cliffcoggin

Ivo. What you call a normal cold start, when the engine idles well above its warm speed, is actually abnormal. As Stevey Y explained your engine is cold starting normally, and you should not be concerned about it providing it starts easily and idles evenly without any intervention from you.

No more of an imposter than me. I no longer have an Audi, and as if that was not enough, my current car is electric.

Steve. If all else fails you could try buying plain straight or bent silicone hose from Ebay and cutting it to length yourself. That would only work if you can measure the ID of the original accurately and there are no branches in it. You would need to fit hose clamps as well. The first supplier I found was https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/385050052731?_skw=silicone+hose&itmmeta=01JDAJSV0WC50JQXCWWD296ZWV&hash=item59a6c5887b%3Ag%3A6OsAAOSwud1i8N48&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAAwHoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKn1r65jsH3Mn1dUx0VBIpCyHyEmxepNCORmL0DfrunmF6aXGcDWcDI6MnEq%2BDFHO8HeNbCU1LWK5KQHw29w4Rlnm0ErfJtAmjflVMmuUi%2B1F0oWs1FgWRfCKMNDZS%2BNeiKeMuujg1pmewiw3sXueG1nnfQsplHY9kUR%2FqeuwkL7IY50ZyZ30nMoMqQruNQfUKHPG06ybkQkUvoPlAeg8cuGwp271dfhA5TkPEYxoXbKqQ%3D%3D|tkp%3ABlBMUMSw59LqZA&var=652930845042

Many years ago the 1.4 litre petrol engine suffered dramatically high oil consumption leading to many claims by owners. The problem was eventually rectified by Audi with a modification to the rings. It's unlikely you will come across one of them now, but it is worth knowing of the possibility. Unfortunately I don't recall the affected production dates so you would need to research it yourself, unless others here can supply the information.

I suppose there might be privacy issues if the possibility exists of you filming or even publishing names and faces of staff at work. Which is very convenient for the dealer because you also can not see what is done or not done to your car.

Matt. It is evident from what you described that the valve body fault was introduced while the car was under repair. To my mind that makes the garage that did the work responsible for putting it right, however it will undoubtedly argue that it was co-incidence or an existing fault, and hence will deny liability. It's going to be tough proving the dealer's responsibility, and given that the repair cost is going to be £5500 it may need to go to court for a settlement. It is certainly worth appealing to Audi UK, but I would simultaneously consult a solicitor for advice on your options and your chances of winning. Whichever route you take to resolve the problem is going to take a long time. Months or possibly years in fact. If you want the car repaired now you may well have to pay for the work in the hope of recovering your costs at a later date. That is a choice only you can make. Sorry to be so pessimistic. Justice does not always prevail.

OK. There was definitely a fault with the dual mass flywheel which has been satisfactorily fixed. DMF breakage is not uncommon so there is nothing contentious there. Then we come the valve body fault and error message. Were any symptoms present when you took the car for the flywheel repair, or was the problem apparent only afterwards?

Matt. It is not clear to me what the problem was that initially caused you to visit the dealer in the first place. Was it the error message and staying in D1, or was there some other symptom? What I am trying to get at is whether there were two faults with the car of which only one has been fixed, or whether the valve body fault was wrongly diagnosed as a flywheel fault.

Phone, write or email him.

Once you have restored pressure a good test for leaks is to paint or spray soapy water on all components watching for bubbles.

I have no idea.

Undoubtedly the cold weather. Not only do low temperatures reduce the battery range, they also slow down the charging. Are you sure the battery is at 100%, or whatever level you normally charge to, when you set off in the morning?

Fair enough. Do please let us know if and how you resolve the problem.

Paul. If you are limiting youself to only a Q5 then you will have to compromise between range, fuel cost, and DPF problems. Perhaps it's time to consider another model or even another brand that would give you more options.

Matthew. The only thing I can think of that causes electronic problems without yielding error codes is a failing battery. Typically such a battery will cause problems like aircon failure, cruise control failure, loss of radio presets, false warning lights etc. I have never heard of it interfering with starting. Nevertheless I suggest you get the battery tested with a deep discharge tester, and if it is over four years old I would renew it anyway. Ensure the new battery is coded to the car if you change it.

It's a pity you didn't mention that fact earlier. It would have saved several of us wasting our time. It is not surprising you have electrical faults with false warning lights and a dodgy radio if the battery is not holding charge. Is there any other relevent fact you have not disclosed?

Any progress in solving this Adrian?

Any progress in solving this fault Dan?

That's very odd. I recall it was a long time before I found the switches in mine, (one for no alarm and one for leaving a pet inside,) because the handbook diagram was unclear. Unfortunately I don't now recall the exact location and I no longer have the car for reference. They may even have been on the near side door which of course would be the driver's door in Germany.

It's probably the temperature sender and/or fan switch. A diagnostic test should reveal the problem.

Paul. It makes no sense to do unneccesary journeys merely to keep the DPF clean, which is unlikely to work, and in the same breath be concerned at the mpg of a petrol or hybrid. If you do mainly short journeys a hybrid would be ideal for you as long as you can recharge the battery at home.

It could also be a faulty temperature sender.

Jason. May I try to summarise your posts to see if I have understood correctly? 1/ You have bought a defective car. 2/ The car is full of of unidentified parts that may or may not fit it. 3/ The car has no proper service history. 4/ The seller claims to be Romanian despite the address label in your picture being in Lithuania. 5/ You have no tools or knowledge with which to fix the car. Please correct me if I am wrong so that an accurate picture can be presented. I'd appreciate brief yes or no answers to each point for clarity.

That surprises me. I had such a switch in my 2007 A3 so I expected your modern car to be better equipped.

Is there a switch that allows you to lock the car without setting the alarm as a short term solution?