Facelift S3 EPC LIGHT!

Adams S3

Adams S3

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Hi all,

Driving my S3 2015 on the motorway today and the EPC light came on and I lost all power. Car has covered 42000 miles.

I’ve been running the car on normal fuel not Super Unleaded.

I did notice a few days before this that at around 82MPH it begins to stutter....

Has anyone experienced this before? I’ve book my car in at Audi on Thursday for an health check.

Thanks.


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Not sure if I can help you out .
One thing I do know is that the S3's don't tend to run very well on normal unleaded. The wife topped up my car with normal 95 Ron fuel once and I noticed straight away that something wasn't right. Whilst idling the accelerator pedal was juddering under my foot. This continued until the tank needed topping up again and once 98Ron was put in all was back to normal. It's expensive but is worth it for the health of your engine. I hope it isn't serious with your car.Good luck:thumbs up:
 
pburv said:
Not sure if I can help you out .
One thing I do know is that the S3's don't tend to run very well on normal unleaded. The wife topped up my car with normal 95 Ron fuel once and I noticed straight away that something wasn't right. Whilst idling the accelerator pedal was juddering under my foot. This continued until the tank needed topping up again and once 98Ron was put in all was back to normal. It's expensive but is worth it for the health of your engine. I hope it isn't serious with your car.Good luck:thumbs up:
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply, I did obviously google it afterwards and did noticed fuel could be a factor so I filled it up with Super Unleaded 97 and was okay on the way back home.

I’ll let you know more from Audi if they come back with any error codes etc...






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Adams S3 said:
Thanks for your reply, I did obviously google it afterwards and did noticed fuel could be a factor so I filled it up with Super Unleaded 97 and was okay on the way back home.

I’ll let you know more from Audi if they come back with any error codes etc...






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Click to expand...
That's good news mate.
One thing I did notice whilst car had 95 in it was mpg was down by about 5 miles...So running on Momentum or Shell Super you get better mpg..Win Win! haha
 
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pburv said:
That's good news mate.
One thing I did notice whilst car had 95 in it was mpg was down by about 5 miles...So running on Momentum or Shell Super you get better mpg..Win Win! haha
Click to expand...

Haha! Literally on my way back home at around 70mph I did notice my MPG was higher than normal and throttle did feel smoother under my foot...

Just seems extremely strange that just by changing your fuel totally changes the driving experience.

Last few weeks I’ve been fueling up at the supermarkets...


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Adams S3 said:
Hi all,

Driving my S3 2015 on the motorway today and the EPC light came on and I lost all power. Car has covered 42000 miles.

I’ve been running the car on normal fuel not Super Unleaded.

I did notice a few days before this that at around 82MPH it begins to stutter....

Has anyone experienced this before? I’ve book my car in at Audi on Thursday for an health check.

Thanks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GET YOUR CAR INTO AUDI STRAIGHT AWAY !!!!!!!!!!!

This is what happened to me. Light came on, and the car stuttered while accelerating. Turned it off and on. Problem went away. Took it to Audi and they couldn't find a fault.

Skip over a year later and the car out of warranty. EPC light came on, and stuttered like before. Turned it off and on again. This time the car sounded like a bag of nails. Every time I stopped at traffic lights or a junction, it ran rough. Sounded s**te then stalled. We stopped for food half way home, and I could smell petrol. Luckily it go me back (ran fine at motorway speeds) home, a couple hundred miles away.

Anyway, got it booked into Audi. They started investigating, and each day I got another phone call saying they needed to strip the engine down further. Total cost just for investigation was £2400. The problem was was found to be a piston that had started to disintegrate. This was fed back to Germany, and further investigation found the fault to have been a faulty injector. Diagnosis? The engine is F***ed !!

Cost of investigation work? New engine plus shipping? over £18,000 !!!

So get your car into Audi, and relay this information to them. Otherwise they'll just say the fault can't be found. The engine will need stripping to show it up. Better to get it in now, before it gets worse.
 
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IMG 9267
 
wab172uk said:
!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GET YOUR CAR INTO AUDI STRAIGHT AWAY !!!!!!!!!!!

This is what happened to me. Light came on, and the car stuttered while accelerating. Turned it off and on. Problem went away. Took it to Audi and they couldn't find a fault.

Skip over a year later and the car out of warranty. EPC light came on, and stuttered like before. Turned it off and on again. This time the car sounded like a bag of nails. Every time I stopped at traffic lights or a junction, it ran rough. Sounded s**te then stalled. We stopped for food half way home, and I could smell petrol. Luckily it go me back (ran fine at motorway speeds) home, a couple hundred miles away.

Anyway, got it booked into Audi. They started investigating, and each day I got another phone call saying they needed to strip the engine down further. Total cost just for investigation was £2400. The problem was was found to be a piston that had started to disintegrate. This was fed back to Germany, and further investigation found the fault to have been a faulty injector. Diagnosis? The engine is F***ed !!

Cost of investigation work? New engine plus shipping? over £18,000 !!!

So get your car into Audi, and relay this information to them. Otherwise they'll just say the fault can't be found. The engine will need stripping to show it up. Better to get it in now, before it gets worse.
Click to expand...

Jesus!!

Problem I’ve now got then is I’ve got no warranty.

Car has a remap fitted which when was done prior to me, I obviously want to get extended warranty but would this cause any issues?




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Adams S3 said:
Jesus!!

Problem I’ve now got then is I’ve got no warranty.

Car has a remap fitted which when was done prior to me, I obviously want to get extended warranty but would this cause any issues?




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Click to expand...

Mine was out of warranty too. But as mine hadn't been mapped, which you can dare bet Audi Germany checked like hell, they agreed to a new engine.

You might unfortunately struggle to get the same result. They can now state the remap has caused the issue.
 
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wab172uk said:
Mine was out of warranty too. But as mine hadn't been mapped, which you can dare bet Audi Germany checked like hell, they agreed to a new engine.

You might unfortunately struggle to get the same result. They can now state the remap has caused the issue.
Click to expand...

How many miles had your car covered etc?

What happened prior to this with your car?




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Holy Sh*t guys!
Didn't see this thread heading this way. Really hope @Adams S3 your car hasn't this problem.
Please let us know how it goes.
I know what it's like having a knackered engine. Had one go on me a couple of months out of warranty. My local Audi dealership North Wales Audi helped me get a replacement engine free of charge through Audi Uk..They say it came as 'good will gesture' due to the fact it had full dealership history plus the fact it had issues from the start of ownership . In total they spent over £10,000 on warranty work in the first twelve months Then a new engine fitted:scared2:. The timing chain tensioner failing is what killed the engine. Swore never to buy a car from Shrewsbury Audi ever again.
I hope yours isn't as bad as @wab172uk .
 
pburv said:
Holy Sh*t guys!
Didn't see this thread heading this way. Really hope @Adams S3 your car hasn't this problem.
Please let us know how it goes.
I know what it's like having a knackered engine. Had one go on me a couple of months out of warranty. My local Audi dealership North Wales Audi helped me get a replacement engine free of charge through Audi Uk..They say it came as 'good will gesture' due to the fact it had full dealership history plus the fact it had issues from the start of ownership . In total they spent over £10,000 on warranty work in the first twelve months Then a new engine fitted:scared2:. The timing chain tensioner failing is what killed the engine. Swore never to buy a car from Shrewsbury Audi ever again.
I hope yours isn't as bad as @wab172uk .
Click to expand...

Wow! Thanks for the update of your history.


So all this started when the EPC light came on and thereafter got worst and caused damage to the engine and as a result had to get the engine replaced!

I’ll just have to see what they say on Thursday and let you guys know.



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Adams S3 said:
Wow! Thanks for the update of your history.


So all this started when the EPC light came on and thereafter got worst and caused damage to the engine and as a result had to get the engine replaced!

I’ll just have to see what they say on Thursday and let you guys know.



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Click to expand...
My issue was that the service schedule was on long life servicing and not annually . I t caused a block in the uptake oil pipe and caused the timing tensioner to fail. If all is well I would recommend annual servicing and run it on high octane fuel..There's always discussions on here as to which fuel is best. I have found it doesn't really matter if it's Shell Tesco or whatever just as long as it's high octane .:icon thumright:
 
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pburv said:
My issue was that the service schedule was on long life servicing and not annually . I t caused a block in the uptake oil pipe and caused the timing tensioner to fail. If all is well I would recommend annual servicing and run it on high octane fuel..There's always discussions on here as to which fuel is best. I have found it doesn't really matter if it's Shell Tesco or whatever just as long as it's high octane .:icon thumright:
Click to expand...

Thank you again @pburv I’ll be running on high octane from now on. Hopefully it won’t be as bad as your experience you had, but again you never know!




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Adams S3 said:
Thank you again @pburv I’ll be running on high octane from now on. Hopefully it won’t be as bad as your experience you had, but again you never know!




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Click to expand...
Fingers crossed for you buddy..:salute:
 
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pburv said:
Not sure if I can help you out .
One thing I do know is that the S3's don't tend to run very well on normal unleaded. The wife topped up my car with normal 95 Ron fuel once and I noticed straight away that something wasn't right. Whilst idling the accelerator pedal was juddering under my foot. This continued until the tank needed topping up again and once 98Ron was put in all was back to normal. It's expensive but is worth it for the health of your engine. I hope it isn't serious with your car.Good luck:thumbs up:
Click to expand...
That's crap u want to say if I get s3 2014 I will encounter the same problem???
I will have to always buy 98?
Please don't tell me this... So I better of keeping my current a3 2015 tdi 2.0 quattro then?
 
Last edited:
Adams S3 said:
Haha! Literally on my way back home at around 70mph I did notice my MPG was higher than normal and throttle did feel smoother under my foot...

Just seems extremely strange that just by changing your fuel totally changes the driving experience.

Last few weeks I’ve been fueling up at the supermarkets...


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Click to expand...
This absolutely doesn't apply for my a3 tdi 2.0 quattro 184.. Bhp as I once tried that more expensive diesel which is only at shell (strangely) and didn't feel much difference only that the full tank went down crazy fast... Just week? Can't remember.. Need to try again... Only I remember I paid like £70 or £75 for full tank (50 litres)
 
wab172uk said:
!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GET YOUR CAR INTO AUDI STRAIGHT AWAY !!!!!!!!!!!

This is what happened to me. Light came on, and the car stuttered while accelerating. Turned it off and on. Problem went away. Took it to Audi and they couldn't find a fault.

Skip over a year later and the car out of warranty. EPC light came on, and stuttered like before. Turned it off and on again. This time the car sounded like a bag of nails. Every time I stopped at traffic lights or a junction, it ran rough. Sounded s**te then stalled. We stopped for food half way home, and I could smell petrol. Luckily it go me back (ran fine at motorway speeds) home, a couple hundred miles away.

Anyway, got it booked into Audi. They started investigating, and each day I got another phone call saying they needed to strip the engine down further. Total cost just for investigation was £2400. The problem was was found to be a piston that had started to disintegrate. This was fed back to Germany, and further investigation found the fault to have been a faulty injector. Diagnosis? The engine is F***ed !!

Cost of investigation work? New engine plus shipping? over £18,000 !!!

So get your car into Audi, and relay this information to them. Otherwise they'll just say the fault can't be found. The engine will need stripping to show it up. Better to get it in now, before it gets worse.
Click to expand...
I think they f***ed up with you first time... They exactly knew what was going on on first inspection they knew it gonna cost crazy money from their pocket but they wanted you to be out of the warranty so they sent you home like little boy from school.. Now you naively waited until your warranty runs out? and they happily charged you freakin nearly 20 grand? Whaaat thee faaaak??!?! Maaan..
deca facepalm!!
 
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Peto said:
That's **** u want to say if I get s3 2014 I will encounter the same problem???
I will have to always buy 98?
Please don't tell me this... So I better of keeping my current a3 2015 tdi 2.0 quattro then?
Click to expand...
Yeah..If you have an S3 it is best run on high octane fuel. It recommends it on the filler cap......
95502-7a96a3bc72e05d9e516c93d9d9ba6bcc.jpg
 
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pburv said:
Yeah..If you have an S3 it is best run on high octane fuel. It recommends it on the filler cap......
95502-7a96a3bc72e05d9e516c93d9d9ba6bcc.jpg
Click to expand...

Been to work this morning and the car is running so much better and touch wood all is fine!


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Adams S3 said:
Been to work this morning and the car is running so much better and touch wood all is fine!


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Click to expand...
Great news mate. You still going to get it checked out?....I would for peace of mind.:yes:
 
Adams S3 said:
How many miles had your car covered etc?

What happened prior to this with your car?




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Click to expand...

Car was on 32,000 miles. Nothing untoward happened prior. Was on holiday in Wales, and the car was faultless. Luckily the problem occurred as we were on our way back home. Would have ruined the holiday otherwise.
 
All the EPC light means is that there is a fault with the car. Without at least a fault code analysis it is impossible to give any kind of advice.

Using 95 octane fuel won't cause any running problems. Fuel in the UK is very high quality, so the S3 will run fine on any petrol avaialable via normal routes.

I run an aggressive remap and even then there is so little difference between 95 and 99 that you can only see it on a rolling road. Apart from about 15 hp less on 95, there is almost no difference. Possibly the car actually runs better and smoother (corroborated by misfire logs which show slightly lower numbers) on 95.

It's also worth pointing out that S3 engines are cheap. Our of warranty, there is no need for a bill of more than about £3k - because at that point it's cheaper to replace the engine with a low mileage used one (good S3 engines can be picked up for about £1500-2000)
 
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Sounds like a fuel/injection problem.

With your car out of warranty and running a remap, I wouldn’t take it to main dealer as they’ll just try to blame the map and goodwill will be next to 0. In the unlikely event you was to get some goodwill, you will still pay more than you can get it done for privately. Take it to an independent specialist.
 
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BrummieLad said:
Sounds like a fuel/injection problem.

With your car out of warranty and running a remap, I wouldn’t take it to main dealer as they’ll just try to blame the map and goodwill will be next to 0. In the unlikely event you was to get some goodwill, you will still pay more than you can get it done for privately. Take it to an independent specialist.
Click to expand...

I agree mate, I have been told this also so I have cancelled my appointment and taking it to an Audi specialist this evening to get it looked at.


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Adams S3 said:
I agree mate, I have been told this also so I have cancelled my appointment and taking it to an Audi specialist this evening to get it looked at.


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Click to expand...

It's a funny one though. Yes, the remap will look bad, and give Audi every excuse to say `Go away` but if I was you, I'd be saying you know of at least one other S3 that has had the same issue. That way, they might give you a free engine.

By going to as specialist, you `will` have to pay for any investigation / repair work, as if they do spot a problem, Audi could then say you should have brought it to them.

It's a tricky one to call. But I'm more than happy to help in any way should Audi say it's not a problem they've heard of. I have the paperwork to prove otherwise. Just let me know if you need anything.
 
wab172uk said:
It's a funny one though. Yes, the remap will look bad, and give Audi every excuse to say `Go away` but if I was you, I'd be saying you know of at least one other S3 that has had the same issue. That way, they might give you a free engine.

By going to as specialist, you `will` have to pay for any investigation / repair work, as if they do spot a problem, Audi could then say you should have brought it to them.

It's a tricky one to call. But I'm more than happy to help in any way should Audi say it's not a problem they've heard of. I have the paperwork to prove otherwise. Just let me know if you need anything.
Click to expand...

I don’t think one other Audi with the same problem will persuade them to part with a brand new engine, given how many they would have sold. If you can prove the problem is more widespread, you might get some joy, but still unlikely with the remap.
That said if you’re willing to take the gamble, take it to Audi and see what they say armed with the information from @wab172uk. You will of course have to authorise their inflated hourly labour charge for the diagnosis, so be prepared to loose this should they decide no goodwill due to the remap. Of course if the car is in bits at this point, you won’t be able to take it anywhere else for repair either, and would have to proceed with a potentially expensive repair.

Also do you have full Audi Service history or independent?

It still won’t be totally free as I recall @wab172uk still ended up paying between £2-3k on a clean car with no remap, so I’m guessing they will sting you more than this if it transpires you need a new engine.

Swings and roundabouts, but hopefully you get this sorted.
 
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BrummieLad said:
I don’t think one other Audi with the same problem will persuade them to part with a brand new engine, given how many they would have sold. If you can prove the problem is more widespread, you might get some joy, but still unlikely with the remap.
That said if you’re willing to take the gamble, take it to Audi and see what they say armed with the information from @wab172uk. You will of course have to authorise their inflated hourly labour charge for the diagnosis, so be prepared to loose this should they decide no goodwill due to the remap. Of course if the car is in bits at this point, you won’t be able to take it anywhere else for repair either, and would have to proceed with a potentially expensive repair.

Also do you have full Audi Service history or independent?

It still won’t be totally free as I recall @wab172uk still ended up paying between £2-3k on a clean car with no remap, so I’m guessing they will sting you more than this if it transpires you need a new engine.

Swings and roundabouts, but hopefully you get this sorted.
Click to expand...

Hi guys, thank you for your feedback on this.

I’ve just got home now after seeing the specialist. Plugged the car in on his diagnostic system and came up with the below code (pic below)
P001400

They said if the engine management light came on at the time the EPC light came on it would be something more serious. They reset it and ran the test again and nothing came up so could have been old?

Check all other components on the car and no error codes were shown.

Been told to keep an eye on it, if it happens again to bring back in but by using high octane fuel will only give smoother throttle response and wouldn’t have causes the issue I had.



d08ec2c4fd955e2f3372464f76db31d0.jpg



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Could be a number of causes for this, including your timing chain jumping a tooth or 2, tensioner, crankshaft, camshaft etc....

Monitor it and see how it goes, but just be conscious problem could get worse overtime and cause more damage like it did for @wab172uk

Fingers crossed
 
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BrummieLad said:
Could be a number of causes for this, including your timing chain jumping a tooth or 2, tensioner, crankshaft, camshaft etc....

Monitor it and see how it goes, but just be conscious problem could get worse overtime and cause more damage like it did for @wab172uk

Fingers crossed
Click to expand...

That’s what the guy said today, he just said keep an eye on it and if it happens again bring it back in and he will rescan it and if the same code comes up he will look into this more for me.

Thing is the car has covered 42k and was fitted with a new cambelt at 40k so maybe when this was fitted something might not be right... who knows.


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Adams S3 said:
That’s what the guy said today, he just said keep an eye on it and if it happens again bring it back in and he will rescan it and if the same code comes up he will look into this more for me.

Thing is the car has covered 42k and was fitted with a new cambelt at 40k so maybe when this was fitted something might not be right... who knows.


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Click to expand...

It can’t have as the S3 is chain driven and not belt driven, so can’t have had a cam belt change.
 
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BrummieLad said:
So what exactly was changed at 40k??
Click to expand...

Sorry brummielad it wasn’t the cam chain that was replaced, just looked at my paperwork as I’ve only owned the car 2 months. But lots was done at 40k.


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Adams S3 said:
Sorry brummielad it wasn’t the cam chain that was replaced, just looked at my paperwork as I’ve only owned the car 2 months. But lots was done at 40k.


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No need to apologise mate, happy to help. Do you know how frequent the oil changes have been? Might be worth sharing what was done at 40k, just in case.
 
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