A1 engine woes - updated Feb and again May 2021

Move it on and get something else

See how much she can get from WBAC? Then either do that or trade it for something else without the "benefit" of an Audi badge.

I take it she doesn't fancy a Captur? Diesel has zero road tax.

Yes, back in 2012 my mother did this with her beloved first 54-plate A3 Sportback TDi when, after 8yrs and 85k miles, the village garage diagnosed that the turbo was on its last legs. To his credit, the garage proprietor strongly recommended toddling back to the local Audi dealership she'd bought it from originally and part-exing it sharpish because replacing the turbo would have cost a significant chunk of what the car was then worth and "they'll just do a walk around but they won't roadtest it".

Miracle of miracles, the local franchise dealership turned out to have a two year old dark grey A3 Sportback 1.4T Sport with circa 20k on the clock stickered at a reasonable £12k which was perfect. And just as Peter had said, they didn't test-drive her car, offered a decent part-ex price, and the deal was done inside a week.

Needless to say replacing the car cost considerably more than a new turbo, but at least she got to put the money towards a new car, which she then kept for a further 5 yrs and 40k miles, which she would have been unlikely to have done with the original one anyway.

Use thicker oil. Something with the consistency of treacle..

Or get a Polo/Fabia/SEAT something or other that's basically the same underneath but cheaper to buy in the first place?

Good result that.

I'm sincerely hoping that it is indeed "the" result and that there is nothing more to worry about for a long time !  Apparently the leak got a lot worse in the past couple of weeks with daughter having to top up about every 4 days. Fingers crossed that the "low oil level" warning message does not return

That's unlucky about the alternator, but good that she got it fixed by the RAC. I didn't know they did that. I thought they'd just "recover" her to a garage?

It surprised me too, I thought that they would just have towed the car to the nearest garage. Tesco clubcard vouchers proved their worth:-)

Reminds me of the time the exhaust broke in half on my Mk2 Golf GL on the A14 (A45 in them days) somewhere near Stowmarket. AA turned up, decided to remove everything from the break backwards there in the layby and then sent me on my way. Car sounded epic for a few days until I was able to get a replacement fitted.

They do some minor roadside repairs. Years ago the AA replaced the distributor rotor on my old Polo and more recently they replaced the battery on my wife's Panda when it died in the Tesco car park.

Hi all, new to this and can't post a thread yet so thought I would ask her as it is a Vauxhall issue. Bought a 2010 Astra twintop design, did all due diligence and then found it smokes on acceleration. Have just returned from garage to be told nothing wrong with car in fact in wonderful order. Took on long drive, all was well until I had to accelerate uphill and then smoked half the county, engine went limp, pull in waited a few minute and the car drove home at 65 no problem no smoke. There is no coolant loss, no oil loss and just before the bluesih smoke there is an audible "click" sound like a solonoid going off just under the engine bay on the drivers side. Any thoughts as to what is causing this.