Getting hold of service history.

[pcjthe1]

The car: Audi TT 1.8T Quattro 225HP with BAM engine.  First registered May 2002.

Currently owned by a friend.  When he bought it some 18 months ago the selling garage listed in their advert regular services giving their mileages and a cambelt change.

We have a copy of their advert but he didn't get a service book, nor any other evidence of these services.

Does anyone know how we could check on the service record?

[Magnet]

Hello Peter,

Can your friend go back to the seller on the off chance they still have that detailed history somewhere? If you don’t ask, you don’t know! 
It’s worth going to see your nearest Audi dealer ( armed with your V5) and enquire whether there is any recent computerised service history on the Audi database. 
If both of these draw blanks, then I guess you just have to do a comprehensive service on it now, and continue to record its history under your ownership. 
Please let us know how you get on Peter.

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

[pcjthe1]

Hi Gareth,

Thanks for replying.

I've posted a message to the garage that sold him the car, but so far no reply.  I'm not hopeful of getting anything from them, as despite all the claimed services at x, y and z miles they didn't supply him with any actual documentation re this other than their advert.  He did get a full set of MOTs right back to the first one.

Will try the Audi dealer approach.

I was hoping there might be some kind of database that Audi owners knew of that we could access.

My friend has already done/had done some very comprehensive stuff on the car in his 18 months of ownership.

That includes 4 new tyres, a new dual mass flywheel and clutch, renewed engine breather pipes, renewed fuel tank senders to name just some of the jobs (the work totals over £3400) as he was intending to run this car as a modern classic for a few years until he and his wife decided on the car they needed for their retirement.

Sadly his health is becoming problematical so the "retirement car" decision has had to be brought forward and he will be looking at selling the Audi very shortly.

The missing info wouldn't have been that critical in his original plan, but now he'd like to get as much back history as he can to add to the stuff he's got re jobs done in his ownership ready to pass it on.

Regards

Peter

 

[spartacus 68]

As suggested, check with Audi, otherwise walk away. A new clutch, flywheel and tyres wouldn’t be enough. These cars are now over 20 years old and could have had numerous owners. Plenty examples out there with history.

These are potential future classics, but don’t expect big money. 2002 cars are anywhere from £2,500 to over £10k if mint and low mileage.

Roadster versions are nice. Soft tops need to be thoroughly inspected and any musty smell give it a wide berth.

[Magnet]

Thanks Peter,

Access to VAG computerised service history is via. dealers or authorised persons only - not private individuals. 

[pcjthe1]

Hi Spartacus 68/Richard,

Thanks for reply and the "price range" estimate.

It's not a question of "walk away". I'm not buying this car (my passion is a large V12 Series 3 Jaguar Sovereign).

I'm trying to help my friend whose plans have been changed due to illness.

Having been smitten by the car his mistake was not to be more thorough in collecting all the history from the selling garage.

Regards

Peter

[pcjthe1]

1 hour ago, Magnet said:

Thanks Peter,

Access to VAG computerised service history is via. dealers or authorised persons only - not private individuals. 

Thanks again Gareth,

We'll try an Audi dealer and see if they can dig up any info.

Regards

Peter

[Magnet]

Pleasure Peter,

I could be wrong, but I don’t think it was until 2015 ish that the recording system became computerised, so it’s unlikely that you will get anything until the car would have been 13 years old - previous history was most likely retained in a  stamped-up service book. 
Having said that, anything is worth a try. 
Perhaps you could keep us posted.

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

[pcjthe1]

Hi Gareth,

Yep, that's pretty much what I thought might be the case.

I'm still waiting to see if I get a reply from the selling garage as the servicing dates they put in their advert looked to me like they were taken from a stamped-up service book.  Pity my friend didn't get hold of it.  We've got the advert, but it's not quite the same thing.

Even if we could only get info from 2015 it would help.

The car is running well, he has all the info re those jobs done under his ownership and he feels it would be nice to have as much info as possible to provide to any new owner.

I'll keep you informed of progress.

Peter

[pcjthe1]

Hi Gareth,

And some news:

As expected the selling garage (which aren't Audi dealers) were little help.  They said they had handed over what they had and couldn't tell us any owner history (data protection etc).

We have an outline owner history anyway, thanks to the various number plate changes matching with MOT info.

We've sent in a V888 to see what else that might produce.

The good news: we've found the servicing data!  And the stamps tally with the data in the selling advert.  I was checking the spec for the radio/6CD Bose system fitted to the car and asked my friend if he had the code just in case he ever had a flat battery or needed to disconnect the battery for any reason.  He dug out a small folder with the original radio/CD instruction booklet and tucked away behind it was the very slim Audi Service Schedule booklet.  Bingo: dealers stamps in there.

Now he can move forward with (sadly) selling this vehicle that he happily had put a lot of money into as he had planned to be keeping it for a couple of years yet.

Life sometimes just doesn't play the way we plan does it?

Edited March 9 by pcjthe1
typo

[Magnet]

Great Peter,

Puts me in mind of a BMW I bought at auction at least a couple of decades ago - with no service history. Once home, the service book was found tucked under the passenger seat. 
Soon learnt after that to check all sort of places where rival bidders may have hidden them! 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 

[pcjthe1]

Morning Gareth,

Might have helped if the selling garage had actually pointed out the location of the servicing booklet to my friend during the handover.

Talk about hiding in plain sight.  The service book is a very slim booklet that was quite easy for my friend to overlook.

Talking BMW, alongside my mighty Jaguar I have a Rover 75 and the servicing pages are at the back of the 200+ page long driver's handbook, so not easy to overlook.

Weirdly the servicing pages are printed upside down!  You literally have to turn the handbook over, base over apex.  Must be a BMW thing again.

Still, at least now my friend can get on (sadly) with selling the TT.

If there is anyone on here interested I can forward any and all details.

Peter

[Magnet]

Life is full of coincidences.
Rover 75? Had one of these with the BMW diesel engine - great. The one I had was a facelift Contemporary and was spec’d to the limited and finished in Seafrost, which I understand they only did in limited numbers in the pre- facelift. Ex MG/ Rover management car. 
I know exactly what you mean about the MG/R service book being part of the handbook - I have a low mileage MG TF.

Jaguars? May I ask what you have Peter. I’ve a long association with this marque. 
Apologies for going off-thread, but….

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

[pcjthe1]

Hi Gareth,

Apologies for the longish break from comms but life etc got in the way.

The Jaguar(s): 2 x Series 3 V12 Sovereigns...one 1985 and the other 1988.

1988 is undergoing one of those ongoing renovations we all get into eventually that is turning into a long job.

Hence just acquired the 1985 as a "light restoration" (to quote the advert) with a severe misfire to get back into "Jaguars on the road" a bit sooner.

 

Meantime back to my friend's Audi TT.

We got nowhere with the request to DVLA for info.

Apparently wanting to rebuild your car's history isn't a good enough reason anymore.

When he can he's still driving it around and it's running well (so it pains him to know he will be selling it soon).

We're now back on ironing out remaining problems and one of which is it has a bad habit of flattening its battery if left standing for a couple of days.

Some background:

We have measured the parasitic current drain with the car standing idle and it is around 0.7 Amps continuous.

That 0.7 Amp is flowing down the first red wire (the one next to the black wire) running from the battery distribution buss bar.

On locking the car with the plip the alarm sequence does not complete: the doors lock but the sidelights do not flash and the red LED lights in the doors do not become active.

We have discovered that some previous owner has removed the alarm sounder.

The instrument display shows the bootlid as continuously open, even though it is locked.

Could that be why the alarm cannot complete its cycle and hence the electrics never go "quiescent" so the heavy parasitic drain remains to draw down the battery?

We have checked out the bootlock microswitch after spending an inordinate amount of time trying to find it and its associated cable.  Thanks Audi for a superb way of hiding the switch behind the lock and between it and the car body plus making test access to it almost impossible without demounting the lock first.  The microswitch changes state when the locking solenoid is operated.  This produces no change on the instrument panel, it still shows bootlid open all the time.  Removing the cable so the switch is effectively open circuit produces no change in the display.  Linking together the pins on the cable end , so it thinks the switch is closed, produces no change in the display!

We are now into unknown territory as it looks like the cable is defective somewhere between the end we can see and wherever it goes.  Does anyone have any info on the routing of this cable and where it ends up?

This flattening the battery problem is giving my friend a lot of grief (something he doesn't need right now) and spoiling an otherwise nice car.  Can anyone offer any help/ideas?

 

[spartacus 68]

Most wiring for hatchback/coupe boot lids will enter the car near the hinge. Usually a rubber grommet, and not unheard of to have a break or some other anomaly there, so worth investigating.

Regards the alarm horn, I’ll bet it had a failed rechargeable Ni-Cd battery in it and the previous owner stripped it out. More details here. https://www.ttforum.co.uk/threads/how-to-mk1-alarm-siren-fix.73315/
 

Getting the car connected to VCDS would help. If you’re chasing wiring diagrams, consider subscribing to ErWIN. You can buy access for a day and download or print what you need. https://audi.erwin-store.com/erwin/showHome.do

[Magnet]

Yes, checking the wiring within the flexible harness section twixt tailgate/boot and body, is always worth the effort. 

[pcjthe1]

Thanks guys for the replies.

The info re the battery problem with the alarm sounder could well be the reason it was removed.  Pity whichever previous owner removed it didn't pass along the dead one so someone could try to fix it.  We'll have to track one down.

We'll check out that erwin link too.

Ref to wiring and the tailgate microswitch/"boot signalling permanently open" problem and possible link to the main battery being run down: had it been that abysmal auto engineering practice of passing wiring through door and tailgate/boot edges I'd have been on it like a starving dog on a bone as I've seen fractured wiring in those so many times.

Perhaps I wasn't clear as to the car type/model. This car is an Audi TT Mk1 coupe soft top.  The tailgate lock is mounted on the rear apron of the boot not on the lid.  The lid just has the hasp.  So no lock wiring goes into/out of the lid.  It all runs along the rear apron of the boot and disappears behind the linings and off into the innards of the car.  I'm trying to locate where the twin lead from the microswitch routes to without stripping out half the car and inevitably breaking the odd fastener or few.  Anybody know the location of whatever electronics box of tricks it feeds into?  The Haynes diagram (not probably the best source) indicates it ends up at the central locking unit.  Where is that located and are there any other plugs/sockets it goes through to get there?

I've attached a pic (not the actual car but one from the net) showing the lock placement on the rear apron.

[daveyboy1967]

On 2/15/2025 at 10:48 PM, pcjthe1 said:

 

My friend has already done/had done some very comprehensive stuff on the car in his 18 months of ownership.

That includes 4 new tyres, a new dual mass flywheel and clutch, renewed engine breather pipes, renewed fuel tank senders to name just some of the jobs (the work totals over £3400)

 

I think if you add cambelt and water pump to that list you've pretty much covered all the big stuff you need to worry about as long as the services were genuine regarding fluids, filters and the like. Regarding the little annoying faults I guess it all depends on how much you enjoy tinkering with cars. I bought a 2 owner 2003 A6 last year with more service history and garage receipts than any car I've ever owned but I'm still sorting out all the small stuff bit by bit. As far as driveability goes the car is excellent but I like the little things to be right too so I'm quite enjoying the process (frustrating as it is at times).

[pcjthe1]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the reply.  Yes, having got this far it is really irking my friend that the change in his health and therefore his retirement plans is causing him to have to sell this vehicle in the near future.

He hasn't done the cambelt/waterpump as yet because they are still well within mileage from the last time and he had the belts inspected and was told they were in good health.  Playing Devil's advocate I pointed out they were out of time even though low (relative) mileage so he'll need to look at those jobs shortly.

Biggest problem at the moment is this flattening of the battery.