Alternator Fault - Battery Not Charging. A6 C7.5

[brycie-bitdi]

I did. After the help given here, I did take a look & I could see the outer ring of the pulley leaning up against the back of the radiator. So it was exactly as Crasher said, the outer part of the pulley had separated from the inner part. New pulley & belt fitted for £440 and it’s running normally again.

Thanks to all for your input. Now on the journey back from Scotland, I’ve had a low oil warning, which is the first time ever in this car. Hopefully not the start of an issue to come. And also need to find some Brembo rear pads as the garage that did the alternator pulley couldn’t get hold of any.

[bluezie]

I did. After the help given here, I did take a look & I could see the outer ring of the pulley leaning up against the back of the radiator. So it was exactly as Crasher said, the outer part of the pulley had separated from the inner part. New pulley & belt fitted for £440 and it’s running normally again.

Thanks to all for your input. Now on the journey back from Scotland, I’ve had a low oil warning, which is the first time ever in this car. Hopefully not the start of an issue to come. And also need to find some Brembo rear pads as the garage that did the alternator pulley couldn’t get hold of any.

I recently had a low oil level warning, and the level shown on the MMI wasn't consistent, it was moving from day to day between low mark and 60%. I changed the sensor when I changed the oil, and from what I drained out, the true level was about 70%.

[brycie-bitdi]

Thanks, I’ll get them to check that. The extended warranty will be active next week & I have a service to claim on my service plan, so I’ll get them to check while they’re doing it. Of course they’ll probably want to charge me £195 for diagnostics if I mention a suspected issue with the oil level sensor lol.

[brycie-bitdi]

I wish my last post was the last one in this saga, but there seems to be one thing after another.

As I mentioned the car asked for oil after the pulley & belt were fitted. Well it asked for oil 3 times over the 2-3 weeks after the pulley was done. Took it back saying they must have done something while it was in & sure enough they said that the driveshaft seal had been damaged while they were trying to remove the seized pulley. Fair enough they fessed up & fixed it FOC. Picked it up today at 5pm & they said the coil light is now on, which they say is an exhaust temp sensor. When I started driving it, it’s in limp mode.

Could the exhaust temp sensor fault have been caused by them fixing the driveshaft seal? I’m quickly losing faith in this garage & if you guys think it’s a coincidence & not caused by the garage, I’ll get it fixed elsewhere. If it’s feasible that they did something to cause this, I’ll be pushing for them to put it right again FOC.

Thanks in advance.

[Crasher]

They would have damaged and then replaced the front crankshaft oil seal which does happen when extracting the pulley but you should notice and deal with it, not have to go back in there. There are five EGT sensors but I can’t visualise how they would damage one, the actual fault code would be helpful. Remember, coincidences can and do happen, you have to trust the garage that they are telling the truth.

[brycie-bitdi]

Yeah I’m trying not to be too cynical as they were upfront about the damaged seal. Just a peculiar thing that a sensor would go wrong while sat in their workshop & not being driven. As you say, coincidences do happen.

Guess I’ll see what they say & take it on the chin. Good to know from a person with knowledge of the model that the locations of the sensors are likely or unlikely to be related to them doing the pulley & seal.

Thanks again for your input.

[Crasher]

It depends on which one of the five EGT sensors it is to get a feeling for the plausibility.

[brycie-bitdi]

Got the car back yesterday afternoon. Apparently in addition to damaging the driveshaft seal, they also put a hole in the dipstick housing/chamber, whatever you call it. I didn’t even think the car had a dipstick. They had the bumper off 3 or 4 times & it took them 4 hours to identify the hole as it wasn’t showing unless the system was under pressure. All fixed now, fingers crossed.