Audi A3 Cabriolet - How to deal with possible fake jobs??

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Tue 30 Sep 2014 04:41
Audi A3 Cabriolet - How to deal with possible fake jobs?? - stressed A3 owner.
Ok... I really hope you can help and advise on this as I'm due to go back into the main dealer and sort this very soon..
Audi Main dealer messed up and didn't bolt on my water pump properly after a cam belt and water pump change. To compensate me for this bad service they agreed to do the DSG gearbox oil change and Aircon service FOC.
I also asked them to repair the right side brake light bulb.
So they ring me today and say I need a front right tyre as the one fitted is barely legal. Changing this will bring them all up to 2mm. Now I bought the tyres in pairs so surely the other side would need renewing??? But no. Cost £200. I said I had a tyre and id drop it in.
Upon getting there I'm told my LED brake light strip is not working and needs replacing at a cost of 130.00. This was working definately the day before as I had been stopped by a bored copper to inform me my brake light was out yet as I had a visual LED strip I was advised to go on my way and get it repaired ASAP.
What do I do??? I've told them it was working and that I'm suspicious they are trying to pull a fast one... How can I deal with this effectively???
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Tue 30 Sep 2014 05:12
Audi A3 Cabriolet - How to deal with possible fake jobs?? - gordonbennet
Changing this will bring them all up to 2mm.

2mm !!, the mind boggles.

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Tue 30 Sep 2014 08:39
Audi A3 Cabriolet - How to deal with possible fake jobs?? - The-Mechanic

So which brake light was out when the police stopped you and which does the dealer say needs replacing ? It's not clear when you say LED strip, do you mean the centre, high level brake light ?

You say the dealer offered to do the DSG oil/filter and A/C service, but you asked them to fix the brake light. If the light was not part of the original deal, why should the dealer have to fix or replace it FOC especially when you knew there was a fault.

As for the statement of the 2mm tread on all the tyres, it says a lot about your ideas about safety. They're only .4mm away from the legal tread depth and you're griping about having to change one ? As GB above says "the mind boggles"

If your not happy with the treatment from the dealership, let them do the work they agreed to for free then find another garage to sort out the rest.

Edited by The-Mechanic on 30/09/2014 at 08:43

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Tue 30 Sep 2014 09:31
Audi A3 Cabriolet - How to deal with possible fake jobs?? - daveyjp

Considering a new tyre has 6-7mm of tread how does having a single new one fitted only bring it up to 2mm?

With winter on the way all tyres would be better with plenty of tread - I've just swapped two for this reason. Once they get to 2.5mm effectiveness drops of dramatically, especially if you need to stop in a hurry. IMHO the legal limit of 1.6mm is too low.

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Tue 30 Sep 2014 13:23
Audi A3 Cabriolet - How to deal with possible fake jobs?? - Peter.N.

The only real answer is to run old cars and repair them yourself as I have done for the last almost 50 years.

As for uneven tyre wear, the n/s front tyre will almost always wear more rapidly the the o/s, I am not sure exactly why but I think its something to do with the road camber and the car trying to run down it.

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Tue 30 Sep 2014 13:44
Audi A3 Cabriolet - How to deal with possible fake jobs?? - galileo

The only real answer is to run old cars and repair them yourself as I have done for the last almost 50 years.

As for uneven tyre wear, the n/s front tyre will almost always wear more rapidly the the o/s, I am not sure exactly why but I think its something to do with the road camber and the car trying to run down it.

Also, one turns right more often than left (roundabouts, mainly)

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Tue 30 Sep 2014 15:23
Audi A3 Cabriolet - How to deal with possible fake jobs?? - Railroad.

The only real answer is to run old cars and repair them yourself as I have done for the last almost 50 years.

Totally agree. Modern cars are assembled at the factory without any thought or intention of them ever coming apart again. They never go back quite the same as they were once they've been taken apart. The manufacturer's intended service life of a car is 3-5 years. The only way to run a car these days is to have it on a lease hire scheme. That way you have fixed monthly costs and a new car every couple of years. The alternative is to run an old car and keep throwing money at fixing its faults that largely cannot be properly fixed.
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Tue 30 Sep 2014 15:45
Audi A3 Cabriolet - How to deal with possible fake jobs?? - skidpan

The manufacturer's intended service life of a car is 3-5 years

Really.

Our old 2002 Mondeo (sold in 2005) is still on the road.

Our old 2005 Focus (sold in 2010) is still on the road.

Our old 2008 BMW (sold in 2013) is still on the road.

Those cars are 12, 9 and 6 years old. According to you they should now have been scrapped.

The wifes Kia is 4 years old now and still has 3 years warranty left. Don''t thing it will be scrapped for many years yet.

Ever spotted that garages have forcourts full of cars older than 3 years.

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Tue 30 Sep 2014 16:39
Audi A3 Cabriolet - How to deal with possible fake jobs?? - Railroad.
Read what I said, which was the manufacturer's intended service life is 3-5 years. We all know cars go on for longer than that, but for how much longer considering the ever more strict emission regulations and pressure to build cars cheaper and greener? The days of the fully repairable motor are shortening.
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Tue 30 Sep 2014 16:47
Audi A3 Cabriolet - How to deal with possible fake jobs?? - skidpan
Read what I said, which was the manufacturer's intended service life is 3-5 years. We all know cars go on for longer than that, but for how much longer considering the ever more strict emission regulations and pressure to build cars cheaper and greener? The days of the fully repairable motor are shortening.

Use whatever weasely works you want to. You posted the comment.

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Tue 30 Sep 2014 17:04
Audi A3 Cabriolet - How to deal with possible fake jobs?? - madf

The only real answer is to run old cars and repair them yourself as I have done for the last almost 50 years.

Totally agree. Modern cars are assembled at the factory without any thought or intention of them ever coming apart again. They never go back quite the same as they were once they've been taken apart. The manufacturer's intended service life of a car is 3-5 years. The only way to run a car these days is to have it on a lease hire scheme. That way you have fixed monthly costs and a new car every couple of years. The alternative is to run an old car and keep throwing money at fixing its faults that largely cannot be properly fixed.

What a load of erroneous rubbish.. (Apart from Renaults of course- the people who designed the Scenic and placed the diesel filter behind the wheel arch liner were muppets.

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Tue 30 Sep 2014 18:17
Audi A3 Cabriolet - How to deal with possible fake jobs?? - Railroad.
Rubbish eh? Perhaps you could explain to us all then why this and many other forums are full of people with older cars with engine management faults, and why there's just as many garages up and down the country that are unable to fix them? The fact is cars are becoming less fixable with every passing year, because of the emission requirements and that they're built down to a cost rather than up to a standard. I do agree with one thing you said though. Renaults are crap.
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Tue 30 Sep 2014 18:40
Audi A3 Cabriolet - How to deal with possible fake jobs?? - madf
Rubbish eh? Perhaps you could explain to us all then why this and many other forums are full of people with older cars with engine management faults, and why there's just as many garages up and down the country that are unable to fix them? The fact is cars are becoming less fixable with every passing year, because of the emission requirements and that they're built down to a cost rather than up to a standard. I do agree with one thing you said though. Renaults are crap.

Engine management faults?

I suppose you don't read the Ford 1.6TDCI turbo thread? 300+ posts .

FAR more posts on issues caused by lack of mainteneance than engine management issues. Or people who imagine they have damaged their car by going over a kerb:-)

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Tue 30 Sep 2014 20:44
Audi A3 Cabriolet - How to deal with possible fake jobs?? - gordonbennet

I agree that good regular maintenance, and a bit of TLC underneath where most people never venture, gives the life and reliability expectancy of any car a welcome boost.

Though i do think there is a bit of a cut off point for cars with a reasonably simple to fix likelihood, and cars designed after about the turn of the century, (and increasing rapidly in complication to date) are the ones likely to have inbuilt expensive and difficult to fix problems.

This is part of the reason we run two older cars, one and 80's design, the other a 90's, we look after these cars in the hope they last as long as physically possible, and we'll be quite happy when they ban us from cities as we hate the hell holes anyway.

The MB i do some things myself but annualy serviced and more intricate work done by just about the oldest established MB indy in the country, the Outback i do everything on because its such a pleasure to and designed to be worked on...well apart from changing the spark plugs..:-)

When they eventually die hopefully years hence, or should one of them get irreparably damaged, i'd probably grey import a Japanese Toyota 4x4 of an old fully mechanical design like a 70 series Landcruiser if i'm still up on me two pins, i'm not buying into modern, don't like the vast majority of moderns anyway.

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Tue 30 Sep 2014 22:13
Audi A3 Cabriolet - How to deal with possible fake jobs?? - elekie&a/c doctor

So,getting back to the OPs original fault with the high level brake light in the boot lid.Yes it could have been working the day before because it is a very common fault for the wiring to break where it runs from the body to the bootlid, in the rubber tubing.I suspect there could even be issues with the number plate lights and remote boot open function.

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Wed 1 Oct 2014 10:18
Audi A3 Cabriolet - How to deal with possible fake jobs?? - Railroad.
The biggest nemesis for cars built in the 1960s and 70s, 80s and to a large extent the 1990s was structural corrosion. They would eventually get to a point where they could not be patched up any further and the scrapyard beckoned. Modern cars do not rust like their predecessors. Instead their electronic systems, components and wiring will eventually fail rendering them uneconomical to repair. Or they will not be able to meet the emission requirements. In my opinion cars have not improved at all over the past 25 years in terms of performance, steering, braking and comfort. The car manufacturers have long since run out of ideas to make cars better, so to appear to be innovative and forward thinking they load cars up with gimmicks and gizmos. Anyone who understands cars knows that what makes them go and stop isn't much different from cars built a hundred years ago. They're a mix of 19th century and 21st century technology all in the same box. The older parts of a car can be repaired, and probably will be able to be for a long time to come yet. Sadly the rest of it is what lets it down and is what eventually kills it.
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Wed 1 Oct 2014 10:45
Audi A3 Cabriolet - How to deal with possible fake jobs?? - Andrew-T
In my opinion cars have not improved at all over the past 25 years in terms of performance, steering, braking and comfort. The car manufacturers have long since run out of ideas to make cars better, so to appear to be innovative and forward thinking they load cars up with gimmicks and gizmos.

Absolutely right. They have just got bigger and heavier - partly to meet crash requirements, partly to make room for all the needless nice-to-have gizmos added to persuade punters to change. And on top of that, driver vision has been reduced by rising waistlines (the car's) so that cameras are needed to compensate. It's all a big jolly for the stylists and gizmo designers, and many of us keep falling for it.

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Wed 1 Oct 2014 11:52
Audi A3 Cabriolet - How to deal with possible fake jobs?? - Railroad.
The only thing I would add to that is that modern cars are safer, thanks to all-round body protection and SRS systems. If you suffered an impact at 50mph you're more likely to survive having done so in a 2014 Ford Focus than in a 1984 Ford Escort.
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Wed 1 Oct 2014 12:07
Audi A3 Cabriolet - How to deal with possible fake jobs?? - skidpan

Engine management faults?

I suppose you don't read the Ford 1.6TDCI turbo thread? 300+ posts .

300+ posts over a 3 year period for the most popular version of a car that has sold in huge numbers.

Unfortunate for the owners affected but hardly an epidemic is it. Put into perspective its less of an issue than say 10 posts about a Merc sold in much lower numbers.

We had one for 5 years and did not have an issue. Most of the cars affected have probably not been serviced correctly or have been filled with the incorrect spec oil.

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