cliffcoggin

Diana. I was going to make a joke about the ESP fault referring to psychic abilities, but it would not have been funny. (That's psychic as in extra sensory perception.) Sorry, can't help on that score. Being a natural cynic I am suspicious about the diagnosis of a porous head. Even if such a thing was possible I find it hard to believe it has gone undetected for 140000 miles. However I could certainly believe low compression as a result of worn bores, a cracked head, a damaged head gasket, or worn valve seats, all of which happen to old engines. (140000 miles would normally be too early for that sort of wear unless the engine has been thrashed or poorly maintained.) Low compression would cause the symptoms of poor starting and uneven running you have experienced, though it must be said they could equally be caused by other faults. In your position I would have the compression test repeated at another garage to obviate any suspicion of being led up the garden path by a shady mechanic. Unfortunately there are still places that try to take advantage of women in the hope that they have no mechanical knowledge. If the test again shows low compression then you are faced with at best a moderately expensive repair if it only needs a new head gasket, or at worst a hugely expensive complete replacement engine. If the compression rest result is OK then a more extensive investigation is needed to find the root cause of the problems.

Yes, rev the engine too much and the plank shoots backwards, dropping the valence onto the steel ramp. Only planks use planks.

Three electrical faults in one week has got to be record. I suspect you may have one fundamental fault that is causing all these symptoms, but I have no idea where to even start diagnosing the problems. Perhaps it's time to consult a car electrician.

A Mk 1 eh? That would be as old as we all are!

Perhaps I should mention a few precautions just in case you aren't familiar with them: -do the job on level ground, -chock the two wheels that remain on the ground, -the jack is only for lifting, lower onto stands before going underneath. Sorry if I am teaching grandmother to suck eggs. I am not clear how experienced you are.

Trolley jack and axle stands have served me well over the years for access to the underside. They also enable the wheels to be removed while up in in the air.

Does this help? https://www.drivingtesttips.biz/dashboard-warning-lights/audi-dashboard-warning-lights/audi-a3-dashboard-warning-lights.html

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=tow+hitch+ball+cover&_sop=12

Good detective work. It's hard to beat old fashioned testing as opposed to reading a meaningless code on a computer.

I'd guess you've got water inside the door and shorted out some switches.

As Steve said, if the panels you can see are rusty, the bits you can't see are going to be worse. As you have no plans to sell the car its value does not really matter, so the decision to treat it or not is a matter of personal choice. Do you want to maintain the best appearance or do you want to spend as little as possible?

I'd say that is a fair assumption. The edges of the hole are clearly fractured.

Glad to hear it. The simplest solutions are easily over looked.

Possibly a bad earth at one of the light fittings.

A faulty pressure switch is the most likely cause, but have you considered that it might be a genuine warning?

Mine is just the same, feeling as if the clutch is snatching. It only happens occasionally for me but it makes me nervous at junctions and the like. An Audi dealer I used to take it to for servicing looked a bit sheepish and said there was nothing wrong. Ha! A classic case of "the computer says no." Needless to say I don't go there any more.

There's a powerful aroma of something familiar coming from your diesel place that I am trying to identify. Ah, I remember now. It's BS. Do the job yourself Sam, or find somebody trustworthy.

It sounds to me that your specialist is guessing, or to put it another way, they are taking you for a ride. If they are incapable of testing the existing pump I have to regard them as incompetent. Unfortunately I have no further suggestions to add those already presented on this forum. Have you tried all of those? As for a fitting a secondhand pump, that would only be adding another unknown factor into the problem. Test the one you have.

If the damping is inadequate then by all means fit new shock absorbers, (poor damping would in any case be an MOT failure,) but they will do nothing for the ride height or wheel spacing. The only solutions that occur to me are longer springs, removal of wheel spacers, or extended wheel arches.

Like Dan, I still believe the problem is lack of fuel at the injectors during starter cranking. Unfortunately I don't have the practical experience of working on a A3 fuel system so all I can offer is logical deductive reasoning. [1] We have all assumed the primary pump is now working because you changed it, but is that true? Have you tested it to ensure it actually delivers fuel? Even if you can hear it buzzing or whining or whatever noise it is supposed to make, it doesn't necessarily mean it is pumping fuel. I hate to say this but the only way to be certain is to remove it and test it with a bucket of fuel and some short pieces of hose. (There is a distinct fire risk to this operation but I believe you to be competent enough to set it up safely. You eliminate the risk by testing with water but then you have the problem of getting rid of the water from the pump before re-installing it.) [2] Is there a second fuel filter that has not been changed? Some cars have more than one. [3] Is the tank vent clear? If it isn't, a partial vacuum can be generated in the tank which will actively try to pull fuel backwards. You can test this immediately after a long run by opening the cap and listening for the inrush of air. (Some cars used to vent through a valve in the cap; many now have a separate vent hose running from the tank to a level above the filler.) I wish you luck. I'll add more suggestions if any occur to me.

Chris. You clearly realise that to safeguard your wheels you need higher profile tyres, and to do that you need smaller wheels, so it's going to be expensive. And that's before you restore any suspension components. Perhaps your best bet is to sell the car to a boy racer, and get yourself something more practical. If it's any comfort to you my A3 has 225/45/17 tyres and I burst four of them in 18 months on potholes. For a while I considered smaller wheels and higher tyres to cope with the roads around here, and I may yet be forced to do so as the roads are being allowed to deteriorate even further.

Given that you are wiping the oil filler spout I'd guess that is where it is coming from. Why it's there is another matter. Assuming it wasn't a simple spillage the last time you topped up the oil level, one possibility is crankcase pressure blowing it out of the top. Is there oil spayed anywhere else nearby? Perhaps on the underside of the bonnet above that filler spout? Is the filler cap loose or have a defective seal?

Good point Gareth. If the boots have perished then dirt will have got into the joint, even if it has not yet caused any perceptible wear.

A clutch fault is the most likely possibility for the noise. Whether repair should be done by the dealer depends what guarantee he gave you and what it covered. 12 months? Three months? None?

That's most unhelpful of them. They could at least have asked if you need x, y, or z millimetres so that you could measure the hole. Sorry I can't help any better.