First A2, but not good start

M

mavA2

Member
Hi All,
I'm new to this club. Registered over the weekend after buying my first A2 on Friday last week, a 2001 1.4Tdi. But sadly my A2 is already in the service garage today after a breakdown on the motorway. Driving at 60mph the car started juddering. I then applied the clutch and the engine died. After stopping I tried the restart but no luck. The engine turns over but makes a different noise and the car shakes more than usual. All Warning lights turn off and all reads OK.

After the AA arrived they tried to diagnose the problem, but he told me that my car, although it was registered in 2001 is was probably manufactured in 2000. In 2001 Audi changed the Diagnostic Software/Hardware. Is this true? Because of this his diagnostic tool couldn't communicate with my car. It was then towed to the nearest garage where its sitting now waiting for it's outcome.The AA guy said that in his experience its usually the throttle position sensor. Could it be


Has anyone had similar problems?


My Car:
2001 A2 1.4Tdi Manual AMF (Mileage 136000)
Cambelt and service done recently

Thanks for your help
 
Strange, not had any issues with my A2 TDI but from my exprience of other cars you issues sounds fuel supply related. Not really helpful i know, but this is my first diesel as well.

What do you mean "The engine turns over but makes a different noise"
 
Hi,

Thanks for your reply. The engine turns over when i try to start is but doenst fire up. It also sound like it can be fuel supply related. Perhaps the diesel pump has gone becuase I still had half a tank left.
 
Ok, one word of warning. From reading conversations on here and from my own experince with my dad A4, If I were you I would take your car to a reputable, knowledgeable Audi specialist. In the long run it may save you a lot of money and hassle. Audi main dealers "might" fix it also but they’ll charge god knows what and in my experince aren't too far removed from lying novices, at least that's the case for one London main dealer.
 
I am concerned about the 'different noise' you are saying it make when turning over, is it a sort of whizzing, turning over faster then usual?

Are you sure the cambelt was changed? can you get a look at it to make sure it is still on there.

You need to get the car scanned, find someone with VCDS (Vag Com)


Cheers
Sarge
 
It sounds different, but probably because it doesn't fire up. Only had the car for 2 days so I am not familiar with the sounds as much. Regarding the cambelt, all I have as proof is a receipt of the garage where it was changed. It was done together with the normal service.

The garage has come back to me. They have done the diagnostics but could find any fault. They are still investigating.

Regarding the diagnostics Scanner, I noticed eBay sells quite a few models. I thinking of buying one but I am not sure which one would work with my car, after hearing the AA's tool can’t communicate with my A2 manufacturing year model. Does anyone know which scanner would work?


Thanks
 
I too think thois could be fuel related when was the fuel filter changed as this sounds very similar to a problem i had when i used BIO Fuel (not good) bloked my filter and gave very similar problems as you are reporting and it also Knocked very loudly when trying to fire

Phil
 
mavA2 said:
Regarding the diagnostics Scanner, I noticed eBay sells quite a few models. I thinking of buying one but I am not sure which one would work with my car, after hearing the AA's tool can’t communicate with my A2 manufacturing year model. Does anyone know which scanner would work?


Thanks
Click to expand...

The only way to make sure you can read all the codes is to get the VCDS lead from somewhere like Gendan http://www.gendan.co.uk/product_VCHU.html
 
Just got a phone call from the garage. The car is running again.
Cause of the problem: Air in the fuel line. They bled the pipes and now its running again. He checked the vacume pump and its working fine. Diesel filter also looks good and new. Could replace it if I want to. It was changed only in November last year.

Could it be that the filler cap's air vent is blocked and when driving at a constant speed on the motorway the pump creates such a vacume that it starts sucking air from the engine?

So I'm a bit relieved that its not something serious.
 
maybe your fuel filter is sucking air.
Some of the newer ones with the plastic filter holder have been known to fail.
Best see if a pool of fuel by O/S back wheel,simple enough to check.

Did you get them to change filter?
Even new ones can collapse.
 
Some club members have had problems with non-genuine (old model metal canister type) fuel filters causing loss of fuel system prime due to internal air leaks. If your car is fitted with an aftermarket filter, it may be worth having it changed for a genuine Audi part.

Cheers Spike
 
spike said:
Some club members have had problems with non-genuine (old model metal canister type) fuel filters causing loss of fuel system prime due to internal air leaks. If your car is fitted with an aftermarket filter, it may be worth having it changed for a genuine Audi part.

Cheers Spike
Click to expand...

I absolutely agree with Spike...ONLY USE GENUINE SERVICE PARTS...they are cheap enough anyway and avoid any annoying and costly problems, oh and definitely replace the fuel filter, genuine or not and regardless of when it was replaced.
 
Thanks for all your post, I still have this problem. 5 times since my first post. I have narrowed it down to this... when the level of the diesel reaches just half or a bit lower it happens. No problem when i keep it topped up. I had it at another garage and hey also couldn't find any problems visual or with diagnostics.

I want to replace the fuel filter this weekend to see if that cures the problem.
 
Just a thought that I'm sure you've alreayd ruled out - but, some people have had their fuel gauges not work properly, where when it gets to half way, it's actually empty. Easy enough to check, just see how many miles you can do and how much fuel you can get in the tank from the "half way" mark on the gauge. i.e. when gauge shows half full, how many litres can you put in the tank?
 
OK, so over the weekend I change the fuel filter on my 2001 1.4Tdi. Today engine stopped again!! So not the fuel filter then. But I have now narrow it down that every time my tank gets to half full it give me the problem. Then I crank it several time until it sputters into life. I then have to get to a petrol station as quickly as possible. After filling up with about 17 liters of diesel (34 liter tank which makes sense as the needle shows half full when the problem arises) the car drive perfect. How can I double check the size of the tank?

Could someone advise?

Thanks
 
You can be almost certain that your 2001 car has the 34 litre tank.
Your description of the fault is great, especially the fact that the problems arise at around the half tank part. I am of the opinion that you may have a fuel pick-up issue. Perhaps the fuel accumulator in the tank is damaged or the pick-up pipe does not drop to the bottom of the tank?. Quite easy to check this, remove the R/R seat, lift the boot mat and unscrew the black sender cover. The fuel collector is below this. Unplug the wiring, clean the surface of dust and note the two pipe connections and remove them. Use a block of wood and lightly tap the plastic knurled ring to remove. Lift the unit out and inspect. You may be lucky to have a tank identity label in the area which will confirm the tank size. Make sure the seal is air tight when you put things together to avoid air leaks.

blue skies
tony
 
just a thought but could it be a vent issue? could it be that air is not being alowed back into the tank to a point that it is causing the fuel to be drawn back? if so opening the fuel cap would restore the air and allow the car to run. then to find out why its not venting naturally.
just a thought mike
 
Thanks for your posts.
@HOTSTUFF.... I managed to remove the fuel collector yesterday, and found a lot of black oily gunk at the bottom. It was around the square seal behind the filter mash box at the bottom (See pictures). Perhaps this could be the problem, because I suspect the gunk caused the seal not to open or close. It also has a round seal that opens and closes a pipe(return or supply not sure) as the float moves up or down. I am not sure exactly how the fuel collector works and why is has a float at the bottom. IMAG0253.jpgIMAG0257.jpgIMAG0259.jpgIMAG0261.jpg

So I clean it up and put it all back together. Hopefully it works

And yes the car has got a 34 Litre tank as per the sticker on the tank... very happy about that :)
 
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