cliffcoggin

In the absence of a service history everything becomes suspect, from battery to ECU to damaged wiring. I suggest you get it tested professionally, because we could be here for weeks trying to locate the problem with endless questions before coming up with a solution.

O dear indeed. Welding a spline bit into the socket head is the only option I can think of, short of mounting the car onto a giant milling machine and cutting the bolt out with a carbide tool. The high temperature involved in welding may help break the thread loose.

Thank you Mario. Can I assume from the little you have told us about the car that you have only recently bought it, and do not have the full service history in writing? Regards, Cliff.

We like to believe we are corresponding with real people, and real people have real names. So please amend your forum name with something plausible, and then tell us more about the condition of the car. Mileage, service history, fuel, engine size help to identify possible causes of the faults you have.

I sympathise, but solving that problem is beyond the scope of this forum. Just kidding.

Great minds think almost alike Gareth. I was about to suggest putting the kids in the boot: no mess, no noise, no cost.

If you have proved to yourself that the pump is not making pressure, your only choices are to renew it or repair it. I don't know if the pump is gear or piston or some other type, but why can it not be worn to the point of not sealing the moving parts?

That may well be so, but rarity does not equate to expensive. It still needs somebody who wants that particular model of 18 year old car, and I imagine such buyers are thin on the ground. I suggest you look at the likes of Autotrader etc. Be prepared for the shock of discovering how little your car is valued at on the open market.

Even official advice varies on when to change the belt. I suggest you change it in the very near future, or preferably yesterday? It's an expensive job but the consequences of belt failure will leave you little change from a small fortune.

It goes against the grain to say, but it's probably best to quit while you are ahead. You may well be entitled to some compensation but can you tolerate another three months of argument and stress etc. Bear in mind that you would still have spent out on insurance and tax and fuel if the car had been fine so you can not reasonably claim for those items. That leaves just the £275 roof bars. Sometimes we have to sacrifice principles for pragmatism.

I must be missing something here. You fitted a new throttle body to solve a clutch problem?

Good point Gareth. A new cap should not cost the earth.

Looks like another one for the blacklist.

My wife's Yeti does that so I daresay all modern VAG cars with DSGs do so as well. The car detects when road speed is increasing despite the application of brakes, so it shifts down a few gears to add engine braking. The additional retarding effect is small and the sound of the engine forced into running at up to 4000 rpm irritates me, but it isn't my car so I say nothing. There may be a switch that disables this function, look in the handbook.

Not so. Unless you have the agreed valuation in writing from the insurer you will only get the miniscule book value in the event of a claim.

Petrol or diesel engine? You definitely have a coolant leak. That your Audi dealership can not find it suggests you need to find a more competant garage, preferably an independant VAG specialist. In three years of running a 2 litre diesel A3 I only topped up the coolant once with perhaps a quarter litre to make up evaporation losses.

I have never heard of such a problem so I did an internet search and found these: https://mechanics.stackexchange.com/questions/48016/what-is-this-yellow-powder-on-my-exhaust-manifold https://www.odyclub.com/threads/what-is-this-yellow-powder-at-the-top-of-the-muffler.372096/ which both seem plausible. As a chemist I can assure you it is not sulphur.

Yes you have done the right thing. You may even notice the steering is lighter now, even if the ride is a little firmer.

Let's be clear about one thing straight away. The change of tyres has nothing to do with the error messages and gear changes. Those are faults in the car which could be rather expensive to fix. Fitting secondhand tyres to a performance car like yours is frankly foolish. Add the cost of fitting new tyres to the cost of fixing the car and you are looking at an enormous repair bill. Is that something you are ready for?

My apologies. I seem to have responded to a four year old post from Nick without noticing its date. What a silly old bugger.

Lockdown was four years ago. Have you regularly charged the battery since then. A weak or defective battery may be the cause of your faults.

The fuel injector pump? Surely they mean the Adblue pump.

I wondered if coil over springs might be useful here, but after reading up on them they appear to be more for lowering the suspension not stiffening it. Nevertheless it may be worth contacting a reputable company like Bilstein and asking its advice.

You have not wasted anybody's time Nik. Your information adds to the body of evidence that is accumulating about the problem. With luck and a tail wind you may even get some compensation from Audi if it ever admits to liability. Or hell may freeze over first.

Forbes. Like Gareth I am curious to know what is wrong with the old pipes. However to answer your question, I don't know of any suppliers that stock your pipes, however there are companies who can fabricate new pipes to match the old ones. An internet search should reveal those nearest you.