New to the S3. It hates me!

[s3 addict]

I've had my S3 for nearly a week now. I bought it from a guy near Rutland (sold as seen) for £5k. On my way home the engine warning light came on and also the ESP light wouldn't extinguish and I also discovered the passager side window was ********, it went down ok but when it started to rain and i tried to put it up it got stuck!! Took the car straight to the garage for a diagnostic check only to find out nothing was wrong with it engine wise, after a quick test drive though they told me the front brakes are crap when breaking heavily from 80! (wtf was he doing 80 in my car on a test drive???) I checked the old receipts to find the previous owner had put the cheapest brakes he could find on it, £40 for front discs! New EBC discs and pads are on ordered. I knew the tracking was off so I took it to another garage to see if they could sort it for me. I was then told I'd be best to get 2 new tyres before setting up the tracking which I agreed to. Unfortunately they discovered the rear bush on the front o/f wishbone was crap so there decided it wasn't worth doing anything until that was sorted first. £140 per wishbone!!! I thought sod that so have now ordered powerflex bushes for both front wishbones (£75 all in). Later that same day when I was about to set off to work, the battery died on me!!! £120 later (Bosch silver top) thats one problem fixed. The engine warning light had come back by this time so I ordered an OBD reader/reset tool which arrived next day and did the trick. It also highlighted a problem with the N249 valve which is a common fault I see. Forge Recirculation Valve now on order!!

I'd just like to say, even though it has a few minor problems and has been a bit of a pain in the wallet, this is one awesome car and I love every second when I driving it. No regrets at all, I'm loving getting to tinker with it

Does anybody have any tips regarding remaps? I was thinking of maybe Revo?

 

[thegoal007]

No it doesn't hate you, but the questions begs to be asked....
Did you not go out on a test drive before buying ? Did you not test as many things out before buying ? Did you not take anyone who knows a bit about these cars with you ?

 

[Dani_B19]

5k, whats the spec, age and mileage mate?

 

[s3 addict]

I'd looked at a few before buying this one, The brakes didn't seem bad, the engine lights weren't on, I didn't check the passenger window and the car started fine so wouldn't of known about the battery. Admittedly i was blinkered by the condition of it and how smoothly it drove. It's a 2001 210bhp, Black, full black leather, Bose stereo, 68000 miles, full service history, completely standard. It's a beaut!

 

[jojo]

I guess when a car looks in great condition, it sometimes sells itself...

 

[Smokey_clark]

Not great luck you've had there mate.
By the way the N249 valve isn't the diverter valve, although no reason not to upgrade that to a 007p or similar.
You can bypass the N249 anyway if that is to fault, it may have been bypassed already but not left connected electrically?

 

[a3tdi2001]

It's hard to spot things with a car when you go to look at it to be fair because there's so much going through your mind. Hence why so many hooky car dealers make a very good living!

 

[sportstractor]

Ah fair enough,

The magpie effect, you were taken by the shineyness.

To be honest alot of what you listed is a fairly simple fix, you could try going back to the seller? I know it was sold as seen, but you could try guilt tripping them.

Congrats on the lemon

 

[sportstractor]

Unfortunately they discovered the rear bush on the front o/f wishbone was crap so there decided it wasn't worth doing anything until that was sorted first. £140 per wishbone!!! I thought sod that so have now ordered powerflex bushes for both front wishbones (£75 all in)

You can buy just the bushs from Audi or any motor factor, sure it works out a lot cheaper... Consider new wishbones is nuts, were not looking at economical a3 wishbones, these baby's are cast.

With regards to remap make sure you buy a badger 5 tip and Jetex filter before hand, makes a fair difference. Loads of decent remap companies, I think badger5 does revo, there's also a pretty good company called r-tech that iv heard many positive things about.

 

[TDIQ]

You can buy just the bushs from Audi or any motor factor, sure it works out a lot cheaper... Consider new wishbones is nuts, were not looking at economical a3 wishbones, these baby's are cast.

Is it just S3, TT and R32 wishbones are cast or are A3 Quattro's cast too?

 

[thegoal007]

re: Jojos comment
Disagree.....all that glitters isn't.....

I say this from experience. Bearing in mind there are a lot of people out their who are not diamond specliast and wouldn't know a real one if it was in front of them even if if it did sparkle.......................you get my drift !

 

[dannyh]

There are always a few niggles to start with on any car you buy, admittedly you had a few more niggles than normal but still nothing too bad.

My advice on remaps would be getting a known brand map, they are not as expensive as they use to be and are far better than any bloke in a garage with a laptop.

I have an A3 with Revo and the map is very good, revo are typically aggressive meaning you don’t have to thrash the nuts up the rev range to get it to shift, my power comes in strong at 3K compare to other progressive maps, each to their own I presume, if you go for stage one map it doesn’t matter if you have a TIP or filter or DP but if you are getting a custom map then I would fit these before hand,
also worth noting that if you are not in a hurry (although its past show season really now) every time I have been at a show that Revo has attended they have had £100 off all software so it might be worth hanging on because including VAT it’s a saving of £120.

 

[vrbob]

Welcome to S3 ownership, i too recently got my S3 as sold my last one a few yars ago.

I have been lucky and as yet have had no faults at all with my car so i have been spendingmy money on a few minor mods and preventative maintenance. Have a look in the FAQ section for a few jobs that maybe worth doing to your car to make sure its in tip top condition. Also check your roof rails for any signs of rust as this is a known fault with these cars.

Lastly in reagrads to remaps i got mine Revo`d a couple of weeks back and its really good for the money i paid (i got the £100 off deal) i also fitted a silicone TIP pefformance air filter and Forge 007p to get the besult results from a Stage 1 map.

 

[jojo]

re: Jojos comment
Disagree.....all that glitters isn't.....

I say this from experience. Bearing in mind there are a lot of people out their who are not diamond specliast and wouldn't know a real one if it was in front of them even if if it did sparkle.......................you get my drift !

Lol, I did say 'sometimes', meaning that a shiney car will more than likely aid a sale, especially if one didn't do the research before buying!

 

[Sean_S3]

Prepare yourself for what "could" be a turbulent first 6 months of ownership, It’s difficult to say how the car has been looked after over its life time and weaknesses will be highlighted if you’re driving style is more aggressive than the previous owners. However with a low mileage example it is worth spending that bit of extra money to get it right. First thing I did was give mine a full service even though it had only done 3,000 miles since the previous one for peace of mind.

In regards to the code reader for checking engine faults it’s always a good idea to clear the fault and use the car for a few days and see if the fault comes back. No point spending money on parts that may not be broken. I’ve had the N249 fault before but I cleared it and it never came back.

 

[s4mark]

i've got an intermittent fault with the o/s/r abs speed sensor on my s3 which randomly brings up the ABS and traction light. New one being fitted when it goes in for its new bushes and shocks etc

 

[andrecc]

I'd looked at a few before buying this one, The brakes didn't seem bad, the engine lights weren't on, I didn't check the passenger window and the car started fine so wouldn't of known about the battery. Admittedly i was blinkered by the condition of it and how smoothly it drove. It's a 2001 210bhp, Black, full black leather, Bose stereo, 68000 miles, full service history, completely standard. It's a beaut!

i picked up mine for £3900. similar milage mine had 72K and all features, arm rest, heated seats, bose stereo, full leather

 

[jojo]

i picked up mine for £3900. similar milage mine had 72K and all features, arm rest, heated seats, bose stereo, full leather

This is CHEAP!

 

[s3 addict]

Thanks for all the advice people, I shall use it wisely. I fitted my new Powerflex bushes to the wishbones today, not as straight forward as I'd hoped as the rear bush had to be pressed in and I had to buy a vice to do this properly. This seems to have sorted the ESP light coming on now but the engine is still coding after every drive. I had a code for the lambda sensor come up a few times but I've not looked up how many the engine has or how much they cost yet. I noticed the front anti-roll bar bushes are a bit slack so will order some Powerflex ones. Also discovered the O/S front wheel bearing has excessive play so booked in at the garage on Friday, Also getting them to fit my new front brakes (could fit them myself but I'm busy), 2 new Yokohama AVS sport tyres and the sort tracking out. I replaced the standard recirculation valve with a Forge FDMV008 and intend on getting rid of the troublesome N249 valve. The turbo no longer chatters away which I did like but you get a nice silent whoosh instead now. I'm thinking of getting a BMC induction kit as I like the whole carbon wrapped theme as it acts as a heat shield aswel as looking top notch. I'm happy in the knowledge that now my S3 is being looked after properly and not left to fall apart, There should be a charity set up for abused S cars!! Hmmm....... Dragons Den maybe!!

 

[s3dave]

The BMC induction kit has proved to be restrictive on the s3 ... you may want to reconsider..