New A2 owner few questions

Josh16538

New Member
Bought the little A2 about a week ago now it’s a 2003 1.6fsi with the sky roof not sure what colour it’s just looks like a light metallic green.
The car has done 90,000 miles, I’m not sure how many miles people usually get out of a 1.6 as I’ve always had diesel cars so if anyone can shed light on that, that would be great ?
I’m also having a few problems with the power delivery whilst accelerating it seems to judder slightly at about 3k revs almost like a pulse in the power, is this normal or is it a simple fix?
Also having trouble with the cooling system, a pipe had split whilst driving home and I had to repair it but managed to do it.
Any recommendations on a garage in or around Sheffield for me to get it serviced and looked over at the exactly what’s wrong with it?
 
I can’t help with your questions as I’m not technical enough, and I don’t have a 1.6.
But welcome anyway; they’re amazingly flexible little cars and I’m sure that at 90k miles it’s got plenty of life left in it!!
My 1.4 has 113k miles on it; I bought one a couple of years ago with more than 160k miles on it and it went absolutely fine (until my partner crashed it...)
 
Hi Josh, hope you find this excellent forum as useful as it has been for me :) I have experience with A2 but I am new here. I have not much experience with sosial and technical media but I doubt there is any place were people are nicer and more helpful to each other than here :)

Your A2: (you start very smart and tell which engine you have and year of build, that is a good start :) )
  • Colour: you can find the colour code of your car in owners manual on a sticker at one of the first pages. You will also find codes for all equipment your car is delivered with.
  • How many miles can you get on a 1.6FSI ? If you take care of your A2 you easily get 400.000km from it. As for all engines there are smart to respect the basics; if you push oil filter, air filter, fuel filter and engine oil service limit or quality, you give your engine a hard time and you will accelerate wear and get reduced life-length. Be human at start-up and give your engine a couple of minutes to calm down if you have run hard, before you switch off... simple precautions can add a lot to life :)
  • Judder at 3000 rpm - being a bit diesel'ish you need help from the FSI klan.... ( plz Gents, help him :) )
  • Service - my advice is to have some with VCDS to check if your OBD II can hold any useful info. In general; if you do not have strong evidence of service history - consider to change elements as per bullet #2
Good luck with your A2, it is a car that respond very nicely to care so it is pay off to take care of it :)

cheers dieselfan
 
Last edited:
Welcome. At 90k the engine has lots of life, 160k is typical end of life but a little more if it is pampered (assuming it has well looked after previously). The FSI engine needs premium petrol, Tesco Momentum is often championed and also run some injector through, bought nearly anywhere, including Sainsbury's. Next a VCDS scan and post the results here. I am guessing you do not have the diagnostic kit, so either a garage, who will probably charge or appeal for a local member who can help out - Sheffield anyone? Unfortunately your fault description screams the notorious FSI inlet manifold flap problem, which is not cheap to have professionally sorted, but let's wait for the scan results. Have you an EML on the dash?

Andy
 
Welcome. At 90k the engine has lots of life, 160k is typical end of life but a little more if it is pampered (assuming it has well looked after previously). The FSI engine needs premium petrol, Tesco Momentum is often championed and also run some injector through, bought nearly anywhere, including Sainsbury's. Next a VCDS scan and post the results here. I am guessing you do not have the diagnostic kit, so either a garage, who will probably charge or appeal for a local member who can help out - Sheffield anyone? Unfortunately your fault description screams the notorious FSI inlet manifold flap problem, which is not cheap to have professionally sorted, but let's wait for the scan results. Have you an EML on the dash?

Andy
I have filled it with premium fuel I usually use this anyway, my usual mechanic openly admitted he hadn’t worked on an a2 before which is why I’m looking for someone in sheffield who has, so it can go and be looked at properly and as for the EML I’m not sure what you mean, I have a limited knowledge
 
Yeah I thought that after I replied ? and no it’s got no lights on the dash
Does the eml light come on during the engine start process ? Some people have been known to blank the light out to cover up the issues.. as for the power delivery this could be many things.. get it plugged into VCDS welcome to the group of dwindling FSI owners..
 
Yeah I thought that after I replied ? and no it’s got no lights on the dash, so I wasn’t sure if anything was wrong with car
Does the eml light come on during the engine start process ? Some people have been known to blank the light out to cover up the issues.. as for the power delivery this could be many things.. get it plugged into VCDS welcome to the group of dwindling FSI owners..
nothing lights up on start up turn the ignition and the car displays OK then I have to have my foot on the accelerator to get it fired up as it isn’t always smooth and the battery seems a bit flat but once it’s started it’s fine, and thanks starting to think I should have got a tdi tho ?
 
Yeah I thought that after I replied ? and no it’s got no lights on the dash, so I wasn’t sure if anything was wrong with car

nothing lights up on start up turn the ignition and the car displays OK then I have to have my foot on the accelerator to get it fired up as it isn’t always smooth and the battery seems a bit flat but once it’s started it’s fine, and thanks starting to think I should have got a tdi tho ?

Unfortunately that does sound like the EML has been disabled in some way :( If you are around one evening or weekend and fancy a trip down the M1 I can do a VCDS scan for you as I have a VAG-COM and we can have a general A2 chat. I'm in North Leicestershire. PM me if you're interested.
 
Just to add/clarify what lights should appear on the dash at start-up for the A2 FSI.

Apologies for the next poor image, it was raining here this morning overcast sky and poor light.
Plus I have a cheap camera and really needed two right hands to get this picture that only lasts for a fraction of a second. Took many failed attempts.

When the ignition key is inserted and rotated to its first position the dash should light up like a xmas tree.

SAM_3839.JPG


Over the next few seconds the car checks out subsystems and four of the lights extinguish (satisfactory state).

First to disappear virtually simultaneously are the yellow Anti-lock Braking System (ABS in circle enclosed in round brackets) and yellow Electronic Stabilisation Program (! in equilateral triangle within circle).

Next to go is the Immobiliser yellow light (car symbol) and lastly the red AIR BAG light.

You are now left with this

SAM_3838.JPG


A further turn of the ignition key to start the engine and two yellow lights disappear followed by the red Alternator light (battery icon). [The yellow lights are the Engine Management System (EPC) and Emission Control System (engine icon){Audi's term generally called the EML}]. The presence of these after start-up are the lights that fraudsters by devious means hide to mask engine faults.

The red handbrake symbol (P in circle in round brackets) will vanish when the handbrake is released!!!

If you have no ignition lights at all I am guessing gross disconnection somewhere.

Andy
 
Last edited:
I always fill up with Tesco Momentum petrol, and add a bottle of injector cleaner to the tank every 6 months or so. I'm also a firm believer in giving it some beans every so often once the engine has warmed up. Never had a problem with the engine in almost 3 years - still going nicely at 116k +.
 
Just to add/clarify what lights should appear on the dash at start-up.

Apologies for the next poor image, it was raining here this morning overcast sky and poor light.
Plus I have a cheap camera and really needed two right hands to get this picture that only lasts for a fraction of a second. Took many failed attempts.

When the ignition key is inserted and rotated to its first position the dash should light up like a xmas tree.

View attachment 38686

Over the next few seconds the car checks out subsystems and four of the lights extinguish (satisfactory state).

First to disappear virtually simultaneously are the yellow Anti-lock Braking System (ABS in circle enclosed in round brackets) and yellow Electronic Stabilisation Program (! in equilateral triangle within circle).

Next to go is the Immobiliser yellow light (car symbol) and lastly the red AIR BAG light.

You are now left with this

View attachment 38687

A further turn of the ignition key to start the engine and two yellow lights disappear followed by the red Alternator light (battery icon). [The yellow lights are the Engine Management System (EPC) and Emission Control System (engine icon)]. The presence of these after start-up are the lights that fraudsters by devious means hide to mask engine faults.

If you have no ignition lights at all I am guessing gross disconnection somewhere.

Andy
This is what my dash board does but there’s definitely something strange with how the power is delivered
 
This is what my dash board does but there’s definitely something strange with how the power is delivered
That is heartening then, if the last three lights appear and disappear once the engine is running everything is looking good. I think something was a cross puposes earlier about lights but sorted now.

I was probably too pessimistic earlier about the notorious FSI flap problem (I have suffered twice) as normally (but occasionally not) it will continuously light the yellow engine icon when driving.

Next step has to be a VCDS scan.

Andy
 
I did a scan of the car last night, and apart from a few intermittent low voltage errors there was nothing of any significance, however I also did a battery check and that came back with "Replace battery". He did mention also that things have been improving with more use.

So, hopefully after Josh has replaced this it might improve things.
 
Okay, so after a week on holiday, I replaced the battery on the car and things are much better, the steering feels like it’s actually attached to the wheels and the headlight actually light up the road, so thanks everyone for your help and input it’s been greatly appreciated
 
Back
Top