Brian Howard

It looks like the wiring is contained within one of the tailgate hinges and as it's been raining non-stop for the last few days I haven't had a close look to see how I can get in there to see it.

Clifford. I have a similar issue on my 2011 A6 Avant. Your idea sounds very likely, I'll check mine. Thanks.

Clifford/Richard/Billy. Thank you all for responding. Clifford, This morning I have jacked up the wheels in turn and I found I could not rotate the wheels fast enough to get any noise out of them. They just seem to be too heavy to get any meaningful rotation in them. As soon as I stop turning them, they only go about half a rotation then stop. I gripped and tried to rock them but could not detect any movement. Billy. If I were to lift the wheels of one axle up, the other two wheels would still want to drive off as it's a quattro. Richard. Thanks for the info and video. It is good, but way beyond my ability. Good to see it though. It's a lot more involved than I thought.

Thanks Clifford. I will give it a try myself. I have a trolley jack.

If I can find a tyre fitters that has one of those little toboggans that they sit on and roll up to a jacked up wheel to rotate it for wheel balancing, would that do the automatic gearbox any harm? It's the only thing I can think of that would get the wheel rotating fast enough.

Steve. Thanks for replying. If it is the discs, would this fault have just developed gradually over time, as it appears to have done?

Hi Cliffcoggin. Thanks for responding. With it being a 4x wheel drive I would have thought that trying to rotate the wheel fast enough (Equivalent to 40mph) would have been impossible by hand. (I'm no expert on this, that's why I am here!). Even in neutral, rotating the wheel would still engage some parts of the gearbox, wouldn't they? I accept that there may be some play in the wheel if it's bad enough.

I have a 2011 A6 Allroad Avant 3.0L diesel with 175000 miles on it. It's a good runner. About 2 months ago I noticed a droning sound that starts at 40mph. It's very gradually getting noisier but only to me, my passengers don't make comment, they probably think it's just an 'old car' noise, but I know my car can be quieter. The noise increases a little as my speed increases beyond 40mph a little but it's not deafening. As I slow down the noise winds down. It's more noticeable on left hand bends, and goes a little quieter on right hand bends. The F/N/S bearing was replaced in October 2023, 22K miles ago, with an SKF brand bearing. My mechanic is leaning towards the noise being created by the front discs, however the pads were replaced about 4 months ago, 2 months before the droning started, and the braking is good even from high speeds. My question to the forum is, how can we determine which wheel might need a new bearing? With it being a 4xwheel drive, there's no non driving wheels to rule them out. Is there any way of pinning down which bearing it might be? Thanks in anticipation. 👍

Thanks Mike. Worth keeping in mind.

Thanks Cliff. I understand, I wouldn't want to fall foul of that. I'll try and research that angle.

Hello everybody. I have a 2011 A6 Allroad Avant 3.0L diesel with 173000 miles on it. I bought it a year ago privately and I am very happy with it. This is my 8th Audi, my 2nd Allroad Avant. Ever since I have had it, the EGR has been playing up with the MIL coming on. I get it switched off when serviced, but it comes back on after just a few journeys. I have had it diagnosed and it's showing a grade 3 fault with the EGR cooler/valve. (I was a VW/Audi mechanic some 50yrs ago, but these modern engines are beyond me!). I have used a few diesel cleaner additives, (Wynns, STP) which appeared to have worked, switching the light off, but only for a while. (My shortest journeys are usually 20 miles or more, I don't do short trips to the shops etc) From invoices provided by the previous owner I can see.... The EGR cooler assembly was replaced in Sep 2022 (Parts cost £655.94) at 139691 miles. (This is the wording from the invoice) A year later, Oct 2023 the EGR valve and cooler was replaced (Parts cost £707 inc VAT) at 153795 miles. I don't like having the light on as I am concerned that if another fault is detected with something else, having the light on already will not allow me to see this, and it could be a more serious fault. Another Audi owner (A4 3.0L 2010 similar engine) says that I could have the EGR system blanked off, so that it is no longer operating, and so would not keep switching the MIL on. He has had it done to his by a garage and it runs fine. The EGR and valve is still in situ, but it's no longer operating. He said that as there was less carbonised air feeding back into the combustion chamber, less was getting back into the sump, via the rings and so his oil was less contaminated. He showed me his dipstick (!) and I have to say it was the cleanest oil I have ever seen. It was amazing. It's my understanding that one of the main functions of the EGR is to reroute warm post combustion air back into the inlet manifold to get the engine up to operating temp more quickly. That seems like a good idea! My questions are... Is this a viable solution to the problem of the MIL lighting up? Are there any consequences to having this work done? Any help or information is greatly appreciated. Thank you

Thanks for that Spartacus. I will try and remove the invoice. I understand what you're saying. The previous owners no longer at that address but I will remove it anyway. I appreciate your suggestions and I will give it all a go. Not this weekend though as I have to run some people around. I'm retired so I can do it anytime. It'll be interesting to see what's under there and I can compare it all with the links you sent. I'm grateful for your time. Brian

Hi Spartacus Many thanks for all the detail. Very much appreciated. I bought the car privately knowing there was a fault so it's a case of caveat emptor. I am still very happy with it as overall it's in very good nick. I'm just trying to assess if I should just live with the fault or, find out what the fault is then consider paying for a fix. I'm attaching the invoice I received with the car. What I can't figure out is that under labour, it says 'fit N/S/F suspension strut' Quantity of 2, but no cost? (This is the corner that drops the most). Question. Is 'suspension strut' the same as air suspension spring? Because the latter is listed as parts charged for, no listing for strut. Is either of these another name for air suspension bag? If you've had enough of this, feel free to say so or just ignore me. I realise I may be imposing on your time. Thanks A6 Allroad suspension.odt

Thanks for clarifying that Steve. I'm learning!

Hi Spartacus 68 Thanks very much for your response. I've had a look at a VCDS unit on that website. Not sure I can afford that kind of thing when I wouldn't really know how to use it to justify the cost. Thanks for explaining about the suspension unit and parts. Useful to know. It does sound like this would be the culprit. I just can't figure out why there's a 'hiss' coming from the opposite front corner though. It would make more sense for the noise to come from the F/N/S as that's the corner that sinks. Appreciate your time.