few problems...Think ive been conned :S (see last post)

A

argyle89

Registered User
Joined
Dec 22, 2011
Messages
98
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
nottingham, uk
bought an audi a3 1.8t sport on an s plate! well im now after a bit of advice haha. drove it home today and it felt completely different so it needs to be looked at.

few points if anyone can help me would be great!!!

1:temp gauge doesnt work properly!! sometimes moves, sometimes doesnt!! display in car is not working properly, top 1/4 is orange but rest is black (and it bongs at me :S)

2: need a gear link i think. hard to select reverse 1st and 2nd!! Looked in engine bay and the little white plastic bit on the selector is loose and so is a metal pin, so think a new one is in order!!

3rd: feels a little bit laggy, know the turbo is spooling because i can hear it chatter, but not sure atm whats up!! :(

4th and final for now! radio turns on but when i try to turn it up or down volume wise it cuts off!!

any help and advice would be great. going to do a search now but overall still happy with it!!

gonna get some pics up tomorrow when i have time. been in a mad rush. thanks!
 
Last edited:
1) Temp gauge could be the CTS (coolant temp sensor) and/or thermostat, parts are cheap (common problem)

2) sounds like a linkage issue... the parts are fairly cheap iirc...

3) VCDS and check for fault codes is first call... chatter? if yo are getting chatter then sounds like th DV is ********... these cars don't chatter by design...

4) OEM stereos have an issue with the volume control... not sure if there is a cheap fix... ebay or an after market replacement is an option...

<tuffty/>
 
you have brightened up my evening thats for sure. have been searching like mad for about 2 hours on the forum. gonna pick up a cts,thermo and try and get a link for gear tomorrow. its the small inch long bit that slides along the link( if that makes sense?) and the bolt that goes in it!? do they make shorter shifters for the a3? as may put one on whilst im doing it!?!?

gonna buy an aftermarket h.u but at a later dat as theres a bit of messing about if ya wanna add your own subwoofer and speakers aint there?

wheres best place to go for a vcds check? obvs ones being audi or vw but costly i guess? thanks for the reply! appreciate it an aweful lot!! :D
 
Dont forget about a possible dv replacement, 007p is my suggestion if your plannig on remap if not the standard diverter valve will do. Also get it checked at a local vag specialist as youl pay through your jacksy at the stealers, the chatter is probly from a split hose thats causing your sluggishness, that could be a boost or vac pipe, check the pipes under the inlet manifold as they always go. Good luck.
 
thanks again for the reply! will have a look for a specialist near notts!! yeah have been looking at the 007p and in the future got a few choice mods planned, exhaust boost hoses etc. thanks again!!
 
1. Might be worth checking the button underneath the right hand stalk. It sounds to me like its turned off!! Hah, cheap fix if I'm right!
 
think i have done buddy, (will deffo try it again though haha) it lights up but nothing comes up on it! will get some pics today as its at the gf's house. thanks for the reply!!
 
well changed the temp sensor for a new one this morning, and no change on the temp gauge! :( also got a thermostat but not got time to do that at the minute (next on the list!) decided that id check the mot history to see if the car had failed on anything in previous years and now i wish i hadent!!


Looked at the last mot befor it had this one, and the car had done 205,000 miles! says 120,00 on the clock! so someone has fiddled with those. rang the guy i bought it off and he denied it, saying "it says on the invoice that i didnt check the milage"

so i guess this explains why there arent many mot certificates with the car, and i feel like the numpty of the year! dont suppose theres much i can do about it either?! any advice would be great, but now means i guess i gotta have everything checked. cambelt waterpump etc.....
 
Last edited:
One sign of a faulty thermostat is no heat through your interior vents, whack your fans on and see what happens
 
audi upgrades
theres a little heat, not red hot but warm. im going to change it anyway as ive purchased one! thanks!!
 
I bought a clocked 205 off a bloke once, and phoned the MOT garage who did the last MOT and threatened to dob them in (as it is down to them to make note of any mileage changes on the new certificate). Turns out he owned the garage!

Paid 900 quid for the 205, and got 500 back after locking myself in the house with him and explaining his options.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HerefordQuattro
Sorry to hear of your problems, where abours in notts are you based? I got my A3 few weeks back and have been slowly improving it, ws cheap and needed bit of money spending on it but these cars are well made so i would defo try and get her up and running
 
16Klappe said:
I bought a clocked 205 off a bloke once, and phoned the MOT garage who did the last MOT and threatened to dob them in (as it is down to them to make note of any mileage changes on the new certificate). Turns out he owned the garage!

Paid 900 quid for the 205, and got 500 back after locking myself in the house with him and explaining his options.
Click to expand...

might ring the mot station then as it was mot'd on the 7th of december, see what i get out of them!!

valentn said:
Sorry to hear of your problems, where abours in notts are you based? I got my A3 few weeks back and have been slowly improving it, ws cheap and needed bit of money spending on it but these cars are well made so i would defo try and get her up and running
Click to expand...

hi mate, live in bestwood park, you? she runs mate, but im not sure if shes 100% going to try and get it on a diagnostics machine or similar, then go from there. if all else fails can always get another engine! i love the car, just gotta sort it all out now haha.

Ive kinda got the temp gauge working now, when i turn the fans on inside the car to clear windscreen etc, the temp goes down. when i turn them off it slowly rises again! anyone know what that is?
 
I had same issue with temp, turned out to be thermostat. Stuck open so took ages to get up to temp, then when fans are on it went down.

Cheap part, like £8 but can be a pig to do. Took me about 3 hours as one of the bolts is behind the alternator so decided to remove inlet Mani for extra room.
 
I live in Southwell, btw mine did the same, changed the thermo and cured it, a little more work on the 1.8t but not hard, defo do it yourself. I also changed the temo sender as it would struggly to start when hot, next on the list was a new air hose as it had a hole in it and would act odd at idle and the biggest expense was a new clutch, got the car for 750 and spend about 250 on it so far, next up is a gearbox oil change, didnt trust the garage to do twhen they changed the clutch plus its not hard.

From your posts I think you dont have to spend too much to get her going as she is meant to be. Jealous anyway, wanted a 1.8t but just cant afford it.

Change the thermostat and youll cure one problem, linkage is cheap, made sure you dont have any loose hoses on the turbo which is causing your problems, hopefully youll find you dont have to spend too much on her.
 
i picked one up when i got the temp sensor as id done a search about it on here, just havent had time to fit it with everything going on! hoping to do it in the next few days tbh. thanks for the replys fella! helped a lot!!
 
Feel SOOOO sorry for you mate, properly harsh to find people are still doing this. Can I ask how much you paid for the car? a 98 1.8T on over 200k is most certainly worth sub 1k these days, so I hope you didn't pay too much.

If you're after a cheap standard headunit to sort out your stereo issues, I've got this on ebay at the mo: eBay - The UK's Online Marketplace

Best of luck getting the rest sorted too, sounds like it need a thermostat as well to me, and then a decent bleed of the whole system.

Dash display top half lit up orange is a warning light of some sort, can you make out the symbol it's showing? try and get a pic if you can!

Often the screens on these earlier cars fail pretty badly, on my older one, you can hardly read anything on the screen at all, it's a pain, but I just switch it off most of the time now.

At least you've found the right place to get some advice!


16Klappe said:
I bought a clocked 205 off a bloke once, and phoned the MOT garage who did the last MOT and threatened to dob them in (as it is down to them to make note of any mileage changes on the new certificate). Turns out he owned the garage!

Paid 900 quid for the 205, and got 500 back after locking myself in the house with him and explaining his options.
Click to expand...

Only after I convinced you to man up about it, and went back with you incase he kicked off :p but yea, fair point. it was a worthwhile trip!
 
valentn said:
I live in Southwell, btw mine did the same, changed the thermo and cured it, a little more work on the 1.8t but not hard, defo do it yourself. I also changed the temo sender as it would struggly to start when hot, next on the list was a new air hose as it had a hole in it and would act odd at idle and the biggest expense was a new clutch, got the car for 750 and spend about 250 on it so far, next up is a gearbox oil change, didnt trust the garage to do twhen they changed the clutch plus its not hard.

From your posts I think you dont have to spend too much to get her going as she is meant to be. Jealous anyway, wanted a 1.8t but just cant afford it.

Change the thermostat and youll cure one problem, linkage is cheap, made sure you dont have any loose hoses on the turbo which is causing your problems, hopefully youll find you dont have to spend too much on her.
Click to expand...

going to in the next few days, gonna check everything then try and order some bits and get it on a diagnostics machine. hopefully not have to spend much more haha!


Prawn said:
Feel SOOOO sorry for you mate, properly harsh to find people are still doing this. Can I ask how much you paid for the car? a 98 1.8T on over 200k is most certainly worth sub 1k these days, so I hope you didn't pay too much.

If you're after a cheap standard headunit to sort out your stereo issues, I've got this on ebay at the mo: eBay - The UK's Online Marketplace

Best of luck getting the rest sorted too, sounds like it need a thermostat as well to me, and then a decent bleed of the whole system.

Dash display top half lit up orange is a warning light of some sort, can you make out the symbol it's showing? try and get a pic if you can!

Often the screens on these earlier cars fail pretty badly, on my older one, you can hardly read anything on the screen at all, it's a pain, but I just switch it off most of the time now.

At least you've found the right place to get some advice!




Only after I convinced you to man up about it, and went back with you incase he kicked off :p but yea, fair point. it was a worthwhile trip!
Click to expand...


cant fault you for going back...ill go and see they guy see what hes got to say about it! i paid 1200 with 6 months tax included. feel an absolute tit for doing so now, ill sort it out, whats the situation with mapping and modding higher mileage cars? as was planning to map it, exhaust etc. but now im not sure if i should?

ive got an aftermarket headunit to put in mate, thinking about uprating speakers aswell so will sort it out eventually lol. it turns on and stays at a volume but when i adjust it it just goes blank lol!
 
Last edited:
Where abouts are you mate? the name Argyle89 suggests you might be in plymouth.....

If so, I don't mind scanning the car for you with VAGCOM and giving it a quick once over to see if there's anything else hugely a-miss. I'm down in plymouth for the next week if it's of any use to you, and more than happy to help out.

EDIT: ignore me, missed the above posts saying you're in notts!! Most 'Argyle' user names I've come across in the past have been plymouth people!
 
Last edited:
no buddy, thats my surname :D (without the 89 haha) im in nottingham in the east midlands! thanks a lot for the offer though! appreciate it a hell of a lot! im trying to search the web for a good place to go but not seen anything yet haha
 
eek. something is very wrong there! not even the slightest hint of any content :S

Usually, in the orange at the top will be one of several warning signals, for brakes, lights, fluids, that kind of thing, then the middle of the screen will show temperature, and the bottom of the screen shows one of the options you have selected using the up and down buttons on the right hand stalk.

Try pressing the button under the stalk too, this should turn the lower half of the display off totally.
 
there any chance something could be unplugged do you think? it beeps every now and then too! no often. tried the button under the stalk but all it does is on and off. never brings up and info or any change unfortunatley.
 
Hi,
Ok, first off I'm really sorry to hear about all your problems with your new purchase & I hope you can sort most if not all of the problems you have with the car.

Now the problem you have with the DIS not showing any info is due to "who ever" has clocked or played around with the mileage.
The is very common with the Audi displays once they have been tampered with, I am unsure weather this can be fixed or corrected by a garage or even Audi.
The best people to talk to are uk cluster repairs (I think they are called that) they will soon say yes or no.

Best of luck

Pat
 
No :( it would need coding to the ecu and keys I'm afraid!

I think it might even be the same program required that would have been used to fiddle your mileage in the first place!
 
dont suppose you know a rough idea of how much that would cost? dont mind paying for it aslong as itd work i guess.
 
16Klappe said:
I bought a clocked 205 off a bloke once, and phoned the MOT garage who did the last MOT and threatened to dob them in (as it is down to them to make note of any mileage changes on the new certificate). Turns out he owned the garage!

Paid 900 quid for the 205, and got 500 back after locking myself in the house with him and explaining his options.
Click to expand...

Its not up to the mot station to make note of any changes,the mileage the car is presented with is what the mot certificate will be issued with,ive dealt with these issues for some time being an mot tester hence the dvla made the mot history viewable since computerisation came in place some time back now.

Either way this should be a warning to others to be very vigilant when buying used cars,it sucks big time!​


 
Number 1 sounds like thermostat or coolant sensor.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
few probs ive got
Replies
0
Views
621
S90GAV
S
M
Few A3's from Players last weekend
Replies
1
Views
619
Westy
Westy
S
Few Problems :(
Replies
2
Views
530
@udi A3
@udi A3
Jezzas3s
Few problems
Replies
0
Views
519
Jezzas3s
Jezzas3s
xCoupexAshx
few problems
Replies
1
Views
543
s3dave
s3dave
Top
Back