Magnet

Please excuse the typos in the above. Seems the window to ‘Edit’ has changed, and it now has a fairly short time span. Wondered if it has indeed changed Trevor, or am I missing something? Kind regards, Gareth.

Many thanks Cliff - clearer now. If it were mine:- Back to my some of my original questions. Have the bored been measured to assess the degree of wear? Is this were tolerable? If so, would new rings be sufficient or does it need new pistons? Cost of pistons? Back to initial concerns:- why would two adjacent cylinders/pistons (only) wear? Strongly opposing combustion pressures from blown head gasket? I wonder if Darren’s father in law has owned this car for some time and so knows of any history of previous issues. Perhaps he has had it from new, and knows it’s been trouble free..? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Sean, Good news that you have been able to discount the water pump as the possible culprit - particularly for your wallet! So mechanic’s diagnosis is unlikely to be correct then. ‘Now at a loss....’ My suggestion for going forward may be as good as your mechanic’s ! but.....:- I would not discount the thermostat/s, since the symptoms could be explained by such a faulty component. OK., two thermostats tried, so two cannot be faulty. Well you would think so, but dependent on the (aftermarket?) source, that bit of logic may be highly questionable. In the absence of anyone coming up with any better idea, I would spend my money on a main dealer one, or perhaps Bosch if they do one, but (in caps) test it before fitting. You will need some cotton thread and a thermometer - just let us know if you are unsure about how to test the good-make new one. Does the car use any coolant? Kind regards, Gareth,

Point taken Cliff, but link doesn’t work on my system. So are we are talking carbon build-up here? If so, my take on it can still hold, where the head gasket has blown twixt 2 and 3, resulting in unburnt diesel being pushed ( at twice a petrol engine compression) over into the adjacent cylinders. If this car was mine, I would still be asking the same questions. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Sean, It seems either no one on here has experienced similar issues to yours as a result of a faulty water pump, or might have, but has not bothered to respond. With the elapse of time, I guess you will now have to follow your mechanic’s diagnosis and renew the pump. Sometimes advice is asked for as a confirmation of an already held viewpoint, and alternative advice simply complicates the situation. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Darren, Lower compression on two adjacent cylinders is text book head gasket failure between those two cylinders, unless - by rare coincidence, these are the only two cylinders to suffer from poorly seating valves and/or piston/ bore wear. I haven’t looked at the video, so excuse me if I’ve missed something, but incase I haven’t, I would make the following suggestions:- Ask them to show you the removed head gasket, and carefully examine the remaining gasket between cyls. 2 and 3. Valve seals? Do they mean valve seats. If so, - not perfect? Well you wouldn’t expect them to be on an eight year old car! Have they measured the bore wear? If so, ask for the figures. Did they carry out a secondary compression test (obviously before dismantling) whereby a small quantity of oil is added to the offending cylinders to give a better indication of whether the low compression was due to bore wear or valve issues, or indeed simply a head gasket. Personally, I would not be thinking along a different engine until you have understandable answers to some of the questions. Perhaps you could keep us informed. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Steve, Worth trying a wanted advert in such publications as Modern Classics, Practical Classics, Classics for Sale, Classic Car Mart, Classic Car Weekly, Classic Car Buyer etc. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Calvin, In my opinion, replacing the whole bumper is going to be unnecessarily expensive. There should be a choice of repairers of plastic bumper repairers around the Midlands and south of. Have you googled this. Plastic welding and repair is now very common. If you really want to replace it (with secondhand one) then you could try Partsfinder etc. which is a site which alerts all subscribing scrap yards of your needs. They then get in touch with you. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Sean, Sorry to hear of your issue. Cutting to the chase, I’ve never know a water pump to be the cause of overheating ( without prior protest via. noise) even during the time I had hair - and that was a long time ago! Thermostats? Make Sean? Actual monitored running temperature checked? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Ben, Sorry to hear of your issue. Perhaps a couple of explanatory comments:- Such play/wear is unlikely to occur in a week. Detection of all issues, or potential issues at a MOT station cannot be taken for granted. Things are missed or even considered not worth of comment. Garages carrying out replacement of specific components cannot be relied upon to inspect, leave alone assess wear, in other components. It very much depends on what they are specifically asked to do, compared with what may appear to be a common sense approach to associated components. Good MOT stations, good garages, reliable in depth inspections? Ideal world yes, in reality - questionable. Anyway to move forward:- excessive ( in caps) play at a particular wheel should be account for by a specific fault. OK, possibly rack or inner rack joint is a possible, but are they confirming this? You would need some fair degree of wear to account for the wheel movement you describe. My first port of call would be to check for any the wheel bearing movement, by jacking the car up securely and attempting to move/rock the wheel ‘in and out’ at the 12 and 6 o clock positions. I.e. push in at 12 while pulling out at 6 ,or vice versa. If you find play here, then hold your foot on the brake while someone checks again. No movement at this second tests would suggest wheel bearing issues. Free movement at 9/3 o’clock suggests steering wear. Perhaps you could come back to us at this stage. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Sargaraz, Are you saying you changed the battery in the fob because it stopped remotely locking and unlocking, and it still doesn’t lock and unlock with the renewed battery? So it’s not that you’ve gone backwards, it’s just that it hasn’t sorted it. If so, it might be worth Googling ‘reprogramming Audi key fob’ or similar. That should give you various ways to try. Hope you are lucky and one of the methods will work for you. Unfortunately none of them did for my spare fob, so it would be off to the Audi dealer/ independent and spend some money to get it reprogrammed. Kind regards, Gareth.

Thanks for coming back Michael - sounds good. Mintex pads? Um! Once a well respected brand, now just a bought-brand name? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Michael, One suggestion I would make is to invest in good quality parts if you are going to do this work yourself. Don’t scrimp on costs when benefiting from DIY savings. For filters I only use Mann or Bosch ( no exceptions) if not using VAG parts. Oil - I use the appropriate grade of Quantum Longlife (was/still is? recommended by Audi). Brake parts - suggest EBC if not using VAG. Consider brake fluid change if not done within last 3 years. Kind regards, Gareth,

Hello Pink, Sorry to hear of your tale of woe. I can understand you don’t want to get ripped off with the repair of this vehicle, but more importantly I would think you would need to have confidence that you are getting a good job done - not a cheap job. Without appearing pessimistic, you’ve done a good job of modifying Audi’s styling! What appears apparent is it will certainly need a new door skin and mirror, and the panel below the door (cill panel) is also damaged and this is a structural part, and to replace it would be comparatively major surgery. To repair it, would to some extent be a bodge, so......? Costing?? First and most important aspect is you must have knowledge of the quality of workmanship of the bodyshop you choose to do the job. That’s a difficult one, and you simply need to ask around for recommendations. Reputable (not too large) used car sites in your area can usually help with recommendations, but get a least a couple of estimates. Most important that you get a good understanding of exactly what they are going to do, and you have confidence in their ability and trustworthiness to do it. Do you want a cheap as possible job done? If so, simply do not repair it, but live with it. If you are not too fussy about the quality of the repair but cost is king - again do not repair it - it could stand out like a sore thumb. Affect on the wallet?? Expect to pay around £150 for a mirror, possibly around £300 to repaint a door ( excluding cost of door skin and fitting). Cill replacement/repair?? Any reason why you don’t get this done on your insurance? I would suggest that if you are in two minds about getting it done on insurance or not, then just don’t approach them in the first place, otherwise they will be privy to your accident and increase your premium. Not sure how much of this will help. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Cliff and Adam. Thanks Cliff. I can understand your dislike (hatred, perhaps not) of WD40, but whatever is said, it ( and it’s superior? counterparts) do assist in assessing whether plastic components are suffering from undue resistance to electrical forces which should operate them. If it offers a cheap temporary resolution to an issue, then in my book, it’s done what you wanted it to do, and can easily be removed with a couple of squirts of brake cleaner. Simply renewing the solenoid? Yes, of course, that principle can be applied on the basis of changing any component which may be thought to be at fault, or has been shown by others to be at fault at some time. But, it will always be a guess that it is faulty, hence my and Cliff’s advice to first test the supply to it - if you have the meter and the experience. Kind regards, Gareth.

Sorry Daniel, it’s probably me, but from your write up, I’m not sure if you want a grommet or a replacement motor? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Adam, You can of course simply renew the solenoid in the hope that it may solve the issue. To me, the more sensible approach would be to check the voltage supply etc. to the unit first. If you don’t have the necessary meter or experience, then it would be worth investing in the half an hour of the services of a trusted local auto electrician to ensure you spend wisely from that point on. If you don’t like the idea of a squirt of WD40 then there are other such ‘lubricants’ some containing PTFE which you could try. A squirt of something is cheap and always worth a try! Kind regards, Gareth.

Sounds a bargain for someone John. I’m sure they will find a good home. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Scott, Can you feel any ‘roughness’ through your foot when this noise occurs? Any strange feel/noise at clutch pedal when you are actually changing gear on the move? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Cole, Since your post is tagged onto a 4 year old thread, can we first confirm your vehicle is running on air suspension? When you say ‘.....it’s a sensor but it’s not...’ can you confirm you could indentify which of (the possibly 4?) sensors it is, and you have actually replaced it. If it’s not a sensor or an air leakage issue, then common suspect is the compressor, and the offending component within that is usually the fibre type piston ring. If it turns out to be this then it’s worth talking to ‘BagpipingAndy’ who makes these and lists on EBay. Perhaps you could come back to us. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Jay from the Homeland, Until I read down to ‘....had thermostat changed...’ this was pointing to a a barn door thermostat issue. What else could It be? Before we move on Jay, was the replacement a VAG or aftermarket make? Kind regards, Gareth.

Apologies Stewart. Wrong end of the stick! Dipstick aptly comes to mind! Silly Billy, as was once said. Of course, Tom gives you the correct interpretation, and I would agree it is time to be concerned about the possibility of oil dilution. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Stewart, Please excuse my ignorance on the latest models, but does the car have an actual dip stick, or just an electronic level switch? Your post, suggests it has a dip stick, but just to be sure. If a simple level switch, the handbook should state at what level it kicks in and what quantity needs to be added to return it to full. 1 ltr? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Mick, Thanks for coming back on this. I think if this were mine I would be looking for another trusted local garage. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Mick, Sorry to hear of your issue. So they have now changed 4 coil packs and changed the original spark plugs twice. I think it would stretch the imagination a bit to believe that 3 sets of spark plugs, including 2 new sets could all be faulty! The garage must be capable of establishing which cylinders are suffering from a misfire - it would not be all of them, or the engine would not run at all. So question to them is which cylinder/s is affected. New coil packs they may be, but reliably serviceable they may not - depending on the brand. Whatever, it should be possible to swop the coil packs around to establish whether the misfire stays on the same cylinder or not. It should not be rocket science for an average garage. If new coil packs and plugs are serviceable, but problem returns, then I would be wanting to check the wiring to each of the coil packs to see if there was an intermittent bad connection/partial break, which would account for the problem. If there is, then it’s possible that actually working on the engine may improve or disturb a poor connection, but a poor connection it continues to be, and will continue to cause issues. The above can only be a guess, since I’m sure you will appreciate it’s impossible to diagnose anything at a distance. Perhaps you could keep us posted on developments Mick. Kind regards, Gareth.