Tried a diagnostic but did not connect

[haggis007]

got a 1997 audi a3 1.6, i have got an electrical problem, when i tried to connect to vag-com it did not work, then went to garage and they too could not get it to communicate, could this mean i need a new ecu???

[Crasher]

Would it not connect with any controllers on the car such as air bag, ABS, instruments etc?

[haggis007]

the mechanic said it would not communicate, it said its strange cuz there machine never lets them down, i might try another garage today and see if it will connect, what would it mean if it cant though??

[Crasher]

Presumably it is the engine you are trying to connect to? It is very unusual to not be able to communicate with the engine ECU on any car, especially an 8P A3 and if the engine is running, I doubt very much if it is the ECU. If no communications are possible with any controllers on the car, then is likely to be someone has disconnected or damaged some part of the diagnostic system. One I have seen a couple of times is where people have been prodding at the connector for some reason or other and damaged thee pins and that can be very fiddly to put right. You need to know if other units will communicate before making any guesses or assumptions.

[haggis007]

well went to another garage and paid £40 and diagnostic worked, it came up with air mass meter and 3 oxygen sensors, hopefully this could be the reason why i get poor idling and soot and smoke coming out exhaust, but reality is its more likely to be head off job lol, cheers guys

[Crasher]

Three oxygen sensors? That’s a clever piece of diagnostic kit, it only has two oxygen sensors.

[haggis007]

thats worrying then because the guy said it came up with 3 OS faults and he said they were oxygen sensors, i think the only way of getting truth is paying Audi £70 per hour to find out:aargh4::aargh4:

[STEWY L]

thats worrying then because the guy said it came up with 3 OS faults and he said they were oxygen sensors, i think the only way of getting truth is paying Audi £70 per hour to find out:aargh4::aargh4:
are you sure it's not the SAME FAULT SHOWING UP 3 TIMES?;)
regards,
stewy.

[Crasher]

It can have three separate types of fault for each of the two sensors, did they give you a code print out?

[haggis007]

thats the wierd thing, he plugged it in and told me it communicated fine, then said if i wanted to know the codes it would be £40, so i said ok and he instantly told me the error codes, he put money in back pocket and i felt a little cheated, but a least i know the error codes, i have bought a maf sensor and still no fix, i have since been told it could be my head as its smoking and chucking soot from exhaust, gonna do a compression check to see if bottom end is ok, if it aint then a new engine is on the cards:mad:

[Crasher]

If it is an AKL engine, then ring problems are far from rare but the cost of repairs to a good standard are more than the car is worth. I saw a 2001 Bora with an AKL engine suffering ring oil control problems and it was being scrapped, the car was in brilliant condition as well. The rouble is that cars have lost so much money recently that repairing them when they get to seven or more years old is becoming prohibitive.

[haggis007]

yea its an akl engine, will pay for the head to be done, but if the compression test comes back as bad then i will buy new engine, wanna keep the a3 so dont mind paying the money, an engine with 70,000 is only £300+vat