cliffcoggin

Robert. I believe the car will warn you when Adblue needs to be topped up. Do look through this forum's history for knowledge of the potential Adblue problems you may face in the future, and how to resolve them. You may get the impression there that Adblue is a disaster waiting to happen, and indeed it can be if left to its own devices, but with the right care it can be a trouble-free system.

There are dozens of possible causes from a weak battery to the CPU, so there's no point in speculating here. Do let us know the outcome.

Meggie. You should get the car scanned for faults as a first step. Please also amend the date of your car, unless you are a visitor from the future.

If air suspension is the most important factor look at these: https://www.drivinggeeks.com/cars-trucks-suvs-with-air-suspension/ https://dev.buyacar.co.uk/jargon-busters/cars-with-air-suspension/ https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/guides/most-comfortable-cars-uk/

Yes.

The profile is important to ensure the correct lift from the cam. The smoothness is important to avoid wear of the pump. Both can be achieved with diamond tools. I have done exactly that in a non-automotive application.

Adblue can certainly be problematic, however it's the same on other makes of cars, so why limit yourself to a recent Audi diesel? Of course you could buy an old diesel but then you would be no better off than your current leaky car with all its expensive repairs. Petrol cars do not use adblue, neither do electric cars. Naturally each type has its own inherent faults and problems that you will need to balance against their advantages, but there is no such thing as a perfect car that suits all owners.

Chris. There is a technique known as micro-welding that uses a laser to deposit tiny spots of metal without heating the bulk of the metal and affecting its hardness. As the name implies it is used for small scale repairs in instruments and and clocks etc. but it may be worth investigating if it is available for repair of your cam. The profile would have to be restored by hand using diamond files and stones which is quite feasible for a single cam.

I have read elsewhere in this forum of squirrels eating car wiring. I have no idea of a solution except to put the car in the garage and do the woodworking outside.

Opinions vary. Search this forum's history and you will find answers to suit all tastes.

Victoria. I can't answer your question directly, but I would ignore secondhand opinions of friends of friends. They invariably become distorted in the retelling. Look for published reviews that give firm details of the model involved.

I know nothing about Chip Express or how it works, but it seems to me that if such a cheap magical solution really does all it claims, then car makers around the world would be fitting them as standard at their factories. No, this sounds like snake oil designed to deceive the naive, the gullible, and the innocent.

I don't blame you for being disappointed, I would be too. It is possible for modifications to the lights to have unpredictable effects on other parts of the electrical system, so your electrician may be right. Unfortunately I don't know enough about such matters to advise on the next course of action. Good luck in finding a solution.

Chris. I have looked again at the videos at full screen which has made things clearer. All I would add is: 1/ The knocking is unrelated to the lack of coolant circulation. The knock may be within the engine, or connected with the alternator pulley or bearing, or an engine mount, or the exhaust hitting something. I really can not be any more specific. 2/ The oil ring on the underside of the bonnet indicates the engine has been run without the filler cap at some point. Whether it blew out in the crash (which seems very unlikely) or was not secured after the last oil top up I can not say, but pressure in the crankcase would blow oil spray out of the filler pipe without it. 3/ The lack of coolant flow is likely to be an air lock as mentioned earlier, particularly if it was OK before the crash. However if you want to test the system for blockages you need to drain the radiator, disconnect the hoses, and run water through it from a garden hose. The radiator should easily cope with as much water flow as you can give. You could also do this test on the engine block if you remove the thermostat first. (Test the thermostat while it is out by putting it in boiling water.) Do the same to the heater matrix, though of course the flow will be lower.

I am not surprised. Search this forum and will find plenty of similar problems and expensive repairs.

Hello Mark. You sound a useful man to have on the forum. I hope you will contribute occasionally.

Blimey! No wonder you rid of it. The 1985 2.9 litre Granada Cosworth I used to own would average 27.4 mpg.

Roni. Johnny has not visited the forum for over a year so it is unlikely he will respond.

I can't answer your questions Chris as I have not done the job myself. Neverthless you ought to investigate further as that knock indicates something is wrong. It may be unrelated to the cooling system, such as a broken engine mount for instance. No I could not see any oily mark. The videos were too small and jerky for these old eyes to follow so I just listened with my eyes shut. I did hear you talking about an air lock. That is a real possibility on these cooling systems, and can be a devil to remove. Squeezing the hoses sometimes helps, other times you may need to apply vacuum to expand the air until it reaches the reservoir.

It's satisfying to the job yourself but sometimes you need the big guns of a professional, whether they be impact wrenches or a lift.

Thanks for the videos Chris. The moving images are confusing, but at one point I did hear the knocking you mentioned above the normal diesel rattle. I think you will need to remove the radiator to get to the bottom of this and ensure that the fan is not hitting it. Check that its mounting points have not been bent out of position. You may even have to renew the radiator because too many of the fins appear to have been flattened to allow decent air flow. Note that the AC radiator will be immediately behind the engine radiator. There may also be a gearbox oil cooler there as well. Both will need to be disconnected.

Buy a complete Garmin or TomTom satnav for a fraction of the SD card price. They come with lifetime updates.

Is it it possible the hoses have developed a permant kink that is obstructing flow?

Chris. Please clarify how much damage there is to the radiator. At one point you mentioned minor damage; elsewhere you mentioned it was caved in and had lost all its coolant. The ticking noise could be the fan contacting damaged radiator fins. I assume "the lid of the overflow tank"which you left off, is the pressure cap of the expansion tank. To run without it will allow the coolant to boil away because the system can not develope the necessary pressure.

Congratulations.