Fault spotted at end of warranty

[GenerationGav]

So at the end of March my Audi 3 year warranty came to an end, knowing that Audi's can be expensive to repair I, of course, went for the full extended warranty.
Come May the weather was getting nice and I noticed that there was an issue with my aircon not working when it was hot outside (it does work when it's cooler outside), a bit of research tells me it's the actuator flap and needs a new motor. I think thank god I got the extended warranty.
I got it to my dealer last week, they come back to me yesterday saying they've found the fault and got the diagnostics of it and know what needs doing, they've submitted the claim to extended warranty. Extended warranty then reject the claim, because the fault occurred (according to diagnostics) on the 6th Feb. However of course the issue didn't happen until it got hot outside.
Of course I argue that if the fault happened on the 6th Feb then it should be covered under the original Audi warranty, but they're being told on that warranty the issue needs to be reported to them before the warranty period expires. The dealer has gone away to see what they can do but basically sounds like it's not hopeful at all. Has anybody had a similar experience? There's not really any way I could have been covered or done anything differently which is obviously frustrating.

 

[AlS3BE]

Unfortunately all error codes are date/time stamped so they are correct following to the words of the warranty.
I would maybe speak with the motor ombudsman and see what they say. You are not a mechanic or engineer so no way you could plug in and tell that there was an issue till it was apparent.

 

[GenerationGav]

Unfortunately all error codes are date/time stamped so they are correct following to the words of the warranty.
I would maybe speak with the motor ombudsman and see what they say. You are not a mechanic or engineer so no way you could plug in and tell that there was an issue till it was apparent.

Thanks - yes I will be speaking to the motor ombudsman.
Audi are saying there's nothing they can do as they're not FCA authorised, although that sounds a bit odd to me when it comes to the warranty.
Feels like I'm going to be paying - but also cancelling my order for my VW ID.4 if this is the way that VAG want to treat their customers.

 

[AlS3BE]

It’s one of those things. Technically they are correct but morally they are not. If it’s been a full Audi serviced car I would argue that this should have been picked up during servicing and at least get some good will towards the repair.

 

[Aldi-Sport Chap]

Audi Need to pay up. They put the date stamp on the fault codes for their own use, but this time they appear to have entrapped themselves. You have proof the part failed while under warranty. Cut and dry, black and white. They can't have it both ways. The code dating would protect them if the part had failed in May but this time they lose. I can't see the ombudsman turning that down.

 

[desi112]

Hello,

I am so glad I found this thread I think we may have the exact same issue!!

I've had my Audi A4 from new and the air con has never worked properly when its hot outside!

I've taken the car to the dealer a number of times who just brushes me off and says there is nothing wrong with the car.

I have narrowed down the fault to being the Passengers Side Vents always blow warm air and the drivers side blows out sort of cold air.

I made a video of the error today, please can you confirm if your seeing the same?

 

[desi112]

Can you share any more details about the fault? I would love to go to my dealer and say I believe 'This is the fault now take a proper look'

My car is a build August 2020 so I should hopefully be able to claim on the warranty?

 

[GenerationGav]

My fault is different I'm afraid. The fault that I'm seeing is that when it's warm outside it switches recirculation on automatically, once recirculation is on I get a low humming from inside the dashboard and no air coming out the vents whatsoever.
Out of interest I don't believe that the "long" vent is a vent at all anymore since 2019 cars. Unless this got changed back it doesn't actually do anything.

 

[desi112]

Thanks for letting me know, there is some air coming out that vent hence me checking it....

I hope someone can help me diagnose the fault I have?

 

[GenerationGav]

I hope someone can help me diagnose the fault I have?

I'd be tempted to use ODB11, Carista or similar and first of all check for errors and second of all see what temperature your your car is reporting for the interior sensor(s)

 

[desi112]

I will visit a local audi vag code reader specialist, they are charging £40 for diagonistics so will give this a try...hopefully a fault will appear.

 

[desi112]

I have done some research on YouTube and I think my issue is the HVAC pump...I'm getting hot air from the passenger side vents.

I had the air con gas level checked last time and I was told the levels are fine and there are no leaks.

I just tried to put the fan temp to HI for both sides and no air came out the center passenger side vents?

I have the car booked in again on Monday for a health check

 

[Pork]

First of all, the long vent in front of the passenger isn’t a vent at all - it’s just a styling trim to match the vents to the left and right of it.
Secondly, try setting the control to manually feed air to the face vent and check it again, it’s the toggle switch beneath the seated person - in full auto it might not route the air where you think it should be going?

 

[GenerationGav]

First of all, the long vent in front of the passenger isn’t a vent at all - it’s just a styling trim to match the vents to the left and right of it.

Weirdly in cars around 2017 and older it was a vent, but then they decided to remove the vent but kept the styling.
There was an option on the controls to enable/disable that vent, but that option has gone obviously as well.

 

[GenerationGav]

As a main update - I argued this with Audi UK and after being told they couldn't do anything they spoke to the dealer. Audi UK were still "unable to do anything" but the dealer all of a sudden decided that it was possible to do the repair under a goodwill gesture and after a week I just got the car back!

 

[abmat]

@desi112 Could also be the g65? sensor. I had this on my 2021 A6. When it went hot outside the ac would stop working, then randomly kick in after a few days. You only really noticed it when it was hot, when it was cooler it seemed to be working enough to cool the air.

 

[desi112]

The car is at the Audi Dealer...I showed them them the fault which is Cold'ish Air only comes from the drivers side vent and the rest of the vents blow our warmer air, the warmest air coming from the passengers side...Audi have said they have tested the A/C and found no fault in the system...they now said I need an Air Con Service at £150...they said if this doesn't fix the fault...I wont' be charged.....

I personally don't think an A/C Service will fix the fault as the A/C has not been working since the car came from the factory...Also the car was at the Dealership around 10 months ago and they checked the refrigrant level and pressure tested the system and no fault was found....

Will Continue to update thank you

 

[SaltySeaDog]

I posted this last year.

I had this issue with my B9 MY 2017, it was only 2 months out of warranty. Diagnosed as a burnt out motorised flap, Edinburgh Audi did a goodwill warranty claim whereby I purched a service from them and paid for the labour. The original quote was about £650 but with the goodwill claim it came to £400.
If your car is still under warranty, great, but worth the goodwill claim otherwise.

 

[desi112]

Hi Folks just to update the issue is resolved! I now have ice cold a/c coming from all vents!

The issue was "the flap settings needed to be reset" , what was weird was the following;

The Audi Garage ring me on Tuesday and say "sorry we can't find the cause of the fault, next steps are for you to have an A/C Service, if this doesn't resolve the issue you wont be charged" so i relucantly agreed, even though I was pretty sure this wasn't the cause of the issue.
I had the gas checked and the system pressure tested a few months ago and no fault was found.

Anyway when it came to picking up the car I looked through the engineers notes and it said "reset flaps cold air now coming from passenger side vent"

"recommend A/C Service"

So this kind of contracdicts what I was told on the phone...anyway after raising this the Service Manager very kindly agreed and did not charge me!

An Excellent result all around!

Only issue now is my car has uneven tyre wear!

Just ordered some new tyes from Asda and will need to get the wheel alignment done...the uneven wear is diagonal e.g. Front L and Rear R are worn the most.

I am guessing I must of hit some of these speed bumps a bit too hard? (I have to go over 28 speed bumps everyday on my journey home!)