Stevey Y

Hi it sounds like the bulb inspection covers on the back of the headlight units have degraded and no longer seal what they are meant to protect, the light units are easy to remove two screws and a bit of a wiggle, after removing the wiring connector remove the back cover and place the units near a radiator in the house overnight to let. the condensation evaporate, faster than this is hijack the missus hair dryer and give them a blow out with that. If you then inspect the covers they should have a rubber seal embedded around the edge, you can go at this one of two ways either buy new covers or the cheapest option is give the seals a good coat of silicon grease and then reassemble and see if that works, if it doesn't have the back plates off and run a thin bead of good quality black silicon sealant around the seal let it dry and reassemble them. Steve.

Hi poor MPG would be a factor that would manifest itself when the ambient temperature is very low and the enrichment strategy on the injection system runs for longer to try and get the engine up to temperature, its been quite mild so at around 9-12 degrees you won't really notice any difference, in view of the cost of a new thermostat its better to just replace it rather than limp along with a problem that in the long run may cost a whole lot more to fix. Steve.

Hi sorry they are on youtube.

Hi is it auto or manual, either way there are a couple of videos from a company that does retrofit buttons for your car it may be well worth contacting them. Steve.

Hi most likely the thermostat is stuck slightly open which is a better prospect than stuck shut with tat you would get plenty of heat at two miles and at twenty a lot of steam. Steve.

Hi, cam belt is every 80k or five years despite what Audi tell you, I would get it done on principle as if there is no mention of it in the service history now would be a good time, my daughter bought a Q3 with the same milage but a year older than your car, that was the second job I had done after I had replaced the discs and pads and serviced the car, my mechanic showed me it was the original belt to be fair it was in reasonable condition but when placed against the new belt the original had stretched about 3-4mm. the other thing is check for a gearbox service as these can give no end of trouble if the oil is not changed about every 30k, other than that just the usual consumables filters oil etc. Steve.

HI, Clifford is right it may well be the battery in which case replace it and while they are coding the battery the new battery get them to clear any faults, the emissions light may well be a dodgy oxygen sensor which is an easy cheap fix. Steve.

Hi, I would be aiming it straight back at Carbase with the facts, not fit for purpose is the term used, let us know how you get on, half these warranties are not worth the paper and small print written on them. Steve.

Hi thats one of the weirdest convertibles I have ever seen, the only way to confirm if its the head gasket is to take it to a garage that has a sniffer test kit, they remove the water bottle cap and instal the device with a special liquid in it and leave the car running if the device detects any exhaust gas in the water system it changes colour. Steve.

Hi you are right about almost all of it except the fans run for about five minutes after the regen if you are standing still otherwise there is a real possibility of having to call the fire service which is why if you have a problem with your fan circuit the car won't regenerate. Steve.

Hi, the first port of call would be change the pollen filter as if this is blocked the ambient air temperature sensor in the engine bay will be sending information to the other sensors in the heating circuit which won't tally up with the out side readings as the filter won't be letting in enough of the right temperature air so that the other sensors raise or lower the cabin air temperature. Steve.

Hi Gareth, when I asked the guy the first time the clutch started slipping what brand of clutch they had used he replied that they are their own brand of remanufactured clutches, then explained that the clutch assemblies were stripped cleaned and any parts that were badly worn were replaced and new friction material was put on the driven plate, sorry but any metal component that has springs and bearing surfaces and been living in a world of five hundred degrees for 70k is not really usable due to metallurgical deformation. Went into the world of remanufacturing and it makes for depressing reading, the wear checks are if it looks ok it will go again, rebuilt is a better world marginally as if done by the manufacturer of the original item as this involves a lot of new parts so the item technically will perform as new, an example that springs to mind is a friend of mine back in the eighties had a 3.0 S Capri which had knocked out the big ends, A genuine Ford recon engine was about a grand so he opted for a remanufactured unit from a place in London at £500 we went and collected it in his dads old Vauxhall Viva van, we then spent a weekend fitting it and it wouldn't idle smoothly, we looked at the invoice which mentioned reground crank new shells etc as well as completely remanufactured heads, all good, a week later we got a carb overhaul kit and still no joy, we both stood there in a fit of despair, my mate was talking about setting light to it and claiming off the insurance, I decided to have the rocker covers off and run it to see if there was anything obvious like a bent push rod and there was the answer, as it was a V6 it had two cylinder heads and on one of the castings it had HC hi compression the other had LC low compression, they had fitted the first heads that came to hand. Steve.

Hi get the build spec for your car, even if fitted the new panel will need recoding and unless you are confident with VCDS leave it alone as if you get it wrong you can cause a world of problems especially if its not fitted with heat pads or cooling motors. Steve.

Hi not Mr Clutch, they only use there own refurbished units which go again in record time thats why they are cheap, they did a clutch on my Alfa and the first one went in six weeks, after the replacement was fitted it lasted three months after which I bought a genuine Valeo clutch and fitted it myself, that was two years ago and its still fine, have a look on eBay and buy your own LUK unit then as Gareth suggested find a local garage.

Hi have look on a website called Zap 7 and get the part numbers, alternatively ask a turbo specialist they are normally pretty helpful. I strongly suspect they are the same but best advice is check twice do once. Steve.

Hi as I said you may be better served getting the car read for codes, there is definitely something adrift here 20 miles and an hour is more than acceptable if you take into consideration that during the lockdown I was doing 40 miles a week if lucky and it still did not KILL the battery over three months, you have a serious power drain on your batteries and best the thieving gits sort that first. Regards Steve.

Hi I am not sure that the key fob will need reprogramming as is all you have done is reinstated the communication between the fob and the ECU which will have that key code in its memory, if it does the net is full of how to pair keys with the car, you mentioned cables for your Alfa, I assume what you have is Multiscan I have that for my Mito, a cable for every module on the car, using it is to say the least interesting, for your Audi have a look at OBD Eleven. Steve.

Hi if you look at the transponder in the duff key you should be able to buy a replacement on the internet, replacing this should not affect the keys functions as the PCB is original and the transponder only communicates with the pick up ring inside the ignition barrel. Steve.

Hi if you have the headlamp switch set to Auto and are trying this in daylight they won't come on, try it in the dark with the switch set to auto, as for the SD card try eBay but it will need to be paired with the head unit. Steve.

Hi I would agree that four miles a day is not a lot but for an AGM battery to need replacing every year is ridiculous and you certainly should not be getting a low voltage warning after a run, a good rule of thumb is 15-25 miles driven per day but in saying that has anyone read the car for codes as it could be the battery energy module playing about, I might be tempting fate here but my 16 plate Avant is still running on the same battery but in all fairness I use it as a cab so it gets around 800 miles a week thrown at it. Steve.

Hi quite possibly but I have found that unless you know for certain which oil they used, it may have been fleet oil when serviced and this inherently burns as it is made as a low SAPS [Ash oil] for multiple vehicles and is non specific a bit like one size fits all, a lot of garages use this it just burns a bit quicker than say Quantum or Mannol. Steve.

Hi you can't really tell but from a personal point of view I would be worried by all that carbon on the compression vanes as well as what looks like teeth marks on the edge of the fins, if the other picture is a boost hose what is that wrapped around part of it, looks a bit like a get you home bodge the hose should be a uniform rubber all the way from one end to another, I would replace that pronto, as for mr muscle that was a trick the old MK3 Mondeo boys used to clean the vanes on the exhaust side of the turbo, if you put it in the induction side it may well terminate something. try something like Lucas EGR/Turbo cleaner and follow the instructions to the letter. Steve.

Hi, the easiest way is to consult your local tyre dealer to see what is the widest tyre you can mount on that size rim, for example if its 225 go for a 235 width tyre ascetically its only 10mm but it just looks that much bigger, as Gareth said any kind of wheel spacer may have an effect on the bearings and tracking, I have witnessed first hand the horrors of fitting these things on my daughters boyfriends go faster Fiesta they couldn't get the tracking right and eventually it caused cracks in the wheels, well worth the £150 kit he bought, they are nearly all made of aluminium which behaves differently under load it flexes, high carbon steel definitely does not. Steve.

Hi thats just a tad overfilled I would leave it and see how fast goes down over the next couple of weeks, as for master technician thats a title thats invented for the guy thats been there the longest, as for the full Audi service history my daughters Q3 had the same and have a look at the air filter I pulled out of it, it has the same date as the car was built stamped down the side of it, my advice find a decent independent garage to look after your car. Steve.

Hi have a look on youtube some clever clogs wii have done a video, I have not worked on one of these models but they are all basically the same and I think the door card may have to be removed but a lot of them you just prise out with a plastic trim tool kit, about a tenner on eBay but well worth getting if you intend to do any interior removals yourself, I have not had to replace any switches on my doors yet so I have no first hand experience of this but there are a couple of good how to do its on youtube. Steve.