Just bought an A3!

Result my mechanic found a split pipe while he was replacing the MAF and intercooler pipe so no more rough starts from cold and at idle it is perfect now.

Just need to replace a broken central locking switch and the windscreen wipers now and she is back to her best again.

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Been our in the car today and all I can say is wow. Power is back to its very best and it's running better than ever.

It's days like this that I would not even consider selling it

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Adeel43 said:
Been our in the car today and all I can say is wow. Power is back to its very best and it's running better than ever.

It's days like this that I would not even consider selling it

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Thats great news, glad it's back to it's best.
Mine has a leak somewhere and I'm hoping to find it and fix it tomorrow.
 
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Damn, you've had so many problems with this car. Your nerves are made of steel, I would have sold the car long time ago if I were you as it sounds like a lemon.
 
I'm convinced this is linked to the faulty door lock which is causing the knackered micro switch to drain the battery.

I'll replace that as it needs to be done and if it happens again it's gone.

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Adeel43 said:
I'm convinced this is linked to the faulty door lock which is causing the knackered micro switch to drain the battery.

I'll replace that as it needs to be done and if it happens again it's gone.

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I doubt a faulty door switch would cause a battery drain, I had that exact same fault on mine and it never affected the battery.

Is there anything electrical that has been retrofitted or added at a later date as these tend to be a cause of battery drain if not installed properly. You could be looking for anything though, something could have been added to the radio that you can’t see that might be causing it, maybe some sort of lighting or maybe a tow bar with an electric connection. If not then as you say you’ll need an auto electrician to find the battery drain.
 
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ab1702 said:
I doubt a faulty door switch would cause a battery drain, I had that exact same fault on mine and it never affected the battery.

Is there anything electrical that has been retrofitted or added at a later date as these tend to be a cause of battery drain if not installed properly. You could be looking for anything though, something could have been added to the radio that you can’t see that might be causing it, maybe some sort of lighting or maybe a tow bar with an electric connection. If not then as you say you’ll need an auto electrician to find the battery drain.
Click to expand...
Nothing has been added to the car ever as far as I know.

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Have a look on Youtube for 'The Humble Mechanic', the guy is a VW Master technician who posts up all sorts of good videos.
I'm sure he has a video on replacing the door lock on a Golf GTI, and has a method for finding rogue power drains.
I haven't watched either video, but I think I saw them on his channel so it's worth a look.

Hope that helps in some way.
 
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I've pulled the fuse for the radio and these are the codes I'm getting through Carista now
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Best thing to do to find your drain.

Connect an amp draw meter to your earth cable just before it connects to the battery.

Open all your doors and bonnet and then close the latches with a screwdriver or similar,

Lock the car, you will need to monitor the draw but it should take 5-10 mins for the car to shut down all its systems properly, the drain should be no more than about 0.1amps, usually 0.01-0.02.

If your draw is above this it indicates a drain. Start removing fuses one by one until the draw settles down to an acceptable amount. You will then find the circuit your draw is coming from and you can go from there.
 
Do the above with the bonnet and any door switch pressed so you can access the car without waking it up
 
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aqibi2000 said:
Do the above with the bonnet and any door switch pressed so you can access the car without waking it up
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Yeah mayby I wasn’t very clear on that, you need to open all doors and bonnet then close the latches so that you can lock the car with the doors open to carry out the drain test with access to the fuses
 
Thanks guys. I'm going to get a proper auto electrician to look at it next week. The stuff you have mentioned above sounds like it right but a little beyond me.

Went to VW today to see what they would give me as px vs a new Golf and they offered £1200. What a **** take

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Have hired an auto electrician who is going to come and look at the A3 on Wednesday. Took it out for a drive last night for about 30 miles down the M3 and my god it drives so well...an it was clean so given what it is worth and how much money we have spent on it recently we need to get it fixed!
 
Typical the electrician came out to see the car but my wife took the keys out with her! He is coming back Monday so hopefully he can give the A3 the all clear.

The door lock has now been replaced and the pollen filter while it was there for good measure.

So in the last month it's had

Aircon sorted with new compressor and pressure switch
Turbo pipe and new MAF
New door lock and pollen filter
No dead battery in 4 days!

Hopefully that's it as we have spent about £1100 on all this!

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I really hope you have cracked it and can relax and enjoy it again.
Nothing worse that fixing a fault and finding another one appear.
 
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Daveyonthemove said:
I really hope you have cracked it and can relax and enjoy it again.
Nothing worse that fixing a fault and finding another one appear.
Click to expand...
I hope so and if we can pinpoint the stereo as the issue gives me an excuse to stick a double din in it!

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So this is still not fixed. I was hoping that this might have been the end but after leaving the car from Friday afternoon to Monday afternoon it opened but would not start.

My mechanic will lend me a known good battery as this one has been jumped a few times and might not be holding charge now.

I have noticed that the Hazard switch is illuminated all the time indicating a battery drain so I have a feeling we are still at square one.
 
So this morning has shed further light on the issue.

I've been to my mechanic who has lent me a brand new known gokd battery so we can rule the battery in or out over the next few days.

I also noticed that the rear interior light was on. No problem I thought kids have probably been pushing buttons and I'll switch it off. Got out of the car and pushing the switch did not turn it off. It remained on even after pushing the switch note the other side didn't work either and it's not the bulb.

I've disconnected the unit from the car and after about 90 seconds the hazard light went out so this should give me a clue as to what is wrong. The front dome lights work fine so hopefully just a faulty light unit. Next couple of days will tell me alot I hope!
9db35a37774ee16dfd802f48c80ae459.jpg


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Car now parked up and won't be moved until Monday afternoon normally enough to kill the battery. Keeping my fingers crossed!

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Hope you've got to the bottom of it, you could do without a draining battery especially with the colder weather returning.
 
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Good news. Since disconnecting the rear light the car was left standing for almost 4 days and started on the button!

Such a relief that we might have found the issue. Next step is to reconnect the radio and keep checking it

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Glad you're getting these sorted finally, as I am following this topic for a while now and I cannot believe the tough luck you've had with this car.
 
No dead battery since the rear vanity light was disconnected so looks like it is well and truly fixed.

I opted to take it out last night instead of my car and was surprised how low the Xenon beam sat as it hardly illuminated 4m to the front. It was really low so will need to get that adjusted

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Good news on the battery drain issue, glad you finally got that fixed.
Headlight alignment shouldn't be too difficult to sort out, hopefully that will be the last of your issues.
 
Will probably take it in to Audi for a winter check up and ask them to sort the headlights out when I'm there as I've read it needs VCDS to sort it properly. Another new niggle is the headlight washers. They have never worked and came out the other day and both have popped out. No idea how to get them back in!
 
I fitted the fan style washer jets this week. Bit of a tight fit but they are heated version and were only £7 delivered from China. Seem at least as good as the old ones that came off
 
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I fitted the fan style washer jets this week. Bit of a tight fit but they are heated version and were only £7 delivered from China. Seem at least as good as the old ones that came off
 
Nothing to add recently which in my case is good news! The Xenons are still pointing at the floor and the headlight washers are still sticking out of the bumper so they it's booked in for a "free" winter health check at Audi tomorrow which should be interesting!
 
Still got the now trusty A3. No problems since the last update and flew through its MOT with no issues.

Have been debating on what to do with it but with it worth virtually nothing compared to a newish A3 or A1 happy to keep it running.

One thing that it needs is better tech so looking at a double din conversion with one of the new Xtrons units and adding a reverse camera at the same time. Lots of threads to read on the topic but doesnt look that complicated
 
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The A3 has continued to be trouble free but knew it was too good to be true!

The passenger side footwell was very wet under the mat and on closer inspection I dont think it was rainwater. It has mostly dried now but was clear and felt almost greasy to touch. Where it has dried on the carpet it feels rock solid.

Any ideas?
 
Adeel43 said:
The A3 has continued to be trouble free but knew it was too good to be true!

The passenger side footwell was very wet under the mat and on closer inspection I dont think it was rainwater. It has mostly dried now but was clear and felt almost greasy to touch. Where it has dried on the carpet it feels rock solid.

Any ideas?
Click to expand...

could it be coolant, since the pipes enter through the bulkhead towards the passenger side - leaking matrix ?

how are your coolant levels?
 
It has a sunroof. A rather large panoramic one!

Coolant levels look ok and I've marked the bottle to keep an eye on it
 
Just cant think what is clear liquid and would feel oily but dry on the carpet rock solid.
 
Adeel43 said:
It has a sunroof. A rather large panoramic one!

Coolant levels look ok and I've marked the bottle to keep an eye on it
Click to expand...
It hasn’t rained recently in the UK and is it soaked right now?
Adeel43 said:
Just cant think what is clear liquid and would feel oily but dry on the carpet rock solid.
Click to expand...

coolant mixed with engine oil then leaked?
 
It hasn't rained but on the same note the car has not been driven. It's not wet but the carpet feels greasy on some areas and rock hard in others

How would coolant and oil leak into the front footwell?
 
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