A friend of mine has just bought a renault clio which has a vacuum pipe running from the back of the engine to just behind the drivers side headlight. The problem is this pipe is not connected to anything. There is also a 2 pin multi plug connector at the same location again plugged into nothing. Can someone please shed some light on what should go here as we are both stumped. When the engine is running there is a clear sucking noise coming from the pipe. Could this pipe be plugged into somthing to do with either cold start of emission control?

Thanks in advance for any help on this subject
s Read more

I have just bought a friend's 1999 model A4 B5 1.9 Tdi Avant (auto) for a smallish sum. It's very high mileage (175,000 ), but everything works, there's no rattles, the bodywork is in good condition, and it drives well. It was maintained up to 120,000 by the local Audi dealer, and then by a big fleet-maintenance operation, so has been looked after. Has only been used for motorway journeys.

The only thing I could find wrong when I test-drove it, was a vibration on the over-run, most pronounced at around 2200rpm, most noticeably when cruising at 60-70mph. Same vibration is also evident when revving the engine whilst stationary. So, it seems there is some coupling of the engine to the bodywork in some way, particularly when the drive-train is driving the engine. I reckoned it could be engine mounts, exhaust mounts or routing, or similar.

I took it along to my local independent Audi specialist for them to diagnose the problem, but, having spent a half-day looking at the car, they have informed me that they are not sure what the cause is. It's not the exhaust, or any pipe-work, They feel it may well be the engine mounts, but rather than waste my money on trial and error fixes (they didn't charge me anything, which was nice), they suggested I try to find someone with some other ideas who may be able to pinpoint the exact cause, eg maybe Audi dealer with access to a database of problems and symptoms.

So, whilst applauding the honesty of the independent Audi dealer (and also the fact that he didn't charge me anything), I am back to square one.

Anyone have any ideas? What's the cost of a speculative engine-mount change?

Paul Read more

51 reg 307 has only done 50k miles, the temperature gauge has hardly ever moved off zero from new . Last week it started to suddenly move right off the dial (not incrementally) and the cooling warning light comes on the dispaly and the red stop lights flash. There appears to be absolutely nothing wrong with it, the header tank level is normal, no steam, no water loss, the electric fan (s) are tripped in , radiator and pipes all feel fine. Car restarts fine sometimes it will run for a while before doing it again sometimes it does it straight away. Yesterday I drove 40 miles no problem, and halfway back it did it again. I presume some sort of sensor , but grateful for any help, Kind regards Read more

I seem to remember that it was some sort of particular offence to splash a pedestrian by driving through a puddle.

Well, having got soaked this morning by some eejit I'd like to pursue him all the way to the Court of Human Rights. I have his registration number, where do I begin?

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