cliffcoggin

Audi seem to have changed its recommendations on this matter several times over recent years. Personally I would prefer to change the belt and water pump at about half that distance. It is an expensive job (about £700,) but nowhere near as expensive as the consequences of a belt failure i.e. engine destruction costing at least £4000 for a replacement.

I believe there is a motorised flap for each vent so I guess that one is defective. Wait for others to confirm my opinion before doing anything.

I was not asking about voltage, though your voltage readings suggest the battery is defective, I was asking about current, i.e. the number of amps draining out of the battery. For that you need an ammeter not a voltmeter, though most people use a multimeter which can measure both properties amongst others. FYI The current in amps is a measure of how much power is being drawn from the battery. The normal drain is less than 0.1 amps, which is the backgound consumption for things like the alarm system and the door lock receiver.

Why? Because you had not mentioned any diagnostic steps to eliminate the switch in your first post. However if you are convinced the fault is in the module I wish you luck in finding one.

Look through the history of this forum. I know there have been similar problems reported in relation to MMI, but I don't recall which models or years as I see so many posts each day. Note that Audi will resist all attempts to accept your rejection of the car, so you will need to be strong willed to pursue the claim.

Something does not ring true about this storey. If we assume a fully charged 60 ampere-hour battery and it is flat in ten minutes it must be discharging at 360 amps! That is twice the load a starter motor imposes, and is enough to melt any cable and cook the battery. So I ask again, what current did you measure with the ammeter?

That does look horribly rotten, and there must be other equally rotten places to warrant $5000 worth of parts. I doubt anybody here can advise you of the car value as this is a mainly British forum. Probably the best you can hope for is to sell the engine and scrap the rest of the car.

Well they would say that if it might involve a claim under warranty. All I can suggest is you try a non Audi garage.

How can you be sure there is a drain on the battery? Have you measured it with an ammeter?

So was my 2007 A3 diesel 2 litre, though rather long in the tooth now.

Thanks for the explanation. In my book chassis alignment refers to the shape of the car's basic structure, whereas wheel alignment refers to the suspension bits that bolt onto the chassis, hence my puzzlement.

Are you sure it is not a faulty reverse gear switch?

PS. Loss of radio presets and other odd electronic faults are classic signs of a clapped out battery. Other possible symptoms you may notice are: limp mode, air con failure, erratic gear change on an automatic.

Lee. There is no easy way to test the battery yourself. A simple voltage test will tell you nothing abouts it condition. You can get the battery tested professionally if you want confirmation, but as I mentioned earlier an eight year old battery is overdue for renewal, and it will have to be coded using VCDS or OBD11 or similar.

The video link posted above suggests that leak off should be both negligble and more ot less equal on all cylinders.

Indeed it is only new cars. My apologies.

It would help if you mentioned the engine size and fuel, but it is likely it would need to be calibrated with computer diagnostics.

That's like asking how long is a piece of string. As long as it has a full service history, the features you want, and is affordable, then take your pick. Naturally you will only get what you pay for, so the higher mileage cars will generally be cheaper, however a carefully driven and well maintained 100000 mile car will be better than a 50000 mile car that has been thrashed by a boy racer. That's why condition and service history are so important. If you are not mechanically minded, take somebody with you who is when you look at possible purchases. Let me add two things to the above. [1] Don't be sucked into any dealer supplied extended warranty. They are all worthless. [2] Bear in mind the big changes to car tax that are coming in April.

I couldn't help but chuckle at that.

That recharging the battery immediately allows the doors to lock strongly suggests that the battery is weak. If it is the original battery it undoubtedly needs to be renewed. Note that the ability of a battery to crank the engine is not an indication of it being in good condition,

Lee, you wii not get a reply from Gillian as she has not returned to the forum since 20th November.

Yes.

Are you now saying your car has a timing chain instead of a timing belt? The two are very different in terms of scheduled servicing.

Sorry Richard, I will not download software from untrusted sources. Perhaps you could put them Youtube.

Steve. Have you used this Forte stuff in any of your cars? A personal recommendation from you would carry a lot of weight if it was effective. Incidentally I looked up three MSDS (material safety data sheets,) for Adblue and all give the concentration as 32.5 % urea, which is well below its solubility limit so I can not explain the cause of the crystallisation problem. (I like to look into these things because I was a chemist in a previous life.) Also noteworthy is its freezing point of -11 C, an uncommon temperature in this country.