New member, finally got round to posting!

[Andrew Kelsey]

Good afternoon all!

Usual story, been a lurker for a while but decided to share my story with you all.
Decided last year both me and the missus needed more ‘respectable’ cars as her previous mk4 Astra was getting a bit long In The tooth, and my IS200.. well was quite frankly falling apart.
I didn’t really know what I wanted, but the missus saw the A3 tfsi Quattro in dolphin grey, and fell in love (with the colour mainly!)
I had never driven an Audi before, and I had to admit, after driving hers, I had to have one! I then spent 3 months looking for the right car, annoying my work colleagues in the process with my constant trawling of auto trader and a certain popular auction site.

At last and with cash burning a hole in my pocket, (what I thought was) my perfect car turned up on A.T. I was straight on the phone and drove up to Slough to see it. The minute I saw it, I knew it was coming home with me, and 30 minutes later the deal was done and I was the proud owner of this...

A4 tfsi Quattro se, Bul engine (I had to go better than the missus car!)
My shopping list was fairly particular when looking for it. Had to have space for a double din head unit (had my eye on a pioneer SPH-DA120) steering controls, and heated seats (spoilt when I had the Lexus) and lastly, 200+ horsepower.
Nailed it!

Many happy months passed, and I started sorting it out. Got the cruise control working, fitted my pioneer unit when the missus kindly got it for my birthday, services and then started my real passion for cleaning the car. Spent 17 hours one weekend cleaning and didn’t even get round to waxing, but I was happy with how it was all going. Decided to use my car to go on holiday to France in October, so prudently opted to have the timing belt done back in May. Drove it for 10 weeks and then disaster hit...

I had a flutter through the engine, and momentary loss of power, then 20 meters on another flutter followed but now with the engine management light. Got over to the hard shoulder, but the engine cut out and wouldn’t restart so the RAC were called.
Once I was recovered home, Mr RAC tried to crank it over but you could hear a horrible clatter from the engine, so he left me too it with the advice of ‘sounds terminal’.

Great.

Now, I work for a main dealer (not Audi) so wanted to get a second opinion. One of our techs followed me home and got me to turn the engine over, and straight away noticed the front of the timing case moving! ...ok, well I only had the timing belt done 10 weeks ago so back to the specialist that carried the work out. They were great, and had a look for me, but it wasn’t good news.

Snapped camshaft, which seems to have bent valves. However the timing belt was intact and everything was still tight. They advised a rebuild cost starting at 2.5k. Needless to say I was heartbroken and now had a £4000 paperweight.
I spent the rest of the week deliberating, but I decided to abandon ship, and buy another car. My issue was really, do I stay with Audi or not? I don’t mind admitting, I was sorely tempted to sell the A3 too and get us both into jap tin. But I really struggled to find something that I really liked that met my criteria’s, and the missus did still love her her A3. After trawling the internet, and the forums, I couldn’t find a massive amount of issues regarding snapped camshafts so figured it must be a freak incident, and the search for the replacement A4 began.

The next chapter to follow... if your interested in reading that is?

 

[Charlie Farley]

And a very good evening Chap, but a bit of a sad one really as you have had such a bad experience already.
Its a real shame really as that's a very nice example of the Special edition 220, not seen many of those failures to be honest but i'd be gutted all the same if it were my car.

I'm very biased and would say go audi again , and get another special edition.....despite all the negative reports about these engines and variants they are very good cars and the failure rate is very small given the amount made, I have one and its had masses of issues but touch wood its been behaving itself now for the last few years, tick all the boxes and the most important one being the grin factor which I get everytime I take it for a decent drive.

all down to you really chap, good luck with it.

rob

 

[Andrew Kelsey]

Finances sorted, I got on the hunt. The weekend just gone, I got the missus up nice and early ready for a full day of car hunting. While trying to organise our viewing order over a cuppa, I browsed over a new Ebay thread I hadn’t seen up till that point for a black A4 SE Quattro in London. Being an exact replacemet for what I’d lost, it got my attention immediately. I jumped on the phone and the chap seemed quite nice so arranged to go and have a look.
And by 11 am I’d bought this!

Not normally a fan of black cars, but this was pretty clean for its age, and had a few more toys than the last one. Also 20k less miles which was nice. Full RNSE with Bose, but I already have my Sph-da130 ready to go in (last one was Bose too so I already have all the cabling) I also have sunroof (again, not really bothered) and rear blinds including the electric rear screen one. I love toys on cars... the ride home was... interesting. The chap was straight up and advised the front brakes would need doing in 5000 miles. I don’t think it would have lasted that long based on the shaking through the braking all the way home! Changed as soon as I got back to work and this was the condition of the inner face...

Er, yeah. That’ll do it. New discs and pads (and a lighter wallet!) and jobs a good un’.

It also had winter tyres on, but as I had a full set of new tyres on my other wheels I swapped those straight over from the other car giving them a bit of a clean inside and out before swapping them over. Think they suit them better anyway!

Well that’s where we stand now, with just a couple of things to sort. I have a pair of keys but only 1 seems work on the blipper although both start the car. I don’t have cruise control on this, but I think I can swap this over, get the stereo fitted up and look to the service.

I will have to admit that I am struggling with this so far though. I got caught out with the last one, and I really can’t afford to get caught out again. I’m just hoping that really was a freak one off.
So that’s me up date, and I hope it’s not bored you too much. Any advice or tips will be greatly received and if it avoids me having a catastrophic failure, then I’m all ears!
Plan for this weekend is to pop the bonnet and start having a proper route around, and I’ll keep you all posted!
Cheers, Andy.

 

[Andrew Kelsey]

Thanks Rob. You kind of beat me to part 2!
The encouragement is just what’s need though! Yours was a big source of inspiration to continue the A4 journey if I’m honest!

 

[Charlie Farley]

That looks nice aswell, it's a slightly older version but still a nice car.
Those disc are the worse I've ever seen......and I've seen a lot over the years..lol , if there are no advisory notes on the MOT then the mind boggles...

Anyway, the problem with these cars is that too much info can be a bad thing as one starts looking for problems that may not need fixing or trying to second guess what to fix next even though it may not really need doing.
I'm all for preventative maintainance but it is easy to go OTT , the service history can tell you a lot depending on what service schedule the car has been on etc , shorter service intervals and more frequent oil changes are far better on these engines than the long interval.

cam follower is important and moreso on you new car as its the earlier BUL engine so check that out sooner than later.
most of the remaining 2.0T items will still apply to your new car so just a case of checking things as you go and don't go crazy with it to start with.
Owning one of these cars is great so enjoy it but try to avoid getting to worried about things going tits up all the time, sure you may have somethings to do, that's a certainty but it does not have to be serious stuff nor expensive , just take things as they come really.

good luck chap.

 

[Charlie Farley]

On a side note chap, not sure if you have access to VCDS or not but well worth running it to get a better idea on how things are running under the skin so to speak, also see if you have any stored error logs.

rob

 

[Charlie Farley]

just noticed your location, I was down your way last night on a drive out in my old bus.....

 

[Andrew Kelsey]

Hi Rob, Yes i do have VCDS. Made sense in my mind owning 2 Audi's
Working long hours during the week has meant I have not had the chance to properly look over it yet, but weather prevailing at the weekend and I should be able to get out there and check it over. Also going to try and do both the key coding and the Cruise control (I really miss that!) so will have to teach myself coding as I go.
wish me luck!

 

[joinerman]

Re the key fob
Sit in the car
hold the unlock button & insert into ignition still holding the button
turn on ignition for a couple of secs
turn off remove key & let go of button
test.

 

[Charlie Farley]

Top tip there chap.....i'll have to remember that one for my own use.

 

[joinerman]

 

[Andrew Kelsey]

Well the weekend didn’t pan out as planned , but I’ve just had a pop at trying to re-Sync the key now but without success. When I got the car the spare didn’t have a battery in it, and looks exceptionally clean for a 12 year old car so looks like it’s totally forgotten the programming. Interestingly though, it does still start the car... will break out the VCDS hopefully tonight and see what’s going on there. Thanks for the tip though!

 

[Dani_B19]

Well the weekend didn’t pan out as planned , but I’ve just had a pop at trying to re-Sync the key now but without success. When I got the car the spare didn’t have a battery in it, and looks exceptionally clean for a 12 year old car so looks like it’s totally forgotten the programming. Interestingly though, it does still start the car... will break out the VCDS hopefully tonight and see what’s going on there. Thanks for the tip though!

Good luck. Ive got the same issue, been trying for the last 2 and a half years to sort it, I've given up now, i tried everything.

 

[Charlie Farley]

Well the weekend didn’t pan out as planned , but I’ve just had a pop at trying to re-Sync the key now but without success. When I got the car the spare didn’t have a battery in it, and looks exceptionally clean for a 12 year old car so looks like it’s totally forgotten the programming. Interestingly though, it does still start the car... will break out the VCDS hopefully tonight and see what’s going on there. Thanks for the tip though!

Having thought about it just now, I had to resync one of my keys recently, cant remember what I did to be honest but it only took a few mins , job done but I recall getting the method from the owners handbook.
i'll have a look chap.

 

[Charlie Farley]

Yep, owners manual pages 50 to 53 covers key battery replacement and resync key to car.

 

[Andrew Kelsey]

well I've tried to do a couple of bits this evening (before my laptop battery ran out, ****** kids...)
Tried to code in the key. Nothing.
Tried to set up the comfort windows. now can roll up the windows from my one working key, but don't think its done it properly as I cant get them to wind down from the fob...
Oh, and ran a scan as you do, and it appears I have an intermittent fuel pressure issue (P0088)
I really need a weekend to sit down and look at this all properly! oh what I wouldn't give for some Time!!!!

 

[Andrew Kelsey]

off to read the manual too..

 

[Charlie Farley]

right chap, page 61
or to save you the time.
If the car is locked,use the key to unlock the door.
Press the unlock button on the remote control.
Insert key onto ignition and switch on engine.
switch off ignition and remove the key.
Press the unlock or lock button.

that's its.

 

[Dani_B19]

If its anything like mine the manual procedure doesn't work.

 

[Charlie Farley]

Worked fine chap, I was a bit surprised too....

 

[Andrew Kelsey]

So this weekend I thought might be a write off due to family commitments and stuff, but the missus decided on an afternoon nap while I watched the Grand Prix and didn’t wake up immediately. Seemed only right I wandered out to my car to do stuff, and let her rest up some more! Firstly thank you to all with suggestions for key coding. I’ve tried them all and none have succeeded, so I need to look at the VCDS coding route. While on the subject of VCDS, I thought I’d clear the fault code for the high fuel pressure and re-check it next week as it’s a historical code, relevant before I bought the car.

Now since I bought it, there have been some bits that have made me sad. Firstly, the heater buttons had started to flake off (as they do) so that needed a good unit putting on

Yes, it’s only minor but it bothered me and I could do something about it, so I did.
Same sort of thing with the gear knob. There was a lot of wear around the front so it was visible. Let’s change that too then...

And as the area was all dismantled I figured it was a good time to get my stereo back in. The RNSE is a good enough unit I suppose but I was missing my iPhone connectivity, DAB radio and car play. I know I’m losing a full proper sat nav, but on the whole I know where I’m going unless it’s a road trip, and then I can still use apple maps. If I have too.

There doesn’t appear to be anywhere tidy to put a phone, but as I had the glove box out to run the DAB aerial I noticed there were some cut out bits at the back. I acquired a USB connector, so thought that would give me some options. I trimmed it all out nicely and popped the connector in. Et voila!
Looks ok and works as it should. Probably need to paint it black, but for testing purposes...

All that’s left was to fit the unit. I took it out of the last Audi complete so was a really quick swap over, all cables connected and just need swapping onto the new car. Re ran the mic as it was getting dark, so may need to rethink the placement later. But for now I have tunes again and I couldn’t be happier!

Well that’s all that tidied up, I guess I should crack on and do some real work on the car, but it’s a start, and time was fairly short.
Roll on next weekend!
Ttfn.

 

[Andrew Kelsey]

So wednesday I had to go between branches at work, but as I pulled away I noticed a noise I hadn’t heard from the car before. A kind of Whooshing noise in time with the rev’s but only in 1st and 2nd gear. Bit odd, and as I was almost immediately stuck in traffic I had a chance to play and see what affected it. Turning the Heating/AC unit off made the noise go away, so I thought great, sounds like the AC compressor.
Got to the other branch and had one of our techs have a quick look. With his stethoscope out you could hear a bearing noise through the alternator, and that coupled with the whine (it’s always had since I bought it) that goes away when you turn the steering millimetres in either direction, I figured this was a likely cause too. Quick call to my supplies had me a replacement Bosch unit for £125 and today being a nice day... well rude not too really!

Got the old unit out

And new unit in!

Mmmm, shiney!
....and apparently no different to the one I took off as the noise is still there.
Balls.
So what now? I’m feeling pretty deflated, and I still have a noise. The worst part is I’m due to be driving it to France and I’m paranoid something is going to go. I’m starting to think my Audi ownership is cursed

But on the plus side, the broken Motor has gone to a new home who is planning a rebuild as we speak.