1998 Audi A6 electrical problem

A couple days ago my wife was driving home from work when she called
to let me know the blower was not working for the A/C, neither was the
turn signals (hey you gotta have your priorities on a hot day). It
turns out the lights didn't work either and any number of other
things. I had coincidently already had an appointment to get yet two
more recall notices worked on so no big deal; usually there is a 2
week wait just to get a lousy appointment time.

I drop the car off as the appointment was during rush hour and called
them the next afternoon to learn that they had decided that my turn
signal unit was broken and the A/C control unit was blown. I asked
the service rep. how it was that these two separate components could
both be fried simutaneously to which he did not no the answer. Well,
to repair the parts is $1650; the A/C unit is over $1000 alone. I
just got a new $6000 transmission last year and am up for the 90k
service that runs $1700 and change; these three items alone are almost
what the car is worth given the terrible resale value.

I've read this before and I feel the same way; I love my Audi and I
hate it too. Strange thing was, I was already making calculations in
my head for the Audi A6 3.2 model while I still had the service rep on
the phone.

To make a short story even longer, my true purpose of this post is to
ask anyone if they know that an Audi dealer (Jim Ellis Audi) would be
willing to replace parts when they know the root cause is something so
they might make more money? Sounds like a naive question that I
already know the answer for, but I'd like to think that they would be
beyond that.

Best regards,

Tony Heffner

In article >,
(T-Bone) wrote:

> A couple days ago my wife was driving home from work when she called
> to let me know the blower was not working for the A/C, neither was the
> turn signals (hey you gotta have your priorities on a hot day). It
> turns out the lights didn't work either and any number of other
> things. I had coincidently already had an appointment to get yet two
> more recall notices worked on so no big deal; usually there is a 2
> week wait just to get a lousy appointment time.
>
> I drop the car off as the appointment was during rush hour and called
> them the next afternoon to learn that they had decided that my turn
> signal unit was broken and the A/C control unit was blown. I asked
> the service rep. how it was that these two separate components could
> both be fried simutaneously to which he did not no the answer. Well,
> to repair the parts is $1650; the A/C unit is over $1000 alone. I
> just got a new $6000 transmission last year and am up for the 90k
> service that runs $1700 and change; these three items alone are almost
> what the car is worth given the terrible resale value.
>
> I've read this before and I feel the same way; I love my Audi and I
> hate it too. Strange thing was, I was already making calculations in
> my head for the Audi A6 3.2 model while I still had the service rep on
> the phone.
>
> To make a short story even longer, my true purpose of this post is to
> ask anyone if they know that an Audi dealer (Jim Ellis Audi) would be
> willing to replace parts when they know the root cause is something so
> they might make more money? Sounds like a naive question that I
> already know the answer for, but I'd like to think that they would be
> beyond that.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Tony Heffner

I'm getting ready to feel your pain. My 2001 A6 comes off the lease and
is out of warranty. The day that happened, the dealer was a not-so-fond
memory. I have a good mechanic who works on everything and has already
said he will do our Audis. It may take him three times longer to fix it,
but $1700 for 90k service is past insane and he'll be half that. We
squeaked a front end repair at the dealer in 175 miles under the 50k
covered service that would have cost $900 PER SIDE. NOTHING costs that
much. The only reason we are keeping this car after the lease ends is
that we are going to be 15k over the mileage and the penalty for turning
it in would be over $3000. Fords may be coma-inducing, but they can be
fixed for less than the blue book on the car.

--
Wayne Crannell
Xxxxxxx, TX

It is completely ridiculous and insane how much it costs to fix Audis!!!
I own a 1995 Audi 90S and every time something is wrong it is lots of $$$
out of my pocket. BMW parts are twice less money than Audi's.
Must switch to BMW or Mercedes, it is much much less money to own those
cars.

Vlad

"Wayne Crannell" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> (T-Bone) wrote:
>
> > A couple days ago my wife was driving home from work when she called
> > to let me know the blower was not working for the A/C, neither was the
> > turn signals (hey you gotta have your priorities on a hot day). It
> > turns out the lights didn't work either and any number of other
> > things. I had coincidently already had an appointment to get yet two
> > more recall notices worked on so no big deal; usually there is a 2
> > week wait just to get a lousy appointment time.
> >
> > I drop the car off as the appointment was during rush hour and called
> > them the next afternoon to learn that they had decided that my turn
> > signal unit was broken and the A/C control unit was blown. I asked
> > the service rep. how it was that these two separate components could
> > both be fried simutaneously to which he did not no the answer. Well,
> > to repair the parts is $1650; the A/C unit is over $1000 alone. I
> > just got a new $6000 transmission last year and am up for the 90k
> > service that runs $1700 and change; these three items alone are almost
> > what the car is worth given the terrible resale value.
> >
> > I've read this before and I feel the same way; I love my Audi and I
> > hate it too. Strange thing was, I was already making calculations in
> > my head for the Audi A6 3.2 model while I still had the service rep on
> > the phone.
> >
> > To make a short story even longer, my true purpose of this post is to
> > ask anyone if they know that an Audi dealer (Jim Ellis Audi) would be
> > willing to replace parts when they know the root cause is something so
> > they might make more money? Sounds like a naive question that I
> > already know the answer for, but I'd like to think that they would be
> > beyond that.
> >
> > Best regards,
> >
> > Tony Heffner
>
> I'm getting ready to feel your pain. My 2001 A6 comes off the lease and
> is out of warranty. The day that happened, the dealer was a not-so-fond
> memory. I have a good mechanic who works on everything and has already
> said he will do our Audis. It may take him three times longer to fix it,
> but $1700 for 90k service is past insane and he'll be half that. We
> squeaked a front end repair at the dealer in 175 miles under the 50k
> covered service that would have cost $900 PER SIDE. NOTHING costs that
> much. The only reason we are keeping this car after the lease ends is
> that we are going to be 15k over the mileage and the penalty for turning
> it in would be over $3000. Fords may be coma-inducing, but they can be
> fixed for less than the blue book on the car.
>
> --
> Wayne Crannell
> Xxxxxxx, TX

The problem sounds to me like the ignition switch problem which I had on
both my '95A6 and '98A6. The problem is that on starting the car the
key/ignition-switch remain in the far right position, it should come back
slightly to the left. In the far right position most electrical things get
no juice (so that maximum juice is available for the starter). You can
manually correct this by simply turning the key back slightly to the left.
Especially in the day time you might not notice the problem right away and
thus fail to connect it with the ignition switch.

How have you needed a transmission already? My '98A6 wagon has over 140K
miles on it and has needed very few major repairs. I hate to get rid of it
but have been thinking about it. Your experience makes me think that maybe
I am living on borrowed time.

Good Luck, Bob

"T-Bone" > wrote in message
om...
> A couple days ago my wife was driving home from work when she called
> to let me know the blower was not working for the A/C, neither was the
> turn signals (hey you gotta have your priorities on a hot day). It
> turns out the lights didn't work either and any number of other
> things. I had coincidently already had an appointment to get yet two
> more recall notices worked on so no big deal; usually there is a 2
> week wait just to get a lousy appointment time.
>
> I drop the car off as the appointment was during rush hour and called
> them the next afternoon to learn that they had decided that my turn
> signal unit was broken and the A/C control unit was blown. I asked
> the service rep. how it was that these two separate components could
> both be fried simutaneously to which he did not no the answer. Well,
> to repair the parts is $1650; the A/C unit is over $1000 alone. I
> just got a new $6000 transmission last year and am up for the 90k
> service that runs $1700 and change; these three items alone are almost
> what the car is worth given the terrible resale value.
>
> I've read this before and I feel the same way; I love my Audi and I
> hate it too. Strange thing was, I was already making calculations in
> my head for the Audi A6 3.2 model while I still had the service rep on
> the phone.
>
> To make a short story even longer, my true purpose of this post is to
> ask anyone if they know that an Audi dealer (Jim Ellis Audi) would be
> willing to replace parts when they know the root cause is something so
> they might make more money? Sounds like a naive question that I
> already know the answer for, but I'd like to think that they would be
> beyond that.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Tony Heffner