Magnet

Hello Steve, I’m not sure I’m understand the bit following the abbreviated swearing - incidentally, I’ve asked the question why this forum (quite rightly) blanks out offending words where written, but allows the offending words to remain in their abbreviated form! Totally illogical! Sounds as if you might have an ‘intelligent’ charger, but you would need to consult the manufactures to confirm or refute that. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Steve, Charging batteries is done by connecting the positive lead of the charger to the positive terminal of the battery (straight from the school of the bleeding obviously!) and the negative lead of the charger to any suitable metal earthed point. No need to get at the actual negative terminal of the battery. Now for suitability of chargers:- For ‘modern cars’ fitted with stop/start facilities and AGM batteries, these batteries should only be charged with what could be referred to as ‘intelligent’ chargers, which charge in a programmed mode depending on the state of the battery. You should not use the old style chargers to charge AGM batteries. Kind regards, Gareth.

Well done David!

Hello David, If renewing the clutch then I would only use LUK replacement clutch components (no exceptions - in caps) if not using the daftly expensive? Audi parts. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Ernie, You don’t share with us the extent of the tyre wear on the three Michelin tyres, so it’s not possible to advise whether fitting 1,2 new ones onto one axle is a wise thing to do or not. If it were mine, I would be sending a recorded delivery letter to the dealer Principal, expressing your concern regarding the fitting of this cheapest-option budget tyre to a vehicle already fitted with 3 premium grade tyres. Question:- Why was this one tyre changed? We take it you inspected the car and agreed to buy it when the ‘original’ (worn?) tyre was on it. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Yusaf again, Very much a personal opinion, but you are causing yourself unnecessary stress by now trying to work out how you would expect the repair to be conducted when at your own admission, you are not even familiar with the basic points of what bodyshop do and don’t do. You are in danger of over complicating the whole thing. Trusted local bodyshops? Visit a couple of smallish local used car sales sites and ask for some recommendations for good trusted bodyshops. These used car boys expect good workmanship at reasonable rates, and should know the good from the bad. These bodyshops will likely be run by people you can actually talk with and discuss what will and won’t be done. Or you can simply go along to larger bodyshops/accident repair centres and sit and have free coffee while some estimator -who you cannot talk to - compiles an estimate. I did say I’m out, and I feel I’m going round in circles! - but you would be doing yourself a favour by not trying to work out how to do it, if you are not actually going to do it. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Fred, The first port of call for such things is to check the wiring within the flexible section which runs from the body to the tailgate. Carefully peel back the corrugated rubber section - having pulled out the shaped rubber grommet from one end - and inspect each wire. They are prone to splitting due to this section being flexed every time the tailgate is opened, and eventually can stay together only by a couple of strands. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Yusaf, Many thanks for your thanks for my ‘super helpful’ reply. You are most welcome. But Yusaf, it must be said that your are blindly ignoring the advice given! I don’t think I could have made it any clearer that the specific experienced advice you need will only be obtained from a reputable bodyshop, and certainly not at a main dealer - unless that main dealer has an on-site bodyshop ( which will be rare). Of course, this is a personal opinion, and it’s your choice to go with it or ignore it. It seems you are still hell bent on going down the main dealer route, and that too is fine of course, but you are still asking for suggestions on how to proceed from here!? Are you just looking for someone to come along and agree with exactly what you intend to do anyway? Good luck with getting those alternative opinions, but I can only declare myself ‘Out’ as they say. I just cannot help any further. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Ernie, Not good news as Steve says, particularly in your case, where you have a top of the range brand tyre (with all the road holding characteristics that go with that) and a ‘ditch finder’ Brand X (probably from as far. east as you can go) on the other side of the same axle. This is likely to lead to interesting road holding characteristics - and that’s before you consider the requirement of having reasonably equal thread depths on all four tyres. Kind regards, Gareth,

Hello Scott, I know this isn’t going to be of any use to you in your current plight, but you should not (in caps) coast an automatic in N. Yes, I have heard of someone having a habit of doing that (why we don’t know!) but he got away with it by changing his new car every three years! With regard to your current plight, if it were mine, I would be seeking a localish automatic gearbox specialist and see if they can offer advice, ahead of getting the car transported to them. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Yusaf, ‘Bodyshops and only scuffs’. Absolutely not. Bodyshops, or accident repairers, or whatever you like to call them, are the specialists in all forms of damage to vehicle bodywork, from repairing a small scratch to complete rebuilds of car bodywork. Really not worth bothering with any other establishments for advice and estimates, but worth going to at least two. Main dealer? Just not worth bothering unless they have an on site body repair section - which few do. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Norton, It comes over load and clear that you just dislike (hate) the car, rather than a dissatisfaction with the dealer being able to reasonably fix the issues under complaint - which he must be given opportunity to do, before being able to reject the car. As I see it, your dislike of the car outweighs its problems, so having good grounds to reject the car may not be completely justified. Of course I could be wrong on this, but if not, the wallet-offending alternative may be the only way out if the hatred is that serious. Just a personal opinion of course. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Dave, I don’t know about the possible effects, if any, of all your ‘deleted’ bits, but your description of blue smoke on acceleration after overrun is text book valve guide/stem seals wear. Connection with turning?? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Akim, Welcome to the forum. Buying a 7 to 10 year old car is always going to be a risky business, and you are right in seeking advice, and I’m sure others on here will offer you that. Some will say full service history is a must-have, and that opinion is generally worthy of consideration, but it’s no guarantee of ongoing serviceability, or that the car has been well cared for between its half day service visits to a dealer. Again, oil consumption is a known issue with some engines, and hopefully others on here will be specific on which ones. This can be a serious consideration, since it might not be apparent on inspecting/ testing. While we wait for more comprehensive opinion, please allow me to pass on comments from a long time acquaintance who has been selling ‘bread and butter’ end secondhand cars since the days when I had hair! ‘If I could always select the makes of secondhand cars I have to sell, Kia and Hyundai would be the top of my list. In comparison, they cause me very little problems’. So parting with a Kia?? Good luck and kind regards, Gareth,

Hello Yusuf, Sorry to hear of your issue. From what I can see, the damage appears to look worse than it actually is, but it’s always difficult to form opinions without inspecting the vehicle. I don’t think the answers you seek will be found here, and certainly not estimated costs to sort out. I think you are adopting the right route by getting it inspected, but at a (main?) dealer?? Personally, I wouldn’t, since the necessary expertise will not be there. I would be taking it to a trusted local bodyshop - that is where the experience will lie. Kind regards, Gareth. p.s. Worth getting your tyres checked for damage too, since you may have driven over the offending metal.

Hello Stuart, As I’ve mentioned on here with similar requests for secondhand parts:- Register you ‘wants’ with on line car breaker link systems such as Partsfinder - there are more. Kind regards, Gareth. p.s. To Admin. - unlike other forums, this one doesn’t have a ‘Stickies’ (or whatever they are called) section, where common questions and answers are listed for easy reference. Worth looking into Trev?

Thanks Iain, You are unlikely to get the correct replacement bolts from any other source than a main dealer. Certainly worth trying Cardiff for your timing belt kits and water pump. Bought a couple of kits recently at discount, and delivered free to the door. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Steve, Belt or chain? If you just ring up the Parts Dept. of your local Audi dealer and ask them for availability and cost of the timing belt, the answer will clarify belt or chain! Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Julz, Thanks for coming back. Probably pessimistic, but it sounds like your ‘Audi guy’ really means it could be any of the micro switches etc., so that diagnosis doesn’t do you much good. Also garage doesn’t really want to do any work to sort it. Sounds like you need to consult someone in your area who deals with replacing convertible roofs. Try Googling it. Even try car trimmers. We have someone down here in Swansea, but obviously no good to you, but I would be surprised if there isn’t someone in your neck of the woods. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Steve (S4). Pardon my ignorance, but does this engine have belt driven camshafts rather than chain driven? If indeed belt, then I wouldn’t even start it, leave along drive it, before the belt/s are changed. Of course, the noise maybe from the auxiliary belt, but in view of your earlier experiences, it would be a daft suggestion to believe it could be, and to ignore the vital cambelt. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Julie, I think some good advice has been offered so far, and of course, no one on here is going to know exactly what parts are needed, since (understandably?) you don’t tell us. You really need to go back to whoever identified the offending parts, and get them to take photos and write the part names down for you. You will then be in a better position to move forward to obtain the parts. I sense your frustration, and I sense ‘your garage’ isn’t too interested in doing this job, so you would benefit from finding someone actually interested in sorting it out, otherwise you could end up with buying parts which no one really wants to fit. Perhaps you should start by Googling cabriolet root specialists around your area and take advice there first, rather than trying to find parts which you are not familiar with. The car sounds to have been ‘bought for nothing’ so only you can decide if it’s worth spending money on. ‘What’s the point of a convertible if the roof won’t go down’? I think your answer may rest with ‘It will, but manually’. In the final analysis, how much of a hardship is doing it manually? These cabriolets normally have a manual ‘rotary key’ mechanism which can be turned to raise and lower the roof if it fails on automatic. If it does, it should be possible to modify that turn ‘key’ to operate by a cordless drill. Much quicker and easier. Maybe some helpful points here? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Iain, These would be main dealer parts, but I wonder why you would want to replace them. You can try Audi Parts Direct at Cardiff (mail order). They are part of Mon Motors (were Cardiff Audi). Contact is Phil. They do genuine Audi parts at discount. Your cambelt kit (and water pump?). Wondered if you were using genuine dealer parts, and where you were buying the kit. Kind regards, Gareth.

Thanks Alex, Sounds like you did what was good pre mapping preparations. Looking at it logically, the only thing which has changed is the mapping, so.... Kind regards, Gareth.

That’s the type we failed to do anything with Cristian. Take it it’s only the one you have then? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Alex, Sorry to hear of your issues. Can we take it you renewed the plugs, air filter etc. before getting the car remapped? Kind regards, Gareth.