My S4 has suffered some of the symptoms that other owners were seeing, mainly being rough down-shifts into gears 2 and 1, pulsing at low speeds (like a type of kangarooing) and the occasional hesitance selecting reverse gear. (amongst other things....)
This spoilt what was otherwise a superb drive, so I decided to take the car into Audi for them to have a look.
At this point I should state the car has a third party extended warranty through AutoTrust, (Formula X warranty) which was initially taken out as part of the deal when I purchased the car used, through a BMW main dealer.
The warranty was renewed at the end of the initial 3 month period of cover. (rough cost £565/year with a claim limit up to the value of the car (agreed before taking out policy) and no excess/number of claim limits)
Audi had the car and couldn't find a fault (surprise surprise!) as no fault codes had been logged, what they did find however was a completely collapsed vacuum hose from the engine, which was thought to be causing the gearbox issue, but after renewing the pipe it made no difference! They test drove the car and found nothing untoward!!!
Disappointed with the result, I continued to search for someone willing to do more than just plug a computer in, and after speaking to a friend in the trade, he recommended me a local gearbox specialist, whom agreed to take the job on.
Fast forward a few weeks, and the warranty company agreed to a complete gearbox replacement, after an engineer from them had test-drove the car and agreed it was faulty. RESULT!
A brand new gearbox was ordered up from Audi in Germany, and last week it turned up, after only a 6 day lead time.
Today (Monday) the car was booked in, and as we speak, the old 'box is out, and tomorrow the new 'box will be fitted.
Here is a copy of the invoice (trade prices) that the warranty company is going to receive...
Hopefully, the car will be completely different to drive, when I get it back, and I am lucky to have the fault covered by the warranty!
This spoilt what was otherwise a superb drive, so I decided to take the car into Audi for them to have a look.
At this point I should state the car has a third party extended warranty through AutoTrust, (Formula X warranty) which was initially taken out as part of the deal when I purchased the car used, through a BMW main dealer.
The warranty was renewed at the end of the initial 3 month period of cover. (rough cost £565/year with a claim limit up to the value of the car (agreed before taking out policy) and no excess/number of claim limits)
Audi had the car and couldn't find a fault (surprise surprise!) as no fault codes had been logged, what they did find however was a completely collapsed vacuum hose from the engine, which was thought to be causing the gearbox issue, but after renewing the pipe it made no difference! They test drove the car and found nothing untoward!!!
Disappointed with the result, I continued to search for someone willing to do more than just plug a computer in, and after speaking to a friend in the trade, he recommended me a local gearbox specialist, whom agreed to take the job on.
Fast forward a few weeks, and the warranty company agreed to a complete gearbox replacement, after an engineer from them had test-drove the car and agreed it was faulty. RESULT!
A brand new gearbox was ordered up from Audi in Germany, and last week it turned up, after only a 6 day lead time.
Today (Monday) the car was booked in, and as we speak, the old 'box is out, and tomorrow the new 'box will be fitted.
Here is a copy of the invoice (trade prices) that the warranty company is going to receive...
Hopefully, the car will be completely different to drive, when I get it back, and I am lucky to have the fault covered by the warranty!
Some of the warranty companies can be real tough when it comes to paying out it seems.
what you gonna do? That's right, pay Audi £10k for a £5-15k car when this pos box inevitably breaks.
