News

1.       Engine Oil

1.8 & 2.0 TFSi Petrol Engine

• The engine can sometimes be difficult to start. An engine light will appear with a ‘camshaft shaft position bank 1’ fault description. This will be caused by a failure of the non-return valve and filter basket on the end of the camshaft (front), leading to score marks and the partial seizure of the cam shaft. As a result the valve timing jumps, which results in the engine start problems.

2.0 TDi Diesel Engine

• The Piezo Injectors are a frequent issue. Solenoid shorts to earth on the injectors. In this instance the injectors should be replaced. This applies to the 170ps engine only.

The updated 2008 Audi A4 introduced a selection of new engines, the most popular of which were 2.0-litre TDI turbo-diesel and 1.8-litre TFSI turbo-petrol engines.  Castrol points out that every engine in the current generation Audi A4 was designed to run on fully-synthetic, low viscosity 5W-30 engine oil.

It’s important that vehicle technicians top-up these vehicles with the correct oil formulation.  Using anything other than the recommended fully-synthetic 5W-30 formulation – including higher viscosity oils, such as 5W-40 and 10W-40, which lack the relevant Volkswagen Group 504 00 / 507 00 approvals – will invalidate the manufacturer warranty instantly and may reduce the efficiency, performance and longevity of the engine.

Common issues affecting TDI models include alternator clutch pulleys failing due to tensioner problems. The starter motor, again mainly on TDI models, can also fail prematurely because of clutch dust/Dual mass flywheel dust.

The good news is that on petrol models don’t have any common complaints.

The launch of Groupauto’s Approved Garages scheme has added 300 garages to the Motor Codes network in one go, swelling its ranks to over 1800 independent garages and over 7400 garages nationwide.

Over 400 workshops have signed up to Motor Codes so far this year, which the company’s says cements its position in the consumer landscape as the one stop shop for car servicing.

Motor Codes now rivals the IGA’s Trust My Garage scheme in terms of independent garage members, which also celebrated reaching the 1800 member mark this month.

When H2 Equity Partners bought a controlling 50.1% share in Unipart Automotive (UA) in September 2011, CAT asked whether the private equity firm could be trusted with one of the grand dames of the UK aftermarket.

Euro Car Parts and LKQ have made a move into Europe with the £176 million acquisition of Dutch-based Sator Holding from H2 Equity Partners today. The move, funded by LKQ, does not include H2’s 50.1% stake in Unipart.

The UK is backing EU plans to overhaul rules on cross-border company insolvencies, it was announced by the European Commission today.

The proposals are designed to help businesses overcome financial difficulties more easily, but also aim protect the rights of creditors in their search for money if companies are liquidated.

The Commission hopes the overhaul will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of cross-border insolvencies which, it estimates, affects 50,000 companies in the EU every year.

EU Vice President Viviane Reding said: “With 200,000 firms going bankrupt across the European Union, and 1.7 million jobs being lost to insolvencies every year, there's no time to waste in getting these new rules in place.

Chancellor George Osborne is expected to announce an extension of a scheme designed to give small and medium-sized business greater access to finance. The Funding for Lending Scheme was launched last year and was originally scheduled to end next January.