Some more daft newbie questions

[Rich_C]

Gents,

Now I've had the car a few weeks I've got some questions (most of which are daft) which I hope some of you can answer.

(1) The oil seems to take ages to get warm and even then it hovers around the 75 mark - is this normal? It does go up a little higher when I've been pushing on a bit more than normal.

(2) When cold (i.e. first thing in the morning), the engine starts up with a diesel like clatter - is this normal? - it starts up perfectly fine when the weather is warmer or it's been in the garage.

(3) How do owners keep care of the leather. I've got some Meguiars 2 stage cleaner and nourisher which I intended to use every 2 or 3 months. Just curious what other people did.

(4) My tyres have got black plastic valve caps - are these normal? I was kind of expecting a £60k car to come with some nice alloy ones or something that looks a bit more sophisticated. Are anybody fitted some nice aftermarket ones?

(5) Any regular maintenance tips other than the normal checking of oil and fluid levels?

Thanks,

Rich.

[GaryC]

(1) My oil temp guage never seems to move more than 1/4 to 1/3 away across the dial, but then I rarely get the opportunity to drive the car hard as I almost always have wife and kids onboard.
(2) My engine may be a tiny bit more noisy for a fraction of a second when cold, but definitely no diesel clatter.
(3) I use autoglym leather cleaner and nourishing cream.
(4) My valve caps are black plastic too. Not sure I'd bother with expensive ones - my boss repeatedly had his alloy valve caps stolen off his boxster.
(5) I've checked my oil regularly, but its burnt virtually none in 12 months/8k miles and has never needed topping up.

Cheers,

Gary.

[rs666]

Hello again

1) Mine seems to warm fine

2) Don't get the clatter

3) I use Liquid Leather www.liquidleather.com nice finish and restores nice leather smell. Seen several Detailers use it.

4) Get some from Halfords, £3.50

5) Regular maintenance tip - keep putting fuel in, but I guess you've got that one by now

[peterb]

Coolant temperature seems to come up quite quickly - the oil temp obviously lags behind, and usually settles around 75 - has done from new and seems quite happy.

No obvious clatter on startup, but then mine is always garaged.

I use Meguiars on the leather (when I have time!).

The standard valve caps are a silvery/grey plastic. Three of mine got nicked a while ago and I replaced them with nice metal ones from Halfrauds. However, next time I tried to remove them I had great difficulty and ended up chewing them up and loosening the valve stems themselves. If you do fit metal ones, make sure you lubricate them to eliminate corrosion! After that I bought a new set of the original silver plastic ones from the dealer - 48p each, + VAT.

Maintenance - fuel, wash, tyre pressures, washer fluid, probably in that order of frequency. Mine's never used a drop of oil or lost any coolant. It doesn't seem to need anything else.

[W8PMC]

Agree with all the above & nothing really to add.

Mine has had a couple of small oil top-ups, but that's usually after some track fun & also the tyres need checking fairly often as the tyres do lose pressure after being worked hard. The tyre pressure monitor only alerts you once they've fallen by about 6PSI which is too bigger drop for my handling requirements.

No problems with oil temp (although i have Sportec coolers) & no noticable noise on start-up.

I've used Liquid Leather & it works very well.

Just keep putting the fuel in (plenty of it)

[Rich_C]

Thanks for the info guys.

(1) Oil temp wise I seem to be normal. I quite like how the climate control holds back until enough heat has built up before sending it into the cabin. Nothing worse than being blown with freezing cold air first thing in the morning during the trudge to work.

(2) My choice of words regarding cold starting was probably inappropriate as I was thinking about the noise my father-in-laws diesel (which is a modern one) makes when starting rather than an old tractor or something. All that happens is the revs flare to maybe 2500 rpm on starting and then drops down to idle. The sound is mechanical in nature which makes me wince with sympathy for the cold internals suddenly being jolted into life. When it's warm the starter motor turns followed by a lovely burble as the v8 bursts into life (always gets noticed at my new home ... aka Shell forecourt). All in all it's just me being an old woman and over sensitive to things on a new car as it hasn't done it the last few mornings - just when we had the sub zero spell.

(3) Going to give the meguiars stuff a try this weekend weather permitting.

(4) I'll keep an eye out for some nicer versions than the black plastic ones I've got at the mo ... no doubt Audi parts at my local dealership won't have any of the proper ones in.

(5) All seems normal ... still can't find the hole in my fuel tank ... I can't possibly get through that much optimax in a week ... might have to look at what I can get for my optimax points at this rate.

Thanks all.

Rich.

[peterb]

(4) I'll keep an eye out for some nicer versions than the black plastic ones I've got at the mo ... no doubt Audi parts at my local dealership won't have any of the proper ones in.

No, my dealer didn't have them in stock, but did receive them in two days, then dropped them to me in the post.

[Rich_C]

Used the 2 stage Meguiars leather treatment today. Very impressed with the results . The circular sponge applicators make it very to use. The 1st stage certainly pulled a lot of dirt and grime out of the seats. The leather just lapped up the second stage cream. All in all it wasn't all that hard work.

I plan to leave it a month and give it another going over.

Rich.

[shimmy]

Used the 2 stage Meguiars leather treatment today. Very impressed with the results . The circular sponge applicators make it very to use. The 1st stage certainly pulled a lot of dirt and grime out of the seats. The leather just lapped up the second stage cream. All in all it wasn't all that hard work.

I plan to leave it a month and give it another going over.

Rich.

where did you get the Meguairs from?

[Rupert]

where did you get the Meguairs from?

Order online at
http://www.meguiars.co.uk/

[Rich_C]

Used the 2 stage Meguiars leather treatment today. Very impressed with the results . The circular sponge applicators make it very to use. The 1st stage certainly pulled a lot of dirt and grime out of the seats. The leather just lapped up the second stage cream. All in all it wasn't all that hard work.

I plan to leave it a month and give it another going over.

Rich.

where did you get the Meguairs from?

I got it from Demon Tweeks in Wrexham when I was over in the Summer getting a Milltek cat back exhaust, lowering springs & EBC discs & pads fitted to my old car. Seen as I had plenty of time to kill I spent a fair bit of time wandering around the shop filling a basket of Meguiars stuff.

I've used all the other stuff but haven't had chance to try the leather cleaner & cleanser. Not wanting to be a salesman for them but the Meguiars products are the best I've used. The clay bar is excellent, the 3 stage treatment gives outstanding results (although arm breaking) but best of all is the drying towel ... I can't believe a bit of material can absorb so much water. Anyway sales pitch over.

My shopping spree ...



Rich

[Rich_C]

The results from just a wash and quick detailer ...



Rich.