cliffcoggin

Robert. To clarify my reply which may not have been as clear as it could, you need to check all suspension joints and bushes at both the front and the rear. Tracking then needs to be adjusted at both front and rear.

Use long crowbar under the links to lever them up. Any movement at the bushes means they are shot. Tracking (toe-in) at the front definitely needs to be adjusted after renewing any soft bushes and loose joints.

A sloshing sound from within the dash and a lack of cabin heating are classic symptoms of air in the cooling system, so I suggest you have an airlock and/or a blocked heater matrix. The lack of circulation would cause localised boiling and ejection of coolant, hence the rapid loss, particularly if the tank cap is not sealing as Steve suggests.

If the rear shock absorbers were clapped out there is a good chance the rubber bushes in the suspension links also need to be changed and the tracking reset. The same could apply to the front shocks, bushes, and tracking. Does the waywardness show as sloppiness at the steering wheel?

As you sound knowledgable enough about tyres to know when a tyre is losing pressure by the way it looks or handles, it probably doesn't matter whether you have a TPMS or not, except for the irritation of a false warning light, though that in itself would annoy me enough to do something about it. If the fault was the subject of a recall I doubt Audi will be keen to take on the job without a lot of pressure. You may be better served by an independant.

The simple solution is to pick another fuse that is definitely switched from the ignition. That is exactly what I did when I added a satnav some years ago, though I don't recall which fuse I used in the end. A test lamp or a volt meter will tell you all you need to know.

Who can say as you have told us nothing about the car, the engine, the year etc. Sorry but my crystal ball shattered a long time ago and my magic wand is bent.

Thnks for letting us know Alaster. Let's hope the engine is OK.

Did you get the new battery coded to the car? Unless you do you will still get a variety of error codes and faults.

The same problem gets the same solution.

The solution would have been obvious if the water in the lamp had been spotted initially. Water is by far the most common cause of lamp faults, whether in the form of a short circuit or corrosion of terminals.

That's good to read. Thanks for letting us know.

A possible explanation has occurred to me. A3s are prone to faults in the instrument cluster that usually result in the lights failing or flickering, and the instruments to fail. Perhaps such a cluster fault is causing the otherwise unused TPMS light to illuminate. I am no electrician so maybe I am talking nonsense, therefore I too am keen to hear the final diagnosis.

You need to consider what is essential and what is merely desirable. For example why are you considering changing the main and big end bearings? Do you have evidence of wear?

Be aware that timing belt failure, which will happen without any warning, will destroy the engine. Can you afford for that to happen? You have no choice but to repair the suspension and steering parts as they are MOT failures. The other repairs are optional at the moment.

Not sure what you mean by "mean" seal. I can not see your picture as I will not download such things from strangers. Are you sure it is oil and not brake fluid?

Alan. The question has come up here several times in the past on this forum. I seem to recall there was not an easy or cheap solution. Look through forum history for details.

Oznitas. There are several companies in Britain who can repair instrument clusters for a much lower cost than a new one. Surely there must be similar companies in Spain?

That's unfortunate, but what else can you do? I suspect the lack of speedo and dials would be an MOT failure.

And in that other thread it was pointed out that the battery needs to be brand new and coded to the car. Until that is done, all the electrical faults and error codes you are suffering are meaningless gibberish.

Ah. That was last year not a few days ago, hence my confusion.

What thread do you mean? The only one I saw was about a fuel pump.

If the car genuinely has a TPMS there must be a reset switch or menu item. Therefore either you have not found the reset, or there is no TPMS and the warning light is false.

This topic comes to mind: https://www.audiownersclub.com/forums/topic/21817-electrical-fault/ otherwise earch for "instrument panel".

Daryl. It's probably a faulty instrument cluster. If so your options are a new one from Audi or to have it repaired by one of several specialists that you can find on the internet. Search through previous queries on this forum to find others with the same problem. I seem to recall a cost of £200-250.