Magnet

Hello Kenneth, Many thanks for being in touch and sharing your experience. As a matter of interest, are you talking about a genuine Audi replacement pump here? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Jose, Many thanks for being in touch, and sorry to hear you have been in difficulties with your foot, and I can understand your need to change to an automatic. I would be say that unfortunately, it would be totally uneconomic to convert your current manual to automatic. The car is 8 years old, and if it was practical, the cost would outweigh the value of the car. I would say you would be best to discount the idea, and start looking for a comparable auto model, and set about selling yours. Hope the economics doesn’t disappoint too much. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Ewelina, Thanks for being in touch, and sorry to hear you are having issues with ‘stray’ rodents. Although I can understand you thinking that the Audi dealer’s quote is expensive, I think it’s worth bearing in mind that their labour charges are likely to be in excess of £100/hr ( not inc. VAT?). If you consider that, and the fact that they are unlikely to have a recorded scheduled time for this repair, then it may not be as unreasonable as you might first think. If this were mine, I would be seeking advice/quotation from a trusted local auto electrician, and you might find his quote may be lower. However, my overriding concern would be to eradicate these rodents (where do you park the car overnight?) since they can do untold damage to any part of a vehicle they take a fancy to, and although £315 may be an expensive bill to contend with, I think you could find yourself open to much more expensive bills, if you don’t sort out the primarily cause with some urgency. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Pete, I would suggest you first need to/get somebody carefully inspect the linkage mechanisms, looking for wear or points which would benefit from some cleaning and lubricating. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Pete, Your last post refers to the test with the engine switched off and the clutch depressed?

Many thanks for being in touch David. I think you are making a wise move in opting for the Longlife service schedule since it seems you will be covering >25k miles a year. My stab at the service intervals would be that it’s likely to run to 9 months (generally c18k intervals). What I would point out is that Audi are likely to recommend the replacements of certain wear items based on the ‘before next time they see it’ it will need doing, so you could find yourself say changing brake pads etc. before they come near to acceptable limits. Kind regards, Gareth.

Thanks Pete, Sorry to keep asking questions, but does the change seem notchy when you you move the lever (with clutch depressed ) with engine off - between changes? This would be useful to point towards a worn/ needing adjustment selector rod mechanism, or an actual clutch issue. Kind regards, Gareth.

No problem David - we’ve got the picture now (pardon the intended pun!)

OK, so just one label, and the pressures against the XL tyre were initially missed.

Hello Paul, Thanks for being in touch. I would not like to claim this is the answer to your issues, but it could be that the car is overfueling/ running too rich and contaminating the plugs, rather than faulty plugs or coil packs. Does the car use any significant amount of oil? If it were mine, I think I would be considering a simply emissions test at your friendly local MOT station. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello David, I’m quite capable of confusing myself - without outside assistance! How many labels have you got, and where are they? - inside fuel filler flap? Or are you saying you have one label, but you’ve now found it differentiates between the XL, (which you thought you didn’t have) and the the same tyre sizes in non- XL form? Kind regards, Gareth.

Thanks Pete, It’s probably me, but I’m still not sure of the exact nature of your issue from the description you give us. Is the gear lever notchy? If it is, can the lever be moved through the gears smoothly with the engine switched off and the clutch depressed? Are you talking about the lack of smooth acceleration between the gears? Is there any clutch judder, or does the clutch feel any different to what it used to be like? Kind regards, Gareth.

Sounds like it’s bucket and sponge, and the Hoover then Nigel! MOT expires 23rd June. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Gerry, Thanks for being in touch. Could you let the forum know what side wing, what colour, and what colour code you are looking for. We take it you are looking for a secondhand wing of the same colour as your car, which is understandable. The issue you have is that greatly reduces the chance of finding one, and in my experience, even if you do, there is a strong possibility that it will have suffered from a couple of storage scratches and surface imperfections. Possible sources, EBay, Gumtree, for breaking this model. Registering your want with online car breaker links such as Partsfinder etc. ( there are others) which alert car breakers of your want. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Nigel, Thanks for placing the advert and for leaving a phone number for any more detail. Trust you don’t mind me pointing out that you don’t mention any thing about mileage, MOT ( appreciate theses can be looked up on line but it saves anyone having to do that), service history, and of course price. Perhaps risking appearing critical when it’s meant to be constructive, but it will probably pay dividends - interest wise - to invest in a valet. Good luck with the sale. Kind regards, Garetg.

Hello Ashley, I can’t claim this is the the cause of your issue, but ‘bulb out’ warnings usually activate by monitoring resistance in the circuit, so it associates an abnormal resistance by indicating the bulb isn’t working. Now LED bulbs may ( and probably do) have a different operating current/ resistance from the normal original non LED bulbs, so it assumes it’s a ‘bulb out’ issue, and throws up that warning. Test:- fit new standard bulbs and see if it resolves your issue. Perhaps you could let us know how you get on. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Pete, Thanks for being in touch, but you really will need to give us rather more of a description than you have. Can’t help noticing you have a strange description of the this car and it’s year! Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Mark, Many thanks for being in touch. It seems you have indeed covered most bases in trying to solve this issue, and it’s very difficult to suggest a next move. Before putting a ‘friend’ - armed with light and some sandwiches! - in the boot, I think I would be removing the vent/s again and securely taping over the aperture to see if that influences the situation. Sorry, can’t think of anything else that you haven’t tried. Perhaps you could let us know how you get on. Kind regards, Gareth.

My family and I would like to wish all members and their families on here, and of course, those who administer the forum, the best Christmas we are allowed, and hope that 2021 will bring an improvement over the past year. Take care all. Kind regards, Gareth.

Can any members help David out with the pressures they use with this model with these tyres? Have you checked with Continental, David? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hi Ian, Covid gun? Probably far too low a range. Worth looking on EBay to see what you can find, but my priority would definitely still be the belt associated noise - the coolant gets warm, even if not up to normal operating temp., so no great worry. If your belt is what I call serpentine, and goes around a number of comment pulleys and tensioner etc., then it’s worth doing a sketch of its routing before taking it off, so you know you’ve put it back correctly! Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Ian, Thanks for the additional information. I really think you have to break all of this down into individual issues, then plan and prioritise your actions. If you don’t, you will be trying to sort 3? problems simultaneously, and you will be at risk of disappearing up a certain orifice! Sorry to perhaps be coming over as critical, but much of your logic is based on assumption e.g. dodgy fitter, so he didn’t change the water pump and that’s what the problem is, etc. I wouldn’t be assuming anything, but I would be testing, rather than simply changing parts and getting no where. If this were mine, my priority would be:- Belt noise - since we now know this is a belt driven cam/s any noise becomes significant. My belief is ( but I’m not certain from your description) is that you believe the noise is associated with the auxiliary (in caps) belt and not the cambelt. If this is so, then things are potentially less urgently concerning. By auxiliary belt, we are talking about the visible belt which drives the alternator, air con, and power steering if fitted. If this is what you are suspecting the noise is associated with, then the simply elimination/ conformation, is to temporarily remove it to see if the noise disappears. If the noise goes then you will need to ascertain which of the driven components - or tensioner or idler- is the culprit. If the noise is still there, then sorry, this is worrying so let’s hope it’s not. Just report back on your findings, since we don’t want to confuse things even more. Moving on - car not reaching temperature. Repeating, refit the original thermostat and measure the operating temperature at the thermostat housing (when it opens) , using an indirect point-it device. Appreciate you don’t have one, but I doubt if they are that expensive, and you need it to prevent yourself going round in circles. Heater - I now gather that certain direction ducts produce warm (hot enough?) air, whereas some don’t. This suggests the matrix is reasonably serviceable, and you have issues with flap/ motors which divert the produced heating. I’m old Ian! and I find, and have found, it’s always best to tackle one problem at a time - don’t assume anything until you have test information - and fix the one problem before moving on to the next. If you don’t, you are likely to end up possibly having fixed a problem, but being unsure how, because you have been playing with two things at one time.

Hello Ian, Apologies for the delay. Water pump driven by external auxiliary drive belt - and not by a cambelt? If it’s noisy then it should be changed - urgently if it’s cambelt driven ( your description suggests it isn’t). When changing it, if not using VAG ( generally not so expensive than they used to be - particularly with discount - which I can point you to) then go for a reasonable aftermarket such as SKF etc., although I don’t have any direct experience of this brand. Thermostats? I would still get back to basics and check the operating temperature first. Apologies for being boring by repeating. Your original might be fine. If you are buying aftermarket again (and again repeating, I’m not claiming your Circoli ones are suspect) then Gates sounds better than most, but Gates make very good belts, but thermostats? I would live with the heater until you have fixed the other issues. Yes, you will get a flow through a partially blocked matrix. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Paul, Thanks for being in touch. Do you have a question? If so, you will need to fill in some detail. Kind regards, Gareth.

Thanks David, now we are getting the full story. Thanks for repeating the question. XL are normally fitted to estates, and I guess they are classifying the Sportback as that. They have stronger and less flexible sidewalls, and will accommodate higher pressures. My suspicion is that the car’s ride quality is a bit on the harsh side, due to low profile tyres, the less flexible XL sidewall, and of course the sports suspension. Handling - if that’s your bag - should be good Although I would agree the pressures seem high, they are the recommended pressures for your vehicle fitted with the XL tyres, and logic would now point to following this recommendation unless Continental advise others - are you going to contact them? - pending any other owner’s coming up with their suggested pressures. Have you checked if these are run- flat tyres by any chance? Kind regards, Gareth.