Problematic Car

[Bigjase88]

Think i have purchased myself a Problematic / friday car.

i thought i had found a good one, immaculate condition 2 owner with full Audi service history and Audi service plan until 2023.

seems like full Audi service history doesn’t really add up to much.

so far i have replaced both front disc backing / dust plates, after 7 years and 69k miles they basically fell off, although i do think in the grand scheme of things thats a little premature. Would expect such items to make it to over 100k miles and 10-15 years old. Suppose they are just flimsy tin items.

the Air con hasn’t worked since i got the car, 3 trips to the dealer later.... and i have working air con (new condenser required)

trip 1 - diagnosis
trip 2 - wrong / damaged new condenser
trip 3 - 2 days to fit correct condenser

on the journey home all is good air con is ice cold, had it full whack just to make sure. Obviously now i am cold so whack the heating on HI, havent had it on high since owning the car since June, usually i have it on 20 degree’s. 10 mins later i’m still frozen, no heat from the heaters.

back to the garage (this is today) and diagnosed as a blocked heater matrix as the silica gel bag in the reservoir has bust and blocked the heater matrix.

Thank god it’s all covered under warranty but i would image any profit in the car from me purchasing it has all but evaporated!

they fitted a timing belt and waterpump and refurbed all 4 wheels as part of the deal. So hopefully once this is finally fixed then i have a pretty well sorted car and they have lost a wedge of cash. Fingers crossed.

story / rant over

 

[Walternate]

after 2 previous owners, 7yrs and 69k miles = you can still call this a friday car?

 

[Bigjase88]

after 2 previous owners, 7yrs and 69k miles = you can still call this a friday car?

Possibly not however

To be fair at 69k miles on a 63 plate with full Audi history i don’t expect the disc backing plates to fall off with corrosion, the air con condenser to be dead and the heater matrix to be blocked. Especially when the car was still 5 figures.

would expect these issues at 100k+ 10 years old+
Then again i did have a brand new Seat Leon 2 years ago and a lot of stuff broke / fell off that too.

my old scrapper Citroen work van on 150k is in better mechanical health it seems than the Audi

 

[AlS3BE]

That’s probably not bad going for a 7 year old car with 69k to be fair. It’s more poor pre sales check than a bad car.
I’ve had a couple of proper Friday afternoon cars now. Currently my wife’s cars at 1 year old and 5000 miles on the clock it’s had new suspension arms, new wiper motor/arms, new door handle, a million software updates and it’s going back for a new windscreen, seat sensors for the electric memory seats and it’s getting an engine rebuild cause the balance shaft needs replaced.
In the process of rejecting the car now or they are replacing it as it’s not been right since day 1. Been to the dealerships as much as I’ve been to the petrol station ***.

 

[Bigjase88]

That’s probably not bad going for a 7 year old car with 69k to be fair. It’s more poor pre sales check than a bad car.
I’ve had a couple of proper Friday afternoon cars now. Currently my wife’s cars at 1 year old and 5000 miles on the clock it’s had new suspension arms, new wiper motor/arms, new door handle, a million software updates and it’s going back for a new windscreen, seat sensors for the electric memory seats and it’s getting an engine rebuild cause the balance shaft needs replaced.
In the process of rejecting the car now or they are replacing it as it’s not been right since day 1. Been to the dealerships as much as I’ve been to the petrol station ***.

My 2018 seat leon was like that hence why i chopped it in.

both front arch liners disintegrated (seem to be made of paper or cardboard)
Lost wheel bolt caps on a weekly basis
Everytime you opened the bonnet the latch plastic cap popped off
The heater controls cracked in the sunlight
The dash instrument cluster also cracked in the sunlight
Everytime you opened the boot the rear light covers would fall off
And to top it all off the engine stuttered (1.5 tsi kangaroo edition)

i’m unsure at that age / mileage i wouldn’t expect items like a blocked heater matrix and dead a/c conditioner and the disc backing plates that corroded they fall off the car. Thats not good quality. However i do understand that things in this day and age are built to a budget and not to last. Can only image the sort of repair bills we will face in the future with all this electric nonsense.

 

[AlS3BE]

Disc backing plates will corrode differently regardless of quality. If you lived by the sea the salty air etc will corrode very quickly compared to living in the middle of a dry desert. It’s a thin pressed metal plate so as soon as there’s a break in the paint/coating it will corrode very quickly. At around a tenner they aren’t expensive so really a wear and tear.
Burst condenser was probably a stone chip or something that caused it. Partly design issue and partly due to the state of ours roads and debris on the road.
Burst silica bag is a design issue or part failure which lead to heater matrix issue. This has been a known issue for a while so dealers should have picked this up before sale in their 200+ point pre sale check.
I would say this is mostly wear and tear on a 7 year old car and not unexpected and the fact it’s lasted this long I would say the quality isn’t that bad. The rest is just poor pre sales check.
Would say none of this is a build quality issue like your Leon just really the dealer chucking a car on the forecourt without really checking it thoroughly.

 

[Bigjase88]

Disc backing plates and bolts are around £25 each not £10, and they are OEM Audi. Why does my 10 year old Shitroen van with 150k have the original disc backing plates in tact? The Audi ones are made of cheese!

yeah the silica bag has probably burst. Another Audi own goal right there.

 

[AlS3BE]

Disc backing plates and bolts are around £25 each not £10, and they are OEM Audi. Why does my 10 year old Shitroen van with 150k have the original disc backing plates in tact? The Audi ones are made of cheese!

yeah the silica bag has probably burst. Another Audi own goal right there.

it’s a metal plate. A £25 one from Audi isn’t gonna be much better than a £10 euro one. Even at £25 I wouldn’t expect it to last 7 years. An air/oil filter is about the same price and you wouldn’t expect it to last that long.
Again it all could be the previous owner and where he lived and how he cleaned or serviced the brakes. If you had both the van and the Audi from new and used them in the same way you could make that comparison.

The silica bag is designed to increase the longevity of the coolant so it has a design purpose. I’m still curious how these burst as they are tough little bags not like a paper tea bag. I had one out with a mate(he owns a garage) and it takes a bit of effort to burst like jabbing a screwdriver through it and where it sits in the coolant bottle there’s very little going in there. But yeah agree it could have been designed better so it doesn’t screw the heater matrix when it does burst.
I’m not trying to argue here by the way. Might have come across that way. Just providing another objective view. Would say luckily for you they are fixing it all under warranty. I’ve had stuff in a 2 and half year old car not fixed under warranty before.

 

[RS03_SEN]

Think i have purchased myself a Problematic / friday car.

i thought i had found a good one, immaculate condition 2 owner with full Audi service history and Audi service plan until 2023.

seems like full Audi service history doesn’t really add up to much.

so far i have replaced both front disc backing / dust plates, after 7 years and 69k miles they basically fell off, although i do think in the grand scheme of things thats a little premature. Would expect such items to make it to over 100k miles and 10-15 years old. Suppose they are just flimsy tin items.

the Air con hasn’t worked since i got the car, 3 trips to the dealer later.... and i have working air con (new condenser required)

trip 1 - diagnosis
trip 2 - wrong / damaged new condenser
trip 3 - 2 days to fit correct condenser

on the journey home all is good air con is ice cold, had it full whack just to make sure. Obviously now i am cold so whack the heating on HI, havent had it on high since owning the car since June, usually i have it on 20 degree’s. 10 mins later i’m still frozen, no heat from the heaters.

back to the garage (this is today) and diagnosed as a blocked heater matrix as the silica gel bag in the reservoir has bust and blocked the heater matrix.

Thank god it’s all covered under warranty but i would image any profit in the car from me purchasing it has all but evaporated!

they fitted a timing belt and waterpump and refurbed all 4 wheels as part of the deal. So hopefully once this is finally fixed then i have a pretty well sorted car and they have lost a wedge of cash. Fingers crossed.

story / rant over

3 pretty cheap issues on a 2nd hand car with 70k miles. Cool story bro.

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[Bigjase88]

3 pretty cheap issues on a 2nd hand car with 70k miles. Cool story bro.

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What a END

is this the kind of forum you get when you join an Audi one?

maybe thats why there isn’t many topics / no community spirit and next to nowt going on.

 

[Sandra]

What a END

is this the kind of forum you get when you join an Audi one. Every1’s a smart ****?

maybe thats why there isn’t many topics and next to nowt going on.

Absolutely no need for the above reply.

 

[RS03_SEN]

What a END

is this the kind of forum you get when you join an Audi one?

maybe thats why there isn’t many topics / no community spirit and next to nowt going on.

You're moaning about the most trivial of jobs on a 7 year old 70k mile car.
I bought a Mégane RS with less miles than that and had the clutch done twice in the first 6 weeks. 650 quid first time because of the fly wheel then 450 second time.
Cars break. Maybe have a look at the car properly before you buy it and you won't have these issues.

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[RS03_SEN]

Absolutely no need for the above reply.

It's fine. He's just upset because he wanted to spend that 20 quid on a new dress.

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[Bigjase88]

Absolutely no need for the above reply.

No need for original reply

 

[Bigjase88]

You're moaning about the most trivial of jobs on a 7 year old 70k mile car.
I bought a Mégane RS with less miles than that and had the clutch done twice in the first 6 weeks. 650 quid first time because of the fly wheel then 450 second time.
Cars break. Maybe have a look at the car properly before you buy it and you won't have these issues.

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Heater matrix at a dealer will be a 4 figure job (not trivial)
Aircon condenser another £500-800 at a dealer (not trivial)

 

[Bigjase88]

It's fine. He's just upset because he wanted to spend that 20 quid on a new dress.

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Keyboard type. Again i shall repeat you sir are a END

 

[Sandra]

Keyboard type. Again i shall repeat you sir are a END

There was no need for your reply. You probably wouldn’t say that to anyone in person, so don’t do it here. It’s unacceptable.

 

[Bigjase88]

There was no need for your reply. You probably wouldn’t say that to anyone in person, so don’t do it here. It’s unacceptable.

You obviously do not know me because yes i would 100% call some out in person if they were trying to be a smart bottom. I am not your typical keyboard warrior type like RS03 SEN who would shy away in the real world.

 

[S32B]

Come on guys let's keep it friendly and move on! be the bigger person and draw a line under it.

But back to the original post, it made me think how silly I was worrying about buying my 3 years old A5 with just 9,000 mile on the clock...and I've had it since new

 

[Dubjam]

You obviously do not know me because yes i would 100% call some out in person if they were trying to be a smart bottom. I am not your typical keyboard warrior type like RS03 SEN who would shy away in the real world.

When posting on a public forum, you are initiating debate and discussion. You may not agree with everything being said or how people say/phrase it, and some may intentionally play the wind up card (its been noted @RS03_SEN ), but going personal will never work out well for anyone.

A good rule of thumb for all to remember is to bat the 'post' and not the 'poster' .

 

[RS03_SEN]

When posting on a public forum, you are initiating debate and discussion. You may not agree with everything being said or how people say/phrase it, and some may intentionally play the wind up card (its been noted @RS03_SEN ), but going personal will never work out well for anyone.

A good rule of thumb for all to remember is to bat the 'post' and not the 'poster' .

Apologies. Yes I do enjoy winding people up, sorry.
And sorry to you too littlejase x

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[CanadaA3wales]

I got my 2014/15 A3 2.0 for very cheap £5000.00 with 100,000 miles on the clock with no service history for the first 4 years of its life, it was a company lease. I am sure it had been serviced but with no records (Audi has no record either), thats why mine was so cheap as Glass's Guide on my spec was £7500.00 so I got a bargain.

I was expecting problems, I had to do a major service with gear box oil, and everything that could be replaced, it was.
I then did all the brake pads and discs which with the major service came to £650.00

I suppose if your not expecting problems it can be very irritating, but I was expecting to spend the money, oh also every corner had a different wheel on it LOL. even though they had lots of meat on it, I fitted 4 new michelin tyres.

Then just recently my rear caliper went. So new Electric caliper with motor, new discs and pads even though they were just replaced for £260.00

I know how you feel mate, when it all goes wrong it feels like its one thing after the other, it can be very annoying.

I would have probably been better to spend the £7500.00 for a full service history model, but I do not think a full serivce history for 2500.00 is worth it.

Oh one of my brake back plates rotted off as well, seems to be a issue so my mate went around all of them and made sure they were solid.

 

[AlS3BE]

Wow that escalated quick
Chill out guys. ​

 

[Obrn]

I’ve had multiple coolants placed due to this silica clogging it up. Two recalls and I had the coolant reservoir replaced, multiple flushes and the same problem keeps happening. Now they told me this debris and spilt over to my water pump. I’m so frustrated!

 

[Bigjase88]

I’ve had multiple coolants placed due to this silica clogging it up. Two recalls and I had the coolant reservoir replaced, multiple flushes and the same problem keeps happening. Now they told me this debris and spilt over to my water pump. I’m so frustrated!

Uh oh

car is back at the garage tomorrow. Feel they may have it a while as a heater matrix replacement isn’t a 5 minute thing.

 

[Hemesh]

Ouch... I feel your pain! I hope you don't get the MMI no sound issue either mate... if you hear crackling in the speakers when the volume is low... take it back and get the MMI replaced under warranty if you still have it!

 

[Bigjase88]

Ouch... I feel your pain! I hope you don't get the MMI no sound issue either mate... if you hear crackling in the speakers when the volume is low... take it back and get the MMI replaced under warranty if you still have it!

why do VAG cars seem to have so many common faults

car at garage today looking like heater matrix is going to go into day 2

 

[Hemesh]

why do VAG cars seem to have so many common faults

car at garage today looking like heater matrix is going to go into day 2

Must be the new ones. I had a 2001 Passat 130 TDI PD... it was brilliant and sold it at 190k miles... only sold as the bodywork was rusting a bit from when I had an accident in it at around 80k miles...

 

[Bigjase88]

2 days in garage.

new heater matrix and new coolant reservoir and flush

passenger side is red hot
drivers luke warm

could not be bothered arguing will drive for a month or so and go back.

about sick of this car already.

 

[AllanG]

^^^^ I’d be looking to sell your car if it were mine, or reject it and ask for a full refund!

 

[Bigjase88]

^^^^ I’d be looking to sell your car if it were mine, or reject it and ask for a full refund!

If i can get it sorted in theory should be a good motor

full audi history
Immaculate body work
Does have new air con condenser
Timing belt and water pump done at purchase
New heater matrix and reservoir
Audi service plan to 2023

if can sort this issue out fully should in theory be a car with a bit of longevity in it (i hope)

less than 70k 2.0l tdi s-tronic. Should in theory have another 100k in it, but all the ancillaries seem to fall apart before the engine.

 

[Bigjase88]

I’ve had multiple coolants placed due to this silica clogging it up. Two recalls and I had the coolant reservoir replaced, multiple flushes and the same problem keeps happening. Now they told me this debris and spilt over to my water pump. I’m so frustrated!

So do you have no heating either?

 

[Bigjase88]

Turns out the Silica bag split in the coolant reservoir and blocked the heater matrix. I would urge anyone with this silica bag still in the reservoir to remove ASAP.

 

[craigpanthercrystal]

The Silica bag thing has been on my mind, I think I will try to remove it. I did take a quick look a few months back but couldn't feel it in there tho.
Regards to the disc backing plates, my car too is a 63 reg and mine are almost like new, they are originals too as I got the car of the original owner at just over 3 years old so not sure why yours are so bad. has it been washed by local car washers a lot? as they use some nasty chemicals.

 

[Bigjase88]

The Silica bag thing has been on my mind, I think I will try to remove it. I did take a quick look a few months back but couldn't feel it in there tho.
Regards to the disc backing plates, my car too is a 63 reg and mine are almost like new, they are originals too as I got the car of the original owner at just over 3 years old so not sure why yours are so bad. has it been washed by local car washers a lot? as they use some nasty chemicals.

Yeah 100% get it out of there!!

 

[CanadaA3wales]

How do you know if you have the bag, does it only come in certain models or years?
How easy is it to take out if I have one?

 

[Bigjase88]

How do you know if you have the bag, does it only come in certain models or years?
How easy is it to take out if I have one?

Says

“Mit Silikat” on the front of the coolant reservoir

 

[CanadaA3wales]

Says

“Mit Silikat” on the front of the coolant reservoir

Thanks, will look tomorrow

 

[Bigjase88]

Thanks, will look tomorrow

See video

 

[Bigjase88]

The Silica bag thing has been on my mind, I think I will try to remove it. I did take a quick look a few months back but couldn't feel it in there tho.
Regards to the disc backing plates, my car too is a 63 reg and mine are almost like new, they are originals too as I got the car of the original owner at just over 3 years old so not sure why yours are so bad. has it been washed by local car washers a lot? as they use some nasty chemicals.

My disc backing plates looked okay, however where they bolt to the hub thats where the corrosion comes from with dis-similar metals reacting to each other, they give away at the 3 mounting points first