Stevey Y

Hi if you are going for new discs all round just buy the high carbon drilled discs as if you get drilled and grooved they are very noisy when having to stop about half way through the pad life and if you look at most standard performance brakes on say Merc/Porsche they are drilled only, apart from which grooved discs annihilate the pads in record time. Steve.

Hi good skills, you have saved another future classic from knackers yard, top choice, no other feeling in the world like blasting down the motorway during the summer, windows down soaking up that wonderful howl. Steve.

Hi I am glad it worked out, assumption about the service time is they are possibly snowed as their reputation is growing and if you look at what greedy dealers want to charge for a replacement, no wonder they are busy. Steve.

Hi the problem is caused by soot accumulation on the throttle valve inhibiting the motors ability to move the butterfly inside the unit, best policy is buy a new one and re adapt it. Steve.

Hi, yes it cold be a water cooled oil rad as they seem to be all the rage as the cooling effect on the oil is a lot more precise than with a conventional aftermarket cooler which relies solely on incoming ambient air which if cold overcools the oil and can lead to bearing failure, I think it might be a bumper off job but thats no big deal as on most modern cars its just a skin, I took the one off of our Mito in the summer so could replace a head light, about two hours from start to finish and that was because most of the fixings were rotten. Steve.

My god Cliff I can't believe you have gone over to the Dark Side what bought that on, were you bitten by a technophobe when you went shopping. and yes the oil pressure keeps the chain tensioned and accommodates the slack as the chain wears, I only became aware of this when a friend did his Polo oil change and left it to drain overnight when he tried to start it the engine just turned and kept firing past an exhaust valve or two, turns out the tensioner only holds pressure for about an hour whilst draining the oil and the cam timing had slipped. Steve.

Hi it is possible that the third rad is an oil cooler for the gearbox if its auto if not it may be for the engine oil. Furthermore if its for engine cooling alone its highly unlikely the main rad and auxiliary rad would fail at the same time. Steve.

Hi Clifford, a lot of the petrol engines have Hydraulic cam chain tensioners, which when the oil pressure starts to slide down is what causes the chain to rattle, my guess is that the cams are not holding the pressure and if its creeping down that fast on a warming engine it would be stupid to run it until the cam chain jumped a tooth, then its game over. Steve.

Hi is that not always the way, I wish I had a tenner for all the one post problems where they get a wealth of GOOD advice and either don't like the answers because it may involve ££££ or they are not that desperate and can't understand why no one has come up with the cheapest fix going, no codes, nothing, wouldn't mind betting if it was plugged in it would be a load of low voltage problems as suggested [battery], but that won't be right as Audi batteries last the life of the car, don't they? Steve.

Hi yes the cap could still leak as you won't have used sufficient coolant to cause it to boil as the pressure loss is one way which is out as a fine mist I have even had it where the cap locks down and over pressurises the system and caused the thermostat housing to leak, for what a new cap is its worth trying. Steve.

Hi, if the ECT is not on the thermostat housing it will be nearby the thermostat somewhere I am not familiar with that particular engine but the principles are the same, yes that is the right coolant sensor you are reading on VCDS and the clue lies in the sensor reading VS the realtime radiator temp reading the sensor reads higher but not high enough so the PCM thinks the engine is cold all the time and will step up the fueling to try and warm up but if the coolant sensor will only go as far as 74c the engine will think its cold all the time, they work on the principle of the temp of the water gets higher the resistance in the sensor will lower itself until it reaches the prescribed temp, also some of the engines are fitted with dual thermostats, if you pm me your vin I will look on my parts system. Steve.

Hi it sounds more like the cylinder head temp sensor as that would give poor fuel economy, if the new thermostat is the type with a sensor in it that would have been new. Steve.

Hi possibly the header tank cap as the seals deteriorate with age and let by water vapour when the water temperature is high for prolonged periods. Steve.

Hi the problems you will encounter are oil degradation [Dilution] due to the fuel getting in and a possible blocked DPF, at the milage you have the DPF is still young enough to survive if treated now and as Karl pointed out if you use a good fuel additive that helps no end, my pet love is Hydra Maximus which I have used on all my cabs to good effect and never had a new DPF which leads me to your comment about the previous diesels you have had, the key term being all day, this is the same as my current car which might regen every other day, but I am doing between 70-140 miles a day, big difference, five miles a day mostly won't hack it as the engine will get up to temp and initiate a regeneration which is promptly stopped, the car will seem a lot quicker when its doing a regeneration as the EGR is shut because the fuel/air mixture is a lot richer and won't need any polluting gasses from the EGR otherwise it won't cause the combustion in the DPF, I suppose in essence, use a fuel additive and give it a good kicking once a week for twenty miles. Steve.

Hi are you sure they are the right springs for your model as a lot of the aftermarket interpretations of spring lengths can be very different also if you didn't change the damper units as well the damping piston throw could be way off especially with twin tube dampers its not unknown for the piston to hydraulically lock on the feed side where the relief valve in the unit can't do what its supposed to, thats why Bilstein shocks and springs are popular because they work with either lowered or standard ride heights. Steve.

The fans work after a regeneration even an aborted one its easy to spot the onset of regeneration as the revs are higher at idle and the engine sounds a bit harsh, it sounds like yours is constantly trying to regenerate but can't because of the short milage, aborted regeneration causes a wealth of problems as the extra fuel injected in this process has no where else to go except past the rings and into the sump oil ,if you notice a regeneration start just carry on driving for 15mins to allow to finish, the fan will still be working for about 10mins after this is to cool the engine bay and stop you lighting up the drive, when you consider that to regenerate the fuel ratio is upped which brings the start temp in the DPF to about 650c to burn the soot away. Steve.

Hi well done thanks for publishing the part number although truth be known they are probably the same parts for a multitude of vehicles that have badge engineered part numbers so you pay the price according to what you own. Steve.

Hi you would be amazed at the amount of CR@P people will believe when some are told the gearbox is filled for life and won't need servicing by the dealers especially when they can sell them a new one at five grand further down the line, it creates further wealth for them and people happily take it on board as it gives them a feeling of well being as they haven't had to fork out, the dealers now acknowledge a service is available otherwise they loose trade to the independents who knew it was possible years ago, one of my cabbie mates has a Skoda Superb with a DSG box and with the help of regular servicing has achieved over 250k with the only mechanical gearbox replacement being the clutch. Steve.

At last another member of the timely maintenance club, regular DSG servicing saves a world of trouble down the line, the horn will be a cake walk. Steve.

Hi Kev, I wouldn't have thought so as any specific code would flag up that failure, the best bit of advice I ever had from the guy who taught me the basics of diagnostics on my first Ford Eighteen years ago was, you never replace anything on the basis of a U code as it is sort of generic and covers a communication issue between two or many parts, P codes are specific but still may lead to multiple parts as most systems are daisy chained and one sensors failure can lead to other sensors registering as failed, example, on the codes given for a MAP and MAF failure its normally the MAP thats gone sideways as it lives in a hot grotty environment which is my point with diagnostic platforms the generic platform may throw codes for the two sensors but manufacturer specific software will tell you there is no correlation between the MAP/MAF which narrows it down and more digging will reveal which sensors not working on the live data.

Hi sounds like a bad connection on the back of the horn unit or water in diaphragm chamber inside a cheapie new one off eBay will probably cure it. Steve.

Have a look at the woes continue on the A6 part of the forum he has had the same problem but seems to be pretty close to cracking it. Steve.

Hi Kev, good find and judging by the corrosion/water ingression that would have given problems sooner than later, think because the databus is a single wire its just had a problem with communication and won't have blown the mechatronic unit as that would be a different code, the reason for the water is probably after ten years the plug seal is a bit tired, you can usually help it out with a good coating of silicone grease, with the software you have it should clear the code but if it won't after the fix try driving it a few times if it was the plug it will cycle the fault out. Steve.

Hi the eight speed tiptronic is as you describe but the seven speed S Tronic has two clutches and a DMF and being as he didn't mention if the eight or seven speed box was fitted to his vehicle, like I said educated guess as most A6s around that year were fitted with the seven speed to further cut down on emissions due to faster gear shifts through the rev range.

Hi sorry to hear this as whenever I have used them I have never had a problem, maybe just luck or the parts sent have been easier to diagnose, either way a little extra time will be substantially less cost wise than going for a new unit from Audi, let us know how you get on. Steve.