Car breakdown, reliability and repairs

[LizzieM 9,511]

A couple of weeks ago a warning light showed on our Audi dashboard, indicating a bulb failure.  We looked and the rear bulb was still lit but fading a bit.  We were in Dorset so went into Poole Audi but it was a Saturday and the workshop were busy with new Registration cars too. We didn’t book the car in as we thought we’d get it done in Nottingham.  
Today we rang Audi Nottingham to book the car in for this little job.  We were told that they will need to ‘diagnose’ the issue for £160. We said it’s been diagnosed already.  The service dept receptionist asked where was it looked at and told us it would need to be diagnosed again because Poole Audi are not part of the Sytner Group!!   

[letsavagoo 963]

My brother in law has a fancy bmw. Not very old and it has developed a bad oil leak. Apparently it is an oil feed pipe failed and the engine has to come out to fix the pipe. Unbelievably poor design.

As to your Audi Lizzie, has the car not diagnosed itself. Sounds like daylight robbery to me.

[LizzieM 9,511]

1 hour ago, letsavagoo said:

As to your Audi Lizzie, has the car not diagnosed itself. Sounds like daylight robbery to me.

Yes Lets the warning came up on the display, Poole Audi were great, nothing too much trouble, except the workshop was full and we were heading back to Nottingham next day.  These ‘expensive’ car showrooms are a total rip off, especially Sytners!  

[Cliff Ton 10,470]

13 hours ago, LizzieM said:

Today we rang Audi Nottingham to book the car in for this little job.  We were told that they will need to ‘diagnose’ the issue for £160. 

 

I think the actual diagnostic process for something like this involves plugging a laptop into the car and looking at the read-out. It must occupy the 'technician' for at least 2-3 minutes. That's how car dealers make their money these days.

 

An alternative diagnostic check involves looking at the light bulb and seeing that it's not working, or dim. That could be done by anyone, and is much cheaper.

 

 

[Brew 5,421]

True CT but once the warning light is triggered it's more than likely it will a diagnostic machine to reset the error codes.

[The Engineer 614]

Car diagnostics are a bit of a minefield but for some of the simpler faults, you can DIY with a suitable reader.  The system is called OBD2 (On Board Diagnostics) and all cars built for the UK since 2001 (petrol) or 2004 (diesel) have to be compliant.  There is a 16-pin socket under the dash that should be readily accessible.

 

Stand-alone readers plug in there, while other types have a dongle to plug in and an app for mobile phones or laptops.

 

Cheap devices might be 'read only' (can't reset the fault light or clear the fault log).  They can usually only show historical data (more expensive devices can do real time monitoring and show data/graphs).

 

There are multitudinous systems on the car, with each typically having its own control unit accessed via OBD2, e.g.

Engine control (ECU)

Airbags (SRS)

ABS

Body electrics (lights, locks, etc.)

Immobiliser/alarm/anti-theft

Climate control

Entertainment system

Connectivity (wifi, bluetooth, Internet)

 

Cheap OBD readers can probably only access the engine control.

 

Some manufacturers add their own bespoke functionality, necessitating a compatible reader.

 

Garages have a system with bells and whistles that can cover most makes/models and the various control units - costs 000s, helping to justify high charges.

 

https://haynes.com/en-gb/tips-tutorials/best-obd-scanner-2022-best-fault-code-readers-tested

 

 

As an example, my son's car was getting hard to start.  He got a cheap OBD2 to USB lead from Amazon (about a fiver) and downloaded some free software to a laptop.  We quickly identified the problem as a faulty air temperature sensor.

 

[DJ360 6,730]

Main thing Lizzie is that you have a failed/failing bulb.  The Mfr handbook should tell you how to replace it, but if you are not confident, Halfords will do it for a few quid. A lot less than some stuck up dealership.

[denshaw 2,872]

8 hours ago, DJ360 said:

Main thing Lizzie is that you have a failed/failing bulb.  The Mfr handbook should tell you how to replace it, but if you are not confident, Halfords will do it for a few quid. A lot less than some stuck up dealership.

 

Changing a light bulb should be an easy task but does it have to re programmed by the dealer?

[DJ360 6,730]

I'm  not sure on that. Those cheap diagnostic thingies seem able to 'clear' fault conditions, but that's  not quite the same as programming.

[Brew 5,421]

55 minutes ago, denshaw said:

 

Changing a light bulb should be an easy task but does it have to re programmed by the dealer?

On an Audi S8 the lights, like Mercedes, do need to be 'told' it has a new light. My new headlight unit refused to point where it was supposed to until it the car recognised it. Having said that it wasn't a main dealer who did it, many independents have the necessary diagnostic facility nowadays. My brother has a Service/Bodyshop garage and has just such a machine.

 

Lizzie needs a new taillight, not sure they are the same as a headlight in this respect.

[Cliff Ton 10,470]

Also, on many modern cars the lights are increasingly like Christmas lights or Blackpool illuminations.

 

They aren't just a single bulb; they can be a string of fairy lights, or a cluster of LEDs, or some other over-designed 'artistic' arrangement.  So it's not just a case of replacing an individual bulb; you may have to replace a whole unit. 

 

As a random example, take a Range Rover. How many separate parts are there to these headlights.......and how many can be replaced individually ?

 

[Brew 5,421]

2 hours ago, Cliff Ton said:

As a random example, take a Range Rover. How many separate parts are there to these headlights.......and how many can be replaced individually ?

The headlight for that car is one piece and over £1300 which is outrageous considering it's injection moulded plastic 

[Rob.L 1,090]

3 hours ago, Brew said:

On an Audi S8 the lights, like Mercedes, do need to be 'told' it has a new light. My new headlight unit refused to point where it was supposed to until it the car recognised it. Having said that it wasn't a main dealer who did it, many independents have the necessary diagnostic facility nowadays. My brother has a Service/Bodyshop garage and has just such a machine.

 

Lizzie needs a new taillight, not sure they are the same as a headlight in this respect.

That. With CANBUS wiring, everything is controlled by the onboard computer - which will need to be told that the bulb is new.

 

https://dewesoft.com/blog/what-is-can-bus#

 

Another nail in the coffin of DIY car repairs.

[DJ360 6,730]

9 hours ago, Rob.L said:

That. With CANBUS wiring, everything is controlled by the onboard computer - which will need to be told that the bulb is new.

 

https://dewesoft.com/blog/what-is-can-bus#

 

Another nail in the coffin of DIY car repairs.

 

My last Fiat.. a Grande Punto 'Sporting', used to show an airbag warning light in very cold weather. It was eventually  diagnosed as a 'CAN line' fault, but never fixed. It was effectively  a 'phantom' fault.

[Oztalgian 3,298]

20 hours ago, Cliff Ton said:

Also, on many modern cars the lights are increasingly like Christmas lights or Blackpool illuminations.

As the days get longer and brighter has anyone else noticed that indicator lights particularly on the front of some modern cars/utes are difficult to see in bright sunlight? They are so small and hidden among other "bright work" such as daylight running lights. They are easily visible at night but need improving during bright sunny days.

[plantfit 7,602]

I see a lot of these running lights turn off when the indicator light comes on, only the side that the indicator light shows so that could ease the problem, have the germans cured the indicator light problem on their cars now? you know where the indicators only come on two feet from the junction they are going to turn into instead of the recommended fifty meters, just asking

 

Rog

[MRS B 522]

My Fiat 500 developed an intermittent warning light for some time when I started it up. A triangle with an exclamation mark in it. Sturgess Fiat in Leicester wanted £160.00 just to run a diagnostics check. I found that if I turned the car off and back on again it disappeared. The local garage couldn’t determine why it was happening either. Their only suggestion was that because I was doing low mileage there was something that wasn’t getting up to temp. Being totally non mechanical, I can’t remember what it was. I’ve actually not had it for about 6 months now and my driving habits haven’t changed so it’s a bit of a mystery. 

[Brew 5,421]

30 minutes ago, MRS B said:

A triangle with an exclamation mark

 

Is a warning of a problem that has no specific warning light of it's own like seat belts, brakes etc. It's not critical but does need attention...

[Brew 5,421]

4 hours ago, plantfit said:

recommended fifty meters

 

By whom?

[MRS B 522]

My son had his car serviced last week and wondered why he had quite a large oil leak afterwards. As it was a Sunday he called into Kwik Fit who said they didn’t have time to look at it but assumed the garage had fitted the wrong type of oil filter. He called the AA and they discovered this. The garage hadn’t taken this off the old oil filter before they fitted the new one!

[IAN FINN 808]

I have ran across this in my life time of car repairs what happens is somtimes when you unscew the old filter the "O" ring comes off the filter and sticks to the engine block so when you put the new filter on you now have two "O"s you have to remember to avoid this is to wipe the oil filter base clean then you would see if an "O" is stuck to the filter base.

[Rob.L 1,090]

Interesting to hear these problems with Fiats.

 

About twenty years ago, I had a brand new, zero miles, Fiat as a courtesy car while my Peugeot was in for work after a bump. On the way home, I turned the radio on, absolutely nothing happened. Later in the day, went out in it again. As it was dark, I turned the lights on and suddenly, the radio came on!

 

It’s true what they say about Italian electrics.

 

 

[DAVIDW 1,683]

10 hours ago, Rob.L said:

 

It’s true what they say about Italian electrics.

 

 

Hey don't diss Fiats !

I've had my little 08 Panda for 13 years now (tempting fate !) and it's been a brilliant little car , done everything asked of it , including a few trips from Cornwall to Northern Holland and numerous trips to the Midlands.

 

Now on 111,000 miles and went through its MOT last week with just an advisory for rust on the exhaust. Must have been worse than they thought , as the very next day of it passing its test , the back exhaust box sheared off from the pipe.

£100 for a new back box fitted . 

 

The only electrical gremlin so far has been when you get a power steering warning light and the steering stiffens up . It's invariably caused by either a faulty earth strap or a failing battery and is a known problem .

[Oztalgian 3,298]

2 hours ago, DAVIDW said:

Hey don't diss Fiats !

Why not! Everyone knows that Fiat stands for Fix It Again Tony.

Ford - Fix Or Repair Daily

BMW - Big Money Wasted

Jeep - Just Expect Expensive Problems

SAAB - Sadly Awful Always Broken

There are hundreds of others, which one is your car?

[MRS B 522]

Before my “fix it again Tony” I had the most amazing purple KA with cream leather upholstery and a 6 cd changer 06 reg which Mr B bought me when he came out of the Army brand new. I really loved that car which I part exed for my Fiat cos it got to the point where it was costing me an awful lot of money with bodywork repairs on a yearly basis. It is actually still running but took 3 times to pass its MOT last year with exactly the same problems I had with it. Structurally dangerous was the comment (as I had previously). 
I do really miss it though.