All sorts of mystery!

[maddiesdaddy]

Hello there, I'm new to this forum and just seeking a bit of advice if possible.

I've recently bought myself an A4 Avant, P reg 1.9 tdi 110 (294000 miles on the clock!). It's only my second car ever and my first Audi and diesel and I'm a bit lost when it comes to poking around!

It's got a number of problems I'm discovering and I'm just wondering where to start?

First off: every morning I drive up a big hill in 3rd gear and just as I hit about 2500 revs the engine drops off power. If I keep my foot down it comes back, then goes and comes back and then by the time I'm at the top of the hill it's gone again. I can switch the engine off and on and the power will be back but sometimes it will go again if I put the foot down. Turbo? Fuel delivery? It's quite annoying but maybe not my biggest issue.

Secondly, I was looking underneath the other day and noticed right under the driver's seat, what I think is a bit of suspension was all shiny. I gave it a dab with a baby wipe and aside from the normal grot it had a bit of a white-wine tinge to it. I'm hoping it was only diesel rather than brake fluid (neither good, I know)?!! There are two pipes running along the length of the car where I saw it glistening so it could be from those but I can't seem to follow them far enough to figure out what they are and my Haynes manual doesn't give me any more detail!

What else?

The Exhaust is hanging off and resting on the rear axle. Should I get a new bit welded on to hang it? There's just enough of the Hanger to get some garden wire around it maybe but I thought this might make the pipe rusty?

Oh yes, and for some reason the steering wheel is on at about 30 degrees clockwise to central! Someone mentioned it might be the tracking is out but would it make it that far off? It's a bit distracting but not unliveable with.

Power steering fluid leak too but I'm just topping it up until I can decide what the most important things to deal with first are.

I'm hoping to keep repairs to an absolute minimum with home bodges if possible but if I need to bite the bullet then you can be as frank as you like with me!!

Any help very much appreciated!!

[hairyape1]

Hi maddiesdaddy

Its nice to see a fellow forum member from Falmouth! I'm living in Penryn at the moment.

Sounds like you have a few things to fix up, hopefully none of them will be too difficult. I'm no expert but I will try my best, and im sure other wiser members will be able to help where I cant... or even correct me if im wrong!
I'm not sure about the lack of power as you go up the hill, does it only happen when you have just started and the engine is cold?
The diesel line + return run under the car on the drivers side, so it probably ia a diesel leak. But if you have a leak of either diesel/brake fluid you should get it fixed straight away, otherwise your either leaving a slippy diesel trail wherever you go, or running the risk of brake failure. Both of which are an obvious safety hazard.
As long as its not too rot, it would be quite easy to get a new bracket welded on the exhaust. Or failing that pick up one from the scrappie.
The tracking could be the cause of the un-even steering wheel... have you noticed uneven wear on your front tyres? Or it could be that the tracking is ok and the wheel is just not centred correctly... I know the feeling tho, mine is off by only 5-10 degrees, but it really bugs me! Best bet is to pop up to the local tyre garage and have the tracking checked (usually free), if it is out they can centre the wheel at the same time as doing the tracking (usually £15).
And the power steering leak could be a simple fix, or a real pain depending on where its coming from. Have a look and see if you can spot the source of the leak.

Home bodges are ok, as long as they are safe, if in doubt get a professional to do the job.
There is no better way to learn how to do something than to do it yourself, so I would encourage you to have a go. But I would also say that if you don't know what your doing, get someone to guide you and failing that you should bite the bullet and pay a mechanic to do it.

I'm more than willing to meet up and give you a hand diagnosing and helping you fix some of the problems if you want. I'm away from Cornwall for a fortnight, but if you still have problems then let me know and I'll do my best to help.

I hope that was at least partially helpful, good luck getting the problems ironed out.

Cheers,
Ben

[Withnail]

The "two pipes" running along the drivers side are the fuel supply and return. (the brake pipes run along the nearside).

Easiest thing with the exhaust might be to get a proper "U"-bolt exhaust clamp and make up a bracket to bolt through from a piece of flat steel to get it properly hooked up to the existing rubber mounting. I am assuming that the bracket has rusted/broken away from the the outside of the silencer.. It would be worth getting sorted as the joint onto the catalyst can get a bit bell-mouthed and unserviceable if it's allowed to waggle around on there for too long. Halfords, etc do plenty of sandwiched fabric/rubber straps with a hook on one end for this type of use and done right it would be a fairly permanent fix.

The steering wheel being offcentre is a pretty minor niggle: personally speaking, now that we have airbags to contend with, the need to wait for a while for everything to discharge electrically before removing the bag from the steering wheel means that when a job has been completed (and I'll bet your steering wheel has been off a couple of times in 294k!) and the car road-tested, if all else seems well, the hassle of taking the bag off again to move the wheel around a spline or two means it sometimes gets left when it's your own car you're dealing with. Not like in the old days of Minis!

[hibbsy21]

First off: every morning I drive up a big hill in 3rd gear and just as I hit about 2500 revs the engine drops off power. If I keep my foot down it comes back, then goes and comes back and then by the time I'm at the top of the hill it's gone again. I can switch the engine off and on and the power will be back but sometimes it will go again if I put the foot down. Turbo? Fuel delivery? It's quite annoying but maybe not my biggest issue.

The problem you are experiencing is down to the turbo either over, or underboosting. This could be one or more of the following problems, a vacuum leak from one of the boost pipes or intercooler hoses, actuator sticking or not opening properly, or the nodes in the VNT are sticking.

Hope that helps

Rich

[maddiesdaddy]

Thank you all for the replies!

Sounds like the sort of things I should leave to the Pro's really though. I did the first year of an NVQ in Maintenance and Repair a few years ago so would like to try but time is always short and I only have my Draper value toolkit........

My workmate gave me the number of a guy who used to be an Audi Specialist so I think I'll just have to take a deep breath and let the wallet-moth see some daylight!

[maddiesdaddy]

Update if interested: Took the car to my usual garage and he has had a look. Turns out the steering rack itself is leaking from the seals so will need replacing. He'll fix the exhaust on monday no bother but the handbrake (which I forgot about before) is poor because the rear calipers are done for (probably the originals at 294000 miles old!). The turbo issue he'll have a better look at when the exhaust is fixed because it was so noisy it was hard to tell what he was listening to but thinks it could be the AFM rather than the turbo itself. My dad noticed the pipes looking a bit dessicated so hopefully it's just a hose with a hole.

All in all a rather expensive lot. I'm just totalling bits on eBay and am looking at £400 at the best. I have become pretty attached to it but I only bought it for 400 quid and if you stack it all up it would be more expensive to fix than it was bought for!

Anyone think it's worth it or should I try to cut my losses?

[hairyape1]

At the end of the day its up to you if you want to spend the money or not, the car has travelled a fair few miles. . . but then the 1.9s seem to go on for ever.

Yeah, prices soon rack up for vag parts! I got caught with my pants down last mot... didnt realise that it was due and had to buy parts last minute. . . a pair of new rear calipers cost me 200 quid from euro parts
But you should be able to save a fair bit by sourcing most parts from the breakers. Rear calipers in good condition should set you back about 20 each etc and you might be able to pick up a good steering rack.

Have you got any access to vag com? Try to get the car scanned for fault codes, it might give you an idea of whats causing the engine problems.

Good luck