About 2 months ago I bought my 2000 A4 1.8T Quattro, and it's been nothing but hell to me. It's been in and out of the shop like 6 times since I got it and it's costing me so much money. Before we bought it I had it thoroughly checked out (or so we thought) and I was given the OK to get it.

After spending a extra week in the shop at the dealer for a new timing belt...


We bring it home where it sat in the garage waiting for registration. Which took too long.


After getting it registered finally, the power steering pump goes. After a week in the shop I get it back, but the pump was defective so it went back to get a new one.


Spun around on the highway in a snow storm, so I bought all new tires.


Then the following 3 weeks the car failed to start and it was in and out of the shop 3 times to figure it out with no luck until I finally said change the battery which seemed to solve that issue.


Then today... dammit today was hell. Just got it back from the shop for the new battery and as I was driving on the highway, it started shaking violently so I had to have it towed back AGAIN to the shop. Sat around for like an hour and a half for the truck to show up. And it was cold as funk.


I don't know what this current problem is, but it sounds expensive. Long story short, make sure you buy a good car. lol I trusted the dealer too much, and I thought all Audis were reliable (yea they can be if treated well blah blah), but I hate this car right now. I can't afford to keep repairing it. I'm just hoping that all is well after this last problem and that I will fall in love with the car again, so I can install my RS4 reps, and sport springs soon.

 

Dude are you from south Philly?

haha sorry couldn't resist opening up an old wound and pouring in some salt.

Honestly you got to learn when to cut it loose. I usually hang on if I really like something but this doesn't even sound like you had a chance to get to like it. WTF cut it loose and let it sink.

Man it hurt saying that about an Audi.

 

sounds like a misfire shouldn't be a big deal. your just gettin a lot of the common problems.

 

I laughed. :P

Well at this point I feel like I have invested too much money into it to let it go. I firmly believe that the car will be fine. But I just say that, because I want it to be.. Then again, any other problems will add to the bill..

It's kinda funny that I bought this to commute to school, but I have been using my old car most of the days.

 

Would the engine light come on for a misfire? 'Cause my engine light did not come on, and the car idles fine. My mechanic says, by my description, that it may be a loose control arm. I'm clueless, but I think it has something to do with the transmission..

 

It can for a misfire...Mine did. Did it shake violently and quit or you just couldn't drive it because of the shaking? I would check the coil packs as well. But if it's shaking without losing power then yes sounds like the front end.

 

The car shaked violently until I stopped the car. And then the car wouldn't move when I tried to get it going. It did not shake until I tried to move and the car never lost power.

I'll find out what it is tomorrow. I hope it isn't a large problem.

 

you should do some of the work yourself. so your new problem is that your car starts fine but once it's in gear, it won't move. right? sounds like a loose cv shaft. most likely the one of the front ones. i don't know why they do that but i've seen quite a few posts like this with the same symptoms and problems. don't worry it's an easy fix and the cv shaft isn't major expensive but you are taking it to a dealer. it's definitely not a misfire if your car didn't lose power

 

Thanks hiwords. I think my mechanic said the same thing as you, that it's the cv shaft.

I've been reading a ton of DIY pages and trying to teach myself some things, so hopefully I'll have the knowledge to do some work on my own eventually.

 

It turned out that the front left (driver's side) axle was not properly installed. This pisses me off because the dealer we bought it from claimed that was a problem they addressed before selling us the car. I will make them pay for the repair.