesterday and the subject of batteries came, up with the 25 years-employed-with-them, manager. He told me that the battery on the Q7 was under the seat (passenger?) and to replace the battery, the seat and associated air bags have to be removed in order to change it. He recons on it being up to an 8 hour job when everything is taken into account. Is this correct, and at main dealer hourly rates who would you arrange a mortgage with!? I like learning of things I don't know about, but it would be reassuring to have some expert independent opinion since it sounds rather unbelievable. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Rob, Unfortunately I cannot agree with Steve's normally sound logic on this occasion when it is suggested it must be the tyres. Hindsight ....... as they say......, but you have changed two things here at the same time, tyres and wheel alignment set up, so the sudden cause of your tram lining could be due to either (or both). My book may be considered old fashioned, but I always try to change one thing at a time, and test that change before moving on to stage two change. For example, in these days of fault codes being king, the existence of two codes usually tempts the technician to change the two listed components and then he doesn't have a clue as which component was at fault, and it was quite likely that two codes showed up on a 'cause and effect ' logic. i.e one component affects the other, but the other may not actually be at fault. Anyway Rob, apologies for continuing my pessimistic response on this, wheel alignment equipment is now state of the art and capable of measuring minute out-of -alignment. Problem is, it's always down to the 'technician's' ability to interpret the data and more importantly know exactly what he is doing when he adjusts something. So, is the wheel alignment now set incorrectly?? Answer - we don't really know - so you need to get this independently checked by someone who comes with a recommendation, and that recommendation may come from say a local Audi independent. Worth an ask. Yes, could be the tyres. Is it possible to swop fronts and backs on these? If so, that would be worth a try. Daft question perhaps, but have you checked that the direction of rotation is correct? Yes, I know they should know and check that they have the correctly tyred wheel on the right side (and they probably have) but worth having a check yourself. Goid luck with it Rob, Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Wayne, I would agree with Cliff, and it's quite possible that the two symptoms are not connected. Re white smoke and not staring as well as it should ( smell of diesel as well?) could well be problems with one or more injectors, and this can be checked via. a leak-back test. If it were mine, I would be getting this done st a local and trusted diesel specialist. Again, I'm with Cliff on the water loss logic, and getting a system pressure test would be the best starting point. Re. compression test, you would need to be aware that diesels run on high compression pressures compared with petrol engines. If there is a head gasket issue between a cylinder and a coolant channel, it will not necessarily show up on this test since the relative compression pressure loss may be too small to assess. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Abby, Is the car getting up to temperature reasonably quickly and then holding that (normal) temperature under all driving conditions? On the check the simple things first principle, have you checked the tyre pressures? You say the tyres are good but.... Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Tim, Of course, it's of no compensation to you, but if you read the numerous tales of woe on here, it could be said that you have got off lightly. Glow plug problem? Well these can give problems, but the problems tend to manifest themselves when the temperature falls and you may notice a greater reluctance towards easy starting. OK, never had a problem with them before - and low mileage - but I think it's becoming a fact of life that some components of the electrical equipment can become unreliable on an age basis rather than a mileage basis. Kind regards, Gareth.