cliffcoggin

Am I misunderstanding this, or are you telling us your mate is responsible for two damaged engines?

Martin. Let me repeat what Steve and I have already said: the engine is not seized. It may be worn, it may have a fuel fault, it may have a blocked DPF, it may be suffering any number of other faults which could be expensive to repair, but it is not seized. Let us move on to what is really wrong. Evidently your garage is not interested in fault finding and simply wants to replace the engine, so I suggest you take it elsewhere for a diagnosis.

If the garage owner is a professional can we assume he has insurance to cover this sort of predicament?

Thanks Damian. The only way I can correlate all that is to suppose the worn stem seals allowed excess oil into the crankcase via the rocker box, which was then drawn into the engine and blocked the catalytic converter. What bothers me is why you had no problems with the PCV valve, and no DPF warning light.

Spot on Steve. The car is not seized, just badly neglected.

Yes, the same temperature as the main hoses off the radiator. Try reverse flushing the heater matrix with mains pressure water. If that does not work the matrix will probably need to be renewed.

If the heater hoses are only getting warm, rather than hot, I'd say you still have a partial blockage in the matrix.

Do let us know the outcome.

Well what about gearbox oil levels? Or is that something else you have already done?

It's possible the instrument cluster is faulty. There are specialist companies who will test and repair it, though you will have to remove the cluster yourself and post it to them, then refit it afterwards.

Do you mean changing from tungsten to LED? Others have asked this question and the general concensus is that it is not possible.

There's a fair chance one of the electric flap motors in the air ducts is not working. It's a common failure.

A good start would be to get the car scanned for error codes, because of the complex electronics controlling every aspect of the engine and transmission.

The obvious culprit is the thermostat. Renewing it would be a good start.

I agree with Steve that it must be the fuel pump. There are no other moving parts around the fuel tank except the pump.

You have nothing to lose by back flushing the matrix, ideally with 1 bar or more pressure, though don't be too optimistic of success. Let the flushing water go to drain in case it does push out some solids.

I don't understand why you have changed the clutch when it is only a switch that is faulty.

Max. If you are expecting a solenoid valve on the coolant system you will be disappointed. Cabin temperature adjustment by control of coolant flow was abandoned years ago. Maybe you already know that, but I mention it just in case. Temperature regulation will be by mixing hot and cold air by means of flap valves in the air ducts. I don't know if the flaps on your car are entirely mechanical or electrically powered. Note that electric flaps are known to be prone to failure. There is also the possibility of a partial blockage of the heater matrix which can be caused by scale or by crystals of silica gel that have escaped from a bag in the coolant reservoir. (Bags of silica gel in the reservoir were installed for a few years by Audi.) I am inclined to think the latter because such crystals also prevented the thermostat from closing, which may explain why yours was missing. There are videos on Youtube explaining the silica gel problem and how to change the heater matrix if necessary.

I'm not sure that applies in this case. For goods to be unfit for purpose under UK consumer law they would need to have a major defect that affects their basic function. Being unable to set the cabin temperature in advance of starting the car strikes me as a minor fault rather than a major defect, no matter how inconvenient and disappointing it may be.

Thanks for letting us know.

Michael/Brian. Any updates for us on your wet tailgates?

I see you visited the forum yesterday Bradley. Are you going to provide the data requested that might enable somebody to help you?

Many, many people suffer Adblue faults as you will see if you search the forum. It's a dreadful system.

I doubt that would be acceptable under Swiss law. Or do you know otherwise?

A waste of time and money.