Stevey Y

Hi how many miles have we done and does the noise stop when you rev it with the clutch engaged. Steve.

Hi if you are lucky the crank sensor is near the pulley on the front, if not it will be at the back of the engine underneath where the gearbox joins the engine its a pig to get at but doable, the ABS sensors have nothing to do with the running of the engine. Steve.

Hi have you tried youtube I suspect that they are the same as the A6 where access to the bulb is via the inspection cover in the wheel arch to negate headlight removal. Steve.

Hi if the pipe is metal it will be possible to weld it but it must be removed from the car to make that possible, you might get a better response if you can post a picture of it, as for who can do it, anyone with a bit of savvy and a MIG welder, as for acceptable if it aint leaking they can't fail it. Steve.

Hi where did you get the alternator as when put under load [everything electrical on] it should be showing 14.5 volts, yours is 1volt above the batteries standby voltage. it could be a Battery Energy Monitor problem. Steve.

Hi Gareth there must be someone in your area who has VCDS/Snap on they would definitely run the culprit to ground, try a local independent as most of them have something that will read it for a modest cash donation. Steve.

Hi I have done a fair amount of research on this and from personal experience would concur with what the guy said the oil film you mentioned is in fact physical but there is contact which is why some engines with middling milage I have worked on knock when being started from cold this is through naturally occurring wear on the bearings which would lead one to believe that due to poor maintenance or low quality oil even some being how far they can go after the service due message comes on, as far as I can see given some of the parameters mentioned stop/start would merely accelerate the wear process, as for the lubricants they have been selling advanced oils for years but most of these are sold at a premium and contain PTFE same as the Slick 50 Kev mentioned, reading between the lines car producers are not necessarily worried by problems that occur outside the warranty period as in the case of Audi who are quite happy to sell you a short engine for £5000, but in saying that why are they so suddenly interested in beefing up con rod bearings, someone somewhere is having problems inside the warranty. Steve.

Hi what did you scan it with software wise, if its one of the cheap hand held units it won't show anything of value, I agree with Gareth as if the battery is dying it won't allow the OBD/Can gateway to function.

Hi for all the people who value stop start, had a rather interesting Volvo/Ford engineer as a passenger this week and rather than a lecture on electric vehicles he had my attention talking about stop/start, mine as usual was zoned out and he enquired why, I explained that my theory was it put added wear on the starter and ring gear he laughed and said it was highly unlikely as both components were beefed up to accommodate the extra loads but in fact my theory wasn't as far off as I thought, he then went on to tell me he was working with the oil companies to produce new nano tech oils because the existing engine technology is suffering with stop/start as when the engine is running the pressured oil forms a hydro barrier between the crank journals and the bearings, when the engine is stopped the journal/bearing come into contact and when the engine starts again there is a lapse between the oil pressure arriving to reinstate the hydro barrier, I.E. extra wear, he then explained that a normal engine is rated to start 50,000 times during its life and a stop/start engine will perform the same function over 500,000 times, so you can see where this is going and apparently the race is on to produce a coating for crank bearings that is self lubricating Teflon and Iron Oxide, Yes, Rust, which in fine particles reduces friction co efficient by 50%, also he explained that the engine conditions for stop/start have to be ideal as it won't work when the engine is too hot/cold or if you have the aircon working flat out, I have never experienced this as my stop/start is never on. Steve.

Hi plug removal is fairly straight forward, if you get the engine nice and hot and use a low nm torque wrench set at 28nm to crack them off, reassembly should include a liberal coat of aluminium anti seize paste, the duty cycles are all different according to your post and yes the plugs wear as a set but at different failure rates. Steve.

Hi yes it may well be the valve block in the gearbox but it sound like the wet clutch is slipping thats why it won't change up as the torque grip sensor is not getting the right information to change up, the glow plugs are definitely shot up the duty cycles are all over the place. Steve.

Hi sorry but clutch slip is a mechanical fault. Steve.

Hi bulbs are like track rod ends, tyres, brake pads, discs you always change them in pairs because they wear as a set the new single light bulb will be much brighter than the other side, you don't have to buy the expensive bulbs from Euros, go on eBay I have used many different brands and Limastar from valley lighting are about the best Lumex are good, you are supposed to change the bulbs every three years as they do go off. Steve.

Hi, yep self tappers, the body units are plastic so if you take your time and don't get them in at an angle they should be fine, its just a cheap way round putting in brass inserts. Steve.

Hi you can use the 19 inch wheels as long as you choose a tyre profile that brings the wheel O/D to the same size as the original 18 inch wheel, pros it looks better, cons low profile tyres suffer more punctures and bigger wheels are heavier. Steve.

Hi its the bulb needs changing if it was the ballast it would either not work or the light would flicker, its a fairly easy job to replace just remove the rear cover to find out what bulbs you have its printed on the rear of the bulb it will be a D3S or D5S which a good branded set [you need to replace both sides] will be around £130, no idea about garage costs as I have always replaced my own, 4500k is off white but if you go up to 5500k as long as the wattage is the same will give a more pure white light, the k rating equals kelvin which is light output without he heat halogen bulbs produce. STEVE

Hi have you had the car scanned and the live data analysed, could be a cam chain problem. Steve.

Hi if you have the remap you will definitely have to use the 97/99 premium or use a proprietary quality octane booster as an additive to 95 otherwise you start burning valves etc, but the thing that baffles me is why, with all that power as standard or do we have a track day planned, cars with a standard state of tune like that have come from the factory in a high state of tune and the bonus with that is there is also a high reliability factor built in, mapping eats into the reliability factor but aim sure the mapping boys will say not, the manufacturer makes sure the clutch and gearbox will live with this power as standard if you start throwing different torque curves and more BHP invairiably major components will fail faster, I cite the case of the VW Golf GTI owner who at 36k had his car remapped, happy days 60bhp more and another 40nm of torque until the clutch retired 4k later and another two grand bill for an uprated clutch, not so happy. Steve.

Hi I think European type approval have probably changed the rules again, to many Euro MPs !Removed! off at being stuck at the side of the road in the dark mucking about with with weird and wonderful bottles of compressed latex repair fluid or trying to inflate the already flat spare, my Titanium x ford I bought had a recall to have a full size tin wheel and tyre fitted along with a new jack and wheel brace station because a director of Ford U.K. had been left in some lanes in Wiltshire with only a pot of glorified puncture fluid to repair a four inch tear in the tyre wall, he threw his toys out of the pram and demands the Belgians built the cars with a proper spare wheel. Its a bit like the Holy Grail there is no point of looking for it as the car is under warranty. Steve. Steve.

Hi without physical sight of the vehicle any flying diagnosis is virtually impossible. Steve.

Hi get the level sensor in the tank re calibrated diagnostically or just keep driving the car and it may well disappear of its own accord, this phenomenon usually occurs when it s been overfilled. Steve.

Hi yes the battery removal is ok and should work fine after, just don't go anywhere else in it until garage day. Steve.

Hi possible, engine Hydro mounts especially if they are original check them for oil leakage. Steve.

Hi get the car scanned it will tell you which seat is grounded or open circuit, its quite possible its a dirty connector on one of the seats at the front as they get pulled back and forward quite a lot and it moves the connectors. Steve.

Why buy the collar and lead for the Rottweiler when you can have the whole dog with the collar and lead. Steve.