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

[tkboy]

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.

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I look forward to hearing from anyone

Duncan

[w.allardes@blue]

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.