2006 AC Check engine light (help with dealer)

In article om>,
" > wrote:

> I talked to my dealer about this yesterday. Their claim is that since a
> number of things can cause the check engine light to come on, it's a
> new problem rather than an ongoing problem that was never fixed. That's
> a bit hard to believe, but I wasn't in the mood to fight it and paid
> the $300 bill. I'm only hoping the fix will stay fixed for a while so I
> can trade it in. I don't mind minor problems when it's under warranty,
> but out of warranty things get really expensive.
>
> Example: A small plastic gear was missing from the top of the headlight
> mechanism, which is used to 'steer' the light. As a result, it was
> mis-pointed and wouldn't pass inspection. So you'd replace the 5-cent
> gear, right? Nope. Audi says you have to replace the entire headlight
> structure at a cost of $1300. Between this problem and the check engine
> light, I'm pretty much done. A great car but the poor reliabiliity and
> cost of repairs make things a real problem.
>
> Thanks for the help; much appreciated.
>
> Andrew

Take the gear off the other headlight and have a machinist or clocksmith
replicate it.

Here are my views/ramblings on Vehicles and I deal with Audis and VWs.
Follow your maintenance schedules for crucial items, Timing belts, oil
changes, periodic inspections and usually the vehicles are very reliable.
Allocate about $80-100 per month for maintenance, and if you don't spend
that much then collect interest in the bank. Some years will be cheap and
others won't be. ;-)
You vehicle will usually give you signs of things going wrong BEFORE they
totally give out. Fuel pumps might buzz a little louder, wheel bearing
might begin to hum a little. Just be a little paranoid but find some
independant mechanic familar with Audis that can listen to your concerns
without charging you $100 per event.
USE your senses including your COMMON SENSE....How does the vehicle drive?
Do you hear/feel/smell anything abnormal? BE EDUCATED and buy a repair
manual and read it. Think about purchasing a scanner tool like
ross-tech.com (vag-com) and use it to check out any Check Engine Light
problems. It can help you locate problems with the vehicle. Hey 1-2 trips
to the dealer and you are out at least $200+ anyway to have them read codes.
I guess I am too cheap to give them my money blindly which is why I started
working on my own vehicles. ;-)

My family has owned Audis since about 1975 with the first fuel injected Audi
Fox. Then we continued in the Audi family with 1973 Fox, 1978 Audi Fox,
1980 Audi 4000, 1985 Audi 5000S, 1983 Audi 4000S (my current vehicle since
1991 with 85K miles). There are probably a few that I missed too. ;-)
The 1985 Audi 5000s was purchase slightly used and with a 7 year warranty.
That warranty help reduce costs of replacing the power window regulators,
auto trans reseal, and misc. repairs through the Audi dealer. Overall it
had been a good vehicle and was just traded in back in 2005. It only needed
the headliner replaced but everything else was functioning well.
My 1983 Audi 4000S has over 231K miles on it and has been reliable and
enjoyable to drive for these 15 years and will be in my fleet until I find
an Audi with the 1.8t engine cheaply preferably a Quattro. Either another
Audi will replace it or someone will have to pry it out of my dead fingers!
Or offer enough $$$! <g>
I do prefer the older simpler Audis but if the price is right I will update
my Audi since rust is starting to rear it's ugly head with my '83. :-(

I work mostly on VWs and some more current Audis and they seem to be very
solid vehicles. One 1996 Audi A4 or A6 with the 2.8 engine is absolutely
fantastic, quiet and reliable but now the steering rack is starting to leak.
Not too bad for a 10 year old vehicle that still looks and runs like new.
I have personally seen domestic vehicles that were only months old that had
reliability issues. They either would not start or the transmissions would
not work. Owners had to sue the manufacturer to get any sort of resolution.
Not sure why the Lemon Law did not work for them.

I generally 'think' or 'hope' that the Audi techs should be good. If you
take it to a dealership you might be able to request a certain tech to
repair your vehicle. At least that is my belief, but I have had to correct
some errors that the dealer has created, like damaged seal housing and
incorrect timing belt installations. Of course the dealer claimed they
don't make mistakes and of course the owners don't wish to go back to the
dealer to have these problems corrected.
Here is a website that rates some dealers.... http://1.8t.org/dealers/

Bottom Line............
I believe that owners should "tune-in" to their vehicles and know when
things feel different.
Perform regular maintenance!
OH and DRIVE THEM! ;-)

Again JMHO!
later,
dave
(One out of many daves)


"KLS" > wrote in message
...
> On 14 Dec 2006 10:59:16 -0800, "Ed Pirrero" >
> wrote:
>>I consider a 90k Audi barely broken in. I have two well over 200k, and
>>they are both daily drivers. Audis are all we have, and we have been
>>stranded ONCE. Fuel pump went out at 200k miles. I got no problem
>>with a 200k fuel pump. And I have heard stories about fuel pump issues
>>in Ford/GM cars that require the gas tank to be removed to replace a
>>$500 pump. Not even the Bosch 044 Motorsport pump is that expensive.
>>(Used on 400+HP modded turbo I5 Audis.)
>
> Ed, I'm very happy to see this: I'm running a 98.5 A4Q 2.8 machine
> with 104k miles, and it feels really good still. I plan to replace
> all the struts next year when I replace the tires (I'm seeing some
> tire slap), and I see no reason not to keep driving this baby. I'm
> still on the original clutch! So, thanks: I plan to break 200K miles
> with this car, if I can.

"dave AKA vwdoc1" > wrote in message
. ..
> Here are my views/ramblings on Vehicles and I deal with Audis and VWs.
> Follow your maintenance schedules for crucial items, Timing belts, oil
> changes, periodic inspections and usually the vehicles are very reliable.
> Allocate about $80-100 per month for maintenance, and if you don't spend
> that much then collect interest in the bank. Some years will be cheap and
> others won't be. ;-)
> You vehicle will usually give you signs of things going wrong BEFORE they

<snippage>

The more recent models seem to have far more problems. Timing
belts/tensioners that explode at 60K miles (105K recommended
replacement...hmmm. right after warranty expiration) that results is bent
valves and damaged pistons (class action lawsuit). Poor engine designs that
reduce the oil capacity on a turbocharged motor to just over 3.5 quarts,
resulting in oil "coking" that clogs oil pump inlets, causing oil starvation
failures. Bad coil packs (recall). The A6 model had nine listed NHTSA
recalls for the 1998 model alone, some of them almost comical:

1998-99 A6: When driving car registered in specified cold-weather state, in
extremely low ambient temperatures with 2.8-liter five-valve V6 engine and
automatic transmission, ice accumulation may cause throttle to freeze in
open position; engine may fail to reduce speed when foot is raised from the
gas pedal.

I think a high-mileage Audi these days is a bit like a piece of antique
furniture. Yes, it is a shining example of reliability and craftsmanship
(or maybe just driven by a competent mechanic with a lot of time on his
hands), but for each one you see there are probably thousands that didn't
make it that far and have long since fallen victim to the scrapyard.

But if you're a fan of used cars, the good news is that they depreciate to
the point you can pick up a 2 year old model with reasonable mileage for
about half the cost of new. Just keep your toolkit handy. . .

KLS wrote:
> On 14 Dec 2006 10:59:16 -0800, "Ed Pirrero" >
> wrote:
> >I consider a 90k Audi barely broken in. I have two well over 200k, and
> >they are both daily drivers. Audis are all we have, and we have been
> >stranded ONCE. Fuel pump went out at 200k miles. I got no problem
> >with a 200k fuel pump. And I have heard stories about fuel pump issues
> >in Ford/GM cars that require the gas tank to be removed to replace a
> >$500 pump. Not even the Bosch 044 Motorsport pump is that expensive.
> >(Used on 400+HP modded turbo I5 Audis.)
>
> Ed, I'm very happy to see this: I'm running a 98.5 A4Q 2.8 machine
> with 104k miles, and it feels really good still. I plan to replace
> all the struts next year when I replace the tires (I'm seeing some
> tire slap), and I see no reason not to keep driving this baby. I'm
> still on the original clutch! So, thanks: I plan to break 200K miles
> with this car, if I can.

All you need to do is maintain it, and fix stuff PROMPTLY when/if it
breaks. Like, when that power steering hose is leaking, you can get
the hose fixed/replaced a heck of a lot cheaper than replacing the pump
and the rack and all that when all the fluid leaks onto the ground.
Yeah, common sense, I know...

You've got some symptoms right now of unusual wear on tires - figure
out what's causing it, and get it fixed. Cheaper than eating tires
every 10k, right?

Putting off maintenance is an idiotic idea with these cars, and is
probably what causes the most problems. Using sub-spec oil in a turbo
car and wondering why the turbo craps out after 50k, letting the car
run rich for months on end (after a cheap OXS goes bad) and then
bitching because replacement cats are $1000. Well, duh. If you'd have
replaced that cheap OXS when the CEL went on, you'd be $950 ahead!

Blaming that on the car manufacturer is stoopid.

I'm no pro mechanic, and I don't have a bunch of time on my hands (two
young kids and a hectic schedule), and yet I seem to be able to keep
500k-miles worth of Audis on the road just fine. I wonder how that
could be possible if they are such junk?

Maybe the naysayers are engaging in a little bit of imagination, hmmm?

Drive your A4 until it drops. Keep on top of the stuff that needs to
be done, and it'll go well past 200k. As a point of reference - my
wife's main car, a 1994 100 Avant, is the kid and junk hauler, and also
takes all the trips across the state (350 miles each way). Its daily
routine is start in the morning, 2 miles to a stop, turn off for 15
minutes, start up and drive one mile to a stop, turn off for eight
hours. Start up, drive one mile, turn off for 15 minutes, start up and
drive two miles, turn off, leave overnight in the garage.

Tell me, ANYONE, that this is not the most severe duty one can subject
a car to. This is the worst way to treat any car, and it holds up to
that just fine. Sure, the oil gets changed every 3k with synthetic,
but damn - it's still very hard on the car.

210k on the clock, and we plan on keeping it until is blows up.

E.P.

"Keep on Plonkin'" > wrote in message
...
>
> "dave AKA vwdoc1" > wrote in message
> . ..
>> Here are my views/ramblings on Vehicles and I deal with Audis and VWs.
>> Follow your maintenance schedules for crucial items, Timing belts, oil
>> changes, periodic inspections and usually the vehicles are very reliable.
>> Allocate about $80-100 per month for maintenance, and if you don't spend
>> that much then collect interest in the bank. Some years will be cheap
>> and others won't be. ;-)
>> You vehicle will usually give you signs of things going wrong BEFORE they
>
> <snippage>
>
> The more recent models seem to have far more problems. Timing
> belts/tensioners that explode at 60K miles (105K recommended
> replacement...hmmm. right after warranty expiration) that results is bent
> valves and damaged pistons (class action lawsuit).

True
I also think the VWs started losing t-belts with the 16V engines and lowered
their intervals IIRC. I have seen those timing belts fail at 45K miles. I
always suggest changing them at 40K to be sure. I could always tell when
the diesel belts were about to go but not the 16V belts. ;-)
I see Audi now has reduced the change interval. ;-)

>Poor engine designs that reduce the oil capacity on a turbocharged motor to
>just over 3.5 quarts, resulting in oil "coking" that clogs oil pump inlets,
>causing oil starvation failures. Bad coil packs (recall). The A6 model
>had nine listed NHTSA recalls for the 1998 model alone, some of them almost
>comical:

Audi seems to blame it on the oil in the USA. Yes it is STUPID to reduce
the amount of oil in an engine esp. when this type of engine NEEDS a good
cool supply. How many gallons does a Porsche 911 engine need...3 or 4?
Also I am not fond of the oil pan setup/construction. I have changed 2 in
one week after a pot hole hit took one out and a tow truck took out the
other one. Both non-steel and both cracked. :-(

>
> 1998-99 A6: When driving car registered in specified cold-weather state,
> in extremely low ambient temperatures with 2.8-liter five-valve V6 engine
> and automatic transmission, ice accumulation may cause throttle to freeze
> in open position; engine may fail to reduce speed when foot is raised from
> the gas pedal.

Hmmm I will watch out for this one. thanks

>
> I think a high-mileage Audi these days is a bit like a piece of antique
> furniture. Yes, it is a shining example of reliability and craftsmanship
> (or maybe just driven by a competent mechanic with a lot of time on his
> hands), but for each one you see there are probably thousands that didn't
> make it that far and have long since fallen victim to the scrapyard.
>
> But if you're a fan of used cars, the good news is that they depreciate to
> the point you can pick up a 2 year old model with reasonable mileage for
> about half the cost of new. Just keep your toolkit handy. . .

AND that is my hope!!! <BG> I want one that lost it's 1.8t engine due to
the oil coking/choking problem.