cliffcoggin

Chances are you have an airlock which can be difficult to eliminate. If you can apply vacuum to the reservoir and get lots of air bubbling up from the system that would be confirmation. Top up the reservoir and repeat until all air is out.

If that was a recent purchase from a dealer take it back and get him to sort it out at no cost to you. If that is not an option then the obvious problem is the battery, hence the low voltage warnings. If your garage test was done with a simple volt meter it will not have revealed internal battery faults. I suggest in that case you get the battery professionally tested elsewhere. That is not to say the battery is certainly the cause of the problem, but until you eliminate the battery as a cause it is pointless to look for other faults.

I agree they should have warned you in advance, and also reconnected the dashcam once the work was complete. For comparison, would you be happy to have a tradesman in your house filming his work if there was a chance he would publish the video on Youtube or Facebook etc?

Dave. It might as simple as the steering wheel rubbing lightly on the cowling around the column. If the noise stops when you bend the cowling in a little you have found the cause. A trace of silicone oil should help. On the other hand the noise may be from the steering column bushes that are a lot more difficult to access.

Been there, done that. However times have changed and most of us can no longer tinker without a care for economy, emissions, reliability etc. let alone any understanding of what we are doing.

Consider that if gadgets like this, and also metal pellets in the fuel tank to improve economy, magic oils that improve economy, magnets on the water pipe to prevent scale, were as cheap and effective as the suppliers claim, then they would be fitted as standard in the factory. That fact that such things are not ready fitted is because they either do not work, or any advantages are outweighed by disadvantages such as premature failure.

If you believe the performance to be sluggish you would be better advised to have it checked before throwing money at an unproven gadget.

I second that recommendation. Decent antifreeze has corrosion inhibitors to prevent that sort of corrosion; the cheap stuff does not.

That's unfortunate, but if there is no alternative it would be worth searching for a company or a competent mechanic to fabricate the hose from metal T-pieces and straight hose.

Wouldn't it make sense to ask the vendor?

Ivo. What you call a normal cold start, when the engine idles well above its warm speed, is actually abnormal. As Stevey Y explained your engine is cold starting normally, and you should not be concerned about it providing it starts easily and idles evenly without any intervention from you.

No more of an imposter than me. I no longer have an Audi, and as if that was not enough, my current car is electric.

Steve. If all else fails you could try buying plain straight or bent silicone hose from Ebay and cutting it to length yourself. That would only work if you can measure the ID of the original accurately and there are no branches in it. You would need to fit hose clamps as well. The first supplier I found was https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/385050052731?_skw=silicone+hose&itmmeta=01JDAJSV0WC50JQXCWWD296ZWV&hash=item59a6c5887b%3Ag%3A6OsAAOSwud1i8N48&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAAwHoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKn1r65jsH3Mn1dUx0VBIpCyHyEmxepNCORmL0DfrunmF6aXGcDWcDI6MnEq%2BDFHO8HeNbCU1LWK5KQHw29w4Rlnm0ErfJtAmjflVMmuUi%2B1F0oWs1FgWRfCKMNDZS%2BNeiKeMuujg1pmewiw3sXueG1nnfQsplHY9kUR%2FqeuwkL7IY50ZyZ30nMoMqQruNQfUKHPG06ybkQkUvoPlAeg8cuGwp271dfhA5TkPEYxoXbKqQ%3D%3D|tkp%3ABlBMUMSw59LqZA&var=652930845042

Many years ago the 1.4 litre petrol engine suffered dramatically high oil consumption leading to many claims by owners. The problem was eventually rectified by Audi with a modification to the rings. It's unlikely you will come across one of them now, but it is worth knowing of the possibility. Unfortunately I don't recall the affected production dates so you would need to research it yourself, unless others here can supply the information.

I suppose there might be privacy issues if the possibility exists of you filming or even publishing names and faces of staff at work. Which is very convenient for the dealer because you also can not see what is done or not done to your car.

Matt. It is evident from what you described that the valve body fault was introduced while the car was under repair. To my mind that makes the garage that did the work responsible for putting it right, however it will undoubtedly argue that it was co-incidence or an existing fault, and hence will deny liability. It's going to be tough proving the dealer's responsibility, and given that the repair cost is going to be £5500 it may need to go to court for a settlement. It is certainly worth appealing to Audi UK, but I would simultaneously consult a solicitor for advice on your options and your chances of winning. Whichever route you take to resolve the problem is going to take a long time. Months or possibly years in fact. If you want the car repaired now you may well have to pay for the work in the hope of recovering your costs at a later date. That is a choice only you can make. Sorry to be so pessimistic. Justice does not always prevail.

OK. There was definitely a fault with the dual mass flywheel which has been satisfactorily fixed. DMF breakage is not uncommon so there is nothing contentious there. Then we come the valve body fault and error message. Were any symptoms present when you took the car for the flywheel repair, or was the problem apparent only afterwards?

Matt. It is not clear to me what the problem was that initially caused you to visit the dealer in the first place. Was it the error message and staying in D1, or was there some other symptom? What I am trying to get at is whether there were two faults with the car of which only one has been fixed, or whether the valve body fault was wrongly diagnosed as a flywheel fault.

Phone, write or email him.

Once you have restored pressure a good test for leaks is to paint or spray soapy water on all components watching for bubbles.

I have no idea.

Undoubtedly the cold weather. Not only do low temperatures reduce the battery range, they also slow down the charging. Are you sure the battery is at 100%, or whatever level you normally charge to, when you set off in the morning?

Fair enough. Do please let us know if and how you resolve the problem.

Paul. If you are limiting youself to only a Q5 then you will have to compromise between range, fuel cost, and DPF problems. Perhaps it's time to consider another model or even another brand that would give you more options.

Matthew. The only thing I can think of that causes electronic problems without yielding error codes is a failing battery. Typically such a battery will cause problems like aircon failure, cruise control failure, loss of radio presets, false warning lights etc. I have never heard of it interfering with starting. Nevertheless I suggest you get the battery tested with a deep discharge tester, and if it is over four years old I would renew it anyway. Ensure the new battery is coded to the car if you change it.