Issues with A3 TDI 2004

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new2thegame

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Hi
New to this forum and new to the whole car game
I bought a A3 3 days ago and very much enjoyed everything car sounded ok and drive felt very nice however since then things have started to turn sour. The car has done 153800 exactly.
Many Problems:
1. The first problem that i noticed was when the car is idle or stationery the car very very slighly shakes can hardly notice it under some slight music. The problem is still there if foot is all the way down on the clutch however when driving no shake/judder at all, nothing at all.
2. Problem number 2 that i noticed on monday was that when the car is warm about 90 ish on the temp gaugue car does not start. It starts a little then goes dead. However when it is cold it starts again. It does take a about 2-3 seconds to start. Also the coil light (i think it is) is flashes when warm.
3. Problem number 3 happened about 2 hours ago. I was driving on the M5 and doing about 85mph and suddenly the car lost power but still was moving. The car did not pick up speed like it did all the way home. Very slugish. However one thing i did notice was that when the car lost some power i could feel the accelerator as if it had air in it, a hissing sound.
Still interested then read on.
4. And the last problem, i took the car for a little drive on the dual carriage way near my house and it was driving perfect no sluggish behaviour like i felt on the motorway took the car to about 60mph easily and comfortable but then i felt something dont really know what but felt something and then i saw the engine management light on slowed down a little and drove home. Nothing at all felt wrong with the drive but the engine managment light was still on. As soon as i drove home and opened a bonnet i heard a fizzing sound could not really tell where from but no smoke and anything like that could be noticed. I then switched the car off for a minute or and no fizzing noise coming from the engine.
I think i need some serious advice about my problems dont really wanna spend any more money on the car as i have bought new filters, oil and glow plugs also i have bought a timing belt kit but have yet to take it to the garage. Please can someone adivise me why these problems are occuring and also what will be the potential bill be.
Cheers in advance
 
1. most of the tdi's shake, nothing to really worry about. apparently can be cured by turning down the idle speed.

2. early 2.0 tdi's suffered from a hot start issue. can easily be fixed but nothing to worry about.

3. sounds like limp mode, possibly will be an over boost code or a boost leak

4. coil light means theres a fault code recorded. get a garage to scan it with vagcom
 
thanks for the reply, first car really so do not have great knowledge of cars
how can the hot start issue be fixed
also how do i know if a car is in limp mode, also if it was in limp mode than why did it drive perfect after the loss of power when i reached home and drove it after a hour or so. what is an over boost code, what damage may this cause. also what is a boost leak and also what damage can this cause, rough estimate of how much will my repair bill be.
forgot to mention coil light flashes for a few seconds then turns off when cold however when warm it flashes.
 
As far as I know hot start can be fixed by some sorta software update on the Ecu.

Limp no mode is when you loose all power and when you turn it off then back on again it resets itself and comes out of limp mode.

Overboost can be caused by sticky turbo veins, normally means a new turbo is needed.

Boost leak means there could be a leak in the turbo hose system which would be the reason you could be hearing air escaping.

Get it plugged in at a garage and report back with the findings
 
Drove to work today and no issues at all, no limp mode no nothing, car felt and drove fine although i did not do more than 60mph on the motorway.Mechanic will have a look at it some time today.will update soon
 
Got it connected to a fault reader and mechanic has said that the ecu stalled and that there was some sort of limit on the car that's why I felt the loss of power. No other faults came up, he told me that there is no problem with the turbo and if there was it would of come up on the reader. The mechanic was a friends friend he was in a little hurry so couldn't give a more detailed explanation. The only thing he did mention was not to drive over 90mph, which by law was correct. Any expand on the ecu stalling part. Can't seem to find anything on this
 
You need to get the car scanned with proper VAG equipment to discover fault codes. VCDS is the commonly used system by forum members and there is a map in the VCDS section of the forum showing people in your area who will help.

Problem 1 is common and idle speed adjustment ( with VCDS ) will help this.

Problem 2 is mainly fixed by a new starter motor. The engine ecu allows more fuel into the cylinders when cold so the starter catches quicker. When hot, there is no additional fuel and the starter has to work that much harder to start the car. The age of your car indicates this is the most likely reason for the problem

Problem 3 Sounds like turbo underboost which could be caused by the pressure pipe joint popping open. This is a very common fault on the BKD engine. The lack of power is caused by the engine management control module putting the car into 'safe' mode to stop any further damage and the hiss is air escaping. You will probably need a new pressure pipe which is not that expensive.

Problem 4 Is just a variation of problem 3 !

Get the car properly scanned and when driving do not exceed about 2000 rpm.
 
ok thanks for reply mike.the reader that the mechanic used was a psp look a like and red if that helps, lolhow much does it cost for getting it checked on the VAG equipment?also can anyone recommend a good gagrage in the birmingham/oldbury/dudley area.
 
Well my dad took my car for a short drive in the morning and took it to a garage, mechanic found problems to be 17056 cylinder 2 glow plug circuit00912 window regulator switchThat's the 2 faults found however the mechanic who checked the car yesterday did reset the engine management light. :(My dad was not aware of this Do I just wait for the problem to occur again as the mechanic said he was not able to do anything as faults had been reset
 
fault code is P0672. done some reserach and have found the following:symptomsPossible sumptoms of OBD code P0672- Engine Light ON (or Service Engine Soon Warning Light) - Lack/Loss of Power - The engine may be harder to start - Engine hesitationI am just thinking the problem that i had on the motorway, lack/loss of power and engine light on, could the problem have been due to glow plug fault. Also the engine is harder to start, i have mentioned this problem in my first post. Was there ever anything wrong with the turbo in the first place? if there is a problem with the pressure pipe would this show on vcds??
 
Glow plugs are only used for cold starts, so hot starting it shouldn't be these. Some people say they aren't even used/needed in cold starts either non these unless temp is zero or less.

At this stage I wouldn't bother changing the glow plugs, it definintely won't fix a poor running issues/loss of pwoer.
 
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I thought you said in your first post that the car was hard to start when hot ? As said by c_w the glow plugs only work from cold ( if necessary ) and do nothing when the engine is running. I have explained the main reason for poor hot starts and the most likely remedy.

When the engine went into 'limp' mode it will have recorded either an overboost or underboost in the ecu ( my guess is underboost ) but your mechanic erroneously erased this fault code before making a note of it. It will only show up again when the fault re-occurs.

You should now go to an independent VAG dealer and get a smoke test which will reveal the leaking pipe.

EDIT : window regulator fault 00912 refers to passenger front door :- 00912 - Ross-Tech Wiki
 
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