A3 2.0tdi Sport will not start

[thebears]

Urgent help required, just went out to my car and it wont start. It turns over and after a while the "red oil" symbol on the dis comes on. It does need oil but i cant get out to get any. Did check it yesterday and it was fine so it has lost it all in 24hours, no signs on the floor!

Will the car not start if the red oil light in the DIS comes on?

any other ideas?

 

[Amchlolor]

I used to get the low oil warning all the time, it never stopped the car starting.
Have you checked the manual to see if that light has a secondary function?
Maybe it also warns you of something more serious, like an oil pump failure, which may trigger some sort of major shutdown.
Just guessing, I don't have access to a manual any more.

 

[thebears]

read the manual and its uselss. Just says fill it with oil and doesnt refer to any other problems.

awaiting on the AA to bring me some oil as i cant get to any without a 15 mile hike!

 

[anty]

not sure whether the "add oil" sign will affect starting the car as I had the sign many times and never had a problem with starting the engine.

Good luck mate.

 

[sat1983]

The guy said the red oil symbol came on- not the yellow one which means top up and comes on in mine too every 2000 miles or so.
Red means stop immediately and signals some form of urgent problem- manual says take to dealer if topping up with oil doesn't cure it.

 

[bacardi]

I've seen the red oil light on mine a few times now, usually after a while of driving with the orange one on, however I can't remember trying to start it when it was in this state, could in theory make sense but would be a little dangerous IMO

Have you looked at the dipstick?

 

[chill14]

Urgent help required, just went out to my car and it wont start. It turns over and after a while the "red oil" symbol on the dis comes on. It does need oil but i cant get out to get any. Did check it yesterday and it was fine so it has lost it all in 24hours, no signs on the floor!

Will the car not start if the red oil light in the DIS comes on?

any other ideas?

I had this on my 2.0 TDi at the end of Feb. Basically I came out one Monday morning turned the key and it wouldn't start. It turned over but just was not firing. After the 4th or 5th attempt my Red oil warning came on. I tried once more without joy, and called Audi Assistance.

When he turned up, he tried it, and it did the same to him but he said that it was normal for the Red low oil pressure light to come on, if the engine does not start after a certain number of spins on the starter motor. He said basically that the computer picks up that the oil pump is not functioning properly (as the engines not starting) and puts the warning up.

The guy from Audi Assistance spent over 30 minutes trying to start mine and eventually diagnosed fuel starvation problem. I took it in to Audi but they couldn't replicate the fault.

Mine hasn't had an episode as bad since, but If the fuel tank gets to about a 1/4 left then the car then does starts to play up again and then doesn't start first time. Problem is that I don't like to run th fuel too low so i need to really plan it before booking back in with Audi.

 

[CCFC1987]

This happened to me last night on my 2.0TDi? Exactly the same symptoms, Fuel tank 1/4 full, won't fire, 4th or 5th turn over red "Stop" light came on? So I did!!. Car was parked nose down on my drive, Checked oil and its on the low side(with the car nose down this will be worse than it reads?). How did they fix the fuel starvation? Do these engines have a fuel cut off switch? Is it inevitable that I'll have to phone the dealer?
Thanks

 

[anty]

i tend to run my car down on petrol till it warns me (normally 50-60miles left in the tank) and i never had this problem..... it is now starting to worry me

 

[Amchlolor]

I used to run my A3 down to 30 miles in the tank, with the low oil warning 'pinging' away in the background.
In fact, it was sometimes a competition between the low fuel warning 'ping' and the low oil warning 'ping'...
If it was a puppy, the RSPCA would have taken it away because of abuse.
It never failed to start, thankfully.

 

[thebears]

Just an update, the AA came out and it started first time. He also told me that the "red oil" light will come on when the car has been cranked over and does not start. So oil was not the problem.

Drove the car to APS in Brackely for Nathen to have a look at. Plugged in VAGCOM and came up with no fault found.

Turned it off again and then would not start, came up with an array of faults mainly ECU, Air Con, Power Steering etc and Nathen told me they are all linked and suspected a faulty ECU? However it does start 9 times out of 10 and when it does the COMS read no fault. So they suspect an electrical short or something. Nathen now has the painstaking job of doing a pin test on each circuit to trace the fault. Just hope it doesn't need a new ECU.

I'll keep you posted.

 

[Amchlolor]

Jesus, you're so lucky they persevered.
Mine would have just referred me to the 'no fault found' and sent me on my way, like the idiot thorn in the side of their chrome and glass day that I so evidently was...

 

[chill14]

They didn't fix the starvation on mine, it did what Thebears did and came up no fault found.

Its rather worrying though that people with the same engine are all experiencing the same or similar faults when starting. Surely Audi have got to know there is a problem, they may not be admitting to it, but surely they know. I wonder if many people with the mk5 Golf 140 Diesel are having similar problems?

 

[thebears]

Just to update again some good and some VERY BAD news.

APS did some more fault finiding and came up with the ignition switch as the cause of the problem. £20 part and 3 hours later still the same problem. Seams to be worse when it is hotter.

Now diagnosed as the ECU a £450 + vat part, plus coding at main dealer of £150 and fitting. Only trouble the part is on back order and wont be in till the 24th June

I am now having to borrow my brother in laws N reg rover 416i just to get to and from work for 6 weeks! The car is only 4 year old with 50,000 on the clock and i would'nt expect the ECU to go and certianly would'nt expect the parts to tkae 6 weeks.!

 

[chill14]

Crikey that is serious. Thankfully I took out an additional years warranty on mine so if it busts, it goes back.

Hope you get it sorted once they fitted new ECU.

 

[Amchlolor]

Why would ECU's be on back order?

This is part of the attitude that bugged me with my Audi dealer.
Where's the sense of urgency?
No other cars they could rob an ECU from, to get you fixed?
Then put the back order ECU on that car?
Total lack of flexibility, IMO.

 

[CCFC1987]

Hi all, this turned out to be my coolant sensor, or so the dealer told me, relieved me of 100 pounds to fix it incluidng diagnostics, not too bad I suppose?
Thx for all your help

 

[thebears]

Finally got the A3 burner back last Friday. £1000 bill had some other work done at the same time and all running fine.

Apparnetly the ECU is a weak link in the A3 and the dealer that did the coding of the ECU says they have one in at least every day to do.

Why would and ECU be such a crap part given it is the brains of the car!

 

[RGC]

I am having this problem now myself, this has happened to me 2 times now, i have only owned the car for 3 month

The first time they told me it was air in the fuel lines and changed the fuel filter, now 3 weeks later the same again,, non starter.

I went to get in the car in the morning to go to work turned the key and the engine turned and it must have fired for only 1 second then just stopped firing but kept turning over like it had no fuel,

the first time this happened the car had over half a tank of fuel and this time it has just over a quarter,

it seems to me like a electrical problem just by the way it decides not to fire after 1 second of turning,

it does not splutter or or semi fire it seems just to be turned off.

 

[chill14]

Since I last posted in this thread, mine has had to have the cylinder head changed. Audi diagnosed that the seal was distorted on injector number 2. Thankfully it was covered under my extended warranty so didn't cost me anything. Since it has been done though, the car has started first time ever time, even when the Fuel light was on.

 

[keenu]

Sorry for bumping an old thread but I am having the exact same issue on my Audi A3 2.0 TDI 2006 reg. I got the car about a month ago and it seems to happen when the fuel tank is less that half tank full. It basically cranks but does not start.

The first time it happened we called the AA and he sprayed some Carb Cleaner in the Air intake manifold hose at the front of the engine. This got it started and we filled the car with fuel. He said the fuel was not getting to the top of the engine and said there could be a fuel pump issue or air in the fuel system.

I then got it serviced a few days later replacing the fuel filter but it happened again a week later when the fuel level was less than half a tank. Called the AA again and they did the exact same thing. After getting it started I took it an Audi specialist and they checked the fault codes and nothing came back. They also cant replicate the issue so it seems it is intermittent. Until they can find the fault they do not really want to replace anything.

Do you think I should change the cylinder head as above? I don't really want to spend money on the car without me knowing it is going to fix the issue.

Any help appreciated thanks.

 

[RGC]

Hi m8! the problem i had was fixed by replacing the tandem pump seal, it was leaking ever so slightly

It was allowing air in the fuel system and causing an air lock which in turn caused a non start.

 

[keenu]

Hi m8! the problem i had was fixed by replacing the tandem pump seal, it was leaking ever so slightly

It was allowing air in the fuel system and causing an air lock which in turn caused a non start.

Thanks, I will look into this.

 

[be@st]

Hi all,

I have the exact same issue on a A3 2005 2.0 TDI. Wouldn't start - wound over until the oil pressure warning light comes on etc.

Checked the fuel at the fuel filter and sprays out well when it's turning over :/, but taking on board what was written here I filled the tank up to the top (was about a 1/3 full), still wouldn't fire. So gave it a sniff of easy start and that coughed it into life and then ran ok.

Could someone advise on what/where the tandem pump is? Is it the electric fuel pump near the tank (I can hear it run up to pressure and stop with the ignition on) and if so is it inside or outside the tank?

Thanks for any advise.

 

[SmithyAG]

Tandem pump is different to the in tank lift pump.

The tandem pump is cam driven and attached to one end of your cylinder head.

 

[RGC]

The tan pump is on the top right side of the engine (lookin at the engine with bonnet up) and will most prob have a seal problem, common fault.

I the tank pump is hard to hear working unless you pull the back seats out etc.,.

Richy

 

[be@st]

Thanks guys, I'm very grateful for your responses.

 

[RGC]

See pic for location

Richy