Otis A4

I was northbound on Arizona's I-17 near Sedona when it happened. I was in the passing lane, going 75 MPH, up a slight grade, when I heard a loud pop or bang and the revs zinged up to maybe 4500 RPM for a second. The car acted like it was in neutral, and as I headed for the right side emergency lane (fortunately no one was beside me)the engine turned itself off. The gear lever had been in Drive (as opposed to Tip), and I honestly don't recall if I had the cruise control on or not, as I had to knock it off a number of times for traffic. Time was 12:35.

I immediately called the client I was meeting for a 1:00 lunch and cancelled, then called Audi Roadside Assistance. Call went in at 12:40, and the very pleasant sounding girl at the other end of the line (who had never heard of a CVT transmission) asked where I was, then came back to the phone a second later and said "the computer says you are 76 miles from your nearest dealer!" in an incredulous tone. (Well, that's Arizona, there is only one dealer in Scottsdale that serves Phoenix and Northern AZ, and one in Tucson.)

At 1:15 someone from the local (Camp Verde) towing company called to say her men were on the way. Truck showed up at 1:55. Admittedly, I was in a bit of a remote area, but once the local company called, they should have been there sooner. I was only about six miles north of the Camp Verde exit. Another 15 minutes and the car was on the flatbed and ready for its long trip to Scottsdale. I sort of winced when I saw the guys throw their cable hooks under the seemingly delicate front suspension lower arms. Aluminum, so I hope nothing got bent. Cars with the sport suspension are pretty darn low, and I'm sure not a favorite of tow truck operators.

My sister had come to pick me up, and once back at the house, Audi Roadside called at 2:45 to make sure I was taken care of. My workday is shot, so here I am.

As this is written, the car has probably been delivered to the dealer, but they haven't called yet. I want a loaner or rental, but Audi will only pay $25/day for a rental. I don't want to go all the way to Scottsdale to get a loaner, so we'll see how this situation gets settled tomorrow.

It will be interesting to find out what happened. If parts have to come from Germany, I'm looking at two weeks minimum, I think. I'll keep you guys (girls) posted.

P.S. My wife gets to put her Lexus in the garage tonight. She's amazed that this happened to my lovely A4 (after all my bragging about the CVT)!

A4toZ

That completely sucks. Sorry to hear that - hope all goes smooth and quick!!!

sohcrates

let's hope this doesn't turn into an ongoing trend...sorry to hear about it

phred

I guarantee Audi corporate will tell them to pull your tranny and ship it back to Der Fatherland for analysis. If they are smart/nice, they will airship a new one to the dealership for you.

Ralphie

I had to have some transmission parts replaced early on... It only took a day or two to get the parts. I also had a fender bender, and parts only took 4 days. So hopefully it won't take you too long.

Glad you're okay, it could've been dangerous.

saki76

i have a cvt too.... no problems thus far.. *crossing my finger*

motorwaffen

That's a drag...hope you get it back soon!

rigor

j/k of course.

Otis A4

Thanks for the encouraging words, but you don't have a CVT, do you?

Otis A4

but as I told my sister, I'd have been more upset with a rock chip in the windshield or something like that. When the tranny failed, it was obviously catastrophic, so I resigned myself to it immediately. In other words, I'm not so much bummed as amazed. Hope that makes sense.