cliffcoggin

A common problem is breakage of the wires in the rubber bellows between door and frame.

The visual level on the dipstick is the one to rely on. The electronic level sensor sometimes goes awry and should be renewed.

By your own admission Mark you are "all about learning, I’m getting into the mechanics side of things", yet you regard two experienced mechanic's opinions as dumb. Ce la vie. Given your vast knowledge I see no need to assist any more.

Because the timing chain/valve problem is the result of plain and simple neglect, so you can be sure it will not be the only bit of maintenance that has been neglected. The chances are that the rest of the engine is worn out. The car may look immaculate but it is is actually a broken down wreck.

I agree a second opinion would be worthwhile, however I think you will be very lucky to win a warranty claim on a six year old car.

Now you know why the car was so cheap. A new or rebuilt engine is needed.

The timing chain has jumped a sprocket tooth as a result of stretching or collapse of its tensioner. When that happened at least two valves hit the piston crowns and bent the stems, hence they will not retract fully. As if that's not bad enough there is a chance that the conrods have also been bent by impact with the valves, so you could have a very expensive repair bill ahead of you. Timing chains don't fail abruptly. They give plenty of warning by way of chain slap before something serious happens, so I believe the growing problem has been ignored for a long time.

Does that mean the bean counters have been working at at SKF and Timken? I've not heard of F. A. G.

If I may expand upon Magnet's reply, he means that if you change to 1 inch smaller wheels you need to fit 1 inch larger tyres in order to leave the overall gear ratios unchanged. But that is not all. The amount that the wheels are offset from the hub (or dished) also needs to be unchanged in order to avoid the tyres hitting the suspension and bodywork. That's why I can not be certain Ibiza wheels will fit. Probably they will, but I'd want certainty before spending money on them.

I have changed the largely meanless title HELP to something that more accurately represents the problem in order that it can more easily be found by others with a similar problem.

In that case I suspect the 400 volt connector on your car is faulty, or that the car does not recognise it correctly. In other words I believe the car is defective and should be returned to the vendor as Steve Q suggested.

Thanks Nicholas. If any other sufferers of this problem decide to try this fix please report your findings here.

Interesting. How much did the company charge for your solution? Was the fix guaranteed?

Well done.

John. Your problem is nothing to do with Borat's so I have split it away to a topic of its own. If you want help with your problem you need to give a great deal more detail.

That looks to be useful company to know about for anybody in North London, Leicester, or Lamia (Greece).

Mechatronic units can be troublesome after a few years causing symptoms including erratic gear changes. Apparently they can be repaired by specialists at a fraction of the cost that Audi charges.

It would be interesting to know if that provides a long term solution. Do please let us know.

Your own cable or a tethered one on the charge point?

Hmm, I'm not convinced, but I guess we'll never know for certain.

This could get complicated and confused, so let's clarify some of the terminology involved before going any further. [1] The charger is always, without exception, within the car. It is the inverter that transforms 230 volt AC to 400 volts DC (or 800 volts in some new cars) plus associated electronics for control purposes. [2] The equipment you plug into the car is called in the industry an EVSE or a charge point. It is either [a] a slow charge 230 volt AC electrical power supply plus electronics to communicate with the car, or [b] a fast charge 400 volts DC electrical supply that bypasses the car's charger and goes straight to the battery, plus electronics to communicate with the car. See what I mean about complicated? Having got that out of the way, the fact you can charge at home on 230 volts AC means the car's charger is working. My questions then are whether the motorway charge point was a slow (230 volt AC) one or a fast (400 volt DC) one, and whether you were using your own charging cable or one fixed (tethered it's called in the industry) to the charge point? Answers to those questions may help us point to the fault.

To be honest Tony, I misread it as you suggesting TFSI not Steve. Apologies to you both. It's time I closed the computer and opened the wine.

Glad to hear you have solved the problem. It goes to show how ineffective or misleading low quality OBD readers can be. The website you linked to could prove very useful to us in the future when we are asked about fuse locations. I'll try to bookmark it where I can find it again. https://car-box.info/

What! The video clearly shows it to be a diesel. It has TDI on the boot lid.

Masontonylee. I have merged your identical topics because duplicate topics lead to confusion and dilution of effort. Please do not create duplicates. It won't get you any extra attention.