Diana

Many thanks for that advise Gareth, I did manage to get it to a diesel specialist. The fault has yet to reoccur, which is typical.

Thanks Gareth for replying to my dire situation. Hopefully so, but unfortunately I am not 100% convinced because there have been too many problems dealt with but I still have the same problem! I have been taking my car to the local Audi dealership (where I used to work many years ago). That is a good point about the taxi drivers. Will need to do that ASAP. I do not have any signs of loss coolant. This is something I have always looked out as that is a bad sign ! The push has come to the shove now as this has been going on far too long and proving very expensive ( Could of bought a new car !) !!! If they don’t know what’s wrong with it then there’s no hope for them especially ‘the ones’ that are ‘touching and feeling’ my car ! With regards to the ESP warning, that only happened when I was a bit persistent in trying to start it ! Probably should not of done that, but I really didn’t want it to not start! So mystified about that now! More deep joy! Kind regards Diana

You are right Cliff, the ESP thing not currently funny with what’s been happening to me 😂, but I would forgive you. I was gobsmacked about the porous head I must admit. Although they said that there had only come across about 8 in 17 years, although that didn’t make it any better! My last A3 done over 220k but the electrics with the speedo were the problem. It also had 7 previous owners. With this I am the second lady owner so absolutely mystified with all these running problems! No ever had a car with so many problems and I have been driving a long time with many cars under my belt! I was too thinking that surely the drive would be a bit rough with the compression issue, but that’s not the case. The problem I have is finding a good independent and I need a car to get to work because it’s a bit in the sticks! The only place I used for my old Audi was some 16 miles away. Although they had a courtesy car and were helpful. Although I will say my mechanical is not zero, I understand things and liked detailed explanations of problems including drawings ! However, should a engineer or mechanic give me bad vibes then I am gone ! I was advised that by replacing just the head could put extra pressure on the bottom end causing the bearings to go. So then it’s added expense ! Deep joy ! I guess I am a very unlucky Audi owner who is mega fed up, cheesed off and depressed!

Hi, I have a 2008 A3 2.0 TDi 170 Q S-Line with 140+ miles. I love my car when it starts ! The last year or so it has spend a lot of time in the dealership (because I need a courtesy car) with hiccups at very low speed (in traffic) first and bad starting. Its not been good news at all ! The tandem pump was replaced, then failed and was replaced under warranty, fine ok for a bit. Then the hiccups got worse and I had the injectors done. Great .. life was feeling better ! It certainly was driving well. Starting improved, so I thought. It went in again because I was not totally happy with the starting. Always thought one turn of the key does it ! This was thought to be the starter motor, ok these things wear out, what I call a serviceable item. However, this was not the case. Pressure test revealed I have a porous head ! As you can imagine not happy as that is expensive in my book ! So I thought I would live with that until such time, as when it starts it drives fine. My car has stood parked for less than two days and now it won't start full stop, it turns over but won't engage. I even tried the key turning to ignition without turning over, but to not avail. ! I got a message saying 'ESP fault check manual'. Can someone advise on what that might be now as I am getting thoroughly depressed !