Recommenden Garage Harpenden/St Albans/Luton area?

Hi Mandy, nice to hear from you and see that "my" Red Storm is still your favourite! But for that reason I'm rather embarrassted to say RZX gets mainly 95 fuel with 97 an occassional treat. If this proves to be a factor in my current woes then I'll promiss to reform!
(In mitigation let me say that just last week she was treated to new back calipers, disks, slave cyclinders and pads, and the fronts were serviced)

I will be trying the Cataclean but fear there are other things at work in this case.
Certainly the EML comes on with the ignition and goes out on firing up.

I dont supposed Timmus mentioned anything about restraining the flap in the wide open position?

As things now stand I am booking her in for a couple of weeks time with Chapman Auto Services, St Albans, who are long time VAG specialist (reputedly with the right VCDS gear) who seemed quite au fait with emmission issues for the 1.6 FSI when I spoke to them.

For the longer term, and as a result of all the VCDS mentions, I'm thinking seriously of investing in the full fat version. Clearly without it one is very dependent on the generous spirit of other members. That will be a learning curve!

Thanks again to everyone...I'll update as and when to help others that may follow.

PS
As I recal the RZX (the car) exhibited all the erratic/power loss symptoms of a broken FSI flap. Correct me if Im wrong Mandy.

Norman
 
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I don't mean to preach but, now that 95 is E10 which the FSI engine is not rated for use with, every fill-up absolutely needs to be 98 E5. E5 means that it may contain up to 5% ethanol, but if you can find Shell, I understand their V-Power is normally 0%.

Yes, it's expensive. But a lot less expensive than replacing affected fuel system components with degraded rubber seals (think high pressure fuel pump, injectors etc.). Or forcing you to change to another car and get it to a 'known good' state.
 
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... I'm rather embarrassted to say RZX gets mainly 95 fuel with 97 an occassional treat. If this proves to be a factor in my current woes then I'll promiss to reform!

Ah.

There is but just one rule thou must abide by when running a FSi.....
 
Oh! - didnt quite recognise the extent of the consequences of deviating from the 98 rule.
As from now I repent!
:mad::mad:
 
Ah.

There is but just one rule thou must abide by when running a FSi.....
No, there's at least two.
In addition to always using E5.
Never get any repair work done on the engine, without a VAG specific diagnostic scan confirming that the work proposed relates to the fault code, (preferably VCDS).
Mac.
 
Oh! - didnt quite recognise the extent of the consequences of deviating from the 98 rule.
As from now I repent!
:mad::mad:
Else, the end, (of your savings), is nigh.
I don't think your problem is down to E10, at least not directly.
My previous comment still apply.
If you get a scan, share it with us.
Mac.
 
....
For the 1st couple of years of owning the car there was no eml coming on at all but once Timmus fitted the proboost he obviously reset it and eml came on with the ignition and went out on fire up, is this still the case?
......
Good Afternoon Mandy,

Does your statement imply that before Tom added the ProBoost the EML never briefly appeared at start up?

Andy
 
@RZX What was your logic in fitting the ProBoost originally?
Mac.
I was just advised it helped the FSI to run better, which I would it did both improve fuel economy and performance. If I was to buy another FSI (which is a strong possibility to have a ULEZ compliant car) I would certainly be looking to add proboost
 
In addition please always use 99 ron E5. It really doesn't like 95 ron and E10 will do all kinds of mischief as well. I find Tesco works well for me.

Best of luck.
 
Booked in to Chapmans auto services St Albans for the 12th June.
Will update with outcome.
Please do yourself one favour before you fork out for various diagnostics on the emissions which could end up in a big bill - stick a can of Cataclean in, take the FSI for a very vigorous drive on your way to the MOT station (at least half an hour taking it into the upper rev range at every opportunity) and take it to the test centre and ask them to recheck the emissions whilst the engine is still hot. Garages will normally retest for free if you return with a certain timeframe. I had exactly this issue on my FSI earlier this year and after the Cataclean treatment it sailed through the retest - read my post here: https://www.a2oc.net/community/index.php?threads/proboost-ecu-and-emissions.51847/
 
Please do yourself one favour before you fork out for various diagnostics on the emissions which could end up in a big bill - stick a can of Cataclean in, take the FSI for a very vigorous drive on your way to the MOT station (at least half an hour taking it into the upper rev range at every opportunity) and take it to the test centre and ask them to recheck the emissions whilst the engine is still hot. Garages will normally retest for free if you return with a certain timeframe. I had exactly this issue on my FSI earlier this year and after the Cataclean treatment it sailed through the retest - read my post here: https://www.a2oc.net/community/index.php?threads/proboost-ecu-and-emissions.51847/
Yep that was my suggestion - always start with the cheapest / simplest solution first.
 
Yep that was my suggestion - always start with the cheapest / simplest solution first.
My recommendation is Inde-Tech.co.uk based in Bletchley, Milton Keynes. They work exclusively on VW Audi and have all the diagnostic and test equipment. I used them after A2 Cars is Bletchley ceased trading.
 
My A2 Emission problem – Update

The VAG specialists kept the car for a few days for checks, but the result was much the same as my regular garage. No error codes, same 0.7% CO and understandably I guess, the same reticence to definitely say what was needed to fix it. They couldn’t rule out burning oil et al so overall they advised I should be prepared for (possibly) a £2k+ bill if they went ahead. I appreciated their frankness but…..

I hadn’t previously actioned the Cataclean/Italian tune-up suggested by several members, only because the MOT was well expired and was reluctant to risk a fine to add to my woes! Anyway, at this point I booked an MOT at a station 30 minutes of hard driving away, ensuring they had a record of my appointment and then disregarding my natural mechanical sympathy, thrashed the poor engine for the next half hour! I didnt have high expectations, but..................

RESULT!

CO down to 0.06% (from 0.71%) for the cost of £17 for the Cataclean plus 15 L of Shell V Power 99 octane.

(Perhaps I should add to the overall picture by saying my natural inclination is keep below 3000rpm, doing only 5,000 miles a year of mostly short local trips to the shops etc. My son thought early on that this is the root of my CO troubles and I’m now inclined to agree.)

So, grateful thanks to everyone for all your suggestions, but important to say..... if I had any thoughts that the Cataclean/Italian tune-up was a “snake oil” remedy that’s dispelled for ever.

Thanks again everyone.
 
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Yay! That's good news. Just goes to show that a bit of wellie does some good after all!

I generally run my 1.4 on E5 as it's only a little tank and I don't do many miles.

Like you, I've generally changed up by 3000 rpm...

Used to my old td5 discovery, where I've generally changed up by 1500 🤣🤣.
 
My A2 Emission problem – Update

The VAG specialists kept the car for a few days for checks, but the result was much the same as my regular garage. No error codes, same 0.7% CO and understandably I guess, the same reticence to definitely say what was needed to fix it. They couldn’t rule out burning oil et al so overall they advised I should be prepared for (possibly) a £2k+ bill if they went ahead. I appreciated their frankness but…..

I hadn’t previously actioned the Cataclean/Italian tune-up suggested by several members, only because the MOT was well expired and was reluctant to risk a fine to add to my woes! Anyway, at this point I booked an MOT at a station 30 minutes of hard driving away, ensuring they had a record of my appointment and then disregarding my natural mechanical sympathy, thrashed the poor engine for the next half hour! I didnt have high expectations, but..................

RESULT!

CO down to 0.06% (from 0.71%) for the cost of £17 for the Cataclean plus 15 L of Shell V Power 99 octane.

(Perhaps I should add to the overall picture by saying my natural inclination is keep below 3000rpm, doing only 5,000 miles a year of mostly short local trips to the shops etc. My son thought early on that this is the root of my CO troubles and I’m now inclined to agree.)

So, grateful thanks to everyone for all your suggestions, but important to say..... if I had any thoughts that the Cataclean/Italian tune-up was a “snake oil” remedy that’s dispelled for ever.

Thanks again everyone.
If you look at the torque!/power curves I posted recently, you'll see that you should keep revs above 3,000 and explore 5,000 plus reqularly. The FSI engine is designed to rev, it's a normally aspirated engine. We're so used to turbo engines, with low down torque, we forget. Never even think about using anything but 98/99 octane fuel.
I read paper written by a Polish University, that compared FSI - as in A2), with the later TFSI. They noted that the FSI was about 10% down on performance, against the factory figures. They then realised they were using 95 octane!

Mac.
 
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