cliffcoggin

The dealer is talking rubbish. Normal voltage in a new car is 12.4 while the engine is off. Before returning it under guarantee check that you are not leaving any lights on when you exit the car. Have you fitted any extra electrical gadgets such as sat nav, dash cam, phone charger etc?

Reg/Stephan. Your experiences make interesting reading, but may I ask you to keep them out of this topic which is trying to help Leah with her possibly dangerous brakes. The Club Lounge forum may be a more suitable place for reminiscing.

OK we have established there is a real drop in pressure rather than an erroneous TPMS warning. The wheels are new so they can't be at fault. That leaves only the valves and the tyres that can lose air. Have you sprayed soapy water onto them? Any air loss will show as bubbles.

It seems that "certainly will" has become "can't be bothered".

Without access to the car all I can is suggest the most likely problems. If you believe there is a bad earth but can not find one an auto electrician may be your best bet.

Not so, the delicate electronics of modern cars require a stable power source which a dying battery can not supply, even if it can crank the engine normally. That's why I suggested professional testing on a deep discharge tester, which will measure voltage while drawing at least 200 amps.

So what? Even new a battery can fail if it it is unsuitable or the charging circuits are faulty. That's why I suggested getting tested. However if you want to work on the assumption it is in good condition then I refer you to my first reply regarding the instrument cluster.

Try car breakers. Many are online nowadays.

90 degrees is the normal operating temperature. How are you measuring voltage?

It's likely the instrument cluster has failed, a common fault on A3s. Companies such as ECU testing amongst others can usually repair it for less than £300. You will need to remove the cluster and post it to them.

I doubt that a faulty water pump would cause the engine to go into limp mode. If the engine reaches 90 degrees and the cabin heating works I think we can forget about the water pump. What can cause limp mode is a dying battery, which can also cause false error messages. Dying batteries are common as soon as winter arrives. I suggest you get the battery tested professionally as a first step to the diagnosis. Please let us know the outcome.

A simple multi meter voltage test will be no good. It needs a professional one on deep discharge equipment. Most Halfords and Kwikfit (pardon me for swearing) will do it at no charge.

If you bought it from a dealer in the last 30 days take it back and let him sort it out at no cost to you. On the other hand if you bought it privately and are responsible for repairs the first step is to get the battery professionally tested. A dying battery can cause the sort of faults you experienced. Let us know the outcome.

See this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFK0JPs6aO0

Sorry Colin, but it is not clear to me what the problem is or what you are asking. You mentioned limp mode and heating and an error code but I don't see a connection between them.

It seems we, including myself, are making assumptions based on an imprecise story, so can we establish some facts? 1/ Was the soft pedal only discovered during the retest? That would point to a poor repair technique, but as long as it was corrected before issuing a certificate it's nothing to worry about. 2/ Is the pedal now still soft despite having a certificate? 3/ Did you Leah comment or complain at the time and what was the response?

Thanks for letting us know.

And did you calibrate them? Have you even measured the actual tyre pressures to confirm the TPMS warning?

Just as I thought. Please desist from any further misleading and damaging claims if you wish to continue as a member of these forums.

Ales please provide peer reviewed evidence of your outlandish claims.

Be wary of advertisement photos. They are often copied from ads for similar but non identical cars, probably without the advertiser's realisation that features may differ. Extreme example are TV ads for cars in the UK that usually show top spec LHD European models, with just the tiniest subtitle pointing that out that fact.

Leah did write "there is a fair bit of travel in the pedal before they start to slow the car".

If you can not find ready made kits at Audi or VW, there is the expensive option to have custom hoses made. Somewhere on the forum home page was a company advertising just such a service, though I can not find it at the moment.

I am not aware of any members, VW trained or otherwise, who work for other members. You could ask in the appropriate forum but don't be surprised if there is no response. We have no published lists of parts suppliers, though various members have their own personal reccommendations if you ask specific questions about the part you seek. Contact to individual members can be done using the forum message system by clicking on the envelope symbol to the top right of each page, though I caution against abusing the system for questions that are better addressed to the forum.

That testing station staff are clearly a bunch of cowboys, and should be reported to the DOT for issueing a certificate for a defective vehicle. I suggest you take the car to another garage without delay and get the repairs done properly before getting it tested. Note that air in the brake hydraulic system is regarded as dangerous because the brakes will work unevenly, and in the worst case can cause the car to spin. Make no mistake Leah, your car is dangerous in its present condition!