Audi diagnostic tool - worth it?

Howdy, I had the car in for a major service there recently which included a refill of adblue and just this week I've gotten an error which says "Adblue system fault: no restart in 1000KM".

Now it may be unrelated, but I thought it was a bit of a coincidence as this is the first time I've had it refilled. Anyway, from reading here and online, sometimes this can be caused by a fault/glitch with the sensor and it can sometimes rectify itself. Yesterday, it dropped to "950KM" in the warning so I phoned the dealer to see what the story is.

They've booked me in to see what the issue is, but one thing he said was "it is €136 to run the diagnostic" which got me thinking. Am I better off buying a diagnostic tool myself, and letting them know what the error/fault is? Am i just throwing money away by paying for a check which costs more than a top of the range tool which I'll then have for the lifetime of the car?

If i get one and phone him up and say "I ran a diagnostic and it says error code XXXX, which means a faulty YYYY", would that be good enough or would they insist on running their own one?

If the advice is to get my own one, any recommendations? Are they all the same or are the expensive ones worth the investment?

Is it straightforward enough to operate one of these?

Toyotafanboi

A top of the range diagnostic tool costs €10-15k, anything you can get for €100 is not much more than a toy.

When you pay €136 or whatever for a diagnostic, you're paying for more than just the codes to be read. The biggest mistake people make is thinking fault code = fault. In all likelihood, if you ring a dealer claiming to have diagnosed a fault, they invariably wont accept that anyway, it's too risky.

You're paying for someone to diagnose the fault and scanning for fault codes is just one step in a process. It may involve physical checks of wiring and components, software updates or repairs and the operators own experience to determine what is actually wrong with the car. Those adblue systems aren't particularly complicated but can give some very very finicky issues.

If it were a bulb or an oil change I'd say have a go, but this is best left to a workshop IMO.

Cheers, that's exactly the type of response I'm looking for. I'm not well versed in this type of thing.

Toyotafanboi

What year is it? Have you checked that they actually filled the adblue up? The countdown usually implies that the adblue is low, a fault generally wont lead to a non start situation as far as I know.

listermint

I would say there is zero harm in owning your own diagnostics, because there is nothing wrong with being informed and having a starting point.

An example of this was that i have an ODB BT reader (ELM) and the free android app 'Car Scanner'

The ODB reader cost be the guts of a tenner about 8 years ago and has many a time dug me out of a problem.

For example last week the missus let the tank run dry and the ODB reader gave me codes to say the sender was telling the ECU the tank was empty.

Came on here got some direction to check and ended up disconnecting the sensor and reconnecting and all sorted.

Garage would have cost me
Tow -100 Euro
Diag Scan - 100 Euro

Parts ??? who knows.


So yes there is no harm being informed but understand that its giving information that you may not always be able to translate.

But dont waste big money on a diag scanner tool unless you are a really keen Diyer.

Toyotafanboi

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

What year is it? Have you checked that they actually filled the adblue up? The countdown usually implies that the adblue is low, a fault generally wont lead to a non start situation as far as I know.

Its a 151 A6.

I haven't actually checked the level myself, I took them at their word they'd refilled it. I'll double check when I get home. That's interesting about the low level, as the manual itself says it could be a fault and reading online seems to indicate it could be anything from a faulty sensor to a failed pump. The irony is that it is 1 year to the day (today) that I bought it up North, if I knew it was something faulty I could chance my arm by asking if it is still under the one year warranty they gave me. Might just do that anyway.

Lewis_Benson

You need to top up the adblue yourself, there are some garages now which have pumps.

nogoodnamesleft

I wouldnt bother with the small cheap handhelds as it wont tell you very much information regards any issues you are experiencing with the car and it may lead you down the wrong path so to speak. There are certain functions that more advanced diagnostic readers offer like putting the electronic parking brake in the service position where as the cheap handhelds wont.

There is an alternative that I have always used. For the BMW i have my laptop running software available online with a cable from amazon to give me full dealer diagnostics.

For VW/Audi the older cars used VCDS using the ODB2 diagnostic port which I found saved me an absolute fortune for the Passat again it ran on the laptop. For your car you could go down the route of getting a Ross tech cable and licence for the CANBUS system. It also pays to be handy with the tools as simply clearing a code may not solve the issue depends on how hands on you want to get with a car and if you plan on sticking to the same marque or not.

https://www.ross-tech.com/vcds/canbus.php

Lewis_Benson

Lewis_Benson wrote: »

You need to top up the adblue yourself, there are some garages now which have pumps.

Yeah, I saw that thread back in March or April this year. I just hadn't used enough of it to warrant a top up and it came as part of the service so I let them plough ahead with it.

I've heard/seen the adblue problem on loads of different makes (car thinks its empty).
Wonder why its so common ?

odb eleven (ODB11) is a fair bit better than obd2 ,

Update:

Dropped the car off this morning and spoke to the rep who said they weren't in a position to confirm if the fault could be covered by the fact that it had occurred so recently since the major service.....it would depend entirely on the nature of the fault.

Got a call about 3 hrs later to say that they had tested it and the fault code was referred to Audi HQ as they had not encountered it before. The response was to issue a software update, a different one to the one which was installed as part of the initial service, and the fault was cleared.

The brake fluid needed to be changed, though no reason was given why that had been missed first time around. Gave them the go ahead, and collected the car at half 5. They didn't charge me for the update, so €70 all in (including a mini valet inside and out). Fair play Audi North Dublin

Toyotafanboi

Good result!

Azatadine

Same error on mine now too....booked in to Audi tomorrow. I'm on countdown as I drive 100 miles per day....

Some horror stories on web about pump requiring replacement at cost of 2k.....hope mine is fixed by software update too...