A4 avant 2.5 tdi quatro steering noise, air con, door handle

Reg Date 13/11/02


I purchased the above vehicle privately from an acquaintance of mine on the 22/10/04. We also own an older A4 Avant purchased from Poole Audi.

I have been happy with the car in general; however three faults occurred with the vehicle which were repaired (some more than one) under warranty by Poole Audi. All three of the faults have now re-occurred. I have recently approached Poole Audi on this subject, they explained that because the vehicle is now out of warranty, I would have to bare the cost of these repairs, I find this un-acceptable and I am writing to you on Poole Audi’s advice. I will now list the faults and their history.

1. Severe steering vibration and noise on tight turns at slow speed with a hot engine.

When I purchased the vehicle the previous owner explained that this had started to occur soon after the car was new. He reported this to Poole Audi who told him it was a “known” fault and that a new steering rack would solve the problem. This work was carried out by Poole Audi. Soon after I purchased the vehicle the fault returned. I contacted Poole Audi and arranged for a technician to drive the car; he could not produce the noise and vibration. The symptoms became worse so I booked in again, this time I drove the car with the technician. I managed to reproduce the symptoms once. The vehicle was booked in yet again for investigation, nothing was found.

Angry and frustrated I did some investigating on the internet and found numerous occurrences of this fault on Audi owner sites, forums etc, one of which I enclose. It seems that another cause of this problem was the return pipes on the power steering. I then spoke to the head technician at Poole Audi who agreed. Yet again the car was booked in and the work was carried out. The problem seemed to become a lot less frequent for a while however over the last couple of months the problem has now returned and worse than ever! It also seems that there is now a possible third cause of this problem. Enclosed.

2. Offside front door handle cover loose

This was repaired twice under warranty. Has now re-occurred, I am now told the whole handle and mechanism needs replacing!

3. Clicking noise from behind dash board

This was diagnosed and repaired, potentiometer/motor replaced at the last service (invoice enclosed) this has also now re-occurred worse than before with no air getting to the windscreen.

As previously explained we own two Audis. I am considering part exchanging the above car for a newer Audi, however bearing in mind the current situation I am extremely reluctant to continue being an Audi customer.

[/B]

I look forward to hearing from anyone

Duncan

Sir

Did you manage to solve the steering noise problems or can you list the potential causes which you refer to. My motor has similar symptons and I am tired of changes parts that are not causing the noises.

Thanks

W.