Stevey Y

Hi I think your problem may be the rear boot handle, I have seen this before with other cars where the inside of the boot handle corrodes its only a box with a rubber covering with two sets of contact pads when working as normal and pressing the handle the contacts connect and run the handle to earth which makes the boot latch retract, there should be a boot release in the cabin somewhere which opens the boot so you can access the boot handle to make a repair via whatever trim needs removing. Steve.

Greetings everybody. I had a code come up for the oxygen sensor a couple of months ago but no MIL so I deleted the fault as it had only occurred the once, I had bought a sensor that was on offer on eBay, it was genuine Bosch I checked the hologram on the box when it arrived and it was all good and the code had not reared its ugly head again so between that and the not so happy memories of changing them on my Fords, awkward places they put them and the undeniable fact that even with anti seize paste I have had to heat them with a blow torch and cut the wiring and attack them with a wall drive socket I had been avoiding this job until the weather got a bit warmer and you could sit on the wall with a drink while the plus gas did its thing. Well today it went critical whilst out at work today [cabbie], full blown limp mode Mil on and supping diesel like there was no tomorrow so retired gracefully and fired up the VCDS, the sensor had definitely spat its dummy out and was running lean that would explain the rapid downward movement of the fuel gauge as if this problem occurs the PCM adopts its own fuel enrichment strategy to protect the valves from burning, problem with this is if you drive round for long enough like this the extra fuel will kill the CAT which when you consider the sensor is only ten percent of the price of a new CAT its a no brainer. So after letting the car cool to warm I went at it, because the sensor is at the top it won't suffer the same causes of rotting in that the Ford sensors do, I had watched a youtube video on the subject but the guy doing it was using a couple of spanners not my cup of tea, to much margin for error especially when the sensor is stuck between two other sensors which if the spanner slips there is a good chance of causing serious damage, I used a proper Lambda socket with a long 1/2 inch drive extension and matching ratchet boy is it tight in the housing, brain in gear I got a metre piece of steel tubing and put that over the ratchet handle a little easy pressure and click it undid, then once undone I removed the electrical connector and chased the wiring out of its clips when removed the reason for the non seizing became apparent some really clever engineer had put a high grade steel insert in the mounting boss so it cant corrode, happy days, between the removal of the sensor and reinstalling the new sensor as well as the code delete and readapting of the new sensor, forty five minutes. Steve.

Hi Ryan, my pleasure, I don't consider myself an expert but during the 870,000 miles living with diesel engined cars I have learned a great deal, but one factor remains constant they all work on the same principles, as I said Audis are new to me but to say the least the thinking behind the engineering is superb, yes I agree with the mechanic that any DPF/Cat problems are a pain as you have to remove most of the front of the car to get at them but the trade off is that should you wish to change any sensors they are mostly at the top of the engine bay, MAP MAF Oxygen sensors, even the EGR is accessible from the top of the engine, the north south engine layout definitely works, I think they have had a real go at making maintenance as simple as possible for the Audi techs at the franchised dealers whilst making sure[ the how to] information is as difficult as possible to get to, thank god for youtube/VCDS it must drive the motor manufacturers mad the amount of free useful information out there, all supplied by people who get a kick out of helping their fellow man avoid the main dealers. Regards Steve.

Hi Ryan, good news, but expensive news, I really would not be bothering with the swirl flap delete as I have looked at the inlet manifold in depth and I am almost convinced that CNHA engine has not got them I will dig in further but in view of the engineering of the manifold [All Alloy] I cant see why they would spend fortunes on putting in swirl flaps into what is already a highly engineered part, the swirl flaps are used normally to create a vortex effect with the fuel/air mixture , this means that the mixture is already turbulent when on induction it hits the swirl bowl on the piston crown it creates a far more efficient mixing of fuel/air thus a better level of combustion, less emissions. As for the power remap I would say that is a matter for personal preference, myself I cant rationale putting an engine with that sort of milage under that much extra strain, if you look at the ways engines are developed they keep upping the BHP/Torque until they break, then having reached a maximum state of tune they reverse the process 40% which is the reliability factor and ensures a good level of longevity for consumables such as gearboxes clutches drive shafts, raising the BHP will only eat into the reliability factor of your vehicle. With the DPF delete you will without doubt gained somewhere near another 30 BHP from that alone, example being a guy on our cab fleet who had the DPF delete done on his 115 BHP Mondeo after this was done the car would give my 200 BHP Mondeo a hard time up to 70MPH, you don't realise how much power is robbed from diesel engines just by the DPF. Steve.

Hi Thomas, I forgot to mention another sign of what I posted was a slight blue tinge on the middle of the offending disc, either way trial of the method described will at least rule out that problem, if it is the caliper TRW are a really good make. Steve.

Hi Thomas, I really would not be buying a refurb kit unless you are bored and own a compressor to blow the calliper piston out, have found through experience that once the piston is out the calliper bore is corroded along with the piston and scrap basically. This would have been a long term problem from what I can conclude, first the warped disc and then the wheel bearing, and now it sounds as though the disc is beginning to warp again, I would try this first before I ran off and bought new front calipers, I had the same problem with one of my cabs it started with a shudder on the n/s front when braking so I changed both sides discs and pads this was fine for a couple of weeks until it started again, took the offending disc back they changed it and I refitted it, another two weeks I am back to square one but this time I have a rumbling wheel bearing as well. changed the discs pads and bearing, [the car is doing a thousand miles a week as a cab] two weeks later back to the same thing by now I am beside myself, so going back to basics if you work out all dual circuit brake systems are diagonally opposed so the n/s front and o/s rear brakes form a circuit this counters any catastrophic failure of the other circuit through total fluid loss from the reservoir, therefore the vehicle will stop with a level trajectory, in my case the o/s rear caliper was just holding on slightly just enough to prevent the brake fluid pressure to dissipate from the front n/s caliper, when all the parts are new the front discs and pads will suffer this anomaly until you drive a good distance because of the closer proximity of the pads when the disc expands the pads will drag albeit a tiny bit this then causes friction which heats the disc even more than normal then the hub and bearing become part of the heat sink and it boils the grease out of the bearing. A good way to test this is leave home slowly with minimum braking, find a nice bit of straight road drive for at least two miles with minimal use of the brakes then stop for ten minutes, get out of the car and touch the surface of the o/s disc gently it should be warm not red hot if you go to the n/s and it very hot that will be the problem. Steve.

Hate to point out the obvious but if you look at the fault codes you published they are all august last year so bear no relevance to your current problem and I would assume that the problem you have will throw up codes for the high pressure fuel pump being low if the seals were compromised.

Hi Ryan, logically I can see no reason why the Adblue delete would cause you any problems as is all it does is convert Nox particles to Nox2 which is an inert particle, same particle without the potential to convert into nitric acid if ingested, the EGR refusal seems good as it will cut down on the Hydrocarbons which will register an increase at the MOT test, just a word to the wise make sure the guy doing the remap is famous for his success in that field, correct software etc and get them to check the emissions when he has done the job. I used two tanks of supermarket fuel [against my better judgement] during the first lockdown as it was the only chance I had to get diesel when we went out to get food, the noticeable side effect was that I went through ten litres of Adblue in record time despite the all time low milage I was doing, conclusion was that the inferior fuel created more soot and therefore used far more Adblue to counteract this anomaly, since going back to work and using the Shell fuel I normally use the Adblue consumption has dropped by about eighty percent. The Adblue delete has been quite a popular pastime for the Transit minibuses in the cab trade as their love of supermarket fuel was costing a fortune in Adblue, you are quite safe with that one for a while as Boris will be to busy trying to screw more money out of Joe public to pay for Covid, the fun begins when he gets bored and starts on the motorist again and gives VOSA the funds to buy the equipment to test Nox particles, but I cant see that happening as he reckons we will all be driving Milk Floats in another ten years. Steve.

Hi David, I have not changed glow plugs on this engine yet but it looks as though its a fairly straight forward proposition from the access point of view from experience I would personally change all four as rest assured the other three failing will be close behind. please observe the following, the engine has to be warm not red hot, use a quality deep socket preferably wall drive, use a suitable extension for the socket and a longish breaker bar to turn the socket, use gentle force to move the plug if it won't give use plus gas or similar and leave to soak, try again when it gives if it is stiff when coming out apply more release agent and gently tighten again, undo as far as possible and if the plug still binds repeat the previous operation until it turns freely, on reassembly smear a film of Aluminium anti seize paste on the thread of the new plug. The torque value is on the internet but as a rule of thumb it is normally between 10-12nm, whatever you do don't go berserk when undoing as if you snap it off they are hell and a rather expensive extraction kit. Steve.

Hi Ryan, good pictures although they look pretty horrific they will definitely give anyone viewing them a real good idea of how the exhaust gas treatment system works and what can stop it doing its job, I might assume your car does not run on adblue as there seems to be a distinct absence of crystallisation on the EGR cooler which I am reliably informed normally causes the blockages in the cooler. The blockages shown are pretty standard for a high milage Diesel engine the oily crud is caused by the the crankcase gas being sucked into the intake system via the PCV unit this is basically engine oil vapour and moisture based contaminants from the combustion process, this is not easily burnt and forms the oily tar in the bottom vents of the cooler especially with the latest fad for cooler running engines to combat the Nox situation, not ideal really, which is why I am researching the possibilities of a catch tank system, ok it will be a pain emptying the tank every week but at least it stops 80% of the solid and water getting into the induction system and causing the the problems you have now. Unfortunately from what I can remember the increased back pressure caused by the DPF blockage will actually kill the turbo due to the decreased flow in the exhaust, the only saving grace with the rocker situation is that the rockers are designed to break rather than hold the valve down until it gets close and personal with the top of the piston and mullers the piston crown whilst turning the valve into a piece of modern art, I always thought that was a bright idea of PSA to make the rockers so they deform a bit and then pop off of the mounting and fall into the deep oil channel under the camshaft I have even seen realtime where the rocker has failed on one of the exhaust valves but the engine still runs even though not very well because it still has one of the two valves working, in the final analysis its a lot cheaper than new valves and pistons. I really admire your resolution in pursuing this as I know from experience its not a nice place to be, so far into this now that giving up would be a costly experience and will rob you of what will be a usable vehicle in the end, the only other thing that I might suggest is ask them as nicely as possible to put some clingfilm or plastic caps over the fuel rail outlets as any debris that get in there will definitely cause injector problems in the future. Regards Steve.

Hi Mate, if the wings are the only problem you have with the bodywork you are having it large, I have recently seen a few Ford cabs that are not even five years old with metal maggot appearing in really weird places, but the make that takes first prize is a BMW X five that takes suspension rot to a whole new level, still could be worse like my dads old Austin Westminster he bought with a years MOT the next MOT revealed that beneath the inch of underseal some clown had filled the chassis rail with concrete in places and then undersealed the life out of it, the car was only seven years old, he never lived that one down as all his mates named every car after that a blue circle special. Steve.

Wish you all the best with it, the only other thing I would be buying is an OBD Eleven set up which you can run on your phone so you can carry it in the car and find out what the EML is about any time you like they are about the cheapest diagnostic tool that will give you good solid information. Steve.

Hi it depends which camera you have, you normally have the rear view camera as an add on with Nextbase or Blackvue, if you look on youtube the rear install is pretty much the same for any vehicle is all you need is a good set of plastic trim removers and some patience, the only advice I can give is try and run your cable down along the sill trim as much as possible as if you run it along the head lining all the way it will kill the DAB radio signal, when it reaches up to the head lining in the rear you may have to buy some ferrite core to cut ou the interference from the rear camera. Steve.

What is OEM, most of the manufactures use who ever is the cheapest at the time, pierburg, denso, marelli, febi, they are all about the same and I am sure the garage can recommend a make that they use and trust, believe me when I tell you there are loads of them, just steer clear of the Chinese imports on eBay , at least if the garage supplies the part you have some come back if it fails again. Regards Steve

Hi Paul, having wracked up 870,000 miles between three of my last cabs [Fords] I can honestly say that there are a lot of people out there that actually know what they are looking at, I actually got a good return on all three of my cars despite starship milage purly because I had replaced all the appropriate parts on them, clutch, timing belt, EGR valves and sensors at their due times and had the bills for those parts as I fitted most of them myself which took a lot of garage labour out of the equation, a sort of potted personal service history. When I was researching the A6 as a cab I had looked at a few of them with 100,000 plus miles on them and nearly bought one of them but when I got there to view the car it was an automatic not a manual as advertised so I had to decline as where I live is lots of hills which tend to kill auto boxes in short order when the car is used as a cab, the main niggles for any potential buyer are switches that don't work, dash lights that stay on, and most of all tatty or badly worn trim/paint work. Your car is still a baby in the world of informed diesel owners, my car is close to 90k and I have no intention of getting rid as I have another four years licence life and possibly another 200k to do before its decommissioning, and I will bet someone will still want it. Regards Steve.

Hi Dan good skills at least you will get an accurate idea of whats going on, BTW your name is on your profile. please inform us of the outcome. Regards Steve.

Hi, I think Dan was just thinking out loud and if as I suggested he gets a good independent garage to look at it, they may well be able to check soot/ash loadings to confirm if the DPF is blocked or one of the pipes to the sensor is compromised/collapsed, or even the sensor itself is finished, they all work on exactly the same principle and build, I had one apart once they have a high temperature plastic membrane stretched across the middle with a small PCB which has a reading strip attached to the membrane the exhaust pressure from the upstream and downstream either side of the DPF, if the membrane position remains fairly static that is deemed normal, if the membrane starts to deform on the upstream side i.e excess pressure it will register a code, in my case the membrane had ruptured allowing the upstream pressure unrestricted flow therefore registering a potential blockage in the DPF exhaust gas will always take the path of least resistance. The pipes that serve the pressure sensor are made of a high grade silicone but considering they live in a hostile environment, exhaust gas and unburnt fuel, over time and milage they will at some point fail. Steve

Hi I am sure there must be an independent garage that has the ability to read your car and if it s the DPF pressure sensor they are cheap and easy enough to swap, try googling in German car specialist in your area I believe you will be surprised at how many come up Regards Steve.

Hi, get yourself VCDS that will give you a definitive list of codes with the part number of which ever sensor etc is at fault, I have found through experience that most VAG built vehicles won't put the light out even if you have replaced the offending part unless you physically delete the code after fitting, I have always been more of a fan of manufacturer specific diagnostic programs as the only generic readers that seem to work well are Snap on, or Bosch K series, but I don't know about you but most mere mortals don't have the two or three grand to spare on the unit, never mind the subscription fees per year. Regards Steve.

Hi Bob, pleased to help, it may be well worth buying the injectors as at least you will have spare units, the only advice I would give you is if you do end up buying them is to put them in a sealy bag with a light spray of WD40 force as much air out of the bag as you can before storing as these are piezo injectors and they can be a bit twitchy about dirt when stored, other than that I don't think our Kev will see you far wrong I get a feeling that Kev is the same as me if I see a real bargain and it fits my car I will buy it, this policy works from the point of view that due to the accelerated milage I do its always handy to have a consumable part handy, point in case I bought an oxygen sensor a while ago for the Audi it was new in the box for fifty five quid, yesterday my EML came on and scanned up an oxygen sensor fault intermittent apparently, but at least I can change it before it goes terminal, looked at what I could get today and it was nothing Bosch for less than about a hundred quid, therefore my buy was an absolute bargain, and in the final analysis what is this forum for if not to help each other run our cars more cheaply without going into insolvency. Regards Steve.

No worries, yes I think the fog lights would be better wired from scratch as at least you could go down the route of Can-bus error free bulbs this would mean the BCM will be none the wiser to the extra equipment/load. Regards Steve.

Don't take it personally Gareth it was never aimed at yourself but in reality it would be an exercise in futility as any quote Audi proffered wouldn't even be on the same planet as the quote the guy got from his garage, in fact it might make them look like a viable proposition which from my perspective negates the whole point of these forums, anyone considered the possibility of getting him in touch with Kev as he stated he has some previously enjoyed mint injectors which I am sure that Kev would not be adverse to parting with for a negotiated fee plus postage, that might be his most efficient and cheap route. Regards Steve.

Hi Guys, do you reckon the garage owner has a mask and a pair of pistols?, if that was the price of all four fitted I would be thinking thats fair enough, I would not be going anywhere near an Audi dealers as thats the place you go if you are self employed and made to much money you need a stinking great bill for your year end accounts. Try ringing a company called United Diesels they are on the net and I have used them many times and they are more than fair in as much as they tell you which injector you need then offer the options of refurbished, new, or another manufacturer equivalent then you can buy what you need and go find a garage that will fit for a more reasonable price. Steve.

Hi, I used a Fuchs branded oil on my A6 as I was advised by an oils specialist that this has very high modular test passes and he also informed me that Fuchs have been supplying most of the German car producers for years, the batch I got was on eBay and was about half the price Audi wanted. With regard to the drain plug that will be on the bottom of the box and the filler plug will be on the side, easy enough to spot, some use hex headed plugs and some standard bolt heads but if you have a fairly comprehensive tool kit this should not be a problem drain . Other than that the only other thing I would advise is that you take the side filler plug out first, I wish I had a tenner for the amount of times I have seen people take the drain plug out first, drain the oil and then cant get the filler plug out, no oil in the box means you are up poo creek, at least if you do it in reverse sequence if you cant remove the plug at least you can drive the car until you can get help. The fog lights are another matter in so much as the loom for them is probably in place with the plugs but I suspect that if the car was produced with out fogs once fitted this may well be a case of changing the switch panel unless already fitted and then get the fog lights activated using VCDS for which you will need the coding for the lights or possibly have to have the BCM reprogrammed to accept them. Regards Steve.

Hi Ryan, bored again today so I spent a bit of time looking around the engine on my car, the inlet manifold is unlike anything I have ever seen its an all aluminium work of art with the Throttle valve at the bulkhead end and behind the throttle is the EGR valve this seems to enter the manifold further down from the throttle so it doesn't seem to go in on the fresh air side of the turbo pipe. I did a bit of research on the inlet manifold it would appear there are no swirl flaps in the manifold just a rather complex little intercooler system for the EGR every thing on the manifold is water cooled and looks like hours of FUN to strip out. With regard to the throaty induction roar it sounds like the induction pipe that runs from the other side of the MAF sensor is getting extra air from somewhere have a look at the polythene pipe where it attaches to the MAF sensor then inspect the pipe as far down towards the rear of the engine as you can, I have had this before where there is a rubber joint between the turbo intake and the polythene pipe, the rubber union had split and the car sounded deeper as you say when revved, but the easiest place to start is where the polythene pipe joins the air box as I have had problems when I disconnect the pipe to get the air filter out, the problem is that the pipe is so flimsy when you push it back on that the lower edge folds under and leaves a gap one side. The problem is the MAF won't spot the extra air coming in as it won't register a fault because it considers it doesn't exist, the only thing that bought the problem to light was the induction roar and the fact that the car was regenerating the DPF about five times in every hundred miles as the ECU picks up the extra air via the MAP sensor readings and adjusts the fueling to compensate so the thing over fuels and blocks the DPF quicker. Regards Steve.