Emission control light on - expensive quote from Audi to diagnose

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Monsoon

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The emission control light is permantly lit on my car (53 reg A3 2.0 FSI). Car drives perfectly normally though. I've done a search on here and found some useful information. I've booked it in for 2 days time at Hitchin Audi but they are quoting £85 simply to diagnose (originally quoted £105 and said this was standard cost for labour + diagnostic test). Did try a couple of other garages but no callback was received as promised, so no custom! As the car's out of warranty I was wondering if anyone knows whether this is a reasonable price? Seems very high to me. Oh, and if anyone has suggestions as to what the problem could be then that would be welcome too! Thanks.
 
Find someone with vag-com in your area and get them to read the fault codes for free, I am in Reading and I could do it for you, but there will be someone up by you.

Is it misfiring?
if not might be the Lamba sensor.
 
I agree, before you spend any money get somone to VAG-COM it for you.

Might be the Intake Manifold Runner which is emerging to be a problem on the earlier cars.
 
christ for an extra hour or so you could do diag for yourself for life, lol, but yeah anyone local with vag I'm sure will assist as I did for a guy with airbag light on, hey if you're local to me then I'd happily help.
 
im near leicester in the midlands with vagcom, if your near me i would be happy to help.
 
Thanks for the offers all. I'm in Hertfordshire so don't appear to be near to most of you. Perhaps it would be worth setting up a sticky thread listing those (and their location) who are happy to help fellow Audi-Sport users with Vag-Com diagnosis? I'll check this thread again tomorrow (Monday) at some point and see if anyone in Herts can help, otherwise it'll have to be the Stealer on Tuesday as it's already booked in. Cheers.
 
There is a thread in one of the other model specific sub forums, I added myself to it today.

Look at the stickies in the VAG COM sub forum.
 
have you thought of buying vagcom yourself monsoon, if you way up the cost of the stealer and the hassle of getting/being there you may aswell get it for yourself and benefit from all its other uses, its the best thing ive bought for a car in a long time.
im sure everyone on here will second that.
WHY PAY THE DEALERS?
 
It's tempting. How much is it and where can I get one from? More importantly, how would I make sense of the error codes?
 
Have a look at the Ross-Tech website.

One of the UK distributers is Genden ltd or you can order directly from Ross Tech in the US.

Uwe Ross and Sebastian Stange are great guys and the rest of the team provide good support too.
 
i got mine off a guy on here named (terrymcg) at approx the cost of what audi dealer is about to take off you, drop him a pm, im sure he will be glad to help and glad of the buisness, top bloke very helpfull.
if you get one then fault finding is very simple,once discovered fault, anything your not sure about, then everyone on here would be glad to help you out.
i found everyone on here very knowledgeable and helpfull and have saved myself quiet a few quid.
good luck.
 
Official leads/cables are only available from official dealers or directly from Ross-Tech. Anything other than that is a waste of money as they will not be able to support the newer versions of software.

I hope you didn't pay too much 1wheelonly as they are pretty cheap from China!!!
 
Gendan or MI-Diag are 2 good dealers, MI are £30 cheaper tbh & totally legit, I wouldnt even both aswell with cheaper leads, they only work on certain versions, blow if the software updates, also blow for no reason, wont work on updated software, no support & certainly newer modules added wont be accessible, with genuine you get to date free support, upgrades free & will work will all vag cars if you get full hex can usb which I always suggest, micro can to me is not worth if you wanna use on other cars or wanna use on next car.

Buy genuine you will never regret a single day of ownership.
 
Can someone in the know please post a link to the thread which has a list of who has VAG-COM and where they are located. Ta.
 
l was actually up at Audi in Perth today with this problem, second time. The first time they asked me if l had ran the car with low petrol. l had at one point. They said this was the problem and reset it, told me not to worry if the light stayed on, flashing is a different matter. Today they rechecked and found a mis-firing error. They changed a coil.
 
VRStu said:
I hope you didn't pay too much 1wheelonly as they are pretty cheap from China!!!
Click to expand...

VRSTu
i tried a cheapo from ebay and had alot of problems with it.
then was recommended off here to get the one i got.
its a 704.1 dual-k & can usb.
it seems fine and have done a few things on several cars with it so far.
 
But if you go for the newer software it will wipe the forged registration details from the cable and render it useless. As newer controllers become available you'll be missing out on the updates.
 
i know what your saying VRStu but what will i gain by that with my current car 04 18t cab as i dont seem to be able to use all the functions on this one, is this due to it not being canbus.
 
Without wishing to take the moral high ground nor have a dig at you, the guys at Ross-Tech don't work for fun and without them being paid for there efforts the good work that they put in they couldn't continue. Cheap cables from China don't help them.

I'm afraid I'm probably not the best person to be discussing this with as I do feel quite strongly about it as I think the software represents excellent value for money.

If your car is not CAN capable then you could buy a cheapo USB from eBay and a licence from Ross Tech for $99.
 
Personally i did try the cheapo at 1st & then learned my lesson & bought authentic full hex can usb which I wish I did 1st of all so I totally agree, all these people that have a 20k car & actually some I've actually convinced with new 30k s3's or a3's complain about £230+ for the lead but they happily pay audi £100+ an hour for work, get real, if you can afford a nice car of even 10k upwards you can easily afford the genuine item & also you get the benefits that come along with it, full access to all modules, free support, free updates, use on all vag cars(unless microcan)

For all those that want to get vagcom cheap, dont be so tight/cheap, if you are happy to cough up money for maps, exhausts etc all costing thousands overall then something that can save you thousands literally as it has me & convenience factor along with not having to pay the stealers so much, tell me why you wont pay for the genuine???

As for not using all the functions, like what exactly as if your car hasnt got all the systems installed then of course you cant access them all, just cause vagcom has all those modules doesnt mean your car has them all, common sense prevails I would have thought & your car is canbus given its 03 onwards, my old S4 B6 avant was 03 & was canbus so yours will be, even the S3 facelift 8L from 00/01 was canbus so yours must be, but canbus has no relevance to what you can access at all on your car, its software related or whats actually installed on your car.
 
i didnt want to upset anybody!

so can i now pay $99 and get support etc.

being a newbie to it all, i was told that the canbus side wasnt relevant to my car, it was k-line.
thought this odd as when i installed my rns-e i came across canbus then.

sorry if ive offened anyone, im not the sort of guy to rip anyone off, i was advised as to where i could get a decent one after having a china cheapo, wasnt aware at the time it was ripping a company off as i was told the software was a free download.
obviously since getting it and finding out more about it, these issuse have come up.
always the first to help anyone out if i can as is everyone on here.
genuine guy,small mistake.
 
Havnt upset anyone fella, just telling my opinion, thats what forum is for fella, problem is you can buy the license but doesnt mean your lead will work with latest software, trust me you're best bet & less hassle & most up to date software is to buy genuine, come on whats £230 when you have such a nice car, lol
 
:o.k:
do all the genuine ones come with protection built in as 3 cars ive done have all had 12v across pins 4 & 7 which i understand blows em up.
what does 804 have that 704 doesnt or is it all car dependant.
 
they are all guaranteed anyway, so any probs you can send back, but I've not heard to date & we're talking alot of years of any sent back with problems, they are ****** good leads & very well made, I doubt you'll ever have an issue
 
Like I said mate, I'm not having a dig either, no offence taken.

Yes the Ross-Tech cables are all ok with the 'After Market Radio' problem.

The changes are normally related to new controllers that are released onto the scene as well as tweaks to the software shell etc.

You'll get excellent support from the guys in the US, I once emailed them from inside a car and had an almost instant reply back. I often get help and advice from Sebastian as well, he is a really useful guy to know.
 
Update on the latest + 2 questions...

Had the problem sorted today at Hatfield Audi. It was the EGR - a flap got stuck open (or something like that). £310!

1) I found an earlier thread saying that there was an Audi Technical Service Bulletin on this problem. Does this mean there's a chance I can get a goodwill refund / part refund (car is now nearly 5 years old)?

2) Are there any other benefits to buying VAG-COM other than fault diagnosis?

Thanks.
 
This must be a very common rpoblem, it happened on mine luckily I still had three months on the warranty from the 2nd hand dealer i got it from and thankfully he didnt quibble!

Basically the code is something like 157 and it says the manifold flap is intermittently faulty. Its the actual throttle body with the flap in I think you have to replace there was a thread on here with a pierburg item which was cheaper than the £266 from audi.

What gets me is the cars run fine when the light is on
 
Monsoon said:
Update on the latest + 2 questions...

Had the problem sorted today at Hatfield Audi. It was the EGR - a flap got stuck open (or something like that). £310!

1) I found an earlier thread saying that there was an Audi Technical Service Bulletin on this problem. Does this mean there's a chance I can get a goodwill refund / part refund (car is now nearly 5 years old)?

2) Are there any other benefits to buying VAG-COM other than fault diagnosis?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Ouch! What mileage have you? My FSi is turning 5 years old shorly though its only got 21,000 miles on it. Dont fancy being stung for that, it eats into the MOD fund LOL
 
Ok, latest... as previously mentioned I found an old thread on here which said Audi issued a TSB for this problem and so I called Audi Customer Care and asked if they would consider a goodwill payment. A few days later, they got back to me and told me no such TSB has ever been issued and given the age and mileage of car (nearly 5 years, 41k miles) they won't pay. Thanks for all your help, and here's hoping no more problems!
 
You may be getting confused with the problem with the Intake Flap on the 2.0TDi for which there is a TSB.

Paul
 
Ah - you may be right Paul. Still, it was worth a try.
 
Just took mine in to Elite Motors, Specialist Audi (Birdham Road, Chichester) No Charge! tested and told me fault was Intake Manifold Runner £800 per side but as car was running ok just ring them again if fault came back on(orange emission engine symbol) and book it in.
 
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