Vagfan

Oh, PS, I've told them when they check for water ingress to remove the rubber flap valve thingy from the drain point in the plenum chamber regardless of whether it's a problem or not, at least the next owner won't have that to worry about!!!

Oops sorry chaps, that posted twice. Here is the real update as of 13.00 today (Monday). GCS have contacted me, the alternator is putting out 11.7v and is kaput, it's a Lucas and they recommend replacing it with another Lucas, which comes with a year or 12000 warranty. With the investigation to check water ingress the bill will be about 700 quid. Fine......cos as of the 1st Feb '22 it's up for sale. We are on pensions and even with my old part job back, we cannot justify £200+ a year for the privilege of having a functioning alternator, never mind road tax of £51.18 a month hell, I've bought cars and ran them for 3 years for less than that. The MoT is due December and that's going to be 400+ for the front upper suspension links, NOT including the osf jacking point welding. Fun fact, a few years back, after replacing the upper suspension links on my old Passat TWICE (cos the fitter split the gaiters on the first set when fitting and the tester failed it the next year.....ffs), I bought a Volvo 940 turbo,changed my handle to 'no more VW' and joined a Volvo forum.......why in hell's name I didn't listen to my own advice I have no idea, when my brother waved the allroad in front of my wife, she said "oo that looks nice" and there you go..... So to recap, any VAG car that's less than 20 odd years old will most definitely NOT get as much as a second glance.......although bruv has a VR6 (VR5? all wheel drive) Golf sitting on his drive.......no, no, NO, I must resist.......but it's quite old and therefore in my opinion, likely to be better quality, I don't know, answers on a postcard. So there we are. Ta to all who replied with advice and commiserations.

VAfternoon everyone, update time. I have spoken to the people at GCS and they have said after I described the problem and symptoms that a likely (but not definite) cause of my woes could be water ingress in to the cabin. They say there are delicate electronics under the drivers seat and that there maybe water sloshing around, which could account for the right turn/left turn on/off charge warning light issue and to get the car to them. Apparently the scuttle drain gets blocked be leaves and debris causing water to enter the cabin somewhere near the pollen filter. I was aware of this problem with my old 100 2.2e that I had some 12 years ago and assumed that this sort of thing had since been rectified by VW but apparently not. They have 3 other VAG cars in at the moment with just this issue and don't know when they can get to do mine. I seem to recall from this very forum some years back that the flooding is caused by a 'duckbill drain' (?) in the plenum chamber under the scuttle and several posters recommended removing it permanently, thereby resolving the issue going forward. Have I recalled this correctly?

Addendum: opposite our driveway is a sloped turnaround which I use when swapping the cars around and have noticed that after heavy or moderate rainfall when on the slope a quantity of water drains out of the front(ish) of the car while it is on the slope. Coincidence or something relevant?

Afternoon everyone, update time. I have spoken to the people at GCS and they have said after I described the problem and symptoms that a likely (but not definite) cause of my woes could be water ingress in to the cabin. They say there are delicate electronics under the drivers seat and that there maybe water sloshing around, which could account for the right turn/left turn on/off charge warning light issue and to get the car to them. Apparently the scuttle drain gets blocked be leaves and debris causing water to enter the cabin somewhere near the pollen filter. I was aware of this problem with my old 100 2.2e that I had some 12 years ago and assumed that this sort of thing had since been rectified by VW but apparently not. They have 3 other VAG cars in at the moment with just this issue and don't know when they can get to do mine. I seem to recall from this very forum some years back that the flooding is caused by a 'duckbill drain' (?) in the plenum chamber under the scuttle and several posters recommended removing it permanently, thereby resolving the issue going forward. Have I recalled this correctly?

I will certainly keep you posted. I'm going to try my local garage who have been pretty straight with me though the years various cars if I get no joy with GCS.We have a backup car (2001 rover 25, simple and reliable as ****) so can have the audi off the road for as long as it takes to resolve. Thanks to all for your comments and advice, I will post as and when things happen. Cheers.

Stagn8, thanks for your reply. I'm in west Sussex north of Worthing and if I can find someone trustworthy who can test as you describe I will certainly do so. I think that I have to give GCS an opportunity to reply and suggest a way forward that is acceptable to both parties and I will attempt to do this tomorrow. I do not want this episode to sour my liking for the car,but by 'eck, it's pushing me to fix and sell and go back to something simpler until we're in a position to afford an electric car. My wife, while well aware of my condition, is not understanding my frustration at paying out a lot of money for a part they recommended, supplied and fitted, only for it to fail 38 months down the line...."it's just a lump of metal, get it fixed and we'll decide what to do with it afterwards...." missing the point a bit. However, she runs the finances so that's what we'll end up doing. Might feel differently when she sees the bill eating into the savings she is desperate to maintain..... What should I be looking for regarding an auto electrician, any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Most kind. Speaking of apologies, my wife has just read my last post and said " yes you've got your point across but.....sounds a bit defensively confrontational, remember that non autistic people may not read things in your fashion ". Appellogies all round. Okay, just taken the battery off charge and the charger worked this time, as the voltage was 13.17v, so better but......upon starting the engine the alternator light goes off for about 10 seconds....and then comes back on and stays on regardless. Fooked? Am I being unreasonable to expect a 300 quid alternator to last 5-10 years? The original ( I checked with the previous owner my bruv) and he said it was the original when he bought the car and had not changed it. Grrrr. I'm going to SORN it on Tuesday and save myself the best part of £60 per month while I have a chat with GCS engineering about this......actually I think I will let the missus talk to them, she gets better results than I do, thanks Asperger's :-( I hate talking to these people, they make me feel like it's my fault.....

Ok, a point of view.....one that in this case I cannot agree with. They charged me incl vat £299.52 for an alternator. You'ld pay £92.16 per year for the privilege of having electrical power in your car? Really, cos I won't. At that price, it just has to be a genuine Audi part and the damn thing should last at least 2 if not 3 times that long, fer chrissake I don't even turn the flippin headlights on until legally required. The reason I mentioned the g/box lube service is because I would assume that a future buyer would want it done on a car of this age, but as I said , I want the charging issue sorted first. Oh, the labour charge 3 years ago was £75 p.h. plus vat, so while they have a good rep in the locality, if they want the lucrative (no doubt!) job of transmission service, they're gonna have to explain the alternator issue to my satisfaction - not in my opinion, an unreasonable requirement. I think it's up to them to prove they care about their customers and their reputation. As for auto electricians round here they seem to be a bit thin on the ground, they don't answer the phone, they don't get back to me and they never have time available this side of xmas (regardless of the time of year :-) ). Ho hum.

Right, involve found, salient points as follows: alternator (make not specified) £249.60, battery £145.90, belt £36.27, parts (tensioner I presume) £54.55, bcm repair (headlight module?) £189.98 oil filter £12.03, oil £102.25, sump plug £2.89. All prices excl vat plus other sundries, labour £870. Total £2085.91. So no idea who made the alternator. I'm reminded of Harry Harry Enfield's " I saw you coming". All I can say is that while the charges were eye watering, the work was shall we say, not up to what I would have expected ie when I drove the car a couple of evenings later the dip beams were illuminating the treetops and I had to tailgate a truck to get home on sidelights. They wanted to charge me an hour's labour to correct this until the wife had a word with them and they reluctantly sorted the problem FOC. I am willing to give them another chance as I think the gearbox will need a lubrication service before I sell it......but they'll only get that job if they sort out the alternator problem either FOC or at parts cost only. Views welcome.....

I've got the missus looking for the invoice, I may be incorrect about the battery price, but the whole bill came to over 2k,when we find the invoice I'll post the details. With the purchase price it cost us over 5k to get the car roadworthy. I've just remembered they did an oil service in that price, shouldn't have been too much, I've done three oil services since then for a cost of about £65 a time, but I don't pay myself for doing it..... will come back with invoice details as soon as we have them. Regards.

Battery appears to be a standard lead acid and was replaced August 2018, made by Exide. Just before putting it on charge I measured a voltage of 12.3v give or take 0.03v, so obviously it had not been getting much from the alternator, also fitted in August 2018 and the garage (GCS Engineering of Horsham) assured me that it was audi spec. If they did fit a Chinese part - while charging me Audi prices - I am going to open a brand new can of Asswhup when I visit them. The bearing issue was with the original alternator that they replaced, NOT the one they put on 3 years ago and quite frankly, if it is an audi spec part, I'd expect more than 38 months of reliable service out of such an expensive item, hell, they charged me £200 (presumably plus vat) for the battery and I can't find the bill to see what the alternator cost but I remember the bill for alternator, battery and headlamp module repair with labour and vat came to just shy of £2100. Hope this answers your questions.

Stagn8, thanks for your reply. I'm definitely suspicious of the alternator but going to check connections first as you say, the going round corners light on scenario seems to be indicative of something. I understand that the 2.7 litre has automatic tensioning on the drive belt but stand to be corrected on this. Just to recap, the alternator, battery and drive belt were changed August 18 and I'd not expect to be renewing any of them (bet? maybe) this soon. The alternator was the original from new and apart from a (audibly) failing bearing, was charging like a good 'un at 12 years old, likewise the battery was perhaps the cars second but may have been original. I know that the garage that did the replacements August 18 will almost certainly not be interested in a goodwill rectification of a 3 year old alternator that they replaced, despite the original lasting 12 years and I'll just have to swallow the cost but it doesn't seem right. Fair enough if I was driving like a loony and thrashing the nuts off it all the time but the car has an easy life with me as I like things to last and drive with a degree of mechanical sympathy. Oh well, lets see how the battery is in the morning, it'll have had 18 hours on charge at least by then. Updates as they come in, stay tuned.....

Ps, just discovered the battery charger had a bad connection to the clip, so just how much charge the battery got last time is a discussion point, now repaired and charger shows 1+ a bit amps going in to the battery. Of course having a tandem driveway I had to swap the cars over and when starting the audi the battery light goes off gor about 10 seconds then comes on and stays on (sob). Clucking bell.

Many thanks for your feedback. I should mention that as I backed onto the drive, the light came on again and went off briefly when I revved the engine to 2500, then came on again. I have just been out to check alternator output, result as follows; with car off, the battery voltage was 12.49v, upon starting the voltage has dropped to 12.28v. Either a bad connection between the alternator and battery....or the just over 3 year old alternator is bad? It would seem that despit a 22 mile drive the battery isn't getting a charge. I'm at a loss to explain what the problem is, but I'm going to put the battery on charge again overnight and see what happens in the morning.

Well hi audifolks, update time. So I put the battery on charge in situ and left it charging via an old Halford's 'classic' charger for about 34 hours. Disconnected the charger, left it for an hour and got a reading of 12.79 v. Hmm. Today I started the car (started just fine) and drove 10 miles to do the tesco shop. All good, no warning lights, fine. Came out, started the car, still all fine, pulled out and halfway round the roundabout the battery light comes on.... turn off the roundabout and it goes off. Drove home and on every hardish right hander.....the flippin' light comes on and every lefthander it goes off. Theory number 1, a bad plate in the battery causing a short? and the charging system gets unhappy. Theory 2 there's a loose connection somewhere and it shows up on righthand bends and corrects on lefthanders. I'd appreciate the panel's thoughts at this stage. The wife won't get in it because of this, worried about being stranded for hours waiting for recovery. Quite frankly, last evening watching the lads on salvage rebuild uk on YouTube, they have a Toyota rav 4 for 1100 Smackeroonis and I'm bluddy tempted, for a peaceful home life. Over to you chaps.

Well, charging the battery will by a few pennies, the electrician will have to wait until the pension goes in. I'll do as thorough an investigation as possible tomorrow and get some accurate numbers to post back here. Apart from this issue, the old bus has been reliable, not counting the osr suspension bag two years back which I did myself and my brother reset the system with vcds or whatever it's called. Pity he's stuck in Oz at the mo, sorting out their vaccine tracing program or I'd get him to sort it out......I bought it from him, hence he has the system. Thanks for your views. Ian

Allo Magnet, sorry about the removed, I thought my original spelling would not offend and be amusing, my bad. Yes when I checked the voltage at the remote terminals under the bonnet it was getting dark and I may have misread the actual readings but when it was behaving itself I never saw 14+volts before. The alternator was a VAG genuine part (I was told...) and was fitted in August 2018 along with a genuine battery by GCS engineering near Horsham. I'm going to put the battery on charge tomorrow morning and give it 24 hours before using the car again. The alternator warning light has been coming on and off for a few weeks now but very intermittently and the car has always started and ran with no issues. The light was erratic, coming and going around roundabouts, slip roads and bumps in the road. This afternoon when the gears went for a teabreak, I left the engine running while consulting the handbook and phoning the rac and when I switched the engine off and tried restarting all lights disappeared and the car drove normally. I'm a bit confused as I understand the tensioning is automatic and of course the belt was new with the alternator and battery. I presume they did it properly, they certainly charged enough!! Ps, when driving with the lights and stuff on the warning light was not on as I recall, don't take that as gospel as night driving in this car is not fun, main beam lights up the treetops and not much else and my concentration is, obviously, on not having a mishap. Hope this explains.

Hi folks in audiland....now it gets plain weird. Having phoned the breakdown service and while on the line to them (I had left the engine running for about 20 minutes by this time.....no battery warning light on, curiouser and curiouser!) I turned off the engine. As you do when you think you've got nothing to lose, I started the engine. Lo and behold the thucking fing fired up immediately, no warning lights at all and......wait for it......the !Removed! gearbox sprang into life as if NOTHING had happened and the car obediently drove home without a) a care in the world and b) no !Removed! alternator warning light. So we made it back, checked the output of the alternator and bugga me, 13.72 to 13.81 volts. I had checked the battery terminals and I'm at a loss. The parking place we pulled into had, shall we say, a few large potholes in it and in.my hurry to get off the road, I did drop nsf wheel right in one of them with a thud that could probably be heard a quarter mile away. Sticky belt tensioner? sorted the old fashioned way ? who knows. I would still love to hear any feedback on this, many thanks in advance.

Hi everyone, 10 minutes ago driving at 50 mph suddenly a load of lights come up on dash and gear indicator goes to white letters on orange background (PRNDS) and drive is gone!! Alternator light been occasionally coming on and when we pulled out of the supermarket carport the engine only just started. Are these related? Alternator light is now off but still no drive forward or reverse, ESP and antilock warning came on together. Suggestions welcome.....