Hi there,
i have recently bought a 97 A8L 4.2, loveley car in my mind but has some issues! Please help me if you have any advice.

1. The fresh air blower is not working well so my AC is not coming on. I have ordered a replacement blower but strangely the flaps above it are shut when theignition ison and they open when you turn the ignition off. Is this normal?

2. I have pretty bad tranny 'hunting' and thumping into gear. What is the process for finding the cause of the problem? I tried the ross tech software but it only brings up a fault code for a 'faulty brake switch' in the transmission section. Do you guys have any suggestions? Ive heard the TPS is a potential cause.

3. My rear sunblinds wont go up or down, i can hear the clicking in the motor at the back but they dont move. Is this a common problem? Is there an easy fix?

Thats all for now! I hope that some of you can help me as i do love my car!

Thanks

Dilan

 

Hey Dil, welcome to the fold, and/or the madness, depending on your sense of humor and teh size of your savings account.

1. Not 100% sure about this one, but, it may be dependant on your climate settings. Try a few diff configs and see if you get the desired result.

2. The tranny hunting isn't an "unheardof" problem, but not a common one. Do a search, on here. There are a couple of different potential causes. Simplest is, if I remember correctly, cleaning the MAF. Incorrect readings can confuse the chip in the tranny, I've read. (on here, somewhere), but there ARE other, more expensive issues that could be causing it. Search NE0b!!!

3. Rear shade, huh, I ehat you (I cudn't find a car with that feature, when I was lookin). I believe the problem is similiar innature to the equally annoying "feature" of the headrests ceasing to go up and/or down again. Something has either come off track, or the track is totally worn at one of the extremes (all up or all down), and won't engage. Since [:@]I DON'T have a rear-shade[:@], all I can do is pretend tosympathize with your plight.

Maybe soomeobne else will have actual help to offer

 

Hi Dilan.

Rear Shade - one of my friends had this problem, same as AWD said - motors on all shades, as well as headrests tend to seize up if not exercised for long periods. He didnt bother having it fixed, and I have similarly given up on the headrests. IMHO you could be looking at a couple hundred USD, at least thats what my pal was quoted, at which point he said "***** it!"

Transmission - whats the mileage, btw? Fixes can range from MAFs being serviced/replaced, to rebuilding the torque converter and transmission itself (not to frighten you or anything).

Where are you, btw?

 

Hey Hans, meant to PM you about the headrests, but, since you'll undoubtedly come back here, sooner or later...

My front ones, at least, work if (and ONLY IF) I recline the seats back a bit, sometimes a lot. AnyHOO, as strange as it seams, when reclined, they go up and down, then I put the seatback and tray back into their upright position, in preparation for takeoff, and, Voh-eee-LAH! (as they say in France), properly adjusted headrest. I have yet to try this with th erears because the trunk is in the way of reclining the rear-seatbacks

 

Damn, how did you even discover this??? That's awesome! I'm gonna try that later today.

I would have tried putting tin foil on my head or casting a spell before I would have come close to thinking about reclining the seats back. [:@]

 

Well, there's a long story behind it, but, basically, I accidentally reclined teh passenger seat, one night, while tryin ta stuff stuff into the front seat, and I realized somehow leaned against the seat-controls. When I went to put the seat upright, again, I noticed the headrest was down (it had been stuck UP), so I put it back up w/o thinkin about it, then finished raisign the seat...

Then, as I was climbing in the drivers-side, BAM! it hit me what I just did. So, I figured, what-tha-heck, try it on the drivers' seat (which was stuck in the DOWN position), and IT WORKED!!!

I don't think it'll work on the rears because the seat backdoesn't recline,the bottom part moves forward and back (or, out & in, depending on your perspective)

BTW, I'm quite prowd of me... Have you seen my response to dood with the serious JONES for 22's?

 

Great work, I love it when crap fixes itself entirely by accident and contrary to the laws of physics.

In regards to the totally unwholesome discussion about "sick rimz" - that is just beyond sad. I just turned my comp off in disgust after reading that. Isn't anything sacred anymore??? I believe it's fair to say that for some A8 owners the fact that nobody does that to A8s played a part in their decision to get this car (as opposed to more popular ghetto-mobile platforms). He's from Sterling, VA! Oh yes, dont even pretend you didnt just read that. Its no Potomac, but still, c'mon. I have serious doubts that your opus will make him see the error of his ways. I will, however, def save it for future ridicule of aspiring ballers. Well, if you see an A8 in the DC area in the next few months with manhole cover sized wheels - you'll know who it is.

 

If you see a post on here, from a certain "someone" about how some "hater" managed to deface, destroy, or possibly even STEAL and melt into a slagheap in his driveway, his ManHole cover-sized rimZ...

 

Ugh, didnt work for me, but no biggie. The only one that doesnt work is, as luck would have it, the driver's, but its not stuck in an uncomfy position, so no prob there. I'm betting there are at least like three kinds of issues that could cause the headrest, as well as the shades, to stop working.

Was Audi chasing the 1992 W140 S-klasse in terms of motorized power seat elements? Thats the only reason I could think of, well, that and German overengineering. I'm wanna find out how many power seat moving sections a top-spec W140 had......