cliffcoggin

60000 miles is the usual recommendation. Yours is well overdue.

I was going to be flippant and say great minds think alike, but actually I am glad to have confirmation that I'm not talking rubbish. I haven't done car paint repairs for a awful long time and I was never very good at it, particularly as I did not have a garage to keep dust and rain off. I have however painted a few railway carriages and can now get quite a decent finish with roller and brush. We use etch primer on aluminium panels very successfully.

If it is definitely aluminium, (a magnet would reveal whether it is steel or not,) then you need to use an etch primer not an ordinary primer. After that ordinary car paint can be used.

Well if we assume the oil warning light is giving a true warning, the only other things that occur to me to cause low pressure are: [1] the oil suction pipe letting air in through a hole or loose joint, which is probably why your mechanic suggested changing it, [2] a loose or slipping drive connection to the oil pump. I don't know what sort of connection it is but years ago some cars had a tendency for the connection to wear and eventually fail.

Glad to hear the problem is solved, Sarah, and thanks for letting us know, though a little worrying that the new cable disconnected so quickly. It makes me wonder if the cable route is not right, leading to a sharp radius or a misalignment.

Stuart. I hypothesise, (meaning that I have never heard of it happening, though it is theoretically possible,) that the oil pressure relief valve may be opening too far as the engine speed rises. I believe that the pressure relief valve is within the oil filter so if my hypothesis is right the solution would be a new oil filter. This is close to speculation so I would welcome comments from others with knowledge. (Nudge, nudge, Gareth.)

Michael. I see what you mean about the length-wise movement and the possibility of movement & clunking in reverse gear, but I am not sure it is significant. I admit I have not changed my own Audi pads, but on previous cars there was always a small amount of slack, and of course as rust builds up on the steel backing that gap will reduce. Perhaps the slack is to allow for rust and/or expansion as things get hot. I really don't know.

Not sure I properly understand the question in the absence of any punctuation. Are you saying the pads are narrower, shorter, or thinner than the caliper? There must be an Audi specification somewhere that gives the dimensions, but off-hand I don't know where.

I was wondering what the outcome of the bonnet release problem was.

Sarah. Apologies for an error I made yesterday. My A3 only has the blue main beam lamp on the dash. I was thinking of my wife's Berlingo when I said there was a green dipped beam lamp. Sorry to mislead.

Mine is a 2007 model and has the main beam and dipped beam lights on the dash. I would expect yours to be the same. Do all the other warning lights illuminate when the ignition is first switched?

David. Given that the connector you mentioned is known to have corroded pins and a defective seal, that has got to be the first place to look for a fault. As far as I know the only inherent weakness in the electrical system is the instrument & warning light cluster on the dashboard. Whether that is the location of your multi pin connector I do not know.

It sounds very much like a bearing spinning its housing, but which one I have no idea. The possibilities that occur to me are: alternator, water pump, power steering pump, air-con pump, but there may be others.

Mike, is it definitely a water drain or could it be the vent or breather that allows air into the tank? A blocked vent could result in fuel starvation.

Yes of course you should have a speed display, it's a legal requirement.

I looked under the bonnet of my 2007 model and can see no way to release the catch from below unfortunately. I wonder if it is possible for the secondary catch, (the one you release from under the bonnet lip,) to be jamming. Normally, releasing the primary catch allows the bonnet to jump up half an inch on its spring until the secondary catch holds it. However if that secondary catch is jammed or its spring is broken it may give the false impression of the primary cable being broken. Sarah can you get somebody to operate the secondary lever and pull upwards on the bonnet while you simultaneously pull the primary lever?

Well it sounds plausible. Whether it is correct I couldn't say.

I don't know for certain, but I doubt there were different wiring looms for different models, that would have been too expensive to produce/identify/store/fit. It would be cheaper to make and fit one loom to all models and accept that some bits, such as foglight wires, would be wasted on your model.

Thanks for posting that William. It might help others with a similar problem. It's a shame Milos has not commented further on his problem.

I still don't think we have a full and accurate description of the symptoms, or the work that has been done, but from what I gather so far there is a hydraulic fault. Most likely air in the system, less likely damaged piston seals.

I'm not clear quite what you are describing. Are you saying the pedal moves up and down without you touching it, or do you mean the bite point changes from one pedal press to the next?

One possibility is a faulty spark plug which might cause the revs to drop so low that the anti-stall boosts the revs briefly to compensate, and you end up with unstable idling. That is a total guess but has a cheap solution. Another possibility is an air leak somewhere in the induction system. It might be hard to find if it is more than a split hose or loose connection.

It's right below the manifold <G> More seriously, I suggest searching for on-line car breakers if it is secondhand you are wanting.

I guess we'll never know the outcome as Darren has not had the courtesy to reply, or even acknowledge our responses.

I would expect she has solved the problem since it has been nine months from posing the question, but in the absence of any reply from Ann we can only guess.