cliffcoggin

Niedzial. You may be able to on a A6 but it can not be done like that on a A3.

Here's a tip for you Mark. Get rid of it! It's a dreadful car that that will cost you a fortune to maintain, let you down with constant breakdowns, turn off all the girls, and freeze your n*ts off in winter. Because I pity you I am willing to take it off your hands for a just small fee. <G>

The glow plug only operates at low temperatures, less than 5 degrees I would guess, so you shouldn't see the warning light at all in summer. Quite what that means for you in terms of fault finding I know not, but I doubt it can be related to the particulate filter unless there is a more generalised electronic problem.

It may not be a leak of liquid fuel causing the stink. It's not unknown for a fuel tank vent pipe to be broken and allow fumes into the cabin. I have no idea where the vent pipe is located on a A3, but it's worth looking into.

I would be a little concerned that a professional mechanic can hear the noise but dismisses it because he cannot find the cause. There is evidently something wrong with the transmission/suspension/steering otherwise it would not make a noise. Re-reading your first message you said you could feel a vibration when turning the N/S wheel in the air that you could not feel on the O/S. Was there any noise with that vibration? A worn wheel bearing rumbles, a rubbing brake pad makes a scuffing or scraping sound, a worn CV joint clicks.

Why not get a secondhand manifold from a breaker? Look online for Audi spares.

Is there a FULL charge in the battery?

Then I look forward to hearing what the problem is.

Gavo. You can test the CV joint yourself by gripping the drive shaft with Mole grips or the like, and trying to turn it back and forth. Any movement or clicking whatsoever means the joint is worn. Naturally the wheels and gearbox need to be immobilised during the test to avoid misleading motion.

Despite what the AA man did or said, (and bare in mind their job is to resolve breakdowns, not regular maintenance), you have the classic symptoms of CV joint failure: namely a grinding noise at full lock, silence at straight ahead.

CV (constant velocity) joint is clapped out as Sven suggested, though I haven't heard it called a cardan joint.

I find it hard to believe a brand new sensor is faulty so the chances are that the fault is elsewhere. Whether that fault is a loose connection in the sensor wiring, a bad earth, or something entirely unrelated I do not know, but in your position I would start by checking the sensor wiring.

The cam belt should have been done by now. If it hasn't, the cost including water pump, (which is usually done at the same time,) will be about £700.

Jay. Unlike you I am not a mechanic, so I see things a little differently. It doesn't matter to me whether a car is made in Germany, Taiwan, France, America or Timbuctoo, they all use internal combustion engines which all work the same way. That means if it is burning oil then the possible faults are: [1] Rings or bores are worn, though your compression tests suggest otherwise. [2] Valve stem seals are worn. [3] Crankcase ventilation is allowing oil into the inlet manifold. Given all the other faults you mention and the lack of service history I begin to wonder if have have bought a dog. Is it really going to be worth investing time and money to put it right?

Are you saying the battery won't hold a charge? If so, you need to renew it. It would also be wise to wire in the radio properly so that power is removed when the key is taken out of the switch.

The first question to ask is why the battery went flat? If there was an existing or inherent electrical fault, then fixing the windows might not get to the root cause of your problems.

At 7 years old and 71000 on the clock I doubt your car is under guarantee any more, so the chances of getting free repairs are zero. If oil is disappearing from the engine there only four ways it can come out: the oil is burning in the cylinders, or it is leaking from a degraded joint onto the ground, or it is leaking into the gearbox, or it is leaking into the cooling system (if you have an oil cooler.) Is the exterior of the engine wet with oil? Are there oil spots on the ground where you park the car? Is the coolant clean? Is there oil in the exhaust tailpipe? You need to have good look round your engine and the underside of the car for clues to the cause of the oil consumption before deciding how to cure the problem. Anything else is sheer guesswork.

You have many options open to you: [1] Buy a different car. [2] Learn to like radio. [3] Enjoy silence on your journey.

If gadget connections are so important to you, why buy a car without checking such things first?

Nervous. To amplify what Steve said, mechanics (I think they like to be called technicians nowadays,) are trained to diagnose car faults by plugging it into a computer and using the result to sell you a new part. That's fine if it works as intended, but if it doesn't and "Computer says no" then you are on your own. In other words if the garage tells you it can not solve the problem because there are no fault codes, take your car elsewhere.

I would never have guessed so little oil would have made so much difference. Thanks for letting us know. That knowledge may be useful to somebody else in future.

So tell us then. What was the problem?

I agree with Dan about the exhaust rattling against something as one possibility. It also sounds a bit like a loose baffle inside the silencer.

Luey. If you can now hear a noise from the gearbox that wasn't there before the oil change, then something has clearly altered. Whether that is caused by damage, a different oil specification, lack of sawdust (look it up if you don't know what I mean), or a vivid imagination, it should not be ignored. Normally I would have no qualms about using a cheap oil if it met the manufacturer's specification, but if you have doubts about the oil quality the first thing to do is to change it.

I may be wrong, I hope I am. There may be entirely simpler explanation for your problem doors and the crack, but it is a strange coincidence. I can't be certain as I haven't seen it, but for peace of mind I suggest you get it looked at.