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[feeutfo]

Gear box fiasco last year was about 3 months off road and he had the A5 as a loan car.

Various issues again about 3 months this year continuously off road - may be more - have lost track.

Next week he will need a replacement car for the replacement car as service light is on the A4 now.

...time to bang the desk.

[Kevin Wood]

Well, on the bright side.. If they do manage to fix it, when he decides to sell it it'll have a nice low mileage.

[pscocoa]

Gear box fiasco last year was about 3 months off road and he had the A5 as a loan car.

Various issues again about 3 months this year continuously off road - may be more - have lost track.

Next week he will need a replacement car for the replacement car as service light is on the A4 now.

...time to bang the desk.

Told him to keep his powder dry on banging the desk front. He has use of a great car - A4 3.0L, he is whacking quite a few miles on it, it is up to Audi to come back to him so use the replacement car for as long as possible in my view. If and when he gets A3 back, then the fun can start on extended warranties etc. Whether he wll ever trust the car again is doubtful and Audi need to recognise this. 

[pscocoa]

Another week on and no change. They apparently have called Audi technicians in from somewhere else but they cannot cure poor starting from cold.

On Vectras there was a long running thread on a software fault on an ecu which effectively gave the parameters for cold start - there was a field remedy whch read as follows:

"Field Remedy: 1579

Subject:Engine - Bad cold start behaviour Models:Engines:Option:Vectra-C 2002...2003Y20DTHNoneComplaint:Bad cold start behaviour especially between +5 and +9°C coolant temperature.Cause:Problem caused by Software deviation.Production:Production implementation pending, details will be communicated upon availability.
Remedy:

In case of customer complaint reprogram with new software (decrease of cold start injection amount and modified preheat phase timing).Available with TIS-CD 40, April 2003.Functional Group:J - Engine Complaint Group:13 - No/Poor Function Trouble Code:None "

God knows what Audi are doing - they have told him to keep driving the loan car (A4 V6)
with the service light on. He has now done 6000 miles in the loaner.

[Kevin Wood]

You really wouldn't have thought it'd be rocket science getting a car to start in the mornings these days. 

We managed it easily enough with mechanical injection, carbs, bits of rag moistened with fuel in the intake manifold, etc. .

[pscocoa]

As we go into the holiday break - Audi have not been in touch at all and so A3 is still with them (as far as we know)- Audi A4 loaner still in use by my son and I just said to him -  say nothing and put the miles on their car. As said before - this is totally bizarre.

[Taxi_Driver]

You really wouldn't have thought it'd be rocket science getting a car to start in the mornings these days. 

We managed it easily enough with mechanical injection, carbs, bits of rag moistened with fuel in the intake manifold, etc. .

My sister-in-law used to have a Golf TD, that developed a cold start issue, ie if the temp was 5C or colder it wouldnt start. The VW dealer they took it to couldnt find out what was wrong with it, so they sold it 

[Taxi_Driver]

As we go into the holiday break - Audi have not been in touch at all and so A3 is still with them (as far as we know)- Audi A4 loaner still in use by my son and I just said to him -  say nothing and put the miles on their car. As said before - this is totally bizarre.

I'd be surprised if Audi are still 'playing' with it after all this time......they've more than likely taken it to a diesel specialist....to tell them whats wrong with it 

[pscocoa]

Update on the situation re son's A3 - Audi phoned today for first time in several weeks to say they can still not cure the problem with the A3 - every technical resource in UK has been exhausted and the matter has now been referred to Germany - engine compression seems to be the problem and only thing they can think of at present is a new engine to be fitted.

They are taking back the A4 loan car as it needs servicing and the offset driving position is proving uncomfortable and probably replacing with A6.

[Dishevelled Den]

Sometimes the simplest terms convey the most meaning and, with that in mind, the only thing I can say at the moment is - Far Canal!

[sneakypenguin]

Who's to say the replacement engine doesn't develope the same fault as the original? Bit disconcerting when even audi can't diagnose the fault and resort to 'ah sod it lets put a new engine in'. Vorsprung durch fail imo

[Marks DTM Calib]

Its difficult to understand why an engine which has had a measured low compression has not been changed before......

[pscocoa]

Apparently Audi Germany has sent new engine ecu software to our UK dealer yesterday and dealer here phoned to say it seems to have solved the poor starting problem. They will keep car until Monday night to test properly.

I just cannot believe the whole process that has taken place on this - clearly the whole testing/[problem analysis regime is defective in this country - does this mean that there is some sort of fix for this problematic 2 litre diesel engine which is not common knowledge in UK. Doesn't add up.

Amyway see what next week brings

[Dishevelled Den]

Apparently Audi Germany has sent new engine ecu software to our UK dealer yesterday and dealer here phoned to say it seems to have solved the poor starting problem. They will keep car until Monday night to test properly.

I just cannot believe the whole process that has taken place on this - clearly the whole testing/[problem analysis regime is defective in this country - does this mean that there is some sort of fix for this problematic 2 litre diesel engine which is not common knowledge in UK. Doesn't add up.

Amyway see what next week brings

clearly the whole testing/[problem analysis regime is defective in this country

Along with many other things PS - but I certainly agree on this point. 


The ability for people to investigate a problem, think of potential solutions and extrapolate their findings into a workable fix for it seems to have been relegated to a very distant point on the league table of practical good sense.

Of course it doesn’t help (in this case) as there seem to be few true mechanics remaining at large in that murky world now that the majority of the wildlife in car workshops seem to be little more than fitters possessing the skill to change parts like for like but bereft of any nous to actually repair anything than can be fixed rather than replaced.

[Kevin Wood]

Apparently Audi Germany has sent new engine ecu software to our UK dealer yesterday and dealer here phoned to say it seems to have solved the poor starting problem. They will keep car until Monday night to test properly.

The fact that they are alternating between "engine has no compression" and "needs a firmware update" doesn't instil a lot of confidence. Regardless of whether they understand the electronic systems, the engine compression is either OK or it's not. What sort of mechanic can't test it and decide once and for all?