What have I done to deserve this?

mjs4x4

A2OC Donor
God knows why - but today I invested another £30 in my A2 and had the interior valeted.

My reward? Well a few hours after the valet - with the car stood in our warehouse drying out - the hazard warning lights start flashing. Pressing the hazard switch turns them off but after a few minutes they resume flashing. Suspecting moisture in the switch I hoped a 20 mile ride home at 27 degrees would warm the dash up enough to dry anything out. It behaved itself on the journey but having sat for an hour or so the hazards have now turned themselves back on.

Oh - and the Airbag warning light is now on as a result of the same valet. I thought that maybe a wire had been dislodged under the seats but all seems fine.

Disenchanted - I have shoved the A2 in the garage to dry out over the next few days and disconnected the battery. Tomorrow I'll rely on the handiwork of 8 euro an hour czech autoworkers and take the Skoda.

Questions:

Anybody any ideas on which part of this temperamental beast I should be directing warm air at?

Just as a general question - can A2 ownership ever be problem free???


Mike
 
Had mine valeted a few months back and window switch stopped working.I put it in the garage overnight with a blow heater inside on low(also to dry the seats as they were quite wet),the next day it was fine.If youre lucky might just be water/moisture in the electrics as mine was.
 
Lord knows how much water or other liquids they've used, but it sounds like damp in your electrics to me too.

Do as Darran says and hopefully it'll do the trick. If not seek compensation from the valeters.

Cheers,
MIke
 
Hi mjs4x4 - it may be worth lifting the front false floor panels to make sure it's also dry under there.
When SantfeKuss called Audi Assist to sort out his car alarm which would not switch off, the first thing the guy asked was 'have you just had it valetted' He indicated it was fairly common to get electrical problems after a valet - Do they tend to clean the carpets etc with a steam cleaner nowdays? if so, I could understand moisture penetrating everything

Cheers Spike
 
Thanks for the comments so far guys.

Sadly I don't see anyone claimimg problem free A2 ownership!!!
 
as spike says i would go for the passenger side front floor as this is where the convienience unit is located and other modules are
but seeing as you say only hazard and air bag i would point a fan at the dash as this is the most likely point to be damp
when i picked up my car fron audi at liverpool all the floor was soaking wet from when they had valleted it three days later it was still damp in the back floor

cheers
Robin
 
Yes Fiona - you are right there. Trouble is that if I did everything that needed doing to this A2 - well, would there be time for anything else?

Just to clear up one or two other misconceptions - the engine bay was not steam cleaned - just seats and carpets cleaned (which anybody with the light grey interior will sympathise with).

And no - no car is problem free - but some are more problem free than others. I am starting to think that maybe it was not just high build costs and low sales that killed off the A2 - but also high warranty costs!
 
hi mjs4x4 how is the car now that it has had a couple of days to dry out have your problems disapeared

cheers
robin
 
Update on this:

Well, cars have feelings don't they? Last night, after two days drying out I cheked it - both faults still there - so there then followed a discussion along the lines 'last straw - car is a moneypit - get rid etc. etc.'

Locked the car - flashers stayed off till I went to bed - still off in the morning.

Drove to work this morning and all ok!!

Lunchtime - airbag light on again! Flashers still behaving themselves though.

Go home at 5.30 - all ok again - very mysterious.

And even stranger - today the car recorded the highest ever mpg on my 20 mile drive to work (69 mpg). The lowest achieved for the same run - (colder day and previous 17" wheels on) - but similar av. speed is 47 mpg.

I can only conclude that the ECU must have some human characteristics - and is currently being (mostly) nice toward me in the hope that I don't go through with my threat to slap a for sale sign on the car.

Let's see what tomorrow brings.



Mike
 
Havank said:
no car is ever problem free
Obviously, you've never owned a 90's Mazda 626 or Toyota Corolla...

Not especially interesting cars, but after spending some years with 2 x 626's and 1 Corolla I never had to do more than servicing, brakes and tyres.....

Well, that's not true - the first 626 had a squeaky pully. The mechanic heard it (we didn't) and changed it under warranty.... The second 626 was sold when it had 105K on the clock - to make way for the A2!
 
mjs4x4 said:
Update on this:

Well, cars have feelings don't they? Last night, after two days drying out I cheked it - both faults still there - so there then followed a discussion along the lines 'last straw - car is a moneypit - get rid etc. etc.'

Locked the car - flashers stayed off till I went to bed - still off in the morning.

Drove to work this morning and all ok!!

Lunchtime - airbag light on again! Flashers still behaving themselves though.

Go home at 5.30 - all ok again - very mysterious.

And even stranger - today the car recorded the highest ever mpg on my 20 mile drive to work (69 mpg). The lowest achieved for the same run - (colder day and previous 17" wheels on) - but similar av. speed is 47 mpg.

I can only conclude that the ECU must have some human characteristics - and is currently being (mostly) nice toward me in the hope that I don't go through with my threat to slap a for sale sign on the car.

Let's see what tomorrow brings.



Mike

May be worth lifting the passenger floor, my ECU was clicking constantly, indicators all to pot and the alarm, as Spike mentioned. Luckily it was under extended warranty so the ECU was changed. Audi assist guy said it was always due to moisture (especially after valet) but praised the A2's saying how good a car they are and was a shame they stopped making them.
 
GrayB,

Would have to echo your comments about Jap reliability.

Most problem free car I ever owned was a Nissan Bluebird Turbo (British built too!!). Owned for 6 years and 133,000 miles and only ever required one exhaust and one repair to clutch master cylinder - apart from normal service items.

But that was before car electronics got too clever .........

I have had plenty of VW Group cars over the past 30 years - they have lots of virtues - but not since the Beetle could they ever be described as 'bulletproof' in terms of reliability.



Mike
 
mjs4x4 said:
GrayB,

But that was before car electronics got too clever .........


Mike
The second 626 had Climate Control (best I have experienced), Cruise Control, electric sunroof, windows mirrors, radio/CD, traction control (but not ESP) warning lights for everything (including low washer reservour - note!).

Our A2 has non-functioning mirror adjustment, non-illuminating top half of light switch, windows that occaisionally have a mind of their own, was supplied with a radio/cassette (in the 21st century!), boot light switch that needs a whole new latch mechanism.... I better stop before Skipton tells me off for being too negative again! :D Now we have FSD-sorted ride we should be keeping the A2 after all!
 
GrayB,

No washer level warning light in your A2???

Mine has - a moving animated thing that looks like an erupting volcano. The first time my wife saw this she assumed terminal mechanical disaster in the form of oil loss - thing is that in the 3 months we have owned it we have seen more warning lights come on than in the past 3 years - so one tends to assume the worst.

Note your comments on the suspension - fitted Sachs Performance Dampers to mine and downsized from 17" to 16" wheels - it's cured the backache but I am afraid that there is really no way to transform an A2 into a comfortable riding car. I guess that the 'bottom line' is that the A2 was a victim of the Mercedes A Class 'elk test' - the result being chassis dynamics that were designed to keep it on four wheels under all circumstances. Ride comfort was the casualty.


Mike
 
mjs4x4 said:
GrayB,

No washer level warning light in your A2???

Mine has - a moving animated thing that looks like an erupting volcano. The first time my wife saw this she assumed terminal mechanical disaster in the form of oil loss - thing is that in the 3 months we have owned it we have seen more warning lights come on than in the past 3 years - so one tends to assume the worst.

Note your comments on the suspension - fitted Sachs Performance Dampers to mine and downsized from 17" to 16" wheels - it's cured the backache but I am afraid that there is really no way to transform an A2 into a comfortable riding car. I guess that the 'bottom line' is that the A2 was a victim of the Mercedes A Class 'elk test' - the result being chassis dynamics that were designed to keep it on four wheels under all circumstances. Ride comfort was the casualty.


Mike
Washer waring - you probably have the DIS on your car - standard on the Sport model I think. It wasn't on the SE and our car had zero options (well, except the bench seat).
The ride on the FSD's with the 16" SE wheels is now what we would call acceptable - enough for me to stop thinking about it while driving! Not as soft as a Citroen (or Jaguar) but ok.
 
I guess that the ride on mine is harsher because of the stiffer Sport springs - probably should have changed these at the same time - but how far do you go?

Mike
 
Back
Top