TripppA3

28 minutes ago, cliffcoggin said:

As the battery is only two years old it is unlikely to be the cause of the problems, though I would not entirely rule it out. In your position I would have it deep discharge tested just to be sure.

If the faults lie elsewhere I doubt I can contribute anything useful so I shall leave it to others to assist.

I will definitely do that to be thorough. Thanks for the advice so far, I'll be seeking out another local garage and a diesel specialist in the meantime 👍

4 hours ago, Magnet said:

Hello Jon,

Sorry to hear of your issue. 
Ref.   ‘………or are you just here to be condescending …..’ comment.
Based on my experience on this forum, no poster has ever previously been questioned of being so, and without ‘taking sides’, I would defend the actions of contributors who give up their valuable time to assist those who are in difficulties and wish to have their issues solved remotely, and without any, or at least minimum expense.

As with many forums-? We have a over-riding predominance of posters who wish to tap into free advice, yet it would be difficult  to count a handful of folks who regularly try to help out - more often than not,  in situations of vague or minimum description of symptoms, so it would be good if this was taken into consideration in your particular case.

I’m certain that the need to engage politeness is mentioned in the Forum Rules, so it would be great if any personal slights were avoided. Just as an aside, in my experience, when such comments arise, the ‘accuser’ has already lost the battle so to speak, and puts themselves in a disadvantaged situation going forward. Still. 
 

Apologies for having to to take the role of Moderator, but I’m sure you will understand the need in this case Jon.

Many thanks and kind regards,

Gareth. 
p.s. On a progressive note, ‘…..the garage…’ Is this garage a diesel specialist? If not, I would be making local enquires to find such a specialist - who should be able to diagnose  the issue for you, and you can then decide what you are going to do. 

 

I do understand, and fully appreciate anyone taking time out to help and would do so myself whenever I feel able. I maintain that my description was accurate and didn't require much expansion, the contributor on this post, and previously, has jumped to some negative conclusions, however perhaps I was quick to react for which I do apologise to the contributor.

I do appreciate any advice, and will seek out another garage. My "cowboy" garage have been very trustworthy for quite some years and have saved me a fortune in the past, but recently seem less interested in problems and more interested in mot and service work ... perhaps time to find a new regular go to garage, but will seek out a diesel expert as you suggested for this issue.

Thanks 😊 

15 minutes ago, cliffcoggin said:

If you want help with a fault you have to be precise in your description of it, and that does not always happen. For example we had a correspondant recently who did not know the difference between a tachometer and a speedometer. So I make no apology for questioning which particular light you wrote about.

In an effort to be helpful I asked at the end of your previous topic about the battery. I have yet to read your answer.

There's not much more to describe, as you can see from my previous posts I've described warning lights quite well. I appreciate sometimes descriptions aren't amazing, mine included, but there's a way of going about things. So yes, it's the engine light...not one of the other more specific warning lights.

In answer to your question on my previous post, the battery is a little over 2 years old and seems fine. It certainly didn't throw up any issues previously. The car starts every time (just takes longer to fire up) and was fine over winter.  

Since my April issues, the car has run fine, until what I've described as started to happen. 

I've read that on a diesel, the throttle unit jamming open can cause the engine to judder when stopping as the fuel isn't stopped as efficiently. Not sure this explains anything else though, and don't want to start trying new parts etc without a reasonable expectation it might be the culprit.

58 minutes ago, cliffcoggin said:

There are many dashboard lights. Which particular one do you mean by "engine light"?

Is this the same car you mentioned in your topics of April 17th and the one before that, and are you still taking it to the same cowboy garage for diagnosis?

Do you have any knowledge of the fault I described or are you just here to be condescending? I'm not a techy mechanic type car owner, but last time I checked the "engine light" is just that, the light shaped like an engine .... had it been another light, I would have described or named such light. 

If you've nothing constructive or vaguely helpful to say, feel free to scroll on by. Yes, it's the same car and the garage isn't a cowboy, they just were at a loss and the specialist garage did pretty much the same thing.

I'm just here asking for help, in case anyone has experience of this issue and perhaps what the cause was. I don't know much about cars, can't afford a new one, and can't afford to go to ludicrously expensive garages every time it goes wrong.

Hey again

So my Audi A3 2.0 tdi is having a bit of a wobble. Nothing seems straight forward at this age (2007)

Engine light is on, engine takes a few turns to get going (always leaped into action the moment I turned the key) and when I turn the engine off the whole car judders / shakes.

Engine seems a little louder than usual but not sure if I'm imagining that.

Error code I get is P2108, and some searching online indicates perhaps a throttle unit issue, maybe jammed open? 

This could explain the juddering, but not the starting trouble or the extra engine volume (if that's real).

Garage had a look but got all sorts of random error codes. They suggested maybe the flywheel is tired/on its way out but there don't seem to be any issues with driving / gear changes / clutch etc.  All their error codes indicated the car shouldn't run at all, but it does (quite well). 

Any experience of similar issues, I've had it suggested to get the throttle unit cleaned up, worth trying? 

Thanks again

Jon

1 hour ago, Jbarfield said:

Hi TripppA3,

 

did you ever find out what the problem is?

as I have the exact fault you’ve described on my 07 Audi A3, any help would be appreciated 

 

kind regards 

Jack 

Hi Jack

So there was more to the story which has disappeared from this thread. I took the car to another garage with better diagnostics etc, a German car specialist. They replaced the crankshaft sensor again and advised what my garage had installed was a cheap copy and useless, they also replaced the glow plugs.

Car ran fine until a week ago, new set of symptoms and different codes etc but drivable for now.

Hope you get it sorted 👍 

Cheers

Jon

11 minutes ago, Magnet said:

Hello Jon,

I think it’s unfortunately a case of wishing your wallet well. It’s sounds highly likely that Cliff and I are from the same school of logical mechanical thought:- always change one component and test. Never change two at one time, since you will never know ( without subsequent dismantling), which of the original components was the culprit. 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 

Hi Gareth

My original garage replaced the crank sensor, and then cam sensor, and then gave up.

The audi specialist i went to replaced both the crank sensor (my original garage had fit a useless cheap one apparently) and the glow plugs.

This has solved the issue with glow plug and esp warning lights, the car now starts fine and idles well, and performance is restored.

The car is now apparently fine, except for the engine light which came on. I took it back to the audi specialist with it being so soon after their repairs. They confirmed it wasn't the same issue and that all their equipment was pointing at the egr valve being on its way out / clogged up. This didn't surprise me as I do a lot of short journeys and the car had been in garages for a month with lots of short test journeys. However, they realised on removing the part that it was actually in full working order and not worth replacing, so they put it back on.

Since then, still no light. But their advice was that the fault readings they're getting point to a problem with the intercooler.

My question to the forum is whether it's worth trying a 2nd hand unit, or not? Is it worth persevering? Is this a sign the car is now becoming unreliable?

I'm not a mechanic and usually trust my local garage. The specialist I used next has excellent reviews. I feel like they did the right thing, and this fault is new. 

But I'm not sure. I know cars can be a pain, and wish I knew more, but just wasn't sure what to do next.

Cheers

Jon

8 hours ago, cliffcoggin said:

Jon.

Forgive me for saying so, but you and your garage are doing exactly what I advised against in your previous topic, namely replacing parts at random which is costing you a fortune and failing to solve the problem. For goodness sake take the car to a garage that knows what it is doing, preferably an independant Audi specialist.

Hi - following your previous advice it is an independent Audi specialist where the car has been. They have replaced the crank sensor and glow plugs which resolved the main issue, this is a new / different issue which presents itself very differently.

Hi all

After having spent over £400 on (another) new crank sensor and a set of glow plugs finally I got my Audi back on the road.

20 miles later though and the engine light comes back on. Back to the garage and it looked like egr valve but then took that off and reckoned it was OK... so likely issue was with the intercooler which they advised was a big job and expensive part. For now, the engine light is off though.

Overall the car is in excellent condition. Bodywork almost perfect, interior lovely and 130k on the clock. I've been told I could get an intercooler from a breaker, and take it to a standard garage to fit at lower labour rates.... but am I throwing more money at something which might not work? 

Thinking of giving up and buying a bus pass lol. Any advice welcome 🙏 

Thanks, Jon

Hi. I'm new to the forum and newish (bought November 2020) to my Audi A3 (manual, 2.0 tdi) (2007).  Its been well looked after, well maintained, treated like gold by the previous owner and I've kept it serviced etc and had no issues. Until now 😞 

Whilst driving a few weeks back, the coil warning light started flashing and the ESP light came on. The car carried on driving, but idling seemed a bit off. I wasn't far from home so drove back and it stalled as I was parking, the the engine management light came on.

At this point it became difficult to start, and even harder to drive. I checked the OBD fault code and got P0726 which indicated a speed sensor issue. The garage recommended clearing the fault, but it all happened again within 10 minutes of driving so dropped it off with them.

They have checked for "usual suspect loose wire" but that checked out OK. They replaced the crankshaft sensor, issue remained. They replaced the Cam sensor, and that didn't work either.

The garage has basically given up as their electrician is only part time and ready to retire lol. I've seen suggestions on some forums to try repalcing the brake switch for the lights I've described but nobody connects that that with the fault code. 

Does anyone have any similar experience. Hoping this isn't either fatal or too expensive....

Many thanks 😊