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If the battery went flat over a few days it is dead and needs to be renewed. Spoilt batteries can not be resurrected no matter how long you leave them on charge and no matter what a simple voltage test may tell you. Sulphation, or its equivalent on a modern battery, has left it with an internal fault that can not be repaired.

Hi does anyone know whats up with my 2004 audi a4 1.8T ? Basically its been starting fine since i bought it 2 weeks back but the batteries been dead today as its been sat a few days so ive charged it up and its turning over but the engines not turning on everything sounds as it should when turning the car over but the that engines not starting any ideas ? Ive cleaned the battery terminals not that, i cant see it being flooded but checked that too nope dont know where to go from here chances are its going to be something simple If you could help that would be great

Hi no adjustment, they are a fixed length between the actuator and turbo not like the older type of actuator where you could shorten the rod to tweak up the boost pressure.

Take it these actuators aren’t adjustable they are just straight swap? Adapt turbo on vcds and should be good to go?

Much appreciated Steve. That's great. I'll let him know and we'll get it sorted!

Seems quieter but not had long enough to take it a good drive

well did it improve the performance.

Hi it looks like the PCV valve has become broken/disconnected and is spraying crankcase gas and oil vapour over the engine, the part wont be that expensive and I should imagine about an hours labour easy fix. Steve.

😂😂 just did the wynns turbo cleaner yesterday!

Hi based on what you have posted it may well be the actuator, BUT I have seen this many times with Variable Vane Turbos, what happens is the vanes become sticky and can't open and close quickly this in turn knackers the actuator as its constantly trying against increased resistance to close the vanes therefore killing the actuator, easy way of checking the vanes is to chuck a spray can of Wynns turbo cleaner down the inlet ducting after the air box, if after treatment it runs better it will definitely be the vanes sticking, depending on the milage you may be better getting a new turbo as if you fit the new actuator you will soon be back to square one. Steve.

Hi all, Just joined up and wondering if someone can help with an issue. My dad's A4 Avant has had the engine management light come on and there was a strong smell. Popping the bonnet I noticed what looked like smoke and I'm guessing a disconnection between a part of the engine. Please can someone let me know what they think the problem might be and any idea what the cost for repair may be. He's in his early 80's, I can only get round there once a week and worried he might get taken advantage of. Thanks in advance. 20240531_163457.mp4

So I’m having some problems with my turbo actuator on my 2015 Audi a6 2.0 TDI….read a lot of places these can be adjusted however the one I have and the replacement one part number doesn’t look as though it has any adjustment capability. im advised the actuator should read 3.6V with power on (tolerance 3.3v to 3.9v) engine off and 0.76v with engine on at idle. my readings are currently 3.2v power on, engine off and 0.72v with engine on at idle. the actuator itself has not nut/bolt to allow adjustment. have ran turbo adaptation on VCDS but no change to readings. basically my cars running like rubbish especially 4th, 5th and 6th gear as if it’s struggling. No EML, not fault codes. if I were to replace the actuator I take it that it would just be a straight swap over. image of actuator

Still available Now reduced to £600

Thanks for coming back on this Alan. My (jaundiced?) view on ‘fancy large wheels’ is that they may appeal to some onlookers who take any interest in looking at car wheels, but such people can be rare to come across. They will also appeal to owners who want, or expect, others to fancy their large wheels, and if that is what turns anybody on, then that’s fine too. The practical and downsides:- So that gearing etc. is not affected, the total diameter of wheel + tyre has to remain constant, so the larger the wheel dia. the lower the profile ( sidewall height) of the tyre has to be, and dictated profiles can be reduced to silly levels as with your current 30. The lower the tyre profile, the much harsher the ride quality the driver has to suffer, for the ‘benefit’ of being able to view the static car with the large fancy wheels - which can’t be seen by the driver when using the car! Does that significant disadvantage add up? I guess, yes, to some owners. Convertibles are for enjoying with the hood down, with a nice comfy ride, while you take your time to smell the flowers along the way. Just one person’s point of view, and very much open to debate. Kind regards, Gareth.

Many thanks for the update Paul, In addition to Cliff’s queries, I think I’m reading it correctly, that you changed the actual bearings in the original hub casing- correct? If so, any particular reason why you chose this labour intensive route, rather than renewing the hub assembly - complete - already fitted with new bearings? Kind regards, Gareth.

I have never come across wheel bearings that have over-heated unless there is a lubrication fault, which seems unlikely if the car has been well maintained. That leads me to wonder if the caravan is over loading them. Have you checked the load on the tow hitch?

Gareth, Thanks for the welcome to club and your thoughts on wheel size. The 20" wheels are what where with the car. Also appreciate your thoughts on going to 18" and I will start looking for some fresh rims and tyres to do a changeout. Many thanks. Alan

Hi Gareth, I am in the same position. Did you ever get to the bottom of this. Regards

Well, fancy that! Many thanks Cliff. Great shame you weren’t able to be one of the S. Wales’ valley academics who got me into this bad habit. I like the ingrained bit - this certainly has been exactly that with me over too many decades to recall. Kind regards, Gareth.

It is an S4 Avant B9 but I imagine the dimensions are the same. My partner has a 62 plate S5 and that also works but the low sloping glass window at the very back does require more fiddling. Mind you these are road bikes (42cm wide handlebars). With the wheels off, it should be much easier.

As far as I am aware, the 2.0l 35 and 40 TFSi share the same engine. The 2.0l 35 replaced the 1.4l petrol engine. My first Audi was an A5 35 TFSi. It was a good car but I found it to be a bit sluggish for want of a better word. It was almost like the factory tune was restricting things a bit too much to get it down to 150ps. It tended to hesitate before accelerating. Both of mine were DSGs and I found that if I put the foot down, even in sport mode, the 35 would just rev away in neutral when I tried to overtake anything before finally selecting a gear. Usually by which time the opportunity to pass had gone. The 40 is so much better in my opinion and accelerates much more freely. If you can find a good tuning place then they only need to remap it to be similar to the 40 and it will become a better car and still well within the tolerances for reliability etc.

Thanks Gareth. I've taken your advice and emailed Audi customer services. They are a tad slow to respond though. So far they've only responded to say that my issue doesn't sound right 😯 and asked me for my VIN and address. Given that I have now found dozens of threads on forums all over the world complaining of exactly the same issue I have, I'm not sure what they are going to be able to do for me. TBH all I need is the ability to change it to "late" like I was able to in my last two A5s and I should be ok.

Well, after all this time, still no new tyres as they still legal.... turns out the tyres are not noisy at all.... driver side rear wheel bearing changed yesterday and what a difference.... the car is almost silent now! 2 sets of bearings, inner amd outer and one of the sets, all the balls bearings were a psychedelic blue almost from the heat.... Good to know the noise I had heard did exist as the other half said it was just road noise..... must admit though this last journey pulling the caravan back from the lakes it got alot worse. I got the wife to drive after I'd dropped the caravan off, climbed in the back and lifted the floor cover up to get my head down to the wheel arch and was pretty clear which side..... Happy at last but tyres are coming with another handful of pound notes to hand over 😭

Two words I'm afraid Gareth, not one, and it's definitely not an Americanism. It's odd how simple slips become ingrained. For example I used to be able to spell accomodate without a thought, but now I have to look it up every time because I double the "m", single the "c", or substitute an "a" for an "o" or various permutations of the three. Cliff.

One of my cars Is an 8J TTS I Sometimes get a little water coming in the passenger footwell from the bottom door seal. I CBA to replace the whole door seal so I just leave it. As I have custom rubber floor mats it just creates a tiny puddle on random occasions. But if it is leaking badly you should look into it. Also worth checking the frameless windows are seated correctly as this can cause leaks. Also there is a drain hole on the bottom of the door which sometimes gets blocked, as the door is designed for rainwater to run down the glass and though the door not over it. Regularly applying rubber conditioner and cleaning the seals helps prevent issues. Something like liqui moly gummi-pflege works very well. (especially during winter when the rubber can freeze) If you think water is coming in via the HVAC - you could first try removing the pollen filter which is super easy - no tools required and see if it is damp.