Hey everyone,

My 2007 A3 2.0T has about 6,000 miles on it, and sadly it has done nothing but cause me grief and stress from the day I got it. Don’t get me wrong I love my car; the way it drives (when it is working okay), handles, and looks and there is no other car out there right now that I would want instead (well maybe the same one but with no problems). I got the car because I was afraid that my 2003 IS 300 with over 87,000 miles on it would start breaking on me, but instead the Lexus it still running fine and the brand new Audi is going back in the shop…AGAIN. When I first got the car I noticed that it started really weird especially after it had been sitting over night or for more then 8 hrs, but I just assumed that it was because I wasn’t used to it yet. Well the starting got way worse (I felt like I was starting up an old diesel truck) and sometimes I even thought it was going to die on me, so I brought it in to Audi to be checked out. Well after two days they said they couldn’t find the problem and nothing was wrong with it. Then about a week later I brought it back again. This time they did have problems with it and after having it for almost a week (and me driving a crappy Neon), they told me they thought I needed a new ECM. So they ordered the part and they are putting the part in this Monday and will need my car for another 2-3 days. However, last week while I have been waiting for the ECM to come in, first gear in my car has been acting up now. It shifts extremely bad and doesn’t seem like its catching sometimes. I don’t know much (if anything) about cars and I was hoping someone might know if the first gear thing could be because the ECM is bad, and also, what the heck is the ECM and what does it do? And after it gets replaced could other problems emerge with other parts of the car because I have been driving with a bad ECM for 6,000 miles? Sorry if these questions are kind of dumb but I just want to understand what’s going on because Audi won’t explain much to me and the whole situation is really bringing me down. Thanks for any impute I really appreciate it.

-Shannon

 

Well, I'm sorry for your car troubles. Nothing makes me more unhappy.

The ECM is the car's computer which controls just about everything the car does. I don't know if you have a DSG or MT, but the ECM definitely controlsmostof the DSG functions. Hopefully you just have a bad ECM and everything else is perfect after the vehicle is fixed. I don't know why they need your car that long for the repair since it would take less than an hour or two at most to replace the ECM and have it coded to your vehicle. Make sure you bring them all of the keys to the car since they'll need to code them to the ECM for the replacement, I think.

Let us know how it goes.

Cheers!

 

Thanks for the info.

I know, when they told me that they wanted it over night, maybe two, I was like why?I am dropping it off at 8am on Monday and you can'tinstall itby 6:30pm? Then they said it was sothey can let it sit after installation and see if it starts okay and if it doesn't then...well let’s justhope that it does. Yeah they didn't say anything about keys but I’m glad you mentioned it because that would suck if I didn't get them changed and I needed to. So I’ll make sure I bring them and ask about it.

Thanks again, really appreciate it.

 

As you say Chef the ECM interfaces to the Transmission Control Module (TCM) and given the ECU has memory modules and a processor there are a awful lot of unusual problems that a bad/intermittent ECU unit could cause.
I was wondering also if the poor shifting is also maybe related to the lurching issue that some were discussing that eventually was fixed by replacement of the mechatronic control unit in the transmission?

 

Well I just wanted to up date you guys. Audi had my car for about 2 days when they replaced the ECM and so far so good. It’s been almost a week and I took it on a long road trip this last weekend and it’s running like a dream. The shifting and starting is SOOOO much better now it’s like I have a new car again. Thanks for all the info. Oh yeah I also wanted to let you all know that I got around 380 miles on my tank this weekend during the road trip!! I was amazed. I’m so glad I went with the 2.0T and not the 3.2. Gas kills right now. Especially when you commute every day.

 

hey if you chip it you can get up to 450 miles on highway

 

is that so? i thought the mpg would suffer after chipping the car, you know with all the extra torque and sh..

i guess i can now justify the chip with my financial advisor (wife)...

 

yes the tourq is helping saving on gas the car moves much easier no need to push the gas padel up hill or on the straight you use less gas for more power
normal driving

 

I may have spoken to soon .My car almost died on me again when I started it up two days ago, and it did it again today. This is getting really annoying...I want to get mods for it but I can't do anything until they fix the problem...if they fix the problem. I'm going to take it to another Audi this time maybe they will have better luck...I hope.

 

Sorry to hear about luck, or lack thereof... This will be a good case study on how Audi does with their warranty. Not that it helps you. I hope they can fix it, but to be honest, at this level of the game, you should be able to demand things, this is getting ridiculous.