Ouch. Feeling it today. Yesterday went into my mechanic needing a driver's door lock (actuator?) and asking him to check the brakes because I was getting the flashing brake light illuminating on the dash occasionally, especially when it was very cold out.

So, I'm told one of the front brake sensors was shot and that to replace the sensor, you've got to replace the pad & rotor ... and seeing that if you do one, you've got to do the other, all of a sudden, I had a full front brake job done. The front brakes were 3 years/35K miles old, so even though I probably could've squeezed a bit more life out of them and I was surprised to need to replace them, I'm significantly poorer today for having done so.

Brakes = $450 job

Door lock = $450 job

All in, with tax, I'm down almost $1K.

So, I know owning a late-model Audi can hurt. Believe me, I know. But this is ridiculous. Right? These are Audi OEM parts my mechanic used but I'm feeling like I didn't save a cent staying clear of the dealer.

Thoughts? Would love to feel better about this. The amount of money I've sunk into this car is obscene. I really thought there was nothing left to replace... now, I'm told, my ABS control module doesn't have long for the world and that's another $1k job... Seriously? I thought that just bolted on and off...

Arrgghhh!

 

Brake pad sensor is basically a wire looped inside a pad. When pad thickness gets low, it cuts the wire off and triggers the light on the dash to come on. Given that, your pads were probably getting thin.

If the mechanic included rotors, then it is reasonable. You can typically buy pads for about $60, $150 for rotors, and 1 to 2 hours of labor that they charge... (In reality one can replace front pads in about 45 minutes, but 2 hour for shop rate is normal.)

Given that, $450 is not a super good deal, but not unreasonable.

 

I forgot to mention... do a ABS module search in this forum. There are folks out there who rebuilds them for cheap, as in a couple of Ben Franklins.

 

Good that he used OEM Audi parts, but that was probably the majority of the expense of the brake job. Chinese rotors don't last. I used Zimmermans and Hawk pads and was at $250 for parts alone, so $450 all in with OEM parts isn't bad.

The door latch costs suck, though. Was this from freezing or from the inside lights not working?

Bob

 

Door lock was probably pushed over the edge by freezing. Mechanic says the Allroads/Avants are notorious for the crappy actuator portion of the device. Lucky me -- I've still got three originals (something was replaced in the gate at some point)!

Thanks guys. Looks like there're many good reasons I won't be keeping this car for a long time... bummer though, because it's a nice car to drive and a good size. So much better than an SUV. Wish there were more good wagon options. If you could get a new A4 wagon with a manual transmission, I'd think about it.

 

Any european rig will cost you an arm and a leg to keep up. Keep in mind, you are about at the age where usual maintenance stuff will need to be done. Once you do those, albeit expensive, it will treat you well. A4 is pretty much the same as an A6 when it comes to maintenance/repair.