I just walked out of the office, started my 1999 A4 2.8 Quattro (70k miles) and didn't make it 50 yards down the parking lot when I heard (and felt) a thump underneath the car. The battery light came on red and the steering went dead in my hands. I immediately stopped the car and looked behind to make sure I hadn't left something important on the road... I waited about thirty seconds and turned the ignition again, was happy when it started but the battery light showed red again and I had absolutely no power steering. Fortunately I was still in the parking lot so I pushed the car into a space where it can easily be towed tomorrow morning if necessary. I'm a regular reader of this forum so my first thought was to come here for advice. Does anyone have any idea what might have happened to the car and can you prepare me for what I might need to fix? I will truly appreciate any assistance/advice that anyone has to offer.

 

any CEL's

 

Thanks for your response. No, the CEL did not come on at all.

 

sound like you through your serpentine belt. try the A/C and see if you can feel the compressor kick on. If not then I'm almost positive thats what it is.

 

i had a smiliar problem like yours. when i breake too fast and use the steering wheel to turn the car rattles and stops running then i see the batter light. but i start my car again there is no problem i dunno y but i wanna kno the answer also

 

It wierd that ur car would turn over but ur battery light is on. So u kno ur battery aint dead. If u have steering but no POWER steering then its not a belt used for steering. (not sure if there is a seperate one for power thou). hmm

 

the batt. light come on either from a neg. charge coming from the alt. or a low voltage usualy around 12.5. The power steering get the power from the belt (also refered to as a accessory drive belt.; alt, p/s, a/c.) so it stand to reason, that if you have an isuficiant charge coming from the alt and no power from the p/s pump, your prob might be the belt. Again, I could be wrong, but I'm just making this guess based on past expierances.

 

The thump was your serpentine belt snapping and hitting the engine before it fell on your belly pan.

Mo belt, no power steering. No belt, no alternator. Your car will continue to run until the battery dies as it is not being charged.

If you are really unlucky, a bearing seized on your alternator or power steering causing the belt to break, but you would have likely seen smoke.

 

I sent an email to my mechanic last night and he called thing this morning to say it sounded like I was describing a problem with the "Accessory Drive Belt" so it's reassuring to know that everyone is on the same page. He said if I can get the car towed to the shop by 10:00 am it should be ready by lunchtime. Now for the big question...how much can I expect to pay to get this fixed? I didn't see any smoke when this occured (then I really would have panicked) so I'm assuming it's just the belt and not a problem with a seized bearing in the alternator.

 

Well this may be alittle late but I wouldn't expect more than 50 or so, the belt should cost around 30.