Stop of shame, waiting for roadside assistance, water pump fail.
12-19-2010, 07:10 PM
#11
Only used two and filled it past the max line. I had two drive twice, once out of indoor parking. The second outside lot, just past the parking payment booth. They could have brought the flatbed into the lot, but the tow operator then told, he could not pull. Aperantly we would get stuck doing about one hours worth paper work to pull out. What a pain.
12-19-2010, 07:15 PM
#12
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DrGP- According to the lady from AOA, you cannot issue a recall per US regulations, unless you have x% of the fix for affected population in inventory. This is what she told me. There are 4 vehicles that use the 3.0T, not just ours so there are a fair number of upgraded WPs needed.
Bruce
Bruce
12-19-2010, 08:31 PM
#14
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of course they know about the issue, and unfortunately, they appear to be doing everything they can to fight this battle.
Earlier this week, i was speaking with my Service Manager, and the Audi Regional Service Director, and the Audi rep informed me that the seal in the plastic housing pumps in the 3.0T, 3.0TDI, and the 3.2 are the ones affected (the same pump in all of them). He said they are seeing them pop mostly in the northern climates. I have known both of these gentlemen for a while now, and they are both very knowledgeable and credible.
As Bruce mentioned, supply is the issue. They are feeding the factory lines with the aluminum pumps in addition to trying to keep up with the issues. They had an RVU, but had to pull it back, and only ship out replacement WP's when cars were coming in with the bust--mainly because they feared some dealers would hoard a small supply of WP's, when someone may have actually needed one somewhere else in the country (he did not say whether this actually happened, but i assumed from the inference that it had happened...).
i know we all do not like it, and some of us expect to be compensated for a highly visible preventable issue, but honestly, i think we can scream all we want, and it won't make the pumps come sooner. I don't think Audi is that ingnorant to treat this they way some of us feel they are...
Earlier this week, i was speaking with my Service Manager, and the Audi Regional Service Director, and the Audi rep informed me that the seal in the plastic housing pumps in the 3.0T, 3.0TDI, and the 3.2 are the ones affected (the same pump in all of them). He said they are seeing them pop mostly in the northern climates. I have known both of these gentlemen for a while now, and they are both very knowledgeable and credible.
As Bruce mentioned, supply is the issue. They are feeding the factory lines with the aluminum pumps in addition to trying to keep up with the issues. They had an RVU, but had to pull it back, and only ship out replacement WP's when cars were coming in with the bust--mainly because they feared some dealers would hoard a small supply of WP's, when someone may have actually needed one somewhere else in the country (he did not say whether this actually happened, but i assumed from the inference that it had happened...).
i know we all do not like it, and some of us expect to be compensated for a highly visible preventable issue, but honestly, i think we can scream all we want, and it won't make the pumps come sooner. I don't think Audi is that ingnorant to treat this they way some of us feel they are...
12-19-2010, 09:32 PM
#15
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I have a new water pump now, but did not like how I got here (WP failure). I asked my SA before if he could replace my WP before it fails. He said that he checked into it, but only can replace WPs that fail per Audi.
Bruce
Bruce
12-20-2010, 02:45 AM
#16
AudiWorld Super User
of course they know about the issue, and unfortunately, they appear to be doing everything they can to fight this battle.
Earlier this week, i was speaking with my Service Manager, and the Audi Regional Service Director, and the Audi rep informed me that the seal in the plastic housing pumps in the 3.0T, 3.0TDI, and the 3.2 are the ones affected (the same pump in all of them). He said they are seeing them pop mostly in the northern climates. I have known both of these gentlemen for a while now, and they are both very knowledgeable and credible.
As Bruce mentioned, supply is the issue. They are feeding the factory lines with the aluminum pumps in addition to trying to keep up with the issues. They had an RVU, but had to pull it back, and only ship out replacement WP's when cars were coming in with the bust--mainly because they feared some dealers would hoard a small supply of WP's, when someone may have actually needed one somewhere else in the country (he did not say whether this actually happened, but i assumed from the inference that it had happened...).
i know we all do not like it, and some of us expect to be compensated for a highly visible preventable issue, but honestly, i think we can scream all we want, and it won't make the pumps come sooner. I don't think Audi is that ingnorant to treat this they way some of us feel they are...
Earlier this week, i was speaking with my Service Manager, and the Audi Regional Service Director, and the Audi rep informed me that the seal in the plastic housing pumps in the 3.0T, 3.0TDI, and the 3.2 are the ones affected (the same pump in all of them). He said they are seeing them pop mostly in the northern climates. I have known both of these gentlemen for a while now, and they are both very knowledgeable and credible.
As Bruce mentioned, supply is the issue. They are feeding the factory lines with the aluminum pumps in addition to trying to keep up with the issues. They had an RVU, but had to pull it back, and only ship out replacement WP's when cars were coming in with the bust--mainly because they feared some dealers would hoard a small supply of WP's, when someone may have actually needed one somewhere else in the country (he did not say whether this actually happened, but i assumed from the inference that it had happened...).
i know we all do not like it, and some of us expect to be compensated for a highly visible preventable issue, but honestly, i think we can scream all we want, and it won't make the pumps come sooner. I don't think Audi is that ingnorant to treat this they way some of us feel they are...
If you cannot requisition enough pumps to be produced in over a year to comabt this type of catastrophic failure, then your business model is a catastrophic failure. The fact is that they could have, they just haven't. That leaves is with either one of 2 reasons:
1) They don't/didn't think it would be this bad, which as a small representation of owners the online community is, we know it IS bad, Audi has access to all their owners and should see this as well
2) They don't really care to correct this.
I would wager that we are close to a 50% failure on the S4's now, if you did a poll of just the 2009 through 2010 pre-April manufactured models.
Last edited by NWS4Guy; 12-20-2010 at 02:49 AM.
12-20-2010, 04:27 AM
#17
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of course they know about the issue, and unfortunately, they appear to be doing everything they can to fight this battle.
Earlier this week, i was speaking with my Service Manager, and the Audi Regional Service Director, and the Audi rep informed me that the seal in the plastic housing pumps in the 3.0T, 3.0TDI, and the 3.2 are the ones affected (the same pump in all of them). He said they are seeing them pop mostly in the northern climates. I have known both of these gentlemen for a while now, and they are both very knowledgeable and credible.
As Bruce mentioned, supply is the issue. They are feeding the factory lines with the aluminum pumps in addition to trying to keep up with the issues. They had an RVU, but had to pull it back, and only ship out replacement WP's when cars were coming in with the bust--mainly because they feared some dealers would hoard a small supply of WP's, when someone may have actually needed one somewhere else in the country (he did not say whether this actually happened, but i assumed from the inference that it had happened...).
i know we all do not like it, and some of us expect to be compensated for a highly visible preventable issue, but honestly, i think we can scream all we want, and it won't make the pumps come sooner. I don't think Audi is that ingnorant to treat this they way some of us feel they are...
Earlier this week, i was speaking with my Service Manager, and the Audi Regional Service Director, and the Audi rep informed me that the seal in the plastic housing pumps in the 3.0T, 3.0TDI, and the 3.2 are the ones affected (the same pump in all of them). He said they are seeing them pop mostly in the northern climates. I have known both of these gentlemen for a while now, and they are both very knowledgeable and credible.
As Bruce mentioned, supply is the issue. They are feeding the factory lines with the aluminum pumps in addition to trying to keep up with the issues. They had an RVU, but had to pull it back, and only ship out replacement WP's when cars were coming in with the bust--mainly because they feared some dealers would hoard a small supply of WP's, when someone may have actually needed one somewhere else in the country (he did not say whether this actually happened, but i assumed from the inference that it had happened...).
i know we all do not like it, and some of us expect to be compensated for a highly visible preventable issue, but honestly, i think we can scream all we want, and it won't make the pumps come sooner. I don't think Audi is that ingnorant to treat this they way some of us feel they are...
Yes it's used in several cars...but compare the world-wide sales of the Audi models effected by the WP's and then compare that to just one car line from Toyota..Camry which had big recalls this past year.
There really is no excuse at this point.
Did they think it was going to be this bad???...I bet they did.
Do manufacturers do 500,000 mile testing of their engines before they go into production to identify these problems??? possibly...but there must have been a spec change or supplier change or something else changed between that testing and production...otherwise there would not be as many of posts on AW and AZ on reliability...many seem to revolve around WP's and it's about the only common issue with the car.
Are WP's that difficult to build that they cannot keep up with production and/or repairs? Doubt it.
If that is the case...then I suggest they stop production and get everyone who has bought a car fixed ASAP.
I probably have more thoughts on this topic...but I have to get to work...
Sure has been a increased number of pump's going out lately huh???
12-20-2010, 06:04 AM
#18
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The problematic pump is actually ok in itself, which is why the new one looks the same. The issue came from the subcontractor not assembling it in the correct way, causing the seal failures.
12-20-2010, 06:46 AM
#19
has anyone filed a safety complaint? is it even worth with?
12-20-2010, 07:04 AM
#20
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i agree that this is a big egg on their face, but the Toyota comparison is really apples and oranges.
one was a safety issue, and one is an inconvenience issue (i'm sure someone will argue that the failed WP is a safety issue--- you could argue that about any breakdown if one wanted to...)---and the Toyota issue is starting to look like Audi's "black eye" in the 90's (some of the the Toyota claims are proving to be driver error).
Regardless, money spent to fix a safety issue is far different than this. And the ability to fix the Toyota issue is far different than the situation Audi is in.
Sure, the vendor can make more pumps, but as Bruce mentioned in a preivous post also, the vendor also had gone through some revisions before they got it right. the vendor, I would bet, also produces WP's or other products for other companies- perhaps they are haivng multiple issues.
As much as i felt the pain too (WP replaced), i still do not think Audi is sitting back on this. they have WAY TOO much at stake with the 3.0TDI (green initiative), and the S4 (new release, new power delivery) to "not care."
Neal- i know this issue has been known for over a year now, but manufacturers do not issue RVU's or recalls on "inconveniences" with that low a failure count that early on in the discovery.
JMO...
one was a safety issue, and one is an inconvenience issue (i'm sure someone will argue that the failed WP is a safety issue--- you could argue that about any breakdown if one wanted to...)---and the Toyota issue is starting to look like Audi's "black eye" in the 90's (some of the the Toyota claims are proving to be driver error).
Regardless, money spent to fix a safety issue is far different than this. And the ability to fix the Toyota issue is far different than the situation Audi is in.
Sure, the vendor can make more pumps, but as Bruce mentioned in a preivous post also, the vendor also had gone through some revisions before they got it right. the vendor, I would bet, also produces WP's or other products for other companies- perhaps they are haivng multiple issues.
As much as i felt the pain too (WP replaced), i still do not think Audi is sitting back on this. they have WAY TOO much at stake with the 3.0TDI (green initiative), and the S4 (new release, new power delivery) to "not care."
Neal- i know this issue has been known for over a year now, but manufacturers do not issue RVU's or recalls on "inconveniences" with that low a failure count that early on in the discovery.
JMO...