Audi Factory Warranty Vs Usage of OBD Eleven

[jb]

I recently bought an Audi A3 2015, Sline 1.8TFSI and its 48K on the clock.

Since, I could get the Audi factory warranty for another 2 Years from the dealer I approached them as the car hs always been servived by them and have all the history. Before giving me the warranty, they ran their diagnostics and said something was a miss but couldnt diagnose anything or pinpoint on anything at all and even received advise from Germany but just couldn't figure out at all but said that they needed a clea diagnostics before warranty is issued.

In the meantime, I checked with the previous owner and he mentioned that he did some slight cosmetic modifications like (Speed Needle, Seat belt Chime and Traffigator) usin OBD Eeven. I was stupid enough to mention that to the dealer and these guys who couldn't even figure out the proelm for 3 days, straight away jumped on the bandwagon and suddenly became genius at pointing our the issue with OBD eleven chaning stuff.

They advised me that they have to change the Gateway control module so that they can access the ECU and completely do a factory reset. I agreed to doing that and spent $1000, After changing that, these idiots come up and tell me that they still need more time to find the issue as some codes are changed and are not factory setin etc blahh blaah blaah..2 more hours of labour and still they cannot exactly tell me what they need to do and how much it would cost to get it to a fatory reset to get a warranty...1700 already spent.

Prior giving the car to them, I used the OBD eleven myself and scanned car and didnt come up with any fault.

Now they have changed gateway controller i am actually a step back from where i started but am not prepared to spend money in the bottomless pit where these guys cannot even tell me whats the issue and what would it take to fix it so that  fcatory warranty is given,

I need help

• Can someone advie If is should just get my car back and live with it as its just a bunch of codes which are different than the audi factory ones...and i guess all of you are using OBD eleven and modigying the features anyways.

• Does it affect te car in any way other than the few codes may be different

I am not a car enthusiast or a professioal so your advise would be helpful.

[Deleted]

JB, I am no expert or professional but in my humble opinion the Garage have not been very professional (and I am being polite now)

So they had an issue - they should clearly tell you what it was and what they plan to do to fix it. There may be other things that need doing but thats cars I am afraid. Anyway changing a Control unit on a car where you the user are not having an issue at all sounds wrong but again i am no expert.

However having done that and still not being able to advise the way forward I would do the following.

As they have made you part with your money on a car with no issues (to you the user) I would want them to confirm what the issue is they are trying to fix.
It must have a name or a code or something to tell them its a problem.

I have been changing my car for many years now and get errors and fix them one by one but the car still runs fine.

So get the garage to tell you what the issue is and define what they think could happen if you don't carry on spending more money.

I would also pop in and see a different audi garage or VAG Tuning garage for some advise.

Bottom line the control units on the car are designed to work in many different ways and many many people in New Zealand/ Australia / US / Europe have been making these changes to the car so again subject to what the garage tell you I would be happy to carry on driving .

The important part for you to be able to make that call is the garage explaining what they think is wrong, OBD11 Et all can make changes but that is just the warranty guys saying your car is not stock. They appear to be saying something is broken - get them to be very clear on whats going on.

Sorry I cant be of more help.

[jb]

Thanks for your response.
I was extremely gutted and disappointed with the response as this comes from The Audi Dealer (Giltrap Audi) and not any roadside Garage. Its just insane and now the record has been locked on Audi Centralised Computer in Germany.

The response i received is below:

Hi Jitender,


We are unable to clear the fault codes on the A3 to allow us to apply the Audi approved plus(AAP) Warranty. We have replaced the gateway control unit as discussed which has cleared the fault code originally present. Unfortunately there are multiple fault codes now coming up relating to other control units in the car due to the aftermarket programming that has been done on the vehicle.

I have written off some of the labour time spent and got our parts department to do 25% discount on the control unit we have replaced to help out as we appreciate this must be frustrating for you. Unfortunately it is looking uneconomical to continue repairing control units and spending anymore labour time on the car to put the AAP warranty on the vehicle.



I have attached the discounted invoice for the work carried out so far.



Regards,

James Anderson

Service Advisor

[Deleted]

Well I am very sorry, as you have access to OBD11 have you run a scan to see if there are any error's showing.

i am no expert but the bit that worries me is they are saying there was one error, they replaced the ECU to fix that and now there are loads of errors. Not sure I understand that, but like you I am not an expert in these matters.

The only advise I could offer is try speaking with Audi Customer support and explaining that you are not happy with support from your garage and that you have not made any changes to the car, you have spent a lot of money for so far no benefit - don't expect they will help but may be worth a go.

The other option is to find a local Garage that specializes in tuning Audi's give them a call explain your issue and see if they can offer any advise on who could help you.

Sorry i cant offer you a simple solution.

[jb]

Thanks Mate,
I will run the OBD scan once again and see the errors. Just a quick question that when i run the OBD scan for errors, it just read the data and doesn't make any changes until i decide to make any changes?

Will run the scan and trace the errors and share them to see if you have any thoughts

Thanks for your help
CheersJb

[Deleted]

yes all the scan does is check for errors on your car and report them back to you.

You are then able to clear them but for now just tell us what they say

[jb]

Hi There,
I have run the OBD Scan today and the following codes only came up:

09 - Central Electrics

Trouble codes:

B126301 - Tank lid unlock activation Electrical error

static


16 Steering Column Electronics

Trouble codes:

B116229 - Selector lever park position lock switch Implausible signal

Intermittent


19 Gateway

Trouble codes:

U101D00 - Power steering control module No communication

Intermittent

U110100 - Component protection active

static



I cleared the fault codes and the two got cleared away were B116229 - Selector lever park position lock switch Implausible signal
and B126301 - Tank lid unlock activation Electrical error


Can you advise if there's something i need to worry about?

[Deleted]

Well I am afraid this is above me but U110100 - Component protection active worries me because the VAG Group install component protection to stop you using other peoples hardware. I did a quick google and found this post www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/2013-a3-faults-advice.286509/ which seems to be very simular.

It implies that either a connection issue, retrofit, Faulty Control unit (did you say you had one replaced if so which one was it)

I would call the guy you got the car from and double check he did not do any retrofits or change any control units.
If you can it might be nice if he sent you a copy of the history log of the car (which is on his account not yours) just so we can double check what they did.

And the garage should be able to tell you what this (U110100) means, you can explain that nothing has been added or changed to impact component protection can they help (but don't expect that they will).

I am afraid you need an Audi guy who can fully help you

Any Audi guys out there that can help us please