Stevey Y

Hi if you buy the o.e. seal and put it on dry it will leak its got bugger all to do with the quality of the plastic as the bottom of the plastic housing forms part of the sump pan seal so its more to do with the sealant, I have always found the genuine Ford sealant works best, don't know what's in it but it works really well on any sump pan even the tin ones the only thing I would say is buy a genuine belt, the oe seals are Febi, Corteco or INA but Meyle are the same quality, they also do a chain conversion kit so you never have to change the belt again but at around £800 thats a bit steep. Steve.

Hi get the existing unit repaired if possible as most repairs put in a shunt so no coding required. Steve.

Hi its probably the ballast they are banging on about, genuine about sixty quid on eBay bought one for my daughters car last summer, easy change about 30 min but in my opinion its probably a bulb, you will have to change both bulbs as they wear in pairs again about sixty quid a pair and by the way find a different garage. Steve.

Hi just twigged it you have fixed callipers, probably twin pot have not seen these on a production car for a long while, also can't figure out why they have gone over to this system as the callipers weigh more and are expensive to produce compared with floating callipers which are lighter and a lot less expensive to produce and refurbish, fixed units are more common on high performance cars Ferrari and track cars, therefore the pad backing should eliminate the chatter. STEVE.

Hi anything A4/A6 ULTRA uses the cylinder type of filter, they use the same old picture as it saves pennies updating the diagram. Steve

Hi I don't think they can, hardly going to contravene the indecent publication act. Steve.

Hi its done it to me a few times, most memorable was when I was trying to explain post injection on diesels for regeneration and I happened to mention R*E*T*A*R*D as in reference to the ignition, it made the whole post scrap. Steve.

Hi its the button failed, easy to replace but the only way to get it to close automatically is to use VCDS which will program it to shut from the door switch only. Steve.

HI YES what I was driving at was if it will pump oil it will definitely do water, as forAudi they are just spiteful when you consider the cam belt kit I bought from VW for my Passat only was available with the pump, so I ended up buying a Gates kit with pump but a couple of hundred quid cheaper. Steve.

Hi Jim been studying this one as it developed, what we have here is a classic case of brake pad chatter so rather than buy new pad carriers try this, you can buy on line 3M anti squeal backing, this sticks to the back of the pad and if you thoroughly clean and degrease the contact surfaces of the calliper and the pistons once the brakes are hot the backing semi welds itself to the contact surface, this stops the pads from moving on the contact surface therefore reducing the chatter and any squealing and at around £14 on eBay its definitely worth punt, done over a million miles in various cabs I have owned the worst offenders being Mondeos, and believe me this stuff works, don't quite get the lack of slider pins so if you could indulge me with a picture I can probably workout out. Steve.

Hi it may well be down to lack of gearbox servicing, most people don't bother and prefer to cling to the much spouted Audi theory that the gearboxes are filled for life, whereas most gearbox specialists will tell you oil and filters changed every thirty thousand or three years, Steve.

Hi worse way you will have get the cluster out and send it away somewhere to be tested. Steve.

Hi they are a great drive but having owned the A6 2.0 [same engine] which I ran up to over 270k as a cab I can assure you that car could well be the decimation of your finances if you let it, I can thoroughly endorse a Honda Jazz the later versions are well equipped but the main feature is the engine which if kept well is bullet proof, consumables such as brakes tyres etc are better than reasonable and at around fifty to the gallon they won't disappoint. Steve.

Hi your DPF and EGR are completely different on your model as the EGR cooler lives in the DPF, its a really bad design doomed to fail so they were not far out with the price to replace as you have to remove all the front of the car to get the DPF out its about twelve hours whichever way you do it, then factor in the DMF and clutch thats another couple of grand, if I were you I would sell it to whoever wants it the most and go buy something petrol and Japanese I guarantee it will outlast you. Steve.

Hi you could try disconnecting the battery positive for an hour and then see if it resets but the only time I have ever encountered this before was when the battery was failing therefore might be an idea to check the battery voltage static with every thing off then try it with everything on and see what happens with the static voltage, anything around eleven volts means it is probably on its way out, the way it works is if the battery won't hold a steady current the system closes anything that should work while the car is asleep is classed as a parasitic drain so it gets shut down, yes its had a new coded battery but you did not mention the brand also factor in battery life [how long is a piece of string] and you have a possibility rather than chasing codes. Steve.

Hi the first to do would be to get the car scanned for faults this should throw up whatever is not connecting that will also show if the can gateway is mucking about, it could be anything from immobiliser problems to a start position sensor if auto or clutch position sensor if manual, I have also known this type of problem where previous owner has not had all the software updates done, sorry about the thread that led nowhere we often get that on here, ask any of the moderators on here, its so frustrating as the poster gets the right answer and then promptly clears off. Steve.

Hi if you have stop start and the vehicle is fitted with a dual mass flywheel the ring gear for stop start and the flywheel are made to a higher specification to allow for the inertia of stop start driving. Steve

Hi did you use tap water because that won't work the surface tension is to high, ideally you need rainwater as that has a lower surface tension which creeps into any gap however small. Steve.

Hi yes due to the viscosity of the oil is much reduced when warm. Steve.

Hi I think you will find its just a normal V6 but do some research on YouTube as these engines suffer with timing chain issues which can run in to thousands if you have to replace the timing gears as well. Steve.

Hi you can't do a forced regen on post 19 cars they won't let it happen with the updated software you can only regenerate while driving same over all the VAG diesel range. Steve.

Hi as I said the calculated is a algorithm which is based on a sum that the ECU does the measured going minus is fine but the calculated will always be higher but drops during the last cooling stage and the measured stays stable as the calculated drops, I would be more interested in the ash loadings, if the ash is high that only leaves a smaller accumulation are for soot and often as not high ash causes longer regens where its trying to burn out ash which it can't do, ideally when in regen mode the EGTs should register around 650 to burn efficiently, also check your DPF pressure sensor when running ideally it should be about 2-3 psi rising to 7psi when revved, if its higher on idle your DPF is blocked or the sensor is faulty. Steve.

Hi the battery is failing, most people seem to use the battery readings with the engine running therefore its not the battery but the charging rate from the alternator try checking the battery with the ignition on and not running turn on everything in the car blower heated windows lights and then measure the voltage.PS the battery voltage before starting should be a minimum of 12.5 Steve.

Hi 630 is right for the inlet but 506 is not even close unless its a Fiat 500 with a Cordierite cored DPF, no you won't get a DTC until the DPF is blocked, would suggest changing the downstream sensor, should realistically take about five miles to do a standard regen, also monitor soot levels the measured being themes important along with the ash, the calculated soot is done by an algorithm which will always run higher than the measured this kicks off the regen earlier which prevents the soot accumulation on the measured soot from getting to high, the trick bit is the last part of the regen when measured soot is lower but the calculated is to high but reduces during the last minutes of the cooling [fan going]. Steve.

Hi the only way to find out is monitor the temps on the EGT sensors on live data, if you don't have that facility the only other way is to replace the lot the temp drop is due to a faulty sensor showing the wrong temp to the ECU which will interrupt the regenerations. Steve.