Hello From The Cold North

[Southstand]

Hi all,

New to the board so I thought I'd better introduce myselfy and my car..

Currently I have an A4 Avant 1.8T Sport that I have had from new (4 years now) and it's been my faithful compaion all this time.

Recently the car has become a bit sick.

The Emissions Warning Light keeps coming on.
I have put i into the audi garage 6 times to get it fixed, each time the light stays off for about a day before it comes back on!

I've had Vaccum hoses changed, wiring checked and 2 new Lambda sensors fixed!

Anyone have a clue to the problem??

I would be grateful for any help.

[Spannr Man]

Firstly, can you state the mileage and year of manufacture for your car?

First point I would make is why after 3 probes and 6 visits you are putting it to this bunch of chocolates who obviously don’t know what they are doing. I'd say if they can't fix it after 2, maybe 3 visits then they are barking up the wrong tree by simply changing out probe after probe. .........unless you like that sort of thing

You don’t state the general serviceability of the car - plugs that aint been replaced for a while will not ensure a clean burn of fuel and mess up the engine running. So has the car been serviced regularly?

Also you don’t state your driving style, i.e. motorway or congested traffic.

Right now, as I see it, possible causes (likelihood in brackets)

1) Duff batch of probes supplied (less likely as VAG groups quality control is second to none)

2) Improper fitment / contamination during fitment (not impossible, but the foreman should be checking workmanship on 2nd return visit to ensure it wasn't the YTS / work experience gimp coating the probe in WD40 to help run it in the exhaust)

3) Some other contaminant destroying the probe, eg burned oil. (More likely and I’ve seen this a lot:
- Could be over-filled engine oil - has the car been serviced recently and if so how soon after service did the problem occur?

It's impossible to diagnose over the net mate, but I suspect your chuckin good money after bad with this garage and are not gettin anywhere. Ther ere dozens of reasons why the car would chuck out some oil through the blower causing this to happen so a vacuum check of the engine is necessary. I'd then be looking at compression check and the condition of turbo itself.


What is your driving style, have you thrashed the bollocks off it and expect it go on forever cos it’s German?

Give us a bit more info, i'll do what i can to help

[Southstand]

Firstly, thank you for getting back to me.

I'll try and give you as much info on the car and me.

The mileage is 47K and year on manufacture is 2001 (94 to 01 style)

You have the same opinion as myself about the ' audi technicians' as I have, but I'm stuck with them as they are the only ones for about 120miles. I don't want to drive to car too far, just in case.

The car is serviced on or before the service light comes on by the audi garage itself. So the Oil and belts are changed when they should be, as well as myself doing the necessary check when need be. The light came on 2 days before I was due to put it in for a service.
During that service they found a split vaccum hose, which they changed out.

My driving style is laid back, not too hard on the car, but this is mainly in city traffic, so it is a bit of stop start. I normally drive the car so it averages about 32mpg. The car will get a bit of a blow out about once a month up and down the motorway.

I've chucked only a small amount after this problem as they are doing their best to sell me a new one. So they are doing all the work after the initial probe change gratis, if not no sale!! They've even given me a top of the range A4 at the moment to run about in (not one of their A2 service cars) as they are trying to keep me sweet.

The car is in very good nick, so much so that the sales dept want the car to sell on their lot.

I hope I've given you enough info.
Again, thank you for your help so far.

[Spannr Man]

Soudns like you're gettin all the maintenance done good and proper according to the schedule so i doubt they would miss the basics. At least we are eliminating some of the obvious and easy stuff.

This is a tough one thoguh South. Regular sertvicing suggest plugs must have been done, and if they found a split hose then a vacuum check must have also been done too, unless they just took a pot luck guess....... I'd still suggest you look at the workmanship of the garage, suggest you do a spot check on them, just drop in past randomely and see if you catch one of the techs eating his sarnies sitting in a customers car, or how clean their coveralls are.


Fatbloke in the pub was bangin on about infrared and bluetooth on mobile phones causin agro in modern cars as all functions from engine management to electric windows and indicators are controlled via control modules, he reckons some types can be susceptible if it is after market device (ie not factory fit) as the devices when they 'pair' can cause interference with the UHz the modules give off. Factory fit bluetooth has a filter that works to ignore the natural frequencies given off, it's kind of semi-intelligent, knows what 'noise' to filter out and so they never have thsi problem

Just another suggestion, might be of some help. Just trying to work out why the light comes back on after you get into the car? Maybe it just dont like you anymore :P


Keep us posted on what the garage say.

[Southstand]

I'm going to go round today if possible as they have had the car since Wednesday and found nowt! This is the Official Approved Audi Dealership Garage!!
Although one of the guys was telling me a story similar to mine about this garage. Eventuially the car was driven 150miles to the next approved blah and they fixed it at the first time!!

One of the guys at work thinks it might be the Turbo seals have gone (sounds expensive) and blowing oil onto the Lamba sensor and therefore ruining the CAT.
He asked me if I let the engine idle for a minute or so after stopping to allow the turbo to wind down. Admittedly I knew nothing of this, but do sometimes sit in the car with the engine on after i have stopped.

Bit sceptical about the Bluetooth thing, but you never know. Angain admittedly I've since the turn of the year been using Bluetooth in the car!!

I'll keep you informed.

thanks again.

[Spannr Man]

blo*dy hell south, if you're turbo is ont he way out i wouldnt be driving it at all, you could take out yoru entire top end if she chucks a blade.

if the turbo is gone, its abotu £2k to replace it, but yoru cat would be wasted too, another £500 and cost to fit it all. yoo'd need a lora lora lolly or you'll be sweepin that workshop for the nest 50 years!!

like i said earlier, turbo failue aint uncommon especially if you have abused the bee-acth, and abuse can mean not lettign it idel properly after drivin.
You need to get clued up on driving a turbocharged car m8te or you might as well buy a Daewoo Matiz
It might well be the problem, but check everything else first as it would be a a real p*sser to fit it all, hand over £xx,000's, get in the motor and 1 mile down the road see the frickin light come on again : :nep: okey: :wallbash: :evil:

Good luck at the garage, if you see your car look for crumbs or bits of pickle fallen from sarnies. Hungry mechanics dont eat too clean when their not in their own souped up Corsas / Saxos.

Wouldnt doubt fatbloke too much though, he does good in the village pub quiz, he knows his stuff, when my subwoofer packed in, he's the one that found the volume turned down on my head unit.

Off for a roast in the quattro, have a good weekend m8te

[Southstand]

Fingers crossed it ain't the turbo and it's down to the Souped up novo mechanics that they have.

Currently I'm selling it to the garage as a trade in on the new motor (A4 Avant 2.0T Quattro S-Line - pick it up in Sept on a 55 plate).

We've agreed a trade in price, the only stipulation being that I don't do more that 5K in it (no chance of that). Just wondering when and how they will come back to me!!

Have a good weekend.

Thanks again

[Spannr Man]

Allright South, whast the news on your A4 turbo problem?

See your buying the new AVANT? What are ya, a farmer boy or do you just like buying heasp of food in ASDA and need a big wagon to take it all home!!

My mate was out thrashin his S3 at the weekend and suddenly his ECU light came on. He was drivin with an impreza at the time.....next thing every light on the dash comes on and there;s smoke blowin out from under the grills. What a mess, they reckon he's shot the engine. Started off underfuiling it, started overheating and hey presto, it all goes up in smoke. Nightmare. You'd better get that light fixed, or just leave it in the garage...........

[Southstand]

Good to hear from you again Spannr man, did you have a good weekend??

Had the call this morning from the garage, they tracked the fault to an inlet valve sensor which was F'kd, which inturn was making the ECU shut down the Lambda sensor?? So the previous 2 Lambda sensors were okay!

It's fixed now and of course no extra charge or any charge at all!! It must haver cost them a fortune in garage time. they had the Service manager, workshop Foreman and senior tech working on it since Wednesday last week! You were probably right that they did start of with a YTS on it, although didn't find sarnie crumbs in the car yet.

Isn't it wonderful how they pulled all the stops out when I told them they could lose a sale!!

Need the boot for the dog and the clubs, plus I think the Avant looks cooler than the saloon, especillay as the springs are being lowered by 20mm as well.
Spending an extra £4K kitting the car out too. Looking forward to hearing the BOSE sound system!!

Hopefully the light will stay off long enough to get the thing back to the garage for the trade in, then it's their problem. Or the next punter that buys it, but they'll be paying through the nose for a years warranty anyway!!.

Off to Glasgow tomorrow night for the U2 concert, that'll be a test to see if it has been fixed.

Shame about you mates' car, sounds very expensive. Is he looking to buy an A4 1.8T Sport Avant anytime in the future??LOL

[Spannr Man]

Hey South! Yeah, great weekend m&te cheers. Nailed a dozen pales of stella on Saturday night then went down the village disco wher we gave it some serious hands in the air dancin to Tony Christie. The local shope has just taken copies of it in to sell so it's teh top seller in the village. The night was top all round, apart from fallin off a table doin an impression of "Daniel Son" from the Karate Kid and sprainin my wrist (it's my fave movie of all time) I love to say WAX ON....WAX OFF as i polish my bonnet

THts good news on the motor front, only fatblokes uncle is an Audi tech, he tells me that when they get repeat problems they can't fix, they just take the bulb out of the dash so it's permanently off and teh jobs a good un

Bit worried they even found the inlet valve sensor on your car, as they didn't come in until 2003.........so unless you;'re car was sent back in the tardis to be sold in the year 2001, eff really knows!? Better speak to the oracle on matters, i'll see what FATBLOKE has to say when i meet him for a few ales and game of Connect 4 down the boozer 2 nite.

No way, you have a dog, is it real?- that's a bit posh innit!?

I 've just got one of them noddin thingies like from the insurance advert. It looks okay from a distance if you rub it's nose with grease to make it look wet.

Anyway that's my lucnhour more than up so better get back to it..

What you get up to at the weekend?

Cheers South,
Spannerm