cliffcoggin

Sadly I am not convinced Gavin. You said in your first post that you swapped the wheels around and it made no difference. You also said that vibration was detectable when the wheels were in the air. To my mind that rules out tyres as a factor. You have renewed or tested all the other likely candidates, so I am stumped.

I would agree with Gareth that if the mileage is very high, the deeper you look into the engine and gearbox, the more faults you will find, and the more expensive the job becomes. However I see no mention of mileage yet in Peter's comments so perhaps we are too pessimistic (or too cynical), and some new seals will keep the car going for many years to come.

Main dealer, local garage, auto electrician: you pays your money and you takes your choice. It depends on how competent they each are, and I really can't judge. If you car is being recalled to a main dealer for other reasons I suggest letting them test the electrics while there, then decide what to do. Is it possible the recall is because of electrical problems?

I'm no electrician but it sounds to me more like a bad earth.

I don't know, but it is possible, that the Audi mechanic can not pin point the exact location of the leak so he has quoted for the nearest three possible oil sources. Why not ask the dealer for details? I take my A3 to a main dealer and he will always get answers to my questions from the mechanic (I refuse to call them technicians,) who carried out the assessment or did the work.

I don't believe you can, though I'd be glad to be proved wrong. It was easy on my 23 year old Granada but not on a 10 year old A3.

That's a neat trick Kevin, though it sounds too much like hard work for an idle bugger like me. When it happened on my wife's car I took the lazy way out and squirted penetrating oil into the lock barrel and just left it for an hour or two. That freed the barrel enough to let me unlock with the key. Needless to say I then squirted some real oil into all the locks for long term protection.

Graham. No I don't have any sockets beside the handbrake. Martyn. As a matter of principle I won't use anything made by Apple, (or Microsoft come to that,) for reasons we don't need to go into. I can put music on a USB stick for absolutely nothing.

I never even realised I had an Ipod connection in the glove box. Not that I have an Ipod, (and to be brutally honest I don't really know what an Ipod is,) but I wonder if it can be adapted to a USB connection for playing music via the stereo.

I don't know it there is a Haynes manual for that model or not, but I doubt they are worth buying nowadays. It seems that with the multiplicity of different models and variants, and the supposed impossibility of repairing (rather than replacing) faulty parts, Haynes are unable to produce a repair guide that is of much use to the home mechanic. I bought one for my 2007 A3 that I have little use for as it is filled with phrases like "not serviceable" and "replace with new component". It's inevitable I suppose, given the increasing complexity of modern motor technology and its use of electronics, that less can be done by amateur mechanics like me, so I can't blame Haynes for the drawbacks of their guides.

In the absence of any other fault I guess it must the brakes, but strangely why only when turned to one side? All that occurs to me is excessive lock pushing the guard against the track rod or some other link, though it's a remote possibility.

Sashi. Your key is behaving normally. You do not have a fault.

Niedzial. You may be able to on a A6 but it can not be done like that on a A3.

Here's a tip for you Mark. Get rid of it! It's a dreadful car that that will cost you a fortune to maintain, let you down with constant breakdowns, turn off all the girls, and freeze your n*ts off in winter. Because I pity you I am willing to take it off your hands for a just small fee. <G>

The glow plug only operates at low temperatures, less than 5 degrees I would guess, so you shouldn't see the warning light at all in summer. Quite what that means for you in terms of fault finding I know not, but I doubt it can be related to the particulate filter unless there is a more generalised electronic problem.

It may not be a leak of liquid fuel causing the stink. It's not unknown for a fuel tank vent pipe to be broken and allow fumes into the cabin. I have no idea where the vent pipe is located on a A3, but it's worth looking into.

I would be a little concerned that a professional mechanic can hear the noise but dismisses it because he cannot find the cause. There is evidently something wrong with the transmission/suspension/steering otherwise it would not make a noise. Re-reading your first message you said you could feel a vibration when turning the N/S wheel in the air that you could not feel on the O/S. Was there any noise with that vibration? A worn wheel bearing rumbles, a rubbing brake pad makes a scuffing or scraping sound, a worn CV joint clicks.

Why not get a secondhand manifold from a breaker? Look online for Audi spares.

Is there a FULL charge in the battery?

Then I look forward to hearing what the problem is.

Gavo. You can test the CV joint yourself by gripping the drive shaft with Mole grips or the like, and trying to turn it back and forth. Any movement or clicking whatsoever means the joint is worn. Naturally the wheels and gearbox need to be immobilised during the test to avoid misleading motion.

Despite what the AA man did or said, (and bare in mind their job is to resolve breakdowns, not regular maintenance), you have the classic symptoms of CV joint failure: namely a grinding noise at full lock, silence at straight ahead.

CV (constant velocity) joint is clapped out as Sven suggested, though I haven't heard it called a cardan joint.

I find it hard to believe a brand new sensor is faulty so the chances are that the fault is elsewhere. Whether that fault is a loose connection in the sensor wiring, a bad earth, or something entirely unrelated I do not know, but in your position I would start by checking the sensor wiring.

The cam belt should have been done by now. If it hasn't, the cost including water pump, (which is usually done at the same time,) will be about £700.