Steve Q

It could be the compressor. It's what's failed on my a6 and as such my air con doesn't work. When it was regassed did they do a leak test? Cheers Steve

Hi David I believe they're called stone shields or also seen them called suspension shields. It seems to be quite a common occurrence for them to break off and rattle. You should have one either side so my guessing is a previous owner has removed the other one. I believe the only cure is replacement or remove it entirely. It won't be a bad thing if you remove them as I believe on certain a3 model years got them. Basically the shields are held in place with plastic pins which either break through age or vibrate loose. So even if you replace them, you'll end up with the same issue later down the line. Hope I've helped. Cheers Steve

Band

Glad you got a good result 👍 Cheers Steve

Audi motorsport chief Dieter Gass has hit back at accusations of the German manufacturer being DTM's "gravedigger" in the wake of its withdrawal from the series. Audi announced last month that it will quit DTM at the end of 2020, marking the end of a two-decade long participation stretching back to the very first season of the revived category in 2000. The news has led to a public backlash against Audi, who believe the company's decision has plunged the future of the fabled touring car championship into doubt. However, Gass has refuted such allegations, saying the exits of Mercedes and R-Motorsport Aston Martin had a bigger role to play in DTM's deteriorating health. "Of course I see it very differently," Gass told Motorsport-Magazin when asked if Audi could be held responsible for DTM's dire situation. "You have to look at the overall picture. After the Mercedes exit, there were only two manufacturers. And it was actually clear that the DTM would no longer work with just two manufacturers. "Then Aston Martin came as a filler. One can discuss to what extent this was successful and whether they were the gravediggers by leaving the series. "I would see it that Audi was the brand that has pushed the DTM the most in recent years. We were the first to launch a customer team [WRT]. And the only brand that will bring a ninth car for 2020 to fill the starting grid again. think it's pretty unfair to accuse us of being the gravedigger of the DTM. If it weren't for Audi, the DTM would have ended much earlier." DTM completed its alignment with Japan's SUPER GT season in 2019 by adopting Class One regulations, including a move to two-litre, four-cylinder, turbo-charged engines to replace DTM's naturally-aspirated V8s. There had been plans for the series to move to a common set of rules with SUPER GT by 2017, but it is understood Mercedes blocked the move on cost grounds - and talks between the two series reached an advanced stage only after the Stuttgart-based brand announced its decision to pull out of the category. Asked if Audi's tenure in DTM could have been extended if Mercedes hadn't blocked the introduction of SUPER GT-style engines in 2017, Gass said: "This is hypothetical. "But if we assume that the four-cylinder [turbos] would have come earlier and Mercedes would still have stayed the two years, then this would have given us much more time to get to a better level with the Japanese than where we ended up in the end. "I think that would have improved our chances [of staying in the DTM] in principle." Assen race promoter Lee van Dam claimed last month that he had heard from series promoter ITR that Audi would continue to supply engines to privateer teams, theoretically allowing the Class One formula to continue beyond 2020. However, Gass insists that there have been no discussions between Audi and DTM teams regarding a supply of engines from next year. "I have seen that this issue is being discussed in public," he said. "We have not been asked for it so far. That's why we haven't done much about it yet. "I also don't know if after the experiences with WRT a number of people really want to afford it. So far there has not been any request for us. It is currently not planned." Article courtesy of Rachit Thukral of autosport: https://www.autosport.com/dtm/news/149426/audi-did-not-kill-dtm--gass

Lorenzo Marcucci took the Pro Series victory at Spa-Francorchamps, the first of the Belgian double-header in Round Two of the 2020 E-Sport GT Series at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. Marcucci, at the wheel of the #188 LP Racing Audi R8 LMS Evo, started the 60-minute race from pole position, having lapped the 7.004km iconic circuit in 2:16.134 in qualifying, .699 seconds ahead of Iván Pareras in the Phoenix Racing Audi. Jordan Pepper, winner of the opening round, started from 27th on the grid. Marcucci got away cleanly and led Pareras through Eau Rouge and Radillon before Nicolas Hillebrand, in the Buttler-Pal Motorsport Ferrari F488 GT3, passed the 19-year-old Spanish driver for second. At the end of Lap One the Audi pilot was nearly a second clear of Hillebrand in second while Raffaele Marciello, piloting the Madpanda Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3, had dropped to tenth place and was quickly passed by Michael O’Brien, the Italian having a disappointing start to the race. After 11 minutes of racing, Formula One World Champion Jenson Button, driving the Jenson Team Rocket RJN McLaren 720S GT3, was given a 30-second penalty for causing a collision at the Bus Stop. Wildcard entry Jean-Eric Vergne was disqualified for driving the wrong way down the pit lane while Marciello remained stationary outside his garage, possibly due to a hardware issue in his home set up. Hillebrand, meanwhile, had an off-track moment at Radillon that dropped the German driver down to 11th and promoted Pareras in the Phoenix Racing Audi back into second. Luigi Di Lorenzo in the Modena Kart ASD Aston Martin Vantage GT3 was third, just under two and a half seconds behind the Spaniard. Hillebrand later reported via chat that his car ‘randomly lost grip at the rear’. At the halfway point, Marcucci in the Audi had pulled out a gap of over eight seconds to Pareras with Di Lorenzo just under two seconds back in third. A number of pilots fell foul at Eau Rouge with Mikael Grenier losing the rear of his Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo as he chased down Miguel Molina in the #71 Ferrari for 20th place. Alberto Costa Balboa was continuing his progress up the field after starting 16th and, after 17 laps, was in fifth place before contact with Geneva-based Louis Delatraz in the GP Extreme Porsche 991 GT3 R following an ill-judged pass at La Source. Costa was handed a drive–through penalty as a result, allowing Delatraz to regain fourth place. As the race entered the final quarter, the closest on-track battle was between Chris Froggatt in the Sky Tempesta Racing Ferrari F488 GT3 and David Fumanelli for 10th place, Froggatt just half a second behind the red-liveries Ferrari. The British driver, however, was carrying a drive-through penalty and pitted with ten minutes remaining. As the clock ticked down, Di Lorenzo in the Modena Kart ASD Aston Martin was pushing Pareras hard for second and by the final minute was just over 1.5 seconds behind. At the chequered flag, it was Marcucci who crossed the line just over 15.5 seconds ahead of Pareras with Di Lorenzo taking the final podium position. Di Lorenzo’s third place means, however, that the Italian driver now takes the lead in the championship standings on 27 points with Jordan Pepper in second on 25. Round Three of the 2020 E-Sport GT Series takes place at the Nürburgring on May 17. Article courtesy of Andy Lloyd of Motorsport.radio: https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/motorsport.radio/gt-marcucci-heads-1-2-for-audi-in-e-sport-gt-series-pro-race-at-spa/amp/

How strange. As I say maybe it's to do with the drivers door locking mechanism as it controls the rest of the central locking. Cheers Steve

Revolver

Great advice that 👍

Hmm, as I say I know when they get wet they go wrong. There's not an issue in the wiring loom in the drivers door is there?

Smell is a powerful sense. So much that it's said to be one of the most far-reaching and closely linked with memories and taste. It's important for auto manufacturers to get smells right, as the smallest offensive odor in a car could haunt them for life. Perhaps this is why Audi employs an entire team of scientists who spend their day smelling surfaces while wearing legit lab coats. Since 1985, Audi's quietest group of heroes: the "Nose Team," have diligently worked to make sure that the manufacturer's smell science was on-point. Their goal was simple, to make sure Audi vehicles don't emit foul odors inside the cabin. This means making sure that the vehicle has no strong chemical smell fresh off of the line and won't stink like a wet dog when you open the door on a hot summer day. This isn't as simple as hanging an air freshener on the rearview mirror. Audi's scientists know that it's impossible to have an odor-free car, so instead of attempting to mask the scents, they aim for the material and chemicals used during the manufacturing process to be as neutral as possible. If the leather smells a bit too much like fish oil or the floor mats like onions, the team sends the product back to the drawing board. One of Audi's chemists, Heiko Lüßmann-Geiger, has lead a five-person sniffing team at Audi's Bavarian Quality Center since the early 2000s. He explained vehicle comfort as being a "pyramid", noting that the smell given off by a vehicle is one of the most foundational comfort features that can make or break vehicle ownership. At the tip of this hierarchy pyramid is the well-being of the customer, right at the base is the smell." Explained Lüßmann-Geiger. "If the customer is now irritated by this odor from below, he will no longer correctly perceive all the other positive comfort properties of the vehicle. He is too irritated by the stress brought about by the odor.” Smells are then graded on a scale from one ("odorless") to six ("unbearable"). Glass, ceramics, and metals are often rated as a one, given that they are a core component of the vehicle. Other materials must be rated below a four ("irritating") in order to pass the sniff test. If you don't believe that these scientists take their job as professional smellers seriously, just watch their expressionless faces at work on these images from the mid-2000s. The job isn't done once the vehicle leaves the lot, however. Audi says that it also randomly pulls production vehicles into the laboratory to ensure that vehicles don't begin to emit unpleasant smells after they leave showroom floors. If an odor begins to present itself, the team evaluates if something in the manufacturing process has changed, or if a parts supplier is using new materials. And there's a lot to go over inside of a vehicle. Audi isn't the only automaker to have measures for smelling cars. It's a crucial part of auto manufacturing and something which even varies culturally. So the next time you sit in your car, take a big whiff and try to imagine it fresh from the factory. Then, thank the chemists who made it all possible. Article courtesy of Rob Stupf of thedrive.com: https://www.thedrive.com/news/33439/audi-has-an-entire-team-of-people-who-just-smell-things

Fired

I do t think the grill was ever designed to have an s line badge unfortunately

I've had it a few times. I find eBay are more on the side of the buyer than seller. Which is ironic when they get the money from.the seller! Some of ebays practices does make me angry. Love to buy from eBay and do sell items but definitely prefer to buy.

Posted a similar article on Wednesday under news section 👍 would love a retro Audi hybrid 👍

Wow, wow, wow! That looks amazing!! Top work! Would love to see that on our club displays when the shows are back on.

Wow, wow, wow! That looks amazing!! Top work! Would love to see that on our club displays when the shows are back on.

A wet CCM is very likely the culprit. It's well known issues on Audi's of the era.

Guessing you didn't see I had responded to your other thread? This link might be useful: https://www.q2forums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=642

I too aren't sure what Q means.

You're welcome. Hmm I'm wondering if theres a wiring issue in the drivers door. Cheers Steve

have a similar issue on my 2002 a6 currently and have had a similar issue previously. On the previous occasion the drivers door lock mechanism had failed which stopped the system from working. The driver door mechanism controls the rest of the central locking. The repair cost £120 from an auto electrician. I've not got round to getting it repaired again but in my case the worse case scenario is a failed CCM. Or a wiring issue in the door loom. Have you tried the spare key to rule out that it's a key issue? Cheers Steve

Definitely is! I do love the older Audi's 👍

I have a similar issue on my 2002 a6 currently and have had a similar issue previously. On the previous occasion the drivers door lock mechanism had failed which stopped the system from working. The driver door mechanism controls the rest of the central locking. The repair cost £120 from an auto electrician. I've not got round to getting it repaired again but in my case the worse case scenario is a failed CCM. Have you tried the spare key to rule out that it's a key issue? Cheers Steve

You're welcome 🙂 Hope it helped 👍 Cheers Steve