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Audi A4 Maintenance and Repair

2134 messages,  Last post on Dec 06, 2009 at 12:44 PM

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What is this discussion about? Audi A4, Convertible, Sedan, Wagon

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#51 of 2134 rumbling/grinding by lageers Jun 18, 2002 (2:24 pm)
Tim! I'm having the same problem in my A4 - a HORRIBLE noise a low speeds - a grumbling/grinding/knocking noise. I have higher miles than you (around 90k) - just had it in at the dealership before the noise and they didn't mention anything. The latest place that I brought it couldn't figure out what was wrong with (but not before I paid $800 for new struts and a lower control arm). ah! Seriously, if anyone has had problems like these before, let me know! Decent car, but it's really beginning to tick me off.
#52 of 2134 Clicking sound on A4 1.8T quattro w/tip - me too by applecrumble Jun 18, 2002 (6:17 pm)
I also am experiencing this clicking or I refer to it as a scratching sound whenever I drive off after even parking for a short period of time (less than half hour). My car is only 3 weeks old with only about 800 km on it. I've brought it to the dealership once already and they said they don't hear it. I am bringing it in again tomorrow and I am going to get the mechanic to sit in the car and let him hear it. This is not giving me any comfort with Audi at all!
#53 of 2134 Suspension, Bose, etc... by goral Jun 20, 2002 (6:01 am)
I own a '98 1.8TQMS w/ 61K and also experience(d) the suspension problems. The first occurrence turned out to be a faulty sway bar link. Part costs about $40 and it took me about 1hr to replace (w/o any special tools). Nowadays, my front upper passenger side control arms are shot (well, one is, but the other one is close). Cost to fix? ~$160 for both arms + labor, which hopefully won't be too much. The A4s have notoriously bad control arms. It's a shame Audi can't design them right. Any other problems? You bet!!! The headlight switch has gone bad - can't turn on headlights when it's cold... Gotta wait and warm up my car before they turn on!!! Also, one of my Blose speakers blew as well. Unfortunately, it cannot be replaced by anything else because of Bose's ingenious design - the speaker's impedance is 1 ohm - which nobody else (as far as I know) makes.
#54 of 2134 Re: Clicking sound solved by applecrumble Jun 20, 2002 (3:18 pm)
I got my car checked the other day about the clicking sound whenever I drive off from Park everytime I turn the ignition back on. The senior mechanic drove the car with me to re-create that sound and heard it. The first thing he said was "I'm hoping you are not referring to that sound" and I told him that is precisely the sound I want you to look over. Well...it turns out that the sound is normal. He explained to me that because the new Audi uses "drive by wire" technology, it is the motor that was going off and doing its work. There is nothing to worry about and it is perfectly fine. I wish they would have told me when I first took delivery of my car and not waste my time to bring it twice to have something considered 'normal' to be looked at. By the way, my salesman didn't understand what that sound was either when he drove it to the service lot...go figure.
#55 of 2134 What Can I Expect From Audi? by bgerard Jun 21, 2002 (9:50 am)
I'm wondering if anyone else out there has had their new Audi "bought back" by Audi because of engine failure (well, in my case, engine fire). If so, may I ask what Audi offered? It seems they're barely offering what the California Lemon Law requires, and it would really help my negotiations if I knew what others had settled for....Thanks in advance!
#56 of 2134 bose woes by harlequin1971 Jun 21, 2002 (1:49 pm)
Goral,   I hear your pain and it may get a bit more painful, so hold on. Yes, Bose is one of the best marketing stories in audio history. Truly, no other manufacturer has been as successful at placing their products into the public as Bose.   One problem with Bose is the significantly different ways they accomplish sound as compared to most other audio companies out there. The advantage of this approach is that when a Bose speaker goes down, it can not be easily replaced by anything but a Bose speaker. Brilliant strategy, wouldn't you agree?   That all said, I read into your post that you are not overly satisfied with your Bose system. If that is the case, I might suggest a trip down to the local Car Audio specialist retailer. I might suggest avoiding the big box retailers like Best Buy and Circuit City and instead refer you to a smaller, more competent shop that makes its living selling car audio, not big screen TVs and refridgerators.   Replacing your Bose speaker with another Bose speaker may be the cheapest way out of this pickle, but you may find an alternative solution to your problem to be more palatable long term. Finding a "full-range" speaker with a nominal impedance of 1 ohm that isn't Bose would be akin to finding the holy grail. Besides, if you replace a single speaker in a pair or a set of separates (four total speakers making up the full-range output), you will be even less happy with the sound output you will get. Using unmatched speakers is audio fidelity death.   Happy motoring and let us know what you do.   the Harlequin
#57 of 2134 harlequin1971 by goral Jun 24, 2002 (5:38 am)
Let's not even get into Bose and its strategies... Gotta admire a company that's able to sell such junk at such high prices. Regarding replacement speaker - I have a friend w/ bunch of junked Audis... He's bound to have the one I need. And yes, I am very dissatisfied with the sound quality of the premium Concert system. The lows response is laughable - very overboosted (at lower output levels) and at least half a beat behind the mids/highs. My wife's Acura 3.5RL also has a Bose system, but it's live apples and oranges - infinitely better!
#58 of 2134 one more post on sound... by harlequin1971 Jun 24, 2002 (9:47 am)
This is out of place, but within the thread, so here we go.   The bad sound you are getting from your car may have less to do with the actual speakers and more to do with placement and baffling. I am not a big fan of Bose in general, but they usually produce "good" sounding speakers, so let's assume the equipment is ok and look at another culprit in the car environment that can have the biggest effect on sound quality - speaker placement.   In my BMW, I junked the stock radio and replaced everything with a high quality setup using ADS speakers/amps and a Sony ES head unit and changer. It was the most expensive install I have done in a car yet and the results are mixed. Yes, it is loud. Yes, the bass response is powerful. Yes, it sounds better than the stock system did...but...the speaker placement has prevented what should be a great system from sounding great.   The mid-range speakers (lower half of the separates) are located along the foot well, far back into the well and fire directly into the drive shaft "hump" in the cockpit. The sound must bounce off the carpeted floors and radiate into the main listening area, a full two and a half feet away from them. Meanwhile, the tweeters are inside the door panel and fire into the dashboard in the direction of the steering wheel. The tweeters are about 4 inches from the listening area. Add in the fact that the subwoofer is planted in the trunk, four feet away from the listening area and the fact that the rear fill speakers fire into the roof via the a-pillar.   What we are left with is typically difficult speaker placement issues. With all the speakers firing from different positions within the car, the muffling effect of the carpeting on midrange notes and even the length of cables used to connect them...the sound stage is quite broken by delays and delay distortion. None of the speakers actually point at the listener, instead relying on radiation effects to spread the sound waves.   Overall, the system is decent, the sound is reproduced cleanly and at first contact is decent enough, but once it makes it into the main listening area, it is already weakened and distorted. I had a much better sound in my old Saab 900 with equipment that was half as expensive. The Saab sounded better because the speakers placements were better. There are some audio voodoo treatments available to correct for poor sonic clarity due to speaker placement, but these get expensive and usually provide only minimal gains (IMO).   The point? Don't need to love Bose, but it may not be entirely their fault. A little more attention to the sonic environment during a car's design normally yields much better overall sound.   From what I have heard, the Mark Levinson/Lexus project is just one such example. ML worked closely with the engineers of Lexus to reverse engineer more ideal placements and to correct wave arrival and time delay issues in the car environment. They have produced what should be the best quality OEM system available in a car today. Too often, the car manufacturer will just cut the sound issues out of the design process...seen as not essential.   Maybe they are right, until you spend 2 hours a day in rush hour traffic, counting on your CD collection to keep you sane...then the music inside your car counts more than hps and mpg ratings combined.   sorry...that was quite a rant.
#59 of 2134 Wind noise by mstokkers Jun 24, 2002 (11:47 am)
I have a 2002 Audi A4 3.0L Quattro. Nice car but one thing that really bugs me is the amount of wind noise from the driver's side door/mirror once the car's speed gets above 50mph. I have had several dealers look at it and all told it's been back to the dealer 4 times for this specific problem. I have seen some marginal improvement after the later visits (they "thickened" the moulding which has the unfortunate side effect of making the door harder to close) but in my opinion it is still "pretty noisy" - annoyingly so up at speeds around 65mph. Any body else observed a similar problem?
#60 of 2134 Suspension/Control Arms by stevenjh Jun 27, 2002 (4:16 am)
Following the thread of Mess. No. 52 by Goral, I have a 1999 A-4, 2.8 Quattro with 38,000 miles on it. My dealer service department estimated $1,400 to fix/replace noisy/squeaky control arms at the front driver and passenger side.   The darn things are so noisy at slow speeds/braking and accelerating that it's embarrassing! The service manager says there is nothing wrong with the control arms, they aren't faulty - just noisy.   This sort of trouble at 38,000 miles, on an auto of this caliber, seems unacceptable to me. Anyone else having the trouble or have a solution?

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