S4Chicago

Started up the car this morning, for some reason it took about 5 seconds of turning to start. Very strange, but didn't think much of it. Pulled my car into my neighbors driveway to do the V1 hardwire and try and get my CD changer to work (CD ERR3). 3 hours later (many breaks for the baby) I finish. V1 and concealed display are working, and after banging hard on it a few times the CD changer is now working.

Go to start the car....turns over but doesn't start. Try it again, it starts after about 5 seconds. Figure I'd better go for a test drive as this is very strange and the engine sounds a little funny and a little louder. Get 2 blocks from my house and turn the car off. It wouldn't restart. The starter is working and the engine turning over but just won't catch. Let it sit for an hour and try again. Nothing.

Called Audi roadside assistance and they promise me a flatbed in 1 hour 20 minutes. 3 hours later still no flatbed. Call them and stayed on hold 30 minutes. Cell phone running down so I walk back home and call them just to get an immediate response.

Walk back to the S4 and try one more time while still waiting. Presto....it starts up immediately as if nothing was ever wrong.

This is scary! I did nothing to flood the engine as I never step on the gas while starting. No smell of gasoline. Nothing to tell me anything was wrong. I'm now very concerned as I use the S4 to travel around Chicago (an not always in the best areas) and also to Madison WI and back. I'm going to have it checked on Monday at the Laurel.

Anything similar happen to any of you?

BTW, 3.5 (maybe 4) hours later and still no flatbed I called Audi Roadside Assistance and cancelled. Didn't want to have to wait around and decided to take my chances on it starting Monday morning. What a$$holes. I will never trust them again. What if my wife and new baby were in the car and stuck somewhere. She will never drive an Audi.<p>S4Chicago
'00 Silver/Alcantara

Jim De Arras

Also, I do not believe the S4 can be flooded, that is primarily an older engine design problem.<p>Jim De Arras

<a href="http://www.imola.org">2000 00 Imola/Onyx/Alcantera S4</a>
MTM Stage II (Stage III on order and hold :-( )
MTM Full Suspension
MTM/Pagid Brake pads, Front and Rear

Shortbus S4

My S4 wouldn't start nor turn-over. When I called them I was holding for 20mins before someone answered. Luckily I was in my driveway at home on my landline & not wireless. My ARA rep gave me a direct line to call him back on. I think he regrets that now since I called him when I REALLY needed a rollback.

If you are a AAA member you may get quicker repsonse time by just calling them. The ARA rep I had said they work with AAA. So, eliminate the 20-30min on hold time and just call AAA.

--dealer still has my S4.

Chris
'00 w/Tip
540 miles
1 rollback ride

Brent

I had the "turns but won't fire" symptom in a '98 A4 a few times. It had something to do with the plugs in it...not being hot enough, or too hot or something. Either way, Laurel diagnosed and fixed the A4 for me (Tim is great.)

In the meantime, he gave me some pointers on how to work with the car to get around this when it happens. Here goes:

When you turn the key, it shoots gas into the engine, therefore if you do a turn - no start, turn - no start, it will probably flood real soon. Tim told me that after the first turn-no start, to give it 1/4 throttle, and on the next try let it turn for a few seconds (I usually gave it 5.) If that didn't work, turn it back off and try again with the accelerator on the floor. This never failed on the A4. Either way, they switched the plugs and it never happened again.

I had some odd experiences with roadside. I had an A6 from Hell for a while (ended up being a faulty fuel-tank-transfer pump, car would run out of gas with 1/4 still in the tank) Sometimes they would arrive in 45 minutes, once it took them 5 hours. Fortunately, the car was in my driveway that time. As a side note, Laurel did a great job diagnosing the many problems that cropped up in that thing (bad ECU, bad trans-linkage (car wouldn't fully go into park,) bad fuel-tank-pump-thing, and a few others I've fogotten.) I just picked up my S4 from them 30 minutes ago...it was in for the 16k service.

Good luck...give these methods a try if it does it again...no guarantee, but the A4 seemed hopeless, and then would suddenly revive itself just like your car is doing, so it could be the same thing.

Brent

Brett G

They take your info. then pass onto contractor (I believe AAA is the contractor for US). The AAA club operating in the area where you are then calls one of their contracted towing companies. It is possible that there was a communication problem somewhere in the process OR it could be 1 or more of the involved parties error. Although I don't know the entire process between the 3 parties, this is my best guess. If it bothers you that much complain to Audi and find out who messed up.

I had a bad experience too. See link.

The opinions stated above may not be those of my employer and are my own.<p>Brett Gissel
'00 S4, Pearl White/Onyx<ul><li><a href="https://www.audiworld.com/forum/m/s4/msgs/48826.phtml">My bad experience</a></li></ul>

Jonny

Just a guess, but since the system restarts after a while, it seems as though it could be bad gas or a problem in the fuel system.
Try throwing a fuel system dryer in the tank.

Brett G

Towing contractors respond quicker to Manufacturer RA call than AAA RA calls even though the Manufacturer call goes through AAA. Why? Manufacturer RA pays more to towing contractor than AAA RA.

The opinions stated above may not be those of my employer and are my own.<p>Brett Gissel
'00 S4, Pearl White/Onyx

tuan

make me worry. I got my ashtray fixed. There were 2 quarters lodge in between the drawer and slide. Took me 30 minutes to get them out. Works like new again. I still don't know where the clip came from though. Hope you make it to work okay on Monday. I think its standard procedure for people to wait 4-5 hours for Road Side Assistance. I waited 4 hours in 95 degree heat with my Acura. If you get lucky they'll be their sooner.

Brett G

I had mine come out too and haven't been able to put it back.<p>Brett Gissel
'00 S4, Pearl White/Onyx

dkirk

I got stranded in a major city (not home) with a tank of watery gas on memorial day with no hotel reservations. AAA was of no help at all. I cancelled my AAA membership the next week. I was very disappointed to hear that AoA is using them for roadside assistance. Are you reading this, AoA???? choose another company please.....