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Non-Starter After Servicing (A3 1.9TDI Sportback)


miketurnermk
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Hi,

I've just got a serious problem. My car went in to Northampton Audi on Tues, came out and was fine but the following day it wouldn't start. Constant beep coming from the engine and flashing glow plug lights.

Had it towed back to Audi today and they have given me some very bad news.

They have said its an injector fault and that to fix it they could either replace the faulty injector for £1200 but they say that could knock out the other 3 straight away. Or they have quoted me £3000 to replace them all (+ wiring harness and glow plugs).

Obviously I don't have this sort of money and they are saying that their was no way that what they did on the service + MOT could have caused this.

Is there any advice anyone can give me?

1. I drove literally 30 miles after the service before this happened.

2. How high are the real chances of a new injector knocking out the others? - is this just a ploy to get more money out of me?

3. I've only had the car for 2 years; but it is an 06 plate A3 Sportback 1.9TDI 105bhp. In Nov 2009 the turbo blew up and that cost £1750 to get fixed (which included replacing the wiring harness); do I have any scope to use this info somehow?

I'd be really grateful for any help as I don't know what to do and now I'm stuck with no car!

Mike

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What is your engine code? If they have got the injectors i think they have (which i thought were only on the 2.0 litre engines) then they could be right.

They have piezo pump injectors. The injectors themselves are controlled via a piezo actuator.

The wiring loom will be in the cylinder head which does have to be changed only once!!!! Due to unwanted resistances that can occur. What fault code have you got? Can you let me know your engine code might be able to shed more light on it for you as my mate had similar problem+++

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Hey TIDYDUBS,

Thank you for your quick reply. Just checked the service book and if I'm reading it right it says the engine code is BKC. Is this right or am I looking in the wrong place? - no idea on the fault code, they didn't give me it.

I truly hope that they're not right or at least I can get this work done for much cheaper than what they have quoted :(

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Yeah definitely BKC. Did a quick google and looks like this is the engine type for 05/06 A3's (mines an 06 plate)

Just looked at the original invoice for 11/09 and all it says is WIRING HARNESSA; had thought that A was just a typo; but maybe this is what you were after?

I will give Audi a ring in the morning and see if I can find out the fault code coming up

Many thanks again

Mike

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OK so I've called Audi (a few times this morning).

Since they did the diagnostics free of charge they weren't willing to give me the fault codes (suppose cos they know I will take them somewhere else) :(

I spoke to them on the wiring harness and they told me that it wasn't the same wiring harness that was replaced.

However I spoke to an independent Audi Specialist and they seem to think I'm being ripped off. Firstly although there is a chance that a new injector could blow another they would rather just replace the 1 and see what happens then go from there; rather than forking out so much money. They also don't think the wiring harness and glow plugs would need to be replaced; although Audi say that as soon as you touch the wires the harness will fall apart and has to be replaced.

The difference in quotes are staggering.

Audi quote £1100 for 1 Injector, Harness, Glow Plugs and Labour. Or £3000 for 4 injectors.

The specialist is quoting me around £550 (£350 for an injector and £100 labour + VAT). They also said that if all 4 injectors did need doing then it would still only be about £1600 to do the work and not £3k

The guy I spoke to sounded pretty confident that I was being ripped off and that Audis viewpoint is that just replace everything at huge cost; rather then just getting it working.

Should I go with the independant?

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They are ripping you off tell where to get off my friend. Get the part numbers of the harness thats required and compare to the one that was fitted. You can use them again in the head if its been replaced before only a complete monkey would ruin it second time around.

They should give you the P code unless they are hiding something????? as anyone including the police,Vosa are allowed access to these not the manufacturer type codes associated with these........they are not allowed to give you the printout of the diagnostic. As long as the Audi specialist is a reputable one use him but id use genuine injector/s, though my personal choice and the harness if its needed. Glow plugs are pretty good these days.

He sounds like a good Indy. In Audi's defence they may just be covering their arse but id get a written quote detailing all parts and part numbers and labour first then compare to you old invoice for the wiring harness...sounds pretty suss to me leave no stone unturned and i work for a main dealer...............not Audi

Edited by TIDYDUBS
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Thanks again for another reply.

One of my mates knows someone who works for a main dealer and does a bit of work on the side. I managed to get his no and called him tonight.

He agrees with the other garage that it probably only needs 1 injector although as you said the wiring harness will also need to be replaced as well.

It's all very suspicious with Audi; first they were sure of what needed doing; i.e. all 4 injectors, harness, glow plugs and then today they said 'until we get the rocker box cover off they don't know exactly what's wrong' - although they said they did a 'full diagnostic'.

I spoke to this guy and he said that as part of the diagnostics with the modern computer testing it actually prompts to remove the rocker box and carry out a resistance test on each of the injectors to prove that there is a fault. So although Audi said they would do the diagnostics for free and quoted me for works; they didn't even do this, which I am told they should have done....how you can quote for work when you haven't even looked at the problem is beyond me!

The upshot is this guy is going to do the work privately for me. I'm going to get it out of the Audi garage on Monday and he's going to come round and do his own diagnostics before buying parts; but he suspects he will just need the harness and 1 injector. He's only going to charge me £35ph labour as 'mates rates' which is a big sigh of relief! So fingers crossed I will have it up and running by Wednesday and at a fraction of the cost.

Although the other garage quoted £550; he has quoted £650; mainly because he doesn't think the other garage could get a 'decent' injector for the price they quoted so he's going to get a slightly more expensive, but also for the wiring harness which the garage didn't quote. I told him the name of the garage and he didn't rate them much so £650 for peace of mind that its in someone's hands I can trust is money well spent I think!

I'll let you know what he finds on Monday night and the final outcome!

Thanks again, without people like you us 'non mechanics' would be getting ripped off (well more than usual) ;)

Mike

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Thanks Mike means a lot!!!!! Im constantly pissed off with retailers that take the piss and ripping people off. I hate it.

I should start my own business really as there are so many people switched on to how much they pay and the amount of Indy's that profess to be specialist in VAG or Audi etc aint gotta a clue!!!!! I could and should put them out of business.That Audi guy well he sounds like he knows what he is talking about and worth every penny......

Yes its true what he says the test plan on the diagnostic does actually tell you to remove this and that and from what you are telling me they clearly have not! Sound like a bunch of monkeys, get your car out of there they are trying o pull the wool over your eyes and now are back tracking......Keep me posted im interested, PM me your results and the fault code..................................................Tidy+++

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Right so I got the car out of Audi today and the guy came round tonight (who is a VW MasterTech).

We are both left very confused and not sure on the way forward..

Basically we don't have the fault codes although Audi stated that the fault codes are showing that there is an error on Injector # 3.

So he took the rocker box cover off tonight and did a resistance test on all 4 injectors but they all came back with no abnormal resistance; and he was expecting to see a lot of resistance on #3.

He did a few other tests on the cables to the injector and checked a known issue on the fuel pump but there was fuel sitting in there that he said wouldn't be there if there was a problem so doesn't think it is that.

Since he doesn't have all of Audi's diagnostic machines we are a bit stumped. He's going to try to call Audi in the morning and see if he can get them to convince him of a reason why they diagnosed injector #3 as faulty.

But paying out £605 on parts (1xInjector + Wiring Harness) is going to be a pretty big gamble and once the part is in I can't get my money back if that doesn't solve the problem.

I really don't know what to do :( - I just paid £50 to get the car towed from Audi, really don't want to have to pay another £50 to take it back to Audi (on top of the original £90 to get it there in the first place) for them to do some more diagnostics; and then another £50 to get it out of there again...

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Right, we made a bit of progress tonight. After he called Audi this morning we felt a little more comfortable that the had done some actual diagnostics so I took the plunge on the gamble at injector #3.

Yesterday the guy had his reader (what ever it is called) plugged in and the computer showed no fault codes.

He took out the injector and it was drippping with Diesel so he said that had definitely gone. He replaced the injector as well as the wiring harness and it almost started but didn't.

Now he is getting some actual errors

1st is indicating that a glow plug is out - nothing major there and the car should still start without it.

The 2nd we are not too sure on right now. Its P1664 which seems to be indicating some kind of electrical circuit issue; but it wasn't precise enough to tell us what it actually could be. So he's going to make some phone calls in the morning to see if he can try to diagnose what the fault could be. He thinks the wiring harness is all sound; suspect that another injector could have possibly gone as well, but we don't want to do any guessing at this point!

Will update again tomorrow night with hopefully some better news on this!

Thanks

Mike

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  • 1 month later...

I hate people who don't finish their threads so I thought I had better come back and update on the outcome of this story.

We ordered a new injector, fitted it but the car still wouldn't start (a £550 gamble); then took all the remaining injectors to a guy who could test them and found that the remaining ones were working and also tested the original, which thankfully was found to be faulty.

So the wiring was then traced and he found a burnt out wire behind the battery which seemed to have been the cause of the injector blowing. This was repaired and I have a car back.

Probably spent about £1k all in all in getting it fixed but much better than Audis extortionate £3k quote!...

Now decided to get a company car which should be due in May and getting rid of this one (although now its developed a new rear wiper issue that I'm trying to sort on another thread!) :)

Thanks for everyones help

Regards

Mike

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I hate people who don't finish their threads so I thought I had better come back and update on the outcome of this story.

We ordered a new injector, fitted it but the car still wouldn't start (a £550 gamble); then took all the remaining injectors to a guy who could test them and found that the remaining ones were working and also tested the original, which thankfully was found to be faulty.

So the wiring was then traced and he found a burnt out wire behind the battery which seemed to have been the cause of the injector blowing. This was repaired and I have a car back.

Probably spent about £1k all in all in getting it fixed but much better than Audis extortionate £3k quote!...

Now decided to get a company car which should be due in May and getting rid of this one (although now its developed a new rear wiper issue that I'm trying to sort on another thread!) :)

Thanks for everyones help

Regards

Mike

Nice one Mike!!!! Could you PM me or post pics of where exactly this wire was and which wire/s

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