A few problems spoiling a good car

[brendanh]

2001 new model a4 tdi 130 92k

Hi all,
I have oned this car for 3 years now and have loved it for its combination of power economy and looks but of late i have been becomming a little well known by my local garage.

It all started about 6 months in when juring the christmas break i tried to open it and found that when the remote control or the key was used the doors would un lock and lock again in about 2 seconds before i got the chance to open the door this would happen about 10 times before i could get into the car.I took it to the garage i bought it from and they sent it to an indi that had all the diagnostic gear but of course the problem would not happen so i had to take it home again but thankfully the problem only happened again once then stopped.

Another problem that would show up now and again would be that i would go out in the moring to go to work and find all the windows open this would be very dangerous if i had parked it on a city street but as i live in the countryside all i had to put up with was a wet seat.

The engine seemed to have a lot of shake in it at tickover when warm but not when cold or over 1100 rpm bu this did not seem to affect power or economy it was just a little annoying when parked in traffic.

The first big problem was that when overtaking one day the car seemed to drop to about 30 hp which was a little hary to say the least when you are expecting normal power and facing oncomming traffic .Cursing my luck i drove home and the car was normal to drive except no power but on switching off and restarting i found power restored which only lasted until my next overtaking manover.I done some research on the internet and bought a code reader which told me of a turbo over boost problem ,i replaced the maff and turbo controller n75 i think to no avail also i bought some spray and sprayed it into the turbo while running which was no help eventually i took it to another indi that was recommended to me and he traced it to a faulty sensor between the intercooler and the engine "map sensor i think".

They also had a look at the wiring for the injectors to see if there was any damage causing the engine shake and all seems to be ok.
On that visit i also had a problem with starting the car it would take 6-7 turns to start .The garage had a look at the fuel pump at the tank but it was ok and said that i would be soon replacing the battery /starter if problem was not sorted but as i needed the car i took it away at the time.
Later while on the internet i found that a faulty headlight switch could cause this problem and a new switch later and problem solved.

A few weeks later i noticed that the rad fan seemed to run constant so i took out my code reader and a coolant g62 sensor was the fault replaced it myself problem solved.

A few months later my alarm started to go off on cold nights
by itself i found the source of the sound a speaker in the boot which has a rechargable battery which i tested and it was below the spec voltage so i removed the unit and have not replaced it.

Going great for 6 months and the ntc (mot ) a week away i went out one morning to find the remote control dead so i opened with the key and all doors except the passinger opened in fact that door was totally dead no locks window or electric mirror would work also the interior lights would only flicker.

Back to the garage again and because the passinger door has no key slot in it they had to break in the hard way and found the locks ok and no wiring damaged fault turned out to be a courtsy computer which was replaced.I had only one of the keys given to them so when i collected the car only that key would open the door and as their computer was out on a job they couldent reprogram the other one at the time and i have not been able to get back to them since but a month later
the first key has lost its code a well so now i am back to manual opening.

Now for the last few months my air con has failed so in the beginning i did nothing until that week of fine weather came along this summer "you remember that one" i had the system pressure tested and recharged which only lasted 6 weeks and now its gone again although this time it seemed to come and go a few times before it stopped.

I now also have a humming sound comming from the front right wheel area sounds like a bearing although when i jacked up the car all seems solid and no slackness in the bearing.
Also the steering feels a little stiffer on left turns sometimes so i am thinking of replacing the power steering oil as it has not been chainged in a while.

Thanks for reading my story i hope it has given others ideas and if anyone has any fixes for me i would be greatful.

Brendanh

[dana4tdi]

my car did the cut out thing on overtaking, a dealer replaced the turbo, and actuator solenoid. But under guarantee - FOC, I do not envy you.