Just got an S3 and got a few problems

dnLcal

dnLcal

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Hi, just picked up an S3 today test drove it last week and picked it up today.

The car was sweet, driving home and about 60miles down the motorway the stereo stops and an intermitent beep starts (no dash warning lights) and sounds for about 30secs. so i pulled into the next service station to check its all ok and at lowspeed when steering i hear a whiring noise. when stationary and turning left to right the noise is deffinatly coming from around the PAS pump, altenator, AC compressor area.

Are theire any known faults with the S3's power steering?

Drove it back and it seems fine just making a whiring noise, then i went from my dads house to my house and along a dual carriage way i start to get some vibration under acceleration from the left front any ideas what this could be?

There is also a knocking coming from the gearbox when in nuetral with the clutch up. as soon as the clutch is pressed the knocking stops.

Also the car only came with 1 key that is not the remote, went to the dealers and they quoted my £175 for the key cutting and coding. are there any other places that can do this cheaper?

Cheers in advance.
Cal
 
Wiring is probably due to low power steering fluid, check the level.

Vibration could be wheel balancing or tracking issue.

Knocking on the gearbox doesn't sound too good. Could be the flywheel on its last legs. I've had a thrust bearing go on a previous car that had knocking through the gearbox!
 
Take it back to the garage if you have just got it and demand they sort it out I would.
One of my friends got a Tigra which ended up with 4 faults within first month owning it we took it back and after a few hours of talking and kicking off they sorted all of the problems out and he even got a car to use in the meantime (metro lol). Must add they where very dis interested at first.
 
Westle said:
Wiring is probably due to low power steering fluid, check the level.

Vibration could be wheel balancing or tracking issue.

Knocking on the gearbox doesn't sound too good. Could be the flywheel on its last legs. I've had a thrust bearing go on a previous car that had knocking through the gearbox!
Click to expand...

At a guess all the above sounds right.
I would say thrust bearing too
 
PAS fluid is very low so will go top that up.

The garage is 150miles from me, so i'll repair it myself. going to get the tracking and wheel balance done done today or tomorrow. Think i'll spend christmas eve doing the rest of the fluids as i dont beleive the garage serived it now with the PAS level that low.

Have good memoroes of changing gearbox oil in the snow so a bit of deja vu!

Cheers guys
Cal
 
How many thrust bearings are there ? my only experience of a thrust bearing problem was on my dads old Audi, that used to sound worse with the pedal in, more of a whirrng than a knocking...
 
steering rack could be on its way out, check for fulid leek on the front, the seals might be gone, you will need a replacement rack soon, picked one of ebay or £100 & £80 to fit it. audi wanted about £900 all in
 
Topped up ther fluid and thats done the trick. looked under the car and the rack is definatly leaking, drenched the front left wishbone. so i'll have a look tomorrow if its fixable or if its a new rack job.

As for the wheel vibration im pretty sure its transmission related now as once the clutch is depressed the car feels smooth and nice, i'm going to asume the thust bearing is knackered or worn.

Cheers guys.

Apart from all the problems in my 5hours of ownership the car is lovley.

One other thing when i was under the car i noticed there is a sensor on the sump, this isnt conected... where does the wire for this come from and what is it?

Cheers.
Cal
 
dnLcal said:
Topped up ther fluid and thats done the trick. looked under the car and the rack is definatly leaking, drenched the front left wishbone. so i'll have a look tomorrow if its fixable or if its a new rack job.

As for the wheel vibration im pretty sure its transmission related now as once the clutch is depressed the car feels smooth and nice, i'm going to asume the thust bearing is knackered or worn.

Cheers guys.

Apart from all the problems in my 5hours of ownership the car is lovley.

One other thing when i was under the car i noticed there is a sensor on the sump, this isnt conected... where does the wire for this come from and what is it?

Cheers.
Cal
Click to expand...

Cal, it sounds to me like you know your way round a car very well? I'm assuming you gave the car a good going over before you bought it? Just suprised at how many issues you have had within 5 hours of ownership, must be some sort of a record ;)
 
Yea it picked up the PAS Problem after 60ish miles, so was'nt picked up on test drive.

And the vibration started after i got back, all be it, after giving it a bit of a launch.

Proberly the wrong time of the year to be buing a car to be fair. underneth she looks good apart from the PAS and sensor.

Called up the garage and they asked me to ring them back with the diagnosis, just a bit reluctant to take it that far for a clutch or slave cylinder.

Cheers.
Cal
 
The beeping you originally mentioned is "i think" the speed limit alarm you can set, when i first got mine i remember a similar thing, there's a procedure in the handbook to tell you how to reset it, if you not got the handbook PM me and i'll scan and send you the pages from mine. The sensor in the sump is for your oil level sensor, off the top of my head i'm not sure where the wire comes from, but going under mine tomorrow so will take a look and a picture and i'll drop a post on here too.
 
Well I've not got enough of a clue to advise on any of the mechanical stuff (the other lads here clearly got that covered!) but I think I know the cause of the stereo stopping and beeping -- if it's the Audi stereo in it, it's probably that you have got the 'TP' (traffic preset) switched on and you've driven out of the reception area of a station that broadcasts a 'TP' signal. A strange 'feature' I discovered on one of my first times out in my A3. As bobby said, however, it could be a warning on the trip computer/DIS but I don't think these mute the stereo (I'll prepare to be corrected!)
 
I think it may have been something to do with the stereo. It has the 'audi concert' in it and had a TP light illuminated. I held it down and the light went out and the beeping has stopped.

The PAS feels 90% better now going to give it a full bleed with the audi PAS fluid in the next few days and get the clutch, flywheel and slave cylinder done by a mate that has some better facilities in his garage than i do, because after looking under the car looks like the gearbox could be a tight squeeze to get through the subframe and dont fancy taking the engine out in my garage to be honest.

Cheers very much for the help.
Cal
 
dnLcal said:
I think it may have been something to do with the stereo. It has the 'audi concert' in it and had a TP light illuminated. I held it down and the light went out and the beeping has stopped.
Click to expand...

Glad it sorted it mate, merry xmas!
 
Beeping is radio, either reception or data. Knocking/vibration is the flywheel. Pas noise is the leak.
 
very confident diagnostic!!!

If you bought from dealer you get a 3 month warranty that normally allows you to get the car fixed at a local garage. I had some things done to mine but its a hassle. Prob best to fix it yourself as it sounds like you're handy at it!
 
Got it at a garage (not a dealer). Will change the flywheel, clutch and slave cylinder. Is it possible to get the box off without removing the subframe? As it looks a squeeze.

I'll call up the garage I bought it from and see if they will pay for it to be done. If so saves me the hassel.

Cheers.
Cal
 
Take it to the place you bought it from, g/box removal is far from easy also I would never even consider paying for repairs to something I just bought. And whilst I'm confident that my diag is correct you'll be fu**ed off if I'm wrong, take it to a garage.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
audi upgrades
Will take it to a garage tomorrow and contact the garage I got the car from and get them to repair it.

Cheers kunit will let you guys know the outcome tomorrow.
 
Hey,
The flywheel clutch and slave have been replaced and the problem has been solved, had a look at the flywheel and there was about 10mm of play in the flywheen which was a bit worying, the clutch looked fairly new but due to the flywheel play had excessive wear on the outer edge.

The steering is now sorted was just a leak and feels lovley now.

Noticed my car has a very unpredictable turbo, seems possibly as though the DV is sticking open or opening too soon and opening too soon, sometimes there is no boost and sometimes it throws you back.

Also the 4wd system seems to clunk and shuffle the power around when performing slow manovers (ie. 3point turns). is this common or normal?

Did a fault code check and got 4 fault codes: -
P1555
Charge pressure, upper limit exceeded

P0411
Sec.Air Inj. Sys. Incorrect Flow Detected

P1602
Power Supply (B+) Terminal 30 Low Voltage

P0102
Mass Air Flow (MAF) Circuit Low Input


I'm not sure on these but im assubing the charge pressure upper limit fault could cause the car to go into some sort of limp mode but, i thought this would make the car slower but still predictable.

Cheers for the diagnosis, am starting to love the car now :)

Cal
 
I would clear the codes. Drive the car for a bit and get the codes read again. How much was the clutch and the flywheel to get done?
 
had a similar thing with my turbo, seemed to be lacking power at times and ok others, i got a replacement DV from forge, made from billet aluminium, and can be uprated if you tune the car, they do upgade kits for about £20-30 the DV cost's about £90. probably just a mind trick but the car did feel more "pokey" once fitted.
 
Went to R-tech today and had the faults cleared and then took the car for a spin, was running amazingly. Just as i pulled into their carpark again i felt no boost, fault code P1555 came back again, had a look and the inlet manifold to ?wastegate? hose (4mm ID) and N75 to Actuator Hose where only aquarium tube, i have now replaced them with silicone hose and will go and try and clear the code (with my shareware version of VAGCOM) and take the car for a spin. i bought a boost gauge so will fit this tomorrow and see what boost im getting.

Cal

PS
Had a couple of other jobs done on the car cost £923 for clutch release bearing flywheel, gbox oil, pass fluid, and 2 other short jobs inc labour and VAT.
 
Can you get live data from the shareware version of VAGCOM? so i can see a graph of the boost?

Have cleared the code and taken it for a spin and then felt the boost drop and sure enough the fault had came up again (P1555 Charge pressure, upper limit exceeded).

I'm thinking there Could be a dodgy map in the car now or the DV is gone?

Cal
 
I dont think you can get live date from a shareware version. Get someone with a normal version and check group 115 for you boost.

Did you try driving without you MAF plugged? maybe its dying...
 
Not tried it without the MAF.
Have had an almighty hangover today so havent been out to the car, luckily someone came to my new years party that works for an vag tuning company so i'm going to take the car in tomorrow and get it pressure tested and see if there is an aftermarket map in it if so i'll get it put back to standard, and if the dv is gone replace it with a forge 007p.

Cal
 
Had a nightmare of a day today, on the way to the garage i lost all gears, luckily i had just parked the car, the gear selector bracket had snapped so removed this and went everywhere trying to fine one but the earliest i can get one is wednesday, so i got it welded up (it had previously been snapped and tack welded by the look of things). No dealers can cross reference the part number (it has a VW logo on it), but GSF found it straight away and said it was only availibe at the dealer. the part number is 02M 301 232-A it is held on the gearbox casing with two bolts and has a spline shaft run through it and has the gear linkage conected around it.

So didnt get to the garage to get the car pressure tested and seen if it has a none standard map in it. after todays problem i had a go over the engine bay looking for any more suspect components and found the N249 valve only atttached by the electrical wire. after looking into this it looks as though someone has attempted the N249 bypass but not done the whole job as the valve seems to be the reason the car is going into limp mode and throwing up fault code P1555 (Charge pressure, upper limit exceeded). All the guides i have looked at for the N249 bypass have not really helped as i am missing most of the bypassed parts. ive taken a pic of my engine bay: -

enginebay1.jpg



1.hose from DV to under inlet manifold
2.hose from N75 to turbo actuator?? (n/s turbo)
3.hose from ?? to under inlet manifold

I Feel the N249 is to balme after typing the Part number on the valve into google and finding this

'This is a commonly defective part on Volkswagen and Audi engines. The n249 Valve controls the DV, and when it goes out your car will more than likely be stuck in limp mode.'

Can anyone explain what i need to do to properly bypass the N249?

Cheers.
Cal
 
It looks as though the n249 bypass has been done right, your layout is a little different to mine because yours is APY but seems fine, could be be your DV causing the fault?

Feel like giving it a good tidy up for you :)
 
Pressure test showed no leaks, DV test showed it was fine.
took if for a road test and found a boost spike that went higher than the ECU's perameters allowed thus putting it into limp mode.
got it remapped and took it for a road test and the car feels amazing now.

Starting to love this car :)

Cal
 
Did you manage to sort of the fault with the P0411 Sec Air Inj. Sys. Incorrect Flow Detected code?

I had this problem and tried everything but still couldn't find the problem until i stripped the engine down for a rebuild and found the pump to be full of water !!
 
The codes seem to all be old codes that hadn't been cleared.

P0411 and P1602 never returned after they where cleared.

P0102 was due to me running with the MAF disconnected

P1555 was due to the old map increasing the boost without modifying the ECUs boost parameters.

The new map allows the car to boost within the ECU's parameters.

So no fault codes, and lots of boost.

Just gave the car a nice clean, and refitted the engine covers so it looks nice and tidy now sandip ;)

Cheers for all the help guys, the car is'nt perfect yet but its getting closer and makes me happy to drive it now rather than disapointed!

Cheers.
Cal
 
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