Stevey Y

Hi try Retrofit Labs they do both. Steve.

Hi Steve they achieved the extra capacity by using the same pistons but slightly shorter con rods [old Ford trick] the old Kent 1300/1600 used the same piston with different sized rods but the block was the same in every respect, might be well worth giving Kevs engine a go as it will save you a bundle as well as the fact it comes with the ECU, if he says its mint I would definitely agree as it beyond doubting his experience and judgement. Steve.

Hi cheap upgrade is Phillips diamond vision halogen bulbs available on eBay they give about about 80% more light for not a lot of money if they are projector lenses it might be the chrome has burnt off of the reflector bowls but with out seeing the light unit I am just guessing. Steve.

Hi if you can post a picture of the headlight and confirm xenon/halogen bulbs you have options to improve both. Steve.

Hi I probably didn't read the first post comprehensively, I know how sensitive the electronics are on these cars I have had the same message on my car a few times but it clears itself after a few drive cycles, sort of thinking it might just be a coincidental fault and there is not a day goes by that I regret getting VCDS as I scan the car every month and find loads of one hit codes that when deleted don't ever appear again, I am of the conviction that some of these faults are written in by the software writers to appear at certain milages to make work for the dealers, might be worth consulting an auto electrician with the codes you already have from the IDOS system at Audi, I don't think its anything to do with the replaced fuse, are you sure all the fuses you removed were pushed home properly?. Steve.

Hi Steve I am sorry to hear of your problems, in my humble opinion the obvious route would be a standard rebuild as performance rebuild would be a bit much in view of the milage, too much stress on an old lady, better to rebuild the original engine as standard and the rest of the money on restoration of the chassis, my friend who owns the garage I use bought a MK3 Escort Cosworth as a basket case, basically a rolling shell with all the trim inside it and no engine, £8,000 he is now driving himself mad building an engine that will run about 400bhp the parts costs are horrendous thats without his time and expertise, I can see it with this car as they are rare but what you must consider is will the car you own ever be classed as rare and will it warrant vast expense in view of the imminent arrival, therefore to get the best of both worlds rebuild the engine and see how it goes as the other route is you appearing on CAR SOS in ten years or so. Steve.

Hi I strongly suspect that its the reader coil that has had a meltdown when you connected the charger, did you connect it to the battery directly or the jump posts under the bonnet as direct battery connection of a charger is a big NO,NO on these vehicles. Steve.

Hi Steve, it was just a shame I trashed the balljoint rubber boots as they were spot on for 150, 000 miles but I now know that when these degrade that I can get away with poly bushes on the inner, just found out Audi do a repair kit, yep the inner bush although at £95 inc vat you might just as well pay the extra £20 and have a whole new arm, Audi price £220 per arm depressing their sense of humour. Steve.

Hi Gents, I started to suffer some weird handling on the front of my A6 so I ran the car down to the garage I use so I could borrow a ramp, soon saw the trouble it was the Banana arm bushes as named in the trade, A.K.A. front rear lower control arm, anyway managed to get a deal on Lemforder replacements they must be o.e. as someone had ground most of the VAG numbers off of the castings, I assumed that the whole arm and balljoint must be knackered so I butchered the balljoint boots with a forked joint splitter only to find the balljoints themselves were perfectly serviceable even after 150, 000 + miles, on reflection I could have got away with fitting power flex bushes on the inners, hey ho time is money, but I thought I would publish this as they reckon these are a weak point on Audis, so if some monkey MOT tester tells you they are gone make sure they look like this before you launch your wallet at them. Steve

Hi Tony I run my car as a cab so have a look at the pictures of my filters at 9k every changed every three months. Steve.

Hi sounds like you are on the right track with the injectors but before you throw money at them have a leak back test done as that should tell you definitively, did a Skoda recently that was loosing 30ml of fuel in 40 seconds thats where the fuel pressure was going, you have replaced everything that normally causes your symptoms, normal leak back should be about 3ml a minute. Steve.

Hi best policy is every 9k or annually whichever comes first. Steve.

Hi as you quite rightly point out no one has yet reported in on the performance of the tyres on newer models, I think it will be pleasing to actually find out real time how you are doing at 10,000 it might instill a bit more confidence in potential new owners, I sort of gained the impression from the author that he might be doing near what I do a month about 2,800 miles a month, I wish you all good luck with your tyres. Steve.

Hi had a quick look and it is most likely yours is the one with the sensor mounted on the cylinder if there is no obvious sign of a pedal switch, they are a bit of a fan to change as you have to remove the scuttle cover and the the box under the ECU and a ton of connectors to get at it, good video tutorial on YouTube its the same for that years A6. Steve.

Hi good question, with the transducer there is no way of checking as they are solid state, I agree with the clutch master cylinder switch idea as a while ago I had about three on the bounce all failed within a month of fitting they are plastic crap, not sure if yours will be the same as mine but I will look on my parts system and see if its the same with the switch sensor mounted on top of the master cylinder. Steve.

Hi the part number you gave was for the main in tank sensor/pump there is also a secondary unit next to it under the rear seat but I just found a new Bosch unit on Autodoc for £150.00 and they are not hard to fit. Steve.

Hi are you talking the ones on the low pressure pumps or the one on the end of the fuel rail. Steve.

Hi have you had the battery checked as some of those codes are low voltage. Steve.

Hi I don't think you have read the first post properly at no point did the author mention 4000 miles, come to that no other person involved in any reply mentioned that figure either, I think the original post mentioned 7-10k which I would personally take in view of the fact same as me does a fair amount of driving over a month, if you only use the vehicle over short distances on mostly good roads you will probably achieve higher milage, driving style will always impact tyre wear but if you read the post he states he is getting 25k out of the tyres on a discovery which would indicate he is not using rubbish rubber or driving like a lunatic, the other fact is Q7s have a well documented reputation for tyre wear, they can't all be lying. Steve.

Hi if the washer got between the belt and the crankshaft gear the washer has probably moved the belt timing only way to check is strip it down and re time it, if it still won't turn [by hand ] then something is bent its no good trying to turn the engine over without it being timed up as there will always be a loss of synchronisation between the two elements camshaft/crankshaft so that means an open valve. Steve.

Hi any garage should be able to check the compression electronically, chains can last anything from 60k to 200k dependent on oil service and oil grade used and they won't rattle on start up way before that you will develop what seems a misfire which is the crank/camshaft synchronisation going to pot, the chain guides are made of nylon and are prone to wear or breaking up, thats why I suggested getting a diagnostic scan as if there are any faults to do with the timing, walk away, there are a few of them on here that have had cam chain problems with much lower milage, at the end of the day the whole car has done in excess of a 100k and everything is tired suspension, engine, gearbox and speaking from experience with my car at 150k I am experiencing suspension bush failure and that is not cheap, given the age of the vehicle and the milage unless you intend to do a lot of the work yourself I would be inclined to get something else with less miles, its cheap for a reason. Steve.

Hi treble smoke is very possibly is either valve stem seals or a sticky compression ring, turbo seals I doubt but an easy check is remove the intake for the turbo and manually pull the vane boss up and down and check back unforward for end float should be about 1mm up and down with no end float from side to side, I would also be checking for scanned faults and any history of cam chain replacement as at that milage all four chains are well on their way, if its dirt cheap buy it and run it until it dies, turbo recon about £600 for the part and a cam chain change anywhere over £3000. Steve.

Hi yes the dash lights will still work the only other thing I can think of would be the pick up on the ignition switch, start from the beginning, did the car crank ok before you changed the battery and who changed it, you stated that you replaced the switch was it new or second hand, the switches should have a transducer ring near the barrel or around it these are very prone to voltage spikes. Steve.

Hi wherever you take it to get the work done will probably remove the filler flap and send it to the paint mixer and they will scan it and mix the paint to that, mine is a grey pearlescent and apparently the guy who did the work said there are about five shades of that paint code so he removed the flap and gave it to the paint supplier and bingo perfect match. Steve.