Magnet

Many thanks Eric, I obviously cannot speak for Cliff, but there hasn’t been any misunderstanding of your situation on my part, and your latest summary simple restates what your individual posts has stated. Re. AA/RAC inspection. OK, £260 is not insignificant, but I would look at it like this:- Do I know enough about vehicles to form my own comprehensive judgement? If the asking price was £260 more than I originally thought, would I walk away from it? I’m sorry you feel the forum has not provided you with the degree of advice you sought, but the bottom line is any car with known faults at a test drive, must either be bought with knowledge of these faults, or the faults corrected by the seller prior to a retest. Again, I cannot over stress the importance of a knowledgeable inspection of any vehicle, if the buyer is not armed with the experience to fully assess it. Positively the last bit:- Any stories behind any used vehicle will rest with the last keeper. If that keeper has been short term, then be suspicious. Make all attempts possible to contact the last keeper before committing. Read the boring small print on warrantees, and decide if the warrantee is of any practical use if buying at a distance away from your home. Although the forum hasn’t given you what you want, hopefully some of the experience with this potential purchase will stand you in good stead. Good luck, and kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Dan, I too would forget about fancy one way valves, and indeed a procedure which is essentially what you have done. I would still follow my procedure (and apologies for repeating ) :- engine running to assist servo operation. Your Dad gets on the business end with the spanner, and a tube (with one way valve removed -to minimise restriction of flow) over the nipple and the other end in a jar. Your job is to pump the pedal until it is as hard as you can get and at this point, you shout HARD to your Dad. This is his queue to open the bleed nipple to force the pressuring fluid out. He then quickly retightens the nipple. Repeat this say four to five times in a row at each wheel. Top up fluid, and repeat at other three wheels - ending up at N/s front. If this fails then a trip to a garage to get it vacuum bled. Let us know how you get on Dan. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Dan, Have you bled these brakes by having the engine running and getting an assistant to rapidly pump the brake pedal until it is as hard as it can be? At that precise moment, you open the bleed nipple. Repeat on each wheel - starting with the furthest away from the master cylinder. Perhaps you could let us know if you have, and how you get on if you haven’t. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Eric, Understandable confusion - and now lack of it - regarding whether you are indeed (still) thinking about buying a 2010 A3. That’s fine, everyone now is clear on what you are wishing to do. I too think that I cannot add anymore to whatever debate there now is left, and I am in danger of repeating that already repeated! The last bit that can be reinforced Eric:- When someone asks for advice, it is generally to confirm what they intend to do is sound. That is proving difficult in this case, so far, but who knows, someone else on here may well fully support what you want to do. I think this boils down to a question of you placing your faith in warranties ( of which I guess you have read the small print) and the dealer’s reviews. I genuinely wish you luck. On a question of ‘ticking ALL ( your caps) the boxes? About 25 years ago I was advised that if I wanted all the boxes ticked, then I had best write out a cheque for a new car! Sound advice, and I bought a car which didn’t tick some of the boxes , and didn’t regret it. Compromise can be king. In the end Eric, you will make a decision which suits your heart. Let’s hope that decision proves to suit your mind. Kind regards, Gareth. p.s. Since you really want to buy this car, why don’t you spend some funds and get it inspected by the AA before committing to buy?

Hello Eric, My money is on the principle that he is very keen on selling you this car, and it’s my gut feeling this time - you have fallen in love with this, and want to buy it. I’m basing my logic on the fact that you are not dismissing the limitations of so called warranties, as a fall back, and trying to convince yourself that all will be well anyway, because the warranty will give you complete cover of repair costs - so what’s to lose? If it were me, I would give the following a good coat of thinking about:- Even if (in caps) the warranty will cover all (in caps) expenses, are you really prepared to put up with the potential of all the associated inconvenience? Good cars are selling well at the moment, so why is the dealer trying to ‘sell’ you this car? As an important aside:- Are you intending to buy a 2010 (as your profile shows) or is your current car a 2010? If you are intending to buy a 2010, was this the period where some Audi s were suffering from high oil consumption? Wonder if you could help out with advice on this bit Steve Y.? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Lee, Thanks for being in touch. I take it you are also using the E10 fuel. On the basis of simple things first, I just wonder if it’s worth leaving the current fuel level drop to reserve, then half filling the tank with the ‘old’ E5, and monitoring that. Perhaps you could let us know Lee. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Alex, Thanks for the update. Cutting to the chase:- Your have two quotes from non Audi approved bodyshops for £210 and £190 - both have good reviews. It could be me but why would you want to entrust the repair to ‘a mate who knows someone’ for ‘no more than £200’ with an option of losing a friendship if you are not happy with the work!? These things are best kept independent to my mind. Notifying your insurers:- too late now, you obviously cannot do a U turn on this. The stock question for premiums is ‘have you been involved in an accident?’. So your insurers know the answer. Re. the Audi approved repair shop. If you consider Audi charge north of £110/ hr + VAT for labour, and then add on the average panel spray cost of c £350 + the cost of the wing, then the quote becomes at least ‘understandable’. My long time ago school economics taught me that if something like this is so exaggerated, why aren’t we all rushing out and borrowing millions and setting up our owner golden egg producing profit making facilities? There’s always two sides to the coin Alex, and if nothing go else, seeking advice has resulted in a phenomenal saving - well done you for seeking it. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Eric, Advice is often asked for to confirm a preferred path of action is correct - advising against this is not often favoured! Since you changing your mind, mine is definitely to follow your gut feeling and walk away and don’t look back unless you want to involve yourself in finding out how many loopholes guarantees have. Again my advice, do not (in caps) fall in love with the look (in caps) of this car. Something else will turn up, but don’t rush. Sometimes, you don’t get quite what you want, but you will eventually get what you need. Happy hunting . Kind regards, Gareth,

Thanks Mike, Shame Alex, the original poster hasn’t been back to the forum to see the asked-for advice, since 2 hrs. after he joined - probably a very busy period. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Cameron, Wondered what you did about this after. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Alex, Thanks for being in touch with the forum, and sorry to hear of your (not too uncommon) issue. The Audi ‘recommended’ garage quote seems unacceptably high to me - excessively? - and must include the supply, fit and spray of a new wing. I would seriously question this need, and if it were mine, I would hawk this around a couple of local body shops and obtain estimates there. You could also try a couple of ‘smart repair’ specialists and see what becomes most attractive to you. Claiming on insurance would be my last resort, since I would anticipate a local repair is likely to cost little more than an average excess - we would hope. Of course, if you claim off your insurance, then bang goes your NCB, and even if this is protected, your next premium will be hiked - as it will be, even if you just notify your insurers you have been involved in this accident - even if you decide not to claim. All of this boils down to not informing your insurers, and simply getting quotes to get it done yourself. Very unfortunate, but….. Car is on lease? - I’m probably out of touch, but a little surprised that a 5 year old car is still under lease. Hope some of the above is of some help. Kind regards, Gareth. p.s. For recommendations on good value Bodyshops in your area - call in at a couple of smaller volume used car sites and ask for recommendations there. These boys usually know where good jobs are done at reasonable prices.

Hello Simon, Thanks for letting the forum know about this. Just a couple of constructive points:- Personally, I wouldn’t publish an e-Mail address on an open forum. You can be contacted via. a PM. If I want us to remove the advert so that you can then resist it, then just let us know. It would probably aid your sale if you gave some more detail e.g. mileage, any servicing details, MOT date, photo if possible, and probably, most important, what price you want for it. Trusting the above may be of help. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Susan, Thanks for being in touch with the forum. Not sure why the ABS module was suspected - a bit like going for the most complex issue first! Most ABS issues on cars of that age are due either to one of the individual ABS sensors, or the signalling to the sensors. You say ‘wheel sensors all OK’. Could you let us know how you have confirmed that. Although I’m not a fan of diagnostics, in this case plugging it in should identify which ‘wheel’ is the offending one. This will obviously allow you to further investigate where the issue is with that wheel. Personally I would change the sensor on that wheel (using Bosch or Febi if not genuine VAG). If the situation persists then the fault is likely to be with the hub ‘magnetic’ signalling. Not sure on yours, but if you cannot see any tooth wheel or collar arrangement on the shaft, then it’s most likely to be a weak magnet in the hub. If so, this is built into the hub and the offending hub will need to be replaced - I would fit a complete hub and bearing assembly, rather than swopping old bearings into a new hub. Hope this helps. Perhaps you could let us know how you get on. Kind regards, Gareth.

I’ll try not to drive behind you then Kev - if I visit Shropshire! Kind regards, Gareth.

Thanks Kev. What type of roof bars do you currently have? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Kev, Unless things have changed with the A3, they don’t come with pre-drilled fixing points for fitting the front to back roof rails, on which the roof bars sit on/connect to, so if you haven’t specified roof rails within your build, then effectively you wont practically be able to retro fit them, without drilling the roof! If you are talking about fitting the clamp-under- door-frame type roof cross bars then yours might fit. Personally, I’m not a fan of this type of fixing, but…. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Stevie, As I understand it, the ABS sensor set up fundamentally gauges the wheel speed, and if this is correct, you can understand why you were getting so many false indications. Dare I say, your symptoms would have been a good reason to have plugged the car in to diagnostics which should have identified which wheel was at actually at fault. Anyway, all fixed now. Many thanks for letting us know. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Magid, The logic of increasing wheel dia. ia simple:- the more you increase the diameter the less rubber you are going to end up with between you and the road - lower profile tyres will be necessary to retain the same outside diameter. Of course, the lower the profile of the tyre, the more the ride quality will be compromised. I think the decision will rest with you - do you want to car to ‘look more attractive’, ( bearing in mind you can’t see the wheels when you are driving and can only admire them ‘in passing’!), or do you want to retain the ride quality you have now? Also, do you want to benefit from ‘better cornering’? One other thing to think about is whether the new tyres sizes you will need will be XL or not. XL = extra road = more rigid, or indeed run-flat, which will be more so. Hopefully you will have some real-time advice from actual owners, which may come with alternative views. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Dale from the Homeland, You must depend upon what is specified in the owners handbook in terms of grade. In terms of brand, then no doubt you will get a selection of recommendations. I have always stuck with Quantum Longlife 3 for our 2006 A3 petrol, which now has 165K miles behind it, so I see absolutely no reason to try anything else. You mention Castrol and sponsorship? - as I understand it, Quantum is a manufactured by Castrol, but you would need to confirm that, if it is important to you. Kind regards, Gareth. p.s. Sometimes available relatively cheaply at some Audi dealers, or try EBay, Amazon etc.

Hello Arthur, Many thanks for being in touch. Most appropriate place would be under ‘Audi Parts and Accessories for Sale’. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Cameron, I’m sure you are right about Arnold Clark not changing the tyres. However, I think you are wrong about ‘ keeping on eye on them……’ There is sufficient evidence to point to one/more/all of these tyres failing prematurely, whether you keep an eye in them or not. Apologies if this sounds rather critical and pessimistic, but are you confident that you are going to get sufficient in-journey warning that a tyre is about to become dangerous? To me, the question is:- do you bite the bullet and change the tyres now ( by negotiation with Arnold Clark or not), or do you take a chance with something as important as this in full knowledge of sufficient evidence from those who have gone before you? Appreciating this decision can have an adverse affect on your wallet, but………you did ask for advice. Of course, my advice may be out of sync. with that of others, but I’d stand by mine as being based on sound logic. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Cameron, Based on what has been written on here over the last years, this significant issue does not boil down to a few isolated cases. Would I risk my life, and the life of others with a car with these tyres? No I certainly wouldn’t - prior inspection or not. Please check, but I believe the availability of alternative brands in these sizes is restricted. If it were me, I would be checking that availability and price, and making your decision whether to buy the car as is, or fit an alternative make at your/dealer shared cost. Kind regards, Gareth.

Sorry Gary, but you are succeeding in confusing me something terrible! I’m now getting the impression that that list refers to what was fitted, as opposed to what you now intend to have fitted - but that’s a guess! Anyway, whatever, my earlier comments apply to what I would fit now. Kind regards, Gareth.

Many thanks Gary, If the needle goes up to 120/ 130 on the gauge then it’s overheating. Re. Your? Your garage? - order with ECP, then personally, I would not buy, or fit that brand of thermostat. If you insist on buying from ECP then you will find a selection of other more expensive brands of thermostats to the right of the screen which shows the chosen (cheapest?) one on the left. Just in passing - I see they are (correctly) pointing you to changing the oil filter as well. Again you will find that they will promote you to buy a Crossland brand - their ‘own’ brand name of a once respected filter manufacturer - now just another bought-out brand name. Would I use one? No. I would only use Mann or Bosch at marginally more expense. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Omar, CAB = Citizens Advice Bureau. You should find one in your locality via. a Google search. They will no doubt advise you to do everything in writing ( e-mail should do, but check), and equally important, keep a log of all conversations ( record them if possible) you have with seller and finance - Date, time, who spoken to, outcome. Sorry to be pedantic, but ‘Urgently ASAP’ sounds a bit like ‘ - ‘as soon as I can get around to it’. If this was me, it would be a drop-everything-job, and start the ball rolling now. Perhaps you could let us know how you get on.