Car wouldn't start after cambelt change

[Jonnie]

On Monday I had my cambelt and water pump changed at my local Audi dealer, drove home and not touched the car since.

Last night I went to start the car and the glow plug light stayed on and the car wouldn't start. I could hear the car trying but nothing happened. Turned the car off then tried again and it was fine. Then it did the same thing when I left to come home.

I've got to go back to Audi anyway as my supposed self-levelling headlights are now pointing way too high, is it worth bringing this up to them? I've never had an issue with the car not starting before so just wondering if this is related or purely a coincidence. On one hand I don't want to ignore a potential precursor to something catastrophic and the other I don't want to pay Audi £60 to "Investigate an issue with my car" for them to just say it's fine.

Car is a 2012 A3 Sportback 2.0 TDI (140).

 

[leonwilliams]

On Monday I had my cambelt and water pump changed at my local Audi dealer, drove home and not touched the car since.

Last night I went to start the car and the glow plug light stayed on and the car wouldn't start. I could hear the car trying but nothing happened. Turned the car off then tried again and it was fine. Then it did the same thing when I left to come home.

I've got to go back to Audi anyway as my supposed self-levelling headlights are now pointing way too high, is it worth bringing this up to them? I've never had an issue with the car not starting before so just wondering if this is related or purely a coincidence. On one hand I don't want to ignore a potential precursor to something catastrophic and the other I don't want to pay Audi £60 to "Investigate an issue with my car" for them to just say it's fine.

Car is a 2012 A3 Sportback 2.0 TDI (140).

Not being funny mate you should have phoned them the moment that glow plug light came on. If your lucky they'll have a look for free then go nope not our fault.

My 2011 Sport back went in for cam belt and pump. Got car back did loads of checks found issues with my headlights not right and some screws missing I was straight on phone. Got it sorted same day. If you paying over £600 to have work done car should be as you left it with them. All I can say is good luck if you have the gift of being able to tell it as it is you'll be fine.

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[Jonnie]

If you paying over £600 to have work done car should be as you left it with them. All I can say is good luck if you have the gift of being able to tell it as it is you'll be fine.

Funny you should say that, car went in looking perfect, came out with the dreaded complementary wash despite multiple times saying I didn't want it and a sticker across the instrument cluster saying "DO NOT WASH". Completely covered in swirl marks. (In Audi's defence they have been really good and said they'd cover the cost of it being detailed.)

I tried calling but it was 8pm so no one was there to answer the phone, will call again.

 

[leonwilliams]

Funny you should say that, car went in looking perfect, came out with the dreaded complementary wash despite multiple times saying I didn't want it and a sticker across the instrument cluster saying "DO NOT WASH". Completely covered in swirl marks. (In Audi's defence they have been really good and said they'd cover the cost of it being detailed.)

I tried calling but it was 8pm so no one was there to answer the phone, will call again.

Did same to mines told an don't wash my car came back with dirty fingerprints all over wings and bonnet

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[leonwilliams]

Did same to mines told an don't wash my car came back with dirty fingerprints all over wings and bonnet

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Signs of a bad MAF sensor may mimic problems such as low vacuum, low compression, or low fuel pressure due to a bad fuel pump. The most common symptoms of a malfunctioning MAS sensor include: The engine is hard to start or has trouble turning over. ... The engine displays unusually lean or rich idling.

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[Jonnie]

Not being funny mate you should have phoned them the moment that glow plug light came on. If your lucky they'll have a look for free then go nope not our fault.

Just called them back and was told "Never heard of that issue being related to the cambelt and I've been here 6 years, we can look into it but our next available appointment is the 13th of December. Unless you can drop it down today as a recovery we can try look into it within 48 hours but you'll be without a car."

So hopefully it's unrelated and just a big coincidence.

 

[leonwilliams]

Just called them back and was told "Never heard of that issue being related to the cambelt and I've been here 6 years, we can look into it but our next available appointment is the 13th of December. Unless you can drop it down today as a recovery we can try look into it within 48 hours but you'll be without a car."

So hopefully it's unrelated and just a big coincidence.

That's standard speak for ooops. You no your car mate it was fine when it went in. If you don't need it give it to them see what they come back with.

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[Jonnie]

That's standard speak for ooops. You no your car mate it was fine when it went in. If you don't need it give it to them see what they come back with.

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They're going to plug it in and see what's happening when I take it to have the headlights aligned today, unfortunately I need a car so can't just drop it off for a few days.

 

[leonwilliams]

They're going to plug it in and see what's happening when I take it to have the headlights aligned today, unfortunately I need a car so can't just drop it off for a few days.

Do you no know anybody close by with vcd's that can scan for codes before you take it in. Put a shout out on here or look at the forum for location of guys near you with vcd's

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[Jonnie]

Do you no know anybody close by with vcd's that can scan for codes before you take it in. Put a shout out on here or look at the forum for location of guys near you with vcd's

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Nearest person I know is about 30 mins away which is too far as I'm taking it back to Audi in about an hour and I need it back by 1.

 

[Jonnie]

Audi have said as there was a fault logged back in June (weirdly a date I wasn’t even in the country and my car hadn’t moved) for one of the glow plugs it’s a pre-existing fault so wouldn’t be related to what they did on Monday.

They’ve been pretty good so far so I’m inclined to believe them, Strange that it’s failed to start 3 times in a week after they had it but never before that.

 

[Retroman]

To do the cam belt change they must go in via the wheel arch on an A3. I've changed them on other transverse engine cars but not my A3 - but usually there are plastic protective covers and a camshaft position sensor in the vicinity. It would not be outlandish to suspect that a sensor may not have been plugged back in properly or a plastic cover not fitted properly so that a wire/socket has got wet.

 

[Jonnie]

To do the cam belt change they must go in via the wheel arch on an A3. I've changed them on other transverse engine cars but not my A3 - but usually there are plastic protective covers and a camshaft position sensor in the vicinity. It would not be outlandish to suspect that a sensor may not have been plugged back in properly or a plastic cover not fitted properly so that a wire/socket has got wet.

That's interesting. I overheard them saying something along the lines of "We'll clear it and see if it comes back" and but then said they hadn't scanned the car when I asked for the fault codes. I'm hopefully getting it scanned by someone else soon to either see what the fault is or if they've wiped the fault. It's currently booked to go in on the 13th.

 

[leonwilliams]

That's interesting. I overheard them saying something along the lines of "We'll clear it and see if it comes back" and but then said they hadn't scanned the car when I asked for the fault codes. I'm hopefully getting it scanned by someone else soon to either see what the fault is or if they've wiped the fault. It's currently booked to go in on the 13th.

Sounds kinda dodgy to me

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[ch1z64]

Unless the person who is going to perform the Scan ie member from here knows where to look for the fault that was logged in June, doing a scan might lead to nothing if Autoscan shows no faults , now if member knows where to look for old faults you could then maybe trace back any faults that could be related to your problem .
Now when they scanned it did they not mention anything about your headlights or even when you have had it scanned independently as i eould have thought that something to do with that would have come up as a fault .

 

[Jonnie]

Unless the person who is going to perform the Scan ie member from here knows where to look for the fault that was logged in June, doing a scan might lead to nothing if Autoscan shows no faults , now if member knows where to look for old faults you could then maybe trace back any faults that could be related to your problem .
Now when they scanned it did they not mention anything about your headlights or even when you have had it scanned independently as i eould have thought that something to do with that would have come up as a fault .

I’ve got a print out of the old fault scan which was from a few days ago, but what I wondered is if the 3 failed starts before I took it back to Audi flagged up as faults and if they’re still there.

Audi said they didn’t scan it or do anything other than adjust my headlight but the car seems to be back to normal now.

So either a) The problem magically appeared after the cambelt change and magically disappeared after I collected it from having the headlights adjusted. Or b)They scanned it even though they said they didn’t, found an issue and fixed it there and then claiming they’d just check it when I take it back on the 13th.

 

[leonwilliams]

I’ve got a print out of the old fault scan which was from a few days ago, but what I wondered is if the 3 failed starts before I took it back to Audi flagged up as faults and if they’re still there.

Audi said they didn’t scan it or do anything other than adjust my headlight but the car seems to be back to normal now.

So either a) The problem magically appeared after the cambelt change and magically disappeared after I collected it from having the headlights adjusted. Or b)They scanned it even though they said they didn’t, found an issue and fixed it there and then claiming they’d just check it when I take it back on the 13th.

Said they was dodgy

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[ch1z64]

I’ve got a print out of the old fault scan which was from a few days ago, but what I wondered is if the 3 failed starts before I took it back to Audi flagged up as faults and if they’re still there.

Audi said they didn’t scan it or do anything other than adjust my headlight but the car seems to be back to normal now.

So either a) The problem magically appeared after the cambelt change and magically disappeared after I collected it from having the headlights adjusted. Or b)They scanned it even though they said they didn’t, found an issue and fixed it there and then claiming they’d just check it when I take it back on the 13th.

There could be that, but they would know there are others out there who would be able to find the same old fault they found so on that bases i doubt if they would clear a fault after giving you a print out off the fault they found and then rescan and not tell you if they had boobed as you could have car scanned by someone who knew where old faults are stored and check history by Day scanned then print out for you to go with to Audi and say you's talk P*sh here is a scan which shows when they scanned ,car as i would think it would have workshop number somewhere , but not being one who is a diagnostic genius , just ross tech member i could easily be speaking from a hole in my head

 

[Jonnie]

Said they was dodgy

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They have been good to me and offered to pay to get my car detailed so I’m going to just chalk it up to a series of strange coincidences now that it’s back to normal.

 

[leonwilliams]

They have been good to me and offered to pay to get my car detailed so I’m going to just chalk it up to a series of strange coincidences now that it’s back to normal.

Yeah glad it's ok mate and not cost you out

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[ch1z64]

They have been good to me and offered to pay to get my car detailed so I’m going to just chalk it up to a series of strange coincidences now that it’s back to normal.

Excellent mate ,so sometimes the Stealers are not as bad as there made out to be most off the time, you do know most off the parts they fit are covered by a 2year warranty , even there take away parts are 2yr s , which to me is loads better than some other places offering just a 1,yr

 

[Umaar]

Audi have said as there was a fault logged back in June (weirdly a date I wasn’t even in the country and my car hadn’t moved) for one of the glow plugs it’s a pre-existing fault so wouldn’t be related to what they did on Monday.

They’ve been pretty good so far so I’m inclined to believe them, Strange that it’s failed to start 3 times in a week after they had it but never before that.

If it’s the glow plugs its only going to cause problems starting the days the temperature drops close to freezing. They preheat the diesel to ease the starting when temperatures are low. If you have a glow plug issue in spring/summer it won’t cause any issues till the days the temperature is less than 4c, unless you scan the car and get a fault code then you will know.


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