February 2004
Can anyone advise me on my S3 service intervals? I don't really feel comfortable with Audi's 12-15000 intervals.
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Help
I have a Mk IV Golf. The central locking key fob works perfectly, however, when the doors are locked using the drivers inner door switch, the front passengers lock will operate, however immediately open again??
I am not sure if this is a problem with the central locking control unit or not.
Any advice or experience? Read more
I'm not going to name the company here that supplied a tyre to me, as it's the subject of a dispute, but I would appreciate any feedback/opinion on this:
I had a tyre supplied, as new. After 2 weeks use, said tyre has a slow leak. Happens to any tyre, of course. I take the car to both a local tyre dealer, and an excellent independent mechanic, who confirm the same opinion.
When the tyre dealer tried to find the puncture, he sprayed the tyre with washing up liquid. This found the leak on the side-wall. So, no repair possible.
But, something weird: exactly around the puncture in a circle, a white chalk mark. Both agree this is a marker to indicate a puncture in the tyre - but I didn't do this, and must have been there before the tyre was fitted to my car. Using the liquid showed the circle up more clearly.
Tyre supplier is offering discounted replacement, but disowning reponsibility. Any ideas - do defective tyres ever get fitted ? Read more
aha - this is where it gets interesting; when the replacement tyre was fitted, I noticed all these bits hanging off the tread - 'so you know it's new'. The other 2 'new' tyres didn't have them....
Do I take if from DD's Tips post on the Technical Forum that we now have the capability of sticky posts for FAQs, or is this a hard coded one-off?
Here's hoping! Read more
mapmaker,
Basically it's a feature that us moderators can use to force a thread to stay at the top of the forum until such a time that *we* unstick it again. It's stops messages that are considered important from getting lost in amongst other threads.
If you take a look over in Technical Matters, there is a "sticky" thread placed there by yours truly. No matter how many people post a reply to an existing thread, or start a new one, mine will remain at the top of the list.
DD.
Oh what fun it was...to tow a SAAB 9000 with no means of clutch disengagement for nigh on seventy miles last night. Because it was only clutch actuation at fault, we left the engine idling on the SAAB so had no battery drain issues, and reassuringly for me driving and owning the car in front, full servo braking and powered steering!
Solid, instant, torque from our manual gearbox V70 2.4T made the towing part a breeze, but there were a few BOING, Boing, boing, bng, bg moments along the way when I was hauling the SAAB in to the biggest roundabout gap he was ever gong to get, when the driver would then lose his nerve, stand on the brakes, and decide to wait for Christmas. The brakes would then be released in one go a split second later when Christmas appeared to be not such a good option as an on boost turbocharger is by then hauling the front off his car!
To be fair, other than two or three moments like this, the towee (such a word?!) coordinated his actions with mine very well, and kept a nice gentle tension on the rope. The car was a left hooker, so by placing my V70 to the right of the carriageway, he also had a clear view of the road in front of me, and predicted slight speed adjustment needs, braking, and cornering, very well. Good teamwork. We average 41 MPH in free running, extremly light, traffic, and averaged 23.8MPG. This compares with 29MPG (and middle fifties MPH) that I normally get on this frequently done run, so was not too bad.
Made me think though, how far have other backroomers towed another car on a flexible rope (not a towing rod), and what was the experience like?
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In my misguided youth, and with a misguided father, I was once towed in my old Astravan by my dad in his Nissan 300ZX, from Lancaster to Congleton (80 miles ish?), on the motorway, at full motorway speeds, with a tow rope which was about 6 feet long.
Idiotic behaviour, I know, and not something I would ever consider now.
By the end of the journey I had trouble letting go of the steering wheel, and my knuckles were as white as snow.
have audi a6 with notchy gearbox, is it possible to change the oil in this (car has done 122k, 1998)
and would changing the oil have much effect. i do no that these gearbox\'s arnt the smoothest but comments would be appreciated Read more
still not a notchy saxo box if anyones got any tips
hi all, i know the great leader recomends this company highly for competive deals, has anyone used them for alignment problems? i have heard there very good in this area also,can anyone confirm this, as i have a long term alignment problem i need to sort out, as im in the winchester area next week i was thinking of calling in and getting my front tyres replaced and the alignment hopefully sorted, thanks. Read more
Thanks for the tip NoD; thankfully the 2 litre Omega I use for commuting now doesn't eat tyres like wifey's school run V6, but with 38K miles per year no doubt I'll be round your way soon...
My Avant Auto 1995 won't kick up and when I select drive the whole car moves with the force. The indy transmission specialist it's with has traced the problem to the multi-functional switch sitting just under the gearshift, but having got it out and tested it, this apparently works OK but the probelm remains
Their computer says that's the problem, but as it functions it must be something related and they are now scratching their heads.
This all started when I called the RAC out having flooded the engine in Mid-Dec and it's been on&off trailers being pushed from from garage to garage since.
Can anyone suggest where the problem may lie and whether cranking the engine at the time of trying to fix the flooding could be related to this problem? Read more
I would say the Audi shop has a slim chance on fixing it.
These are the ZF 5HP19 tranny - used by VW/Audi and on quite a few BMW's (in RWD configuration).
I would check/clean the MF switch and the connectors. Also the connector to the transmission ECM. From the sound of it, it **could** be the MF switch though. These transmissions are very complex and they suffer from quite a collection of 'stock faults' including failure of the one-way roller clutch on the input. You really need to take it to a transmission 'shop for some proper specialist investigation.
I have a VW Sharan 2.0CL Auto, P reg. It had an worsening fault that meant that it did not always change gear when it should. From a standing start it should change into second somewhere around 2000-2500 revs but I sometimes saw nearly 5000. The fault could show itself in any gear. I ignored it for too long and the gearbox died on the motorway just before Christmas. A recon box (a replacement or the original redone I do not know) was fitted but the gear changing problem was still apparent. The gearbox specialist kept the car for a further week to track down the problem. They tell me they employed an auto electrical specialist who eventually diagnosed a dodgy throttle potentiometer. They said they cleaned the contacts and told me to see how it went. For a couple of months it has behaved itself almost perfectly but over the last couple of weeks it has held onto a couple of gears. Not wanting to burn another gearbox I need to find the root of the problem. VW want £300 for a potentiometer so I was not going to fit one on the offchance. Speaking to my regular service engineer he swears blind there can be no contact between a dodgy throttle potentiometer and an automatic gearbox fault. Can anyone help?
God bless
Rev Gary Cadge Read more
First post from me, and probably in the wrong section, but here goes...
Until recently, I commuted by train, but now I need a car again, so had to get a second one so that my wife and kids aren't stranded when I go to work. Well, I took delivery of a Fiat Panda 1.1 Active last week and have done just over 200 miles so far. I have to say that I have been astounded by this car - I don't think that there is anything on the market at the moment which can touch it. I looked (from a distance) at the CityRover and decided to steer clear because of a) equipment levels; b) insurance grouping; c) fuel economy. Compared to the Panda it was, for me, a no-brainer.
The Panda cost just over £5,900 with metallic paint and is group 1E insurance. It's got front electric windows (with one-touch on driver's side), a fairly decent quality radio-cassette, comfortable seats, and a surprisingly nippy engine. OK, the engine's not exactly warp drive, but I was surprised at how good it was (I usually drive a 2.0HDi Picasso). You probably wouldn't want to do many long journeys in it, but that's not what the car's designed to do. As a cheap, basic run-around, I think it knocks the oppo into a cocked hat. Now, when I'm just doing the commute into the office (about 12 miles), it's the Panda I take! Read more
Ah, yes. Forgot to say....
There is an approx 3 month waiting list for most Pandas. We were told that for black, solid red, and metallic red, the wait would be about 8 weeks.
As it was, we were happy to have the black one out of the showroom, so got it within the week. And, to be honest, I think the black is good for the Active because the bumpers aren't so obviously un-painted!
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If you can do oil chages yourself do an extra oil and filter change between services (6 - 7500 miles) using an Audi filter and sump plug washer and the same oil that is used by your dealer, that way your engine will last and your warranty won't be affected as they know no better.