Before you post a "HELP!" thread: read this

bretti_kivi

Member
You've got an issue with your A2. Fair enough.

Thing is, the A2 is almost intelligent in some ways and dumb in others. And what you consider to be an issue may or may not really be one - and we can't tell, as we're not telepathically connected to your car.

So, when you want to start a thread asking for help:
- Accurately describe what went wrong. Preferably using complete sentences and explaining how long things were right before this.
What has been changed? What happened *exactly*?

- GET A SCAN DONE! Doesn't matter what the garage think, but 90+% of A2 faults are logged somewhere; get the scan done and then post up the results before you do much else.

- If there's an intermittent problem, try and work out *when* it happens and when it doesn't happen. Like the "I drive over a bump and it stops" - that gives those of us who have seen lots of issues an awful lot more to work with.

If you're recommended a course of action and you don't do it, don't be surprised if there are mildly annoyed reactions.

"Common" issues:
- CCU dying is seen in lack of E-windows, remote locking etc. A2 Cars and Timmis can and will help and it's a hell of a lot cheaper than a dealer.
- Turbos going off the boil: if it's a 75, check your hoses first. If it's a 90, you might have vane problems, but check the hoses anyway and a scan may well help isolate the problem. It might be the intercooler, check that, too.
- Petrols benefit enormously from having the throttle body cleaned, especially if it's a 1.4 and it doesn't do much. Instructions are in the forum.
- if there are engine, electrical or starting problems, check the earthing strap which ends below the nearside headlight (that's passenger side or driver's on an LHD car) for corrosion and / or contact, along with the earthing points at the base of the a-pillars inside the car
- If a door won't safe or de-safe, chances are the microswitch is dead. Get it scanned and confirm.

If there's no answer here, try over on the German forum. They've seen a lot more issues than here (and have a *lot* more cars with silly-high miles) and they don't bite. There are also several very good guides to different things. However, you will not find any Audi original plans or circuit diagrams on the German site as they are forbidden and are regularly pursued in court as breach of copyright.

Even if you don't speak or read German, http://translate.google.com will give you reasonable answers, and as some of the guys here can confirm, you may well get answers in English anyway if you ask a question. There's also an English-language subforum in the mean time.
There is also the wiki - https://wiki.a2-freun.de - which contains authoritative answers on a lot of simple questions, even if not everything is 100% relevant for you guys as your wheel is on the other side and trim was sold differently in the UK.

I'm up for stickying this at the top of the forum, so if you have something else to add, please do so, either as a link in an answer or similar.

Bret
 
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Dig up a thread:

- safe and de-safe means "lock" and "unlock".
- some research by Lau also appears to implicate the door control modules - that's the one with the motor in - in certain issues. They appear to lose ROM contents over time, meaning they simply don't work correctly any more. Reflashing / replacement should help. Part numbers which are definitively affected by this include 8Z1959801 and 8Z1959802. 8Z1 are LHD devices!
- the easiest way to confirm a dead microswitch in a door: if the light doesn't come on when you open it, but the door locks and unlocks, you have a microswitch problem.
- the rear light appears to have issues with the copper coating of the PCB loosening over time. If by touching the light it comes on but it's otherwise temperamental, take it out (gently) and check the PCB traces on the back. Chances are that one of the solder pads has removed itself from the traces of the board. Re-soldering fixes it.
- regarding doors: check for corrosion in the door connectors, it's been seen quite a bit.
- leaks in both front footwells underneath the mats would imply issues with a windscreen. Original or OEM should be OK, it's possible that other makes do not fit correctly. Check by having someone pour water over the base of the screen while you check the footwell.
- there *is* another rubber pipe for condensed water from teh climate system, but that tends to be intact.
- just hot or cold air or the wrong temperature or place is normally a flap problem and they're a pig to get to. More info on the forums.

- Bret
 
ookay, so some of this needed to be updated, I've rewritten the first post to correct incorrect information.

- Bret
 
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