Hi...I have a problem with my 2004 A4 1.8T. This car has been a night mare. I have 15K miles on it, and I have had minor and major service issues (not including maintenance) atleast 7 times.

Lately I have been having serious trouble with the little lurch or shudder when I am coming down to a stop. And also more annoying is occasionally, when cold, the car will simply not do anything. For example yesterday I was pulling out of a parking spot. I reversed. And then when I put teh car in D it simply did NOTHING. No RPM's no nothing. I pumped the gas a few times..nothing. I shifted..nothing. It just sat there blocking traffic about 10 seconds.

has anybody else cme across this? Anybody have any clue what this could be. i have had the turbo charger replaced and brake boosters have had issues. Recently the brake booster vaccuum has been replaced too. This is a joke and a nightmare.

Anybody experience anything like this?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Giampiero

 

hi giampiero,
i have a 2002 A4 1.8T and have experienced exactly what you have ever since I have bought the car in June of 2002. Ever since then, for abour 1-2 years, my car has been in and out of the warranty service shop at least 10-15 times. Even until now I have no idea what the problem was. My car would stop as I was driving in which I would be stuck in my car in the middle of the street for a long time, sometimes my car wouldn't start at all, etc. When I brought it into the service dept, they had no idea what I was talking about and couldn't fix the problem because they had no idea what the problem was; they would fix the brakes,change my ignition coil, etc. Everytime I brought my car in, I felt that the workers thought I was a crazy overreactive car owner, but that was not the case, I truly had valid problems with my car. I was really fed up with the car and had a lot of issues even contacting audi itself to complain, which really led to nothing because they wouldn't even take back the car even though it was basically brand new. In addition, they won't even do anything even when the car's engine is faulty. I had to write a complaint to Audiusa and call them a lot to even see what is going on, which they obviously had no idea. They require a lot to even do something about it checking into the problem. I felt really misled and unhappy to know that I will be paying full price for a car that doesn't work, most importantly it was very dangerous to drive not really knowing when my car would be stopping. I have to say that all of this resulted into maybe the worst car experience that I have ever heard of. As I was driving on the BRooklyn Bridge, my car stopped completely at the end and had blocked traffic FOREVER and I had to get it towed to the service Dept. My car was in the shop for at least one month and resulted in a completely new engine change. I now have a 2002 Audi with a 2004 engine, but i still have no idea why. It not only caused me a lot of hassle, but I can't even tell you what is wrong with ur car. I was given the excuse that my car was experiencing problems due to the recall because pre 2002 cars used a mineral based oil in the car which caused "sludging" and did not lubricate the engine well.. I honestly don't believe that is what the cause was. Your car is relatively new, so I dont know what to say concerning the oil. Im sorry that I can't offer you any advice or help, but at least you know that there is someone else out there that had the same problems. I would suggest to write a complaint letter to Audiusa, talk to your service manager and ask about oil sludging. My problem was fixed only because my car basically died and instead of finding out what the problem was, they just changed it for new engine. It now works ok, but not optimal. I hope that everything works out for you. I wish you the best of luck.

 

Thanks you for your reply. i have already previously spoken with Audi USA. They are simply full of BS. They act compassionate at first and then come back with blank. We're not doing anything. I'm through with them. I will now be suing the company under California Lemon Law. I have a pretty clear case it appears!

It happened again this morning..I'm slowing down to a stop light that is still green to make a left turn, the car shudders, lurches forward, and then loses all power. Luckily, the guy behind me was in no hurry, but I caused him and me to miss the light, cause the car wouldn't do anything for 3 -4 seconds.

Lemon Law! yes...

Thanks...

Giampiero

 

Before I jump in and offer some input, let me ask this: Does your car have a CVT transmission?

Steve

 

Hi Steve...thanks. yes it does.

 

Coming in after the fact, I will try to be brief. I have found these things to usually correct the "problem" in no particular order:

1. The brake light switch is bad
2. The CVT TCU needs to be "upgraded"
3. There may be a ABS problem ( ABS control unit )
4. Valve Body update
5. Transmission itself
6. Most common - driver heel toe'ing it -

The last one is simple, when the TCU gets 2 seperate signals ( gas and brake ) it will default to the safer of the two ie: brake, which may cause what you have been talking about. I am by no means saying this is it or these are the ONLY things it could be - This is just what I have seen.

Steve

p.s. Oil sludging down here ( Tx ) is rare but has happened.... I'd look into it, but it usually shows up after 40k miles...

 

Thanks for your reply Steve. I appreciate it. I'll leave it up to them to fix it...and if they can't well...I'm tired of dealing with them. I've had so many problems in 14k miles of operation, I've had it. I just had the problem again this morning and in a parking lot where I stopped people for about 20 seconds as the car tried to decide what the hell it wanted to do. Thanks for your advice!

 

I'm going to court next week on the same problem. What was your outcome and any advice for me?