probably will reoccur even if you do clear the airbag light. often the cheap odb tools won’t let you properly at the srs/airbag features. i had a similar problem on my car (a fiat) and the internet kept telling me it was bad under seat connectors. this convinced me it was, but it wasn’t.
a neighbour of mine had proper fiat odb kit, and checked the fault (which was pointing at low voltage on a particular airbag (passenger side, but not the seat) we cleared the light, and checked again, and while the voltage was better, not great. a day later the light came back on of course
Great news on the MOT pass! You should definitely keep it a while ... You'd have to spend considerably more to get a much better car. The TT has two rear sidelights on each side, it's probably just blown a bulb on one of them. Don't swap it for an SLK, I've had a Mk2 SLK and it isn't as good as the Audi for drive or build, which is why I now have a TT.
You should have put that £26 towards a proper OBD reader that not only tells you ALL the faults but has a 'clear errors' function (once the error is repaired). Whenever you fix an issue you MUST clear the fault condition else an error will remain on the display even if you've fixed it.
Your TT purchase and videos got me looking again for a nice MK1 TT. Two weeks ago I found one and bought it, loving it! It's a 2001 180 Quattro in Denim Blue with the optional Denim Blue full leather interior. It's been really well kept and is really tidy. I've hardly been out of it so far and it's been brilliant. Will be an occasional car but I'm just surprised how well it drives and what a nice place it is to sit. I can testify to how good value these things are at the moment. If anyone's thinking of getting one, they're not going to get any better value!
I've been thinking the exact same thing since I watched the first video and I have been scouring auto trader for mk 1's 😂 I almost considered seriously purchasing a dark blue 1.8tt convertible with 99k for £2000. They've since reduced it to £1795 and it's looking like a seriously fine bargain atm. Arghhhh, it makes no financial sense to buy a 2nd car at this time but I still want to get despite knowing how stupid it would be financially 😂😭😁
Ive had a TT 190bhp for 7 years . Great car its as it was when i bought it .ive had no problems at all . I can recomend them .and it still looks super.
You could have bought a good OBD scanner for £50 such as the Autel AP200 which would scan codes etc. The Rover 75 used to have the same issue with airbag connectors under the driver's seat....probably other cars as well. I think the actual connectors are normally the issue with poor contact. Just needs the paint sorting now to finish it off.
Great result on the TT passing its MOT and the airbag light reset. Its turning out to be such a bargain I would say keep it perhaps improve the paintwork and sort out the minor issues - would still represent great value IMO!
I’ve had 3 different cars with intermittent air bag lights, in all cases it was broken wires under the seats to the seat belt pre tensioners. Usually easy to fix, but disconnect the battery before doing so.
Can't help but feel that the original TT is a future classic, the design is so clean even today. Good ones may well be hard to come by in the future. Enjoyed the video sir!
If I was you Joe, change the oil pick up pipe and oil pump. The pick up pipe over time gets clogged and can starve the engine of oil. Just happened to mine, very common issue. Mine got starved of oil, chain jumped a few teeth and then smashed all the valves to bits
Agreed. No oil leak is minor, it should be investigated and dealt with accordingly. It could be the start of a really expensive repair and they don't get any better, they only get worse. Sorry Joel but I think you're too naive, I wouldn't buy a car from you.
Joel with your luck the replacement “better” car will turn out to be a lemon. Keep the TT it’s a belter of a car give her some TLC do all the jobs that need doing. It’s Katy’s car anyway 😂
I had the same issue with my mk4 golf (same platform), it happens after years of sliding the seats back and forth wears the wiring. If the light comes back on another option is to put a blank in the connector to bypass the light. I wouldn’t sell that TT just to buy another one, it won’t have the same sentimental value
I had a Touran and bought a cheap OBD code reader that cost about £50. Every time the airbag light came on I cleared it myself without having to spend money and time visiting the stealer.
I know it's not strictly kosher but I bought a tiny circuit board with a few components on it via eBay from Romania. If the airbag really is dead and replacement can't be found the little circuit switches on the airbag light with the ignition for a second or two before going out so gives the exact appearance of functioning airbag. You need to be desperate though as the instrument binnacle would have to come out to isolate the airbag light somehow and drive it via the circuit board. It could be a bag of worms. I bought it for my MGF Trophy just in case but never needed to use it. It would save scrapping or breaking the car...
Had the same issue with my TT , especially in sub-zero temperatures in winter the Airbag Module goes out. The same resetter did the job After a few attempts. I also have VCDS, but it won‘t let you mess with the module or reset it.
Had the same issue with my tt ! I went to a garage to reset the airbag light but it came back on in two weeks so I had it reset again and sold it ! Lovely car but such a headache. Sorry to say get out now while there’s no further problems!!!!
you should have invested in an Autel AP200 which would allow you to run live data, diagnostics and reset any lamps as well as loads of special functions..
£26 tool was powerful because you did all the connector cleanup work before. As it is known, airbag self-diagnostics run a small current though the harness and check integrity (harness resistance) Should the light ever come on again, best is to do the connector cleanup first. It might be enough to clear a single occurrence of the issue. Repeated fault reports however might cause (depending on actual implementation) the light to stay on as the fault is seen as 'permanent'. Anyhow, congratulations on passing the MOT - enjoy every ride!
It should be carried out with just ignition on .then turn off ignition and disconnect. Also for 12 pounds 99 p in Aldi you can buy a fault code reader .I've used on VW golf , polo , Suzuki swift it turns of all dash lights and tells you about all fault codes .it's amazing for the money !
You have to be careful what you plug in the obd these cheap Chinese gadgets can cause terminal damage to your ECU. Glad it worked I don't think I wouldn't trust anything having spelling mistakes on
Really enjoying the recent content since the purchase of the Jaguar. Watching the TT videos has even had me purchase a snow foam attachment for my Karcher. I think many like me really enjoy watching somebody purchase old cars so we don't have to and learn from the experience. I've picked up all sorts of excellent tips on what not to do from your videos. Anybody can buy a dirt cheap motor, but knowing what it's going to cost you in real terms is invaluable information.
Got my dad a similar thing for his mini, takes a few goes and various button clicks but it eventually works. Every couple of months the light will come on as it has a dodgy seat fitting. He gets annoyed that I won’t explain how to reset it, but after half a dozen times of doing it I still don’t know how to do it. Just gotta button mash a few times.
Love the journey with this car, 😊it’s a fascinating video, keep the car for at least year. Well done so much more interesting than the typical car videos on those dreadful EVs
I have a Peugot 508 with the same problem ,its either a cable or the seat belt pre tensioner. bought a obd scanner that can clear the code but it still comes back on.absolute pain to fix.
just check you can use the KKL with that year of the car, i had a 59 plate a3 which needed the proper verison of VCDS, you will only be able to use vcds-lite as its an older car hopefully with that cable, if it is the proper version of vcds, you can pick up clone versions or spend 150-300+ on the proper version and code the car properly! reach out if you want any advice with it as i used it to code in a new abs pump for the A3!
I was told years ago that some of them air bag erasers actually turn the air bag system off completely if the fault wasn't rectified properly then that computer may have turned off the air bags from deploying all together
Keep it enjoy it and have some fun plenty of parts available new and used some expensive some fair priced ,my project is nearly ready for its test it’s been a labour of love over 2yrs with all the usual TT stuff that gets neglected so enjoy 👍👨🏻🏭🇬🇧
Just keep it. You are so ahead on the cost of the purchase and maintenance. Enjoy it and in a couple of years you will still make some profit if you sell then
Glad it passed Joel, by the way an easy way to remember offside/nearside is when you sat in the car just spell the word NO in your head , Nearside-Offside.
Cambelt? Joel, do you know if the TT has had its cambelt done? If not, this is something to think about. That job would be about £600, or if the cambelt failed, it would ruin the engine. This is another reason that personally I would sell, bag the profit you have made from getting an MOT'd car for such a good price, and carefully choose another one focusing on low miles and service history. Usually, if you take care, you get what you pay for, and these TT's are now appreciating classics so a good one is a shrewd investment. Cheers.
That's a nice car. I would keep it and do those small jobs. It won't be long before value rises. Good different colour too, not the boring silver that most are.
awesome joel love it mate theres no better feeling than fixing a car and it passing an mot but like they always say everything can be fixed mate but so glad you sorted it mate i remember when i brought a astra sri for not alot of money and the guy i got it of had it off the road 2 years as he thought he could fix it and he couldnt i got it home and after 30 minutes and a £9 pound part i fixed it and i had that car for 3 years and made good money on selling it :)
VAG wiring of this era is cheap. I had several issues with my Fabia vRS (used a VW Polo loom) related to electrical issues. These were all caused by wires that had broken next to the connectors and caused either total or intermittent issues. As the seat moves as people adjust it or sit on it its likely that this cheap wiring has broken next to the connector. When I say cheap VAG started using about 7 strands of wire instead of about 40 because it's cheaper. The 7 strands are less flexible and fracture after a period of time. Its likely that replacement of the section of the loom that flexes will fix this permanently (well for at least another 10 years until it breaks again).
Good it passed. Now you know you like Audi TT's and they are an appreciating classic..... I would sell it, bag your profit, and look for another one with lower miles that has more life left in it.. That will probably go up in value aswell. Your random Audi TT purchase has given me a new interest, and I might buy one simply because I think a good one is only going up in value and they are clearly fun to drive. I fancy a quattro.
Hey Joel, I think now's a good time to let it go. You've got some really good content out of it. Let's move on to the next project. Perhaps one of these? 3.0i Z3, 2007 model Audi s3, 2008 - 2012 Opel Astra OPC, Honda Accord CL9.
Hi Joel, great news with the MOT pass, now then if you thinking of selling it, how about the TT as a raffle prize do you think that is a worth while idea ?
Congrats on the tt passing the mot mate, 12 months motoring for minimum spend - I would keep it and show her some love and then if you want to sell it on after that, the improvements you make could add value. I think she deserves the chance to be fair as the tt content has been class up till now.. 🤙🏻👍🏻 But it is your decision…
I was always wondering, what happens if you don't pass the MOT and still drive the car? Do you automatically get picked up by the traffic cameras and get a fine?
Loving this Audi TT, to start with I was sceptical but it's bringing alot of joy to you, by the way the BMW 760Li I have which is partially because of you and the channel has arrived @it'sjoel
Is it okay to just keep resetting fault codes? Or should the faults be addressed properly? If you were involved in an accident and the airbags failed to deploy because of none repair, then what…..
