with a lot of the members being in the US and not driving the 2.0 A6, you may want to post in the A3/A4 forums where the 2.0 is more popular.

 

Good call, Formulagigi, I'll give that a go too

edit: I've just spoken to the sales manager. He says it's fixed and it was 'just a loose fan belt'. Is that legit? Or is he selling me a dummy?

 

The fan belt should have an tensioner pulley so that it is never loose. Of course, they may have changed the tensioner pulley (a bad tensioner pulley would fit your description of the sound). The mechanic may have told that to the salesman and the salesman, not being a mechanic, heard it as a "loose fan belt". Just make sure it is covered by the dealership just in case.

Bob

 

Thanks Bob. I'm going to try to see the work sheet and look for that.

Well, fingers crossed. I'll maybe go take another look tonight.

 

ask for details on the problems and what they did/changed to fix it.
I would also try and find a VAG tool to run codes on the car. NO CEL light doesn't necessarily equate NO Codes.
Drive it a varying speed... lisyen for odd noises at speed and vibrations b/w 55 and 70mph.. our cars are prone to vibration that can be due to a multityude of factors, often a pain to diagnose.

 

oh and don't buy it wihtout getting an indy shop to do a PPI. rule #1~!!

 

"edit: I've just spoken to the sales manager. He says it's fixed and it was 'just a loose fan belt'. Is that legit? Or is he selling me a dummy?"

"The fan belt should have an tensioner pulley so that it is never loose. "

My Audis have run from '79 to my present '97. All those prior to my 97 had vee-belts for AC, alternator, power steering.

All had electric coolant fans, from the oldest to my newest. No fan belt. Have they actually GONE to old fashioned engine driven fans, or is there something wrong with this explanation.

My '97 has exactly 2 belts. Cam belt and serpentine that drives everything else. Sorry, cam belt also drives the PS pump, and, I think, the water pump. That is one reason to replace the WP when you replace the timing (cam) belt.

It is possible that the serpentine tensioner was bad and they changed that to get the "squeal" to go away. It is also possible that they sprayed some belt grip on the belt to quiet it. That's a no-no. A "band-aid" approach.

Serpentine belt and tensioner would be relatively cheap for the Dealer to replace, relatively expensive for you to have done after you buy the car and it fails.

Also, without records of the car's maintenance to date, I don't think I would bet on the TB going to 115,000 miles, or are you in km? The car I am driving, now, had 109,000 miles on it. 500 miles later, 14 days, the tensioner pulley split and caused the belt to jump, destroying my engine without actually breaking the belt.

I, too, bought aftermarket insurance, TB was SPECIFICALLY excluded, but mine was more or less intact, and TENSIONER WAS included, and that is what failed, so they paid.

TB, on this side of the pond, is about 500 to 1,000 buck replacement, depending on where you go.

Boneyards will not warrant an engine unless you replace the TB.

I wish you luck with your purchase. I love the machines. I used to do all my own work, enjoyed it even. Can't do it anymore, and they ARE expensive to own and maintain, if you have to pay for it.

Enjoy.

Cheers,

George

 

I had a loud whine/squeal in my A6 2.8. Replaced fan clutch myself for $100.

 

Thanks guys.

I went to see the car. The noise was gone. I couldn't talk to the mechanic who did the work, and so I went back to the our business manager and got assurances from him that he'd sort out any problems in the future.

I did check out the pricing for an independent engineer to go on-site and look at the car for me, but it was a lot of money.

I took the easy route - and took delivery of the car. It was a lovely smooth journey home (no vibrations at any speeds... I got up to 80-90 just to check)

I do have to say the change from my diesel BMW 320d M-Sport to the petrol Audi is very much a change from a sports car to a limo... there's no great mid-range punch in the Audi (I guess because of the extra weight), and the understeer when hustling across roundabouts is noticeable, but I'm fine with that - I've still got an MX-5 (Miata) for that sort of thing

 

Congrats;
or in a contemporary's words: "Welcome to the Audi ...religion".

From now on you should start thinking at yourself more or less as a 7th day Adventist. At least 10% of your income will be the tithe going to the Audi Church, beside the weekly/monthly "donations"...