Magnet

Appreciating Darren's sound advice and economics, but what Paul's £55 will buy him is advice as well as a good interpretation of the problem, and it might be worth considering the benefits of this "extra" expense of £55 minus the cost of the code reader. I mention this, since as I understand it, Paul has very limited use of his hands, and it's pretty dam difficult to do anything without them, and he will depend upon assistance of some kind. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Tj, Certainly in agreement with Tevor and Bradley. All I would add is that it's not what could be termed good practice to leave the car in Drive - at say lights- and holding its progress by applying the footbrake. It loads the torque converter. I know many people do, including me when I forget! , but best to put it in neutral, then into Drive only when you want to move off. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Paul, Sorry to hear about your plight, but keeping this simple and respecting your shortage of funds, and your incapacity at the moment, is it worth just driving this car within its current no-issue capabilities? i.e. Driving it below 80mph. Hopefully driving it sedately might not do it much harm, and allow your situation to improve. Now I certainly don't want to cast doubt on your or Trevor's diagnosis of turbo issues, but if it were mine, I think I would be inclined to buy £55 worth of diagnostic assessment from your independent and take their advice and experience. It could well be turbo issues, but you are not going to be very pleased to have spent your hard earned on turbo work, only to find it was something else. Think about the worth of £55 spent at the specialists, since it is very difficult to self diagnose even when you have the car to hand, and even more difficult for anyone trying to do it at a distance from described symptoms. Appreciating this is just another opinion, but it might just concentrate the mind on the alternatives. If it turns out to be the turbo, then I'm sure your independent will have good contacts, possibly saving you the £55 off your final bill. Good luck with whatever you decide Paul, Kind regards, Gareth.

Thanks James, it makes sense. Black smoke can be a number of things from the EGR valve (blanked in your case so not that) through to injectors and the simplest of all - air filter issues. In effect, you are injecting too much diesel in relation to the volume of air intake. Now it seems you have possibly improved the diesel flow via. a new fuel filter, but how about the air flow via. a new air filter? If it were mine, I would go for the simple option and change it anyway, on the basis that it sets the base line for when to change it again. What make fuel filter did you fit as a matter of interest, and what make air filter are you going to use if you are going to change it? Let's hope this will solve it, but if not, you might just be into getting the injectors bench tested, so fingers crossed. Change the air filter and follow Bradley's advice of giving it an Italian Tune, mind it doesn't sound as if it needs it, by your reference to flooring it! I'm set In my ways, but flooring it is a bit like waking you up in the morning, and getting you to run a marathon! OK James, only joking and perhaps enjoy it when you can, because your driving will end up with enjoyment in pace-with-grace. Let us know how you get on. Kind regards, Gareth. p.s. Can someone enlighten us on VAG's service intervals for fuel filters on diesel engines?

Well done Bradley. I like the reply. This car has cable brakes, but it's "advanced" and has brakes on all four wheels, and not just two, would you believe! No hydraulics here, and certainly no ABS and above all no fault codes! Great. Driving it is a combination of forward thought, evasion and good luck. Maintenance is just that, and consists of strip and repair, rather than bolt-off-bolt-on replacement, which to a large extent is far easier than depending on codes to indentify faults, which can turn out to be "affect" codes rather than "cause" codes, which can adversely affect the wallet! Whatever, it's all turns out to be useful experience in the end. Kind regards, Gareth. p.s. Apologies Bradley, since I owe you a reply. Will get around to it later, after hedging duties, and sorting out an aging VW T2 camper. Don't retire! It's just more work without pay!

Hello James, Glad your issue is sort of fixed. You don't tell us whether your car is petrol or diesel - it would be a help to know- although I am suspecting diesel. As far as I can gather Audi do not, or at latest did not, have a specified mileage/time recommendation for changing fuel filters on their petrol cars. Things may have changed in very recent times, and I would be surprised if this ever applied to Diesel engined cars. However, I would agree with Bradley when he says a fuel filter change was reasonably overdue, but it may be useful to know that the family owned from new petrol A3 did not see a fuel filter change until 100K with no ill effects. Not overlooked, but assumed it had been changed during the main dealer-only servicing. Not so! Surely VAG must have an interval for diesels - we hope. Back to petrol and fuel filter changes, we had a Volvo C70 2 litre convertible a few years back and that was the most lethargic vehicle ever owned. Armchair comfort - and performance!. Again full main dealer service history and only 58k miles at the time. Changed the fiuel filter as a policy change and it actually noticeable picked its skirt up a bit, not much but very noticeable. This was the only experience until then of a fuel filter actually affecting performance - apart from yours. Let us know whether yours is petrol or diesel James. Kind regards Gareth.

Well Trevor, age is what you are lucky enough to make if it. Suffice it to say the oldest car I have ( and that one has been with me for 37 years) is a bit older than me! It still goes, and stops, when you remember to sent it a postcard. Now Bradley is going to ask what a postcard is, bless him! Indeed, there does seem to be a good mix of contributions on here, and unfortunately as Brad says, I don't do concise very well! Still, it's a contribution, and we should congratulate those reading mine to the end! From my side, I would welcome more information in the initial question, since very often, the answer is in the detail of the question. The debate I have now is whether it's worth me investing in a 5 year guarantee battery for one of the cars, on the basis of whether a 3 year would do me - if you see what it mean! Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Craig, Sorry to hear about your problems, and I sympathise with your plight. I recall doing the opposite when I had hair, and putting diesel in a Morris 1000. I thought they would go on anything, but not that one, so it as drain it off and start again with no harm done. My experience points to diesel into petrol engines results in far les issues than petrol into diesels - for which you usually don't get away with without problems. I would guess that the fault " low pressure on the common rail" is an affect rather than the primary cause, and the primary cause is possibly a now unserviceable fuel pump/s. Unless things have changed (and they may well have done) then two things can happen when diesel gets contaminated with petrol :- the very high compression diesel engine will knock its heart out, and two, the petrol is likely to have an adverse affect on the seals of the pump - and you end up with what you have. I appreciate that if this is correct then this is not good news, and if it were mine, I would be putting as little miles on this car before getting it to a diesel specialist for their advice. Lee makes a good point about insurance companies and mis-fuelling cover. You may find you are covered, but many of the cheaper quotes on comparison websites are just that, and provide only a basic cover quote to which you add the cover which is important to you, but certainly worth a go. Hoping you get out of this with the minimum affects on the pocket. Kind regards, Gafeth.

Hello Peter, Before getting too far into possible causes, it may be worth considering buying another new bulb, but from the main dealer. There are a lot of inferior aftermarket electrical components about, and this may just be one of them. Not sure where you bought it, but try nipping into your local main dealer, and see how you get on. If that fails then at least you have some redress, and assurances that you then need to look elsewhere for problems. When you think about this logically, the bulb works initially, so the curcuit must be in order ( if it didn't work and you knew the bulb was serviceable, then you investigate curcuit problems). For the curcuit to be in order and a bulb to blow, then the options are too high a voltage - and where would this system get a higher voltage than any other curcuit on the car? - a higher current, and the same applies, or a bulb which is not capable of withstanding correct voltage and currents for anything more than a short space of time. My money would be on the latter, and trying a good quality bulb first. Now some may say that main dealer bulbs are made far east of the Thames estuary as most others are! Fair point. Good luck in getting it sorted. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Victoria. Sorry to hear you have problems with the electric handbrake on the car. If the car was older or not new to you, I would have asked if the car was automatic or manual, since if auto., then you might have found that owners generally don't use them - in favour of simply leaving it in Park. Consequence is that the electric motor/ linkages get siezed/stiff due to lack of use. In your case, it sounds as if you have used it regularly since the car was new, so no excuse there. There is a possibility that salt has affected it, but that would be a guess. It seems the car is still well within warrantee, and if it were mine, I would be booking it to get it sorted as quickly as possible before it decides to lock on rather than not to lock on. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Terrence, I guess Bradley has given you a fair valuation, and it really sounds the sort of car that has a good provenance. This is probably going to sound rather pessimistic, but there are valuations and valuations, and the "value" of something must be judged by the market it is going into as much as the car itself, and it must be appreciated that the car is now c9 to 10 years old. If you are thinking of selling privately then it will be appreciated that someone must have access to around £11,000 without depending on being able to part exchange a vehicle with you, and/or you being able to offer finance and quarantees. As Arthur would have said - 11 Gs in folding! Tall order? If you are to put this in part exchange, then it is too old to be resold by a large dealership, and would be trade off into the low end of the secondhand car market. Profits would of course need to be made and margins alowed for any unexpected repair work. In a nutshell Terrence, I'm sure you will appreciate that valuations will vary ( considerably?) between forecourt retail, private retail, part exchange and say We Buy Any Car! Perhaps it would be useful to know how you wish to sell it. Good luck with finding it a new home. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Adie, Looking at this simplistically, the RAC approved garage, your Southend main dealer and the Nowich dealer are all within reasonable variance of each other, and I too have found that main dealers are prepared to match or near price match alternative quotes from recognised garages. You raise a good point about why this service charge is higher than you would expect, but the answer probably lies in the question - what mileage has the car done? We know the car is now over 5 years old, and this, coupled with the mileage might dictate the policy change replacement of some components based on 5years or x miles. - e.g. cambelt (if it's a belt engine). I would have thought that the main dealer would have been able to advise you why the service cost for this service is higher than earlier services for example. That's really where the true explanation lies. Unfortunately, the days have gone when the dealers gave you a ticked- box service sheet everytime it was serviced telling you exactly what had and hadn't been done, but asking that basic question of why it is so much, should provide the answer. No service sheet anymore? Backward step it might be thought. How about no service book? Some manufacturers are no longer providing service books ( with the much cherished stamps!) with their new vehicles. " It's all recorded on the computer sir!". If it were mine, I would be entrusting this service to the main dealer you are most confident with who will near match ( don't be too greedy!) the local garage price. Not sure if this helps, Kind regards, Garetg.

Here we go then Stevie. A quick Google shows 0420 is something like catalytic converter low efficiency (or something along that line), which is why the garage convinced you to pour your hard earned into Cataclean or whatever which would have been a miracle cure, since they were not looking at the cause of the cat.being below par - to my guess it is simply the fact that you are pushing high quantities of water vapour ( white smoke) down it at a rate of knots. "They don't like it up 'em" as Jonesy would have said. I think you can forget about the code, and concentrate on why you have the white smoke. To spell it out as simply as I can, it's the white smoke which is causing the problem and not code 0420 (which is an affect of the white smoke). It's over to you Stevie to give us the full history on this issue. Just read the replies and give us all the answers asked for and I'm sure help will be at hand. I should have put the full of full history in capitals, and the all of ... all the answers.. but I'm sure you will come up with the information for us. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Stevie, While someone interprets the code, perhaps some additional information might help us- such as the questions I asked. It is also important to know if the car is relatively new to you or not, and if not, how long you have owed it. However long you have owned it, it would be useful for you to confirm, or otherwise whether this problem was there to any degree before you had the coolant system flushed. I feel it is going to be far more difficult for anyone to help you with this without the above information. I do have what can only be a theory for what may be the trouble here, but the viability of that theory is very much dependent on the additional information we, or at least I, need to offer any further advice. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Melissa, Others more knowledgable on the actual models and specifications will no doubt clarify, but can I take it this has air suspension? If so, my first port of call (noting the vehicle's age) would be the compressor - a small and hard working component for what it has to do. Air suspension compressors are notorious on other marques for wearing out their piston rings and although the system copes, it doesn't have the necessary reserve. Some will point to a new compressor at "oh dear" prices, but these are generally repairable - I can give you a contact fo the parts if I'm barking up the right tree. If the compressor is serviceable then it could be the individual suspension unit, which might be a main dealer part only. Some homework will be necessary, if our Cardiffians pockets are to be respected! Ignore if not air suspension! If it is, then let us know and we might be able to help further. Kind regards, Gareth.

I too agree with Brad and Trevor's advice with this, but it might be worth considering having this car on a wheels-free ramp and running this through the gears and on and off lock. This might, just might show up something, but I am conscious that this does not replicate an under-load situation. Obviously observe all the safety requirements. Incidentally, who pointed you to a need to change the gearbox? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Anand, I too would first eliminate the battery as a source of this problem as Trevor says. As I see it, we are still in relatively early days in terms of this stop/start system and how it stands up to years of use. Of course, it should not cut out if the battery charged level is lower than the specified minimum, so perhaps - just perhaps - the battery is not maintaining that level. This system is interesting since it obviously places a far greater demand on the battery and alternator, and although the car's battery fitted on a new car, usually copes well with some c10 years of service, I wonder if there are any statistics available yet to guide us on how long the batteries will last on these stop/start systems. Yours is approaching 4 years old. Any chance it's reaching the end of its service life? If so, how much longer before the starter calls it a day? - and then the alternator? You will gather Stevie that I am not a fan of these systems, and if the above is not enough of an off put, then perhaps we should also consider that the maximum amount of wear on an engine occurs on initial start up! Switch it off and do yourself a favour. Please moderate these comments with the fact that I am old! In fact old enough to be familiar with its pre war predessor, the Startrix system which automatically restarted the car if it stalled. A disaster! Anyway, good luck in getting it fixed. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Stevie, Personally I wouldn't get too pessimistic about this - in terms of head gasket failure etc- until we have a bit more detail from you. The only comment I would make is to question the possible diagnosis as being due to a faulty catalytic converter! Still..... What I would want to know is whether the car is losing coolant or not, and if so how much to return it to its original level when cold and how many miles had been travelled. I would also need to know is if this smoke is still present after a 10 mile run on a fine day with the car at standstill and an assistant holding the revs. at a constant 2000rpm. If it is, and its white (if it was oil burning it would be blue) then I would agree that it is likely to be water entering the combustion. Now I'm pre judging your answers here, but if it is losing coolant, and the white smoke is persisant then my first port of call would be to suspect/eliminate the (water heated) inlet manifold gasket - based on the system being flushed, probably with a caustic additive which might have attacked an already failing manifold gasket. Please don't get frightened into head gasket issues until all else has been eliminated. Hope this helps, Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Clifford, I'm not sure if I've become rather confused with this, but the way I looked at it was, the price-to -beat was around £1500 at the main delear (OK with fitting), and so the £165 for the genuine VAG part from Rainsworth Skoda seemed attractive enough not to be bothered with EBay or scrapyards. Not sure whether that avenue us been investigated. Kind regards, Gareth.

Looked back through the file for you Clifford and have the following information for you:- Skoda Parts Shop (their EBay user name I think) are Rainsworth Skoda at Mansfield, Notts. and the phone number is 01623 623400. Ask for their parts department and you should get Dan, or from memory (not very good!) possibly Jonathan. I have bought quite a few service items off them, and you usually get a reasonable discount. The "part ABS" unit we had from them for a 2006 A3 1.6 was:- Part no. was 1K0698517B and was described as a Repair Kit, and from memory included the already assembled valve portion. The cost back in August 2012 was then £164.98 inc. VAT. I didn't actually fit it, but as I recall, was simply the top half of the easily accessible ABS unit. Wouldn't have thought there was any great problem in doing this, but cleanliness would obviously be of paramount importance. Hope this helps. Incidentally the mileage at that time would have been a little over 100K. Good luck with it, and it would be useful to know if this VAG part is still available. Could you let us know? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Karl, A good question, and with recent experience of a non-Audi, is one that the supplying dealers don't seem to discuss or perhaps even understand at the salesman, initial contact level. In respect of the question about does it use Adblue then I would guess the answer is yes it does, and I would hazard a guess at the intially quanity lasting perhaps about 3,000 to 5,000 miles. The problem we have had for many years is that the service personnel know the answers to meaningful questions we have in mind, but are isolated from the owner by the service receptionists, who may or may not know the answer. It is sometimes not easy to get the correct answer first time. If it were mine, I would be contacting the service department and asking the questions you ask here, and getting a price for them to refill when needed. Armed with this better knowledge, I would then visit the salesman and ask the same question again and ask him to point out where the reservoir is so that you will/should know. If he doesn't know then insist he gets someone to talk to you then who does know - route to service personnel! I believe the reservoir will be fitted with a level sensor which will warn you that it getting low, but I think you are wise to ask the questions now. Enjoy the car. Kind regards, Gareth.

Well Clifford, I think Philip was referring to improving his brakes, and that is why I asked if he knew what pads etc were currently fitted since my experience with the A3 was that they were more than adequate as standard - to say the least. Of course, opinions and personal preferences differ, but stretching back to a time I had hair!, I haven't previously come across anyone who wants to downgrade their braking efficiency. I drive a number of cars from pre war to let's say prestige, and I find myself fairly quickly adjusting to the Audi's required brake pedal pressure and certainly would not wish to downgrade them. Anyway Clifford, as I say, only a personal opinion. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Clifford, I think this may be one of VAG's "common problems". Well at least that is what I understood some years ago when we had a similar issue with the 2006 A3 Sportback. At that time, I approached The Skoda Parts Shop ( up north somewhere and no connection) since this was where we were getting service items at discount. They were able to provide a "part ABS" unit at a not too unreasonable price at that time. If you need me to, I will try and see if I can find the receipt in the file and give you some more information. Kind regards, Gareth. p.s. Mileage would be interesting.

Hello Mark, Can I take it you are considering a new DMF rather than a secondhand one? If new, I would have thought they would have been available from manufacturer LUK who supply replacement clutches. There are other replacemnt clutch component manufacturers, but personally I stick with LUK. You could try on line, or your local motor factors. Good luck with it. Kind regards, Gareth.

Is John's experience an example of why some owners are questioning if they should indeed bother with these recalls? I appreciate that we generally hear the bad news before any good news, and I just wonder if any viewers of this forum have any positive views following these recalls. It would be interesting to have a sort of poll for and against. One question:- if the owner complains of a lowering of performance and economy, can they have the settings returned to original, and if the answer to this is no, can the vehicle be rejected on the basis that it would not have been purchased if its current performance was known? Kind regards, Gareth.