Hi - I have an Audi A3, first car in about twenty years (always ridden motocycles). Had the head gasket replaced by a garage, but then immediately I noticed the car would not resart at all well if it stalled or I stopped for some reason - was fine before they changed the head gasket. Eventually wouldn't restart at all, also the clutch was biting very low indeed, then soon not at all. Garage fixed the clutch bite, saying it was something seperate and for the rest they said that the variable valve timing needed redoing (?) a camshaft position sensor was needed and an input sender (none of this means much to me). Anyway, they claimed strongly that this was all seperate from the original head gasket issue and that there was no way that any of these parts could have been damaged in the process of changing the head gasket - is this true? All I know is that it ran very well before they had it (though the coolant light started coming on, hence the new head gasket), but then everything went to pot after they changed it. Would it be reasonable to suspect they could they have caused this additional damage in the process? Thanks for any advice!

 

by the way you wrote this, im guessing its a Manual transmission, so then if who ever put the car on the lift or drove it into the garage is horrible at driving manual, then yea they could have messed up your clutch in the process. or forgot to connect a cable

 

Yes, well I guess the fact that after the head gasket was initially replaced, the clutch was operating realy badly - this must be some kind of give away?

 

variable valve timing needed redoing (?) a camshaft position sensor was needed and an input sender (none of this means much to me)

means a lot to me like a cover up for shoddy workmanship ( cam sensor was ok when you put it in ) input sensor? they really do a good job on BS ( bull **** )

 

No warranty?

 

This may not be of any help, but I used to take my car to this one shop, and everytime I picked it up after getting "fixed", there was something else that needed to be replaced. The car worked great until I brought it in to this shop and when I left, the cardrove way worse than before. If I were you, I would research on this site to see if there are any reputable shops in your area and most ofthese honest shops will givereasonably priced estimates or zero cost estimates. That way you can shop around for decent repair prices and see which places are full of ****. The honest places will work with you and ifthe problem issomething simple, DIY and save money and know that that problem is fixed.