Magnet

Hello Laurence, Welcome to the forum. I (think!) I recall something similar towards the tail end of last year. Being a cynical old so and so, are we into similar territory to that of manufacturer’s quoted mpg figures - which might (in caps) be achievable under ‘laboratory’ conditions? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Sean, Welcome to the forum. I notice you have booked the car in for service and obviously have accepted their estimated cost, so I just wonder if it’s a little late to be seeking comments/advice on whether that costing is reasonable - or not. Of course, you could cancel or postpone the arrangement, while you consider alternative avenues. Personally, I tend to seek alternative quotations before committing, and would consider trusted independent specialists as another option. The car is now 5 years old, and it could be some ‘servicing’ parts may require changing. Also, to me, I would need to know exactly what has been quoted for - e.g. will the air filter, and particularly the pollen filter be changed within this price? - since without this knowledge, you are likely to be exposing your wallet to the inclement elements. Hopefully, someone else will respond and offer you a better judgement on the estimate you have, but it should be appreciated that rates are likely to vary from region to region. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hi Todd, No apologies needed. A 17 inch tyre means it fits on a 17 inch diameter wheel (in caps) - not that the tyre is 17 inch (outside) diameter. The all important consideration is the outside diameter - rolling diameter as Trevor refers to it - of wheel + tyre. This what ‘controls’ the correct indicated road speed etc. Now hopefully the logic follows that if you keep the tyre width the same yet reduce the profile (a % of the tyre width) then the outcome is you have reduced the outside dia (Trevor’s rolling diameter) of wheel + tyre, because the ‘height’ of the tyre wall has reduced. In effect, you will find that low profile tyres are fitted to larger diameter wheels, thereby maintaining a constant outside diameter. To do it properly you should consider 18 inch wheels if you want to move to 45 profile tyres - or as I say increase the width of the tyre - which is seldom practical. Question remains:- Why reduce the profile? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Michael, You haven’t told us how the current pads compare with the ones that were originally in there. I could be me, but personally nothing seems to be showing as absolutely wrong to me. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Tod, ‘Rolling diameter staying the same as is the width’ is incorrect. To maintain the rolling diameter ( the outside diameter of the wheel plus the tyre) and reduce the profile, then you must increase the width to ensure the outside diameter remains the same. The profile is a % of the tyre width, so changing from 50% to 45% obviously means the tyre width would need to increase from its current 225. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Adam, Sorry to hear you are in difficulties, and I think it’s fair to say you are unlikely to gain any information from the original poster, since he joined the forum almost 3 years ago, posted his problem, had a response, and last visited the forum some 8 days later! If your car were mine, I would be getting the actual oil pressure tested to give you a better indication of whether it is a sensor issue or whether the car is indeed suffering from low oil pressure. This test must be carried out following at least a good 5 mile run to ensure the engine oil is up to temperature (not just the coolant being up to temperature). Oil levels (within sensible limits) have little to do with pressure. Perhaps you could let us know how you get on. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Michael, I too am not sure quite what you are trying to say here. My feeling is that you are talking about the pad steel backing plate, but I could be wrong. This is going to appear unhelpful Michael, but I think it’s fair to say forum members may have some difficulty helping here without sight of the car, if with your 15 years of experience - with the car to hand - you are struggling to explain it. Audi dealer pads:- were these sold to you following you giving them the registration number? I only ask incase there was a change over to a different calliper around that time. Comparing old pads (backing plates) with the new ones you are trying to fit? Have you done this? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Adam, What I meant was to charge it overnight before getting it tested, to ensure you have a meaningful test result. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Adam, As I see it there may be an understandable reluctance to buy an aftermarket rear wiper blade, and you are now looking for a secondhand one. Problem is, you could be ‘buying your own’ substandard one! Another alternative would be to buy a genuine VAG one at a discount. If you wanted to go down that route, you could try Discount Audi Parts at Cardiff ( part of Mon Motors). They usually offer some discount on genuine parts. If you don’t want to do that, have you looked at Bosch ones? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Thomas, Sorry to hear of your continued issues. Apologies for being pedantic but you now say ‘they have fitted a new ABS sensor’ (in isolation?) yet your earlier post confirms a new sensor and (in caps) a new hub. Self diagnosis? OK, it may - just may - lead to you personally gaining some extra knowledge, but the back and front of it is that the car is under warranty, and the seller appears to be very accommodating in trying to sort it out for you. All very positive, and trying to go down a self diagnosis route could lead to an (understandable?) judgement of ‘you/someone has been fiddling with it’, or indeed they getting the opinion of you being a clever .... so and so, and attitudes might just change. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello David, Without knowledge of your previous issue, the current symptoms would be classic indicator stalk problems, but such issues can be difficult to accurately diagnose without inspecting the car and having the right meters etc. to conduct some tests. If this were mine, I would be getting in touch with your trusted auto electrician and getting him to assess the issue. OK it may cost a few shillings, but trial and error replacements can be even more costly. Kind regards, Gareth.

So did they just change the hub (bearing) and the ABS sensor, and didn’t replace anything else associated with the now fault free ACC? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Adam, You would not normally expect a battery not to start a car after standing for 3 weeks, so something is wrong. Problem could be the battery is no longer serviceable - original to the car? There is a parasitic drain taking charge out of the battery while it’s standing. The alternator is not providing an adequate charge level. If this were mine, I would charge the battery overnight and get its efficiency checked - Halfords should be able to do this. It found to be sub standard - buying a new one from Halfords?? My replacement purchase if needed, would be either a Varta or Bosch with a minimum of 4 years warranty. I have used Tayna, Battery Megastore, Plymouth Batteries etc as reliable and competitive on line suppliers. No connection. Try their EBay listings first since strangely they provide free carriage if you buy via. this route, but can charge you if bought direct. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Glen, It has to taken as a fact of life that a salesman’s comments should always be digested with a pinch of salt! Having said that 67K miles would have been taken as a low service life fo clutch - however (not abnormally) used. Now it seems that with plastic release bearing assemblies and dual mass flywheels, service life expectancy can be much lower. ‘Fings ain’t what they used to be’, as they say. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Chris, Sorry, Kyle joined, and last visited the forum, on the same day. Didn’t even return to view any answers! Good isn’t it? Might be worth sending him a PM?? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Stephen, I’m with Cliff on this, but notice it’s likely the car is still under warranty, so best bet is get it booked in without delay. If it’s not under warranty, then I would be removing the auxiliary belt to see if the noise disappears. If I did then it’s a question of determining whether it’s the alternator, air con, tensioner etc. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Peter, You mention the smell of hydraulic fluid, but OK, silly question - is your power steering system hydraulically driven or (as more usually), electrically? Whatever, something has obviously changed, and on a pessimistic note, I think it’s unlikely that anyone could make an accurate diagnosis without inspecting the car, so the chance of finding an answer on here in in very short term might be pretty slim. Since this is obviously a safety associated problem, if it were mine, I would be getting a trusted local garage to inspect this without delay, and if this now (inevitably?) means waiting until Monday earliest, then it’s likely a local tyre retailer would be able to look it over this weekend. Perhaps you could let the forum know how you get on. Kind regards, Gareth.

Strange Mark, since you are losing significant volumes of coolant, yet you say you have pressure tested the coolant system and there is no loss of pressure - defies logic a bit. Forgetting the white smoke etc. one explanation for the above might be a faulty reservoir cap, since you obviously remove this to carry out your pressure test. Unlikely explanation?? but worth interchanging it with a known good one? Simply comes under the heading of low cost elimination. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Ben, As Kev says. Classic car cover is generally available on >20 year old cars which are not used as daily drivers. The bonus is that the premiums are usually lower, do not depend on having a ‘spare’ NCB ( but doesn’t earn one either), you can agree the value of the car, and select a mileage to be covered - generally limited to 3,000 miles. Breakdown cover is normally included as standard, in the premium. There are many classic car brokers to chose from. I have used Peter James Insurance (Birmingham) for for many years and found them good to deal with - no other connection with them. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello John, Left hand reverse light doesn’t work. Daft question, but can we take it it has a working RH one. Apologies but it’s not that unusual for some cars to only have one reverse lamp. If it is fitted with two and one still works then obviously the reserving light switch which is actioned by selecting revers can be eliminated. One works, one doesn’t - worth checking the flexible section of the wiring harness where it passes from the body to the tailgate. Strip back the flexible covering and inspect for breaks due to hardening over years of flexing. Handbrake: guess you have checked fuses. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Omeed, A couple of points which might take you forward a step:- I would send the original poster a personal message, since he has not returned to the forum since a week after he joined it in March 2017. Be aware that his 1.6 engine is unlikely to be the same as your later model, and the overall technology of the back up and sensor systems on yours could be more complex. You say it’s OK once the engine is warm but not when it’s cold, and I wonder if this issue may not be directly linked to second gear, but any higher gear (when cold) if you did choose to move to a higher gear. Possible cause when cold?? Could (in caps) be linked to the coolant temperature sensor (CTS) which senses the coolant temperature and signals the ECU which controls the fuel mixture - making it richer when cold (as with the old choke) and leaner when hot. Generally CTSs fail to an arbitrary setting so the mixture at cold may be too weak. You could forget about this as an explanation if the car starts instantly on very cold mornings. Fuel filter? Always worth changing - although unlikely to be the offender here? - since Audi did not/ still doesn’t? , recommend a service interval for its change for petrol engines. Worth changing at least every 60k miles in my book. Apart from contacting the original poster, not sure how much of the rest might help, but... Kind regards, Gareth.

It would surprise me if the adaptive cruise control isn’t influenced by the efficiency of the ABS system, so any fault n the car’s braking system might (will?) render the ACC inoperative. It would be taking chances if it wasn’t . Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Leigh, Understandable reply from Audi. Any chance you can update the forum with an answer to the question I raised on 23/11/19 - why do you want the part number rather than the part? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Thomas, Thanks for coming back on this. The ABS is signalled (certainly on the rear wheels) by a very weak magnet set into the rear hubs - too weak to be detected by attracting a piece of steel in my experience, but there anyway. This ‘magnetic signal’ is picked up by the attached ABS sensor. If this magnetic signal becomes too weak, then it obviously affects the whole ABS system, and technicians will tell you it’s a ‘bearing (failure) issue’, although the bearing itself is likely to be serviceable - but the bearing hub’s inbuilt magnetic field is the problem - and results in the need to renew the whole hub. If the bearing ‘has damaged the pick up sensor’ (as you have been told) then the bearing will have been completely shot and you would most certainly have noticed it’s protesting noises. Personally, I would go with my above explanation, but.... ‘Damaged pick up sensor’’ will mean they will replace that sensor although it could be serviceable. Cost of new hub and sensor and fitting?? Not cheap, but as I recall, this will be warranty work, and if carried out at main dealer then no need to worry about whether aftermarket parts might be used. 5 year old car suffering from weak ABS hub signal? Bit unusual? Good luck with getting it sorted. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Tom, Many thanks for sharing your unfortunate experience with Dunlop tyres. As you will probably have gathered, serious tyre issues have been reported back over 5 pages of posts, yet remarkably no one has reported on the outcome of seeking legal advice, or any success, or otherwise, of getting the motoring press to sit up and take some independent action. It could be said that you were ‘lucky’ in the way this issue came to light in your case - at least everyone, and all bits of metal are in one piece. ‘Set of new tyres for safety’ - most certainly a wise decision. Many thanks again Tom. Kind regards, Gareth.