Back in an A2 - some help from the A2 community please :-)

S

shakter

Member
So I'm finally back in an A2. My first was is still with me, albeit being used by a family a member as I now need a ULEZ compliant vehicle :-(

. It's a 1.4 SE Petrol in Cobalt Blue with cream cloth interior, hard touch plastics (!), circa. 64k miles - generally mint condition. Pretty smooth buying experience bar a few niggly issues with the car at the start (which the seller helped to resolve). A few other issues have popped up now i've managed to drive the car a bit more and I was hoping this community can help! Here we go:

1. Red oil pressure warning kept coming on when I drove the car yesterday. Car has been freshly serviced within the last month. I didn't get the warning light in the first 30 miles of driving but it kept happening yesterday. Thankfully I was close to home when it happened and I nursed the car back at low revs, etc. Any ideas what this could be? I'm hoping it's some sort of sensor issue given the car has just been serviced.

2. Indicator cancels itself out after 5-10 seconds (stalk still engaged). This is pretty annoying, especially driving around in London with so many cyclists on the roads and the indicators cancelling out of their own accord. Again, this didn't happen for the first 30 miles of me driving the car. Any ideas please?

3. Service flap has play in it - there is probably about 2cm of play at each end, which you can physically push back and forth. This is probably a minor thing but it just bugs me not having it secured properly. Any ideas please?

4. Heavy judder under braking - this happens when slowing down from any speed, mostly when coming towards a stop. Steering wheel and car vibrate quite heavily. The seller had NSF wheel bearing replaced before I took delivery of the car. Hoping it's just wheel balancing? I also get judder at higher speeds.

5. Aircon weak - my old A2 gave out ice cold air on the 'LO' climate control setting. This one, unfortunately, is not as efficient and pretty much blows warm air unless the fan speed is maxed. Is this a classic case of 'needs a re-gas?!'.
. I'm just looking for help from the A2 community to get these bits sorted and then, hopefully, i'll have a minter on my hands for years to come! I bought the car as we're expecting our 2nd child in a month and need a 4-door car for hospital rounds and general pottering about. Maybe i was lucky with my previous A2, which was older than this one - never had any issue whatsoever with it!

Looking forward to your thoughts ?
 
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best of mentioning where abouts in London your are as there are a few members down your way and im sure they would be more then happy to come and give you hand with vag com ect
 
Thanks audisean89 - that's a great idea and would be super helpful. I'm actually slap, bang in the middle of London in the EC2 area. However am regularly travelling to both East London (E7, E11) and South East London (SE23, SE6) if that helps.
 
As for the service flap the arm that holds it in place is slightly adjustable. You MIGHT be able to slide it slightly further in (I.e. make it shorter) to take up the play/movement.?

Steve B
 
As for the air con, take it to the nearest main tyre centre that has air con facilities.
They will test it (normally for free) and it may just need topping up. They charge for that but they only top it up if there are no leaks so that may resolve the issue.
 
The brake judder may well be distorted front discs. But they are not expensive and should resolve the issue (but have the suspension checked over at the sane time)

Steve B
 
Indicator may well be a tired relay unit. Again not expensive, a bit fiddly to get to but that sounds like the cause.
Steve B
 
Thanks @Birchall

Will have a look at your suggestions. In the meantime, do you think it's OK for me to drive the car with this intermittent oil pressure warning? I'm a little confused with this one as the car has just been serviced with fresh oil. I can just top up more oil I suppose.
 
The oil warning light sender can start to fail and so be intermittent.
It is rare for these engines to actually have an oil pressure problem so it may be just the sender.

if you are not wanting to fix any of these things I can recommend an excellent mechanic but he is based at junction 1 of the M3.

Steve B
 
Please don’t just add oil if the level is not low, too much oil can cause way more damage than too little.

so dip the oil on level ground (dip then wipe and repeat a couple of time’s. Please don’t overfill.

it is a sign of low pressure if it is red, not low level.

Steve B
 
Thanks @Birchall

It's not that i'm not wanting to fix myself - more a lack of expertise on my part! I managed to have a look at some of the earlier niggly issues with the car myself but I wouldn't be comfortable attempting things like brake discs and trying to find the relay/sender myself. Plus, frankly, I really don't have the time to myself with the growing family and other commitments with work, etc. I've booked in with a local indie to have a look at all this in the meantime but if there's someone in the A2 community nearby that can help as @audisean89 mentioned, that would be great ?
 
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Birchall said:
Please don’t just add oil if the level is not low, too much oil can cause way more damage than too little.
Click to expand...

Yes agreed. I was reluctant to do this but the seller mentioned it probably just needs a top up. Will have a look at the levels. Given the car has been serviced recently (literally about a month ago), I do hope/suspect it's just the sender. Where is that located BTW?
 
These amazing little A2s can be quite quirky and so try to use an Indy / mechanic that knows the A2 well.
Some well meaning indies that don’t know the A2 can cause issues and cost more due to them not knowing the A2’s quirks.

As for driving it with the red warning light. The short answer is no, it could be a genuine low pressure warning (especially if it only does it when the engine is hot and ticking over)

So nobody should be telling you that it should be ok to drive. Low pressure can cause major issues with the engine. Do this as the first job to get done.
Yours local indie should be able to check the oil pressure to verify if it is a sensor fault or genuine low pressure. That is a simple check if they have the kit and it is worth asking him to do that ASAP so you know if it is safe to drive it or not.

Don’t change the sender until you have had it properly identified as the cause.

Steve B
 
That is reasonably comforting but if it starts to overheat due to low pressure the damage will have done. Just keep the revs down a little.
Ideally you should perhaps get a mobile mechanic to visit you just to do an oil pressure check. They should be able to do that.
Steve B
 
Birchall said:
That is reasonably comforting but if it starts to overheat due to low pressure the damage will have done. Just keep the revs down a little.
Ideally you should perhaps get a mobile mechanic to visit you just to do an oil pressure check. They should be able to do that.
Steve B
Click to expand...

Yes I was thinking of actually calling my roadside assistance to come over. They aren't always the most equipped i know, but should be able to check? Otherwise, anyone you'd recommend in the London area?
 
Any local mobile mechanic (try googling them) should have the kit and be able to do it roadside. They don’t need detailed A2 knowledge to do an oil pressure check.
This is the safest option by far.
Steve B
 
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