merton

I just made the final payment last week on our '01 CPO AR. After making every payment online, Audi Financial, in their infinite wisdumb, requires the final payment be made via snail mail.

Anyway, at 82k miles, we're facing some serious repair $$$. Previous work has included CV joints & boots @ 48k, not warranteed, alternator @ 70k, not warranteed, 50 cent plastic piece in the cargo cover broke @ 40k, not warranteed and they wanted $ 650 to replace, cat. converter @ 78k, covered after much argument. O2 sensors were also needed & dealer tried to double dip on the labor. I took it to our indie repair shop, which replaced them for 1/2 dealer cost. The 6-year, 100k warranty has expired due to time.

Pass. side front air susp. bag has been slowly leaking down the past couple of months, only overnight, & the dealer said it wasn't bad enough to worry about yet. I did the soapy water test. Driver's side was fine and the pass side only leaked a little at 1 and 2, not at all @ 3 & 4. I told my wife, who drives this car, to try to keep it at level 3, especially at night. That seemed to work until yesterday. I wanted to look at it some more while she went out of town, so I drove her to the ATL airport today, 20 miles away. The suspension refused to level out at any setting and the car severely hobby-horsed. I didn't drive over 60 and frequently had to slow down to get the car to settle down. The level indicator in the tach cluster stayed on and the bottom LED between the up and down level buttons flashed. I would have gone home and switched cars but she had a flight to catch.

When we got to the airport I could see the front was way down. I shut the engine off & restarted. The susp. finally acted like it was coming up, then BOOM! It sounded like a gunshot and a puff of smoke came out from the left front wheel well. I was at the lower lever baggage check area, which is covered. There were maybe 100 people in the vicinity and they all were looking at my car. I'm surprised airport security wasn't on the scene. I figured I had just blown the previously O.K. left bag.

I very carefully drove home (it didn't seem to drive any worse than on the trip to ATL), put it in jack mode and pulled the front wheels. The pass. side bag was flaccid and the driver's side has a 10" long slit spiraling down and around the bag.

Obviously I'll have to replace both bags @ $ 500/side, if I do them myself. We love this car when it works. BUT, @ 82k, it's probably time for a timing belt/kit. $ 300 parts plus, as everyone knows, a helluva lot of labor. Total cost $ 1,200 at our indie garage; $ 2,500 - 3k at the ripoff dealer. I have more time than $$ for the next 2 weeks so I'm considering doing it myself.

Finally, the transmission has been severely "hunting" between gears, even driving 40 mph on level roads. This is what really scares me into considering selling the car. I am used to German cars and have owned 9 BMW's. I currently drive a '99 540iT with 93k miles. It has been relatively trouble-free, only needing front rotors at 80k. Until a month ago I would have replaced the allroad with an A-4 or A-6 Avant, but now I'm almost as soured on Audi's as I was after my last Alfa Romeo. I received excellent warranty service with previous CPO BMW's.

Sorry about the long post. I would appreciate any comments, especially about potential tran$mi$$ion problems and advise on whether or not to keep the car.

Jim

want

About the "transmission hunting", check the MAF sensor and the intake hoses first.

happy allroader

While you are thinking to sell or keep, fix the two front air bags. I'd hold off on the TB change.

paulroad

something is questionable here.

merton

The alternator went out ~ 4 months after the 6 year limit. Instead of a new alt. from the dealer, I took it to an automotive electric shop and had it rebuilt for $ 225. CV joints & boots, while well within the CPO limits, were considered "normal wear".

I argued to no avail. To me, when I pay $ 31k for a CPO car (26k miles at purchase), I should not have to pay anything for repairs until at least the 50k mark. To me, "normal wear" includes things like brake pads, tires, wiper blades, light bulbs, etc., all of which were covered under the CPO. They also performed free oil changes (but wanted $ 60 extra for synthetic oil, and no, I couldn't bring my own oil). $ 1,000 for CV joints at 48k miles is premature.

merton

Definitely. It's not drivable or sellable w/o the air bags.

merton

Would either of these set off the check engine light? The tranny was doing this before the cat and O2 sensors were changed. I asked the dealer about it but they said no other codes were displayed. Now they'll want another "diagnostic charge". I wouldn't mind this so much, but I just don't have much faith in them.

I should mention that my indie repair shop is a gas service station. They have been pretty good and are definitely honest, but may not have much expertise in Audi transmissions. They were thrown by the ABS computer on my 540. I was able to diagnose and replace it pretty easily.

kingfishgrapejam

You may have a leak or you may need some DV's or both. There is always that TC threat but that doesn't really create a hunting scenerio as far I can tell from the posts. If you have the time, go ahead and diy the bags and timing belt. The bags have to be done anyway and for another 450 or so bucks the TB change would be a plus if you did decide to sell at a later date. It's paid off at this point I wouldn't be in a hurry to sell, unless you wanted to go smaller and easier on gas. But I know what you mean about being soured.

darthmall

And the cats and O2 should have been under the fed 80k 8 year warranty

merton

I had to take in the printout of the fed. mandated warranty. Dealer claimed O2 sensors were not part of the 3 main components covered. Then, even though they had to remove the old sensors anyway, they wanted to charge full labor to install new ones. They tried to charge a diag. fee until I showed them the feds required that to be covered, too. They only replaced one cat (after clearing the codes twice with no luck). So, I'm sure the other cats will go before long. But they'll certainly claim it's out of warranty at 82k.