Faulty Audi....in warranty.

digitalwolf

digitalwolf

digitalwolf

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The Mrs has a 16 plate A1 1.6 TDI that has recently developed a fault. It refuses to start, theres no trend to it, apart from it seems to happen when there is 100 miles or less in the tank.

It tries to turn over but won't start. No EML warning. It seems like it is flooded but she definitely isn't flooding it.

AA came out to it the first time this happened and said it was the fuel pump. It was towed to a local Audi dealership who said there was a fuel pump pressure issue so they bled the system and handed it back as the car seemed fine.

2 weeks later, same again, it wouldnt start. This time it was towed to a different Audi dealership, who kept the car for a week and test drove it for 200 miles. They couldn't replicate the fault. They bled the fuel system again due to the same error code showing, put a tank of diesel in and sent her on her way.

3 weeks later, it wouldn't start again, so it's been towed to the second Audi dealership again. They are saying they cannot find anything wrong with the car and cannot replicate the fault.

An email has been sent to the director of Audi UK basically saying we don't want the car back until the issue is fully resolved. She cannot depend on the car, it's in warranty and it needs sorting. She has been without it for 2 weeks yet still paying the finance on it.

We have videos of the fault and it has been towed to them 'faulty' 3 times now.

Today a response from Audi UK saying they cannot find an issue with the car and to contact the financial ombudsman and Audi finance as the car is on Audi finance.

I cannot believe Audi. You don't expect it from a prestigious car manufacturer.

Where does she stand as the car is quickly heading out of warranty?

It has done 20,000 miles and probably won't last another 5k before major bills. It's a common issue looking at Google.

I'm guessing there would be penalties etc if she tries to just 'walk away'.

Is there anyone she can turn to put the onus back on Audi again? They're trying their hardest to wipe their hands on this.
 
"I cannot believe Audi. You don't expect it from a prestigious car manufacturer."
i'm sure they're not doing it on purpose just to annoy you. if they can't replicate the problem there's not a lot they can do to proceed.
 
digitalwolf said:
I cannot believe Audi. You don't expect it from a prestigious car manufacturer.
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don't you?

anyways, hard to understand why they are saying it's not got a fault, when the car is being delivered to them on the back of an AA transporter

are they checking the error codes properly? which ones are showing up? out of fuel? if the car won't start it should be logging codes....and if not, that's another problem

also....another option.......ask them to value the car and get a settlement figure on finance. See if you can get yourself in a new one, although really you should have done this last week when the March deals were in full 'silly discounts' mode. Definately worth a phone call this morning to one of the sales team.
 
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wolfie138 said:
"I cannot believe Audi. You don't expect it from a prestigious car manufacturer."
i'm sure they're not doing it on purpose just to annoy you. if they can't replicate the problem there's not a lot they can do to proceed.
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That's not correct, if the op has videos of the fault then they should be using that as proof of the fault. He also says there is reoccurring faults stored. Shocking from the garages and especially Audi UK.
 
“Prestige” brands just tend to take you for mugs imo, case in point my recently acquired - long out of warranty - Focus’s stop-start wasn’t working so I called into a local Ford dealer and asked, a guy came out put a battery tester on the car and said just stick it on charge overnight and it’ll be fine - I use it predominantly on short trips - sure enough having done what he said, the stop-start now works fine.

No charge, no faff, great, happy days.

My partners BMW 118d has the same issue but given it’s under BMW approved used warranty she thought she’d get it checked out, certainly madam, you need to book it in for next week, no courtesy car and they’ll need the car all day and charge £90 to investigate the fault which isn’t refundable if no fault found...

Needless to say I’ve charged her battery overnight and it’s now fine too, quite a contrast between dealers & brands though!

I’m left wondering after a few experiences with BMW dealers why they seem to have no comprehension of the term “customer service”
 
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Scania said:
“Prestige” brands just tend to take you for mugs imo...
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Yes, they do.

Comparing how you get treated for warranty work at Audi vs Toyota is very different. With Audi you go through some kind of interrogation to get them to do anything. With Toyota they just do it.
 
Nasher said:
Yes, they do.

Comparing how you get treated for warranty work at Audi vs Toyota is very different. With Audi you go through some kind of interrogation to get them to do anything. With Toyota they just do it.
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Kinda reminds me how Apple handle their "repair" procedures lol and if it's the fuel pump and they bled the fuel system and it failed the first time then surely they should have just replaced the fuel pump itself the second and third time the car arrived back at the dealer.
 
Audi can be painful in my experience but all of them can be. They are process driven. Plug computer in, check fault codes fix fault. When computer says no you need a really experienced mechanic or you are going to struggle. All I can suggest is speak to the dealer principal of the supplying dealer and get them involved. Pain in the backside but this is an ongoing issue raised when the car was in warranty that remains so Audi needs to fix it. I’d also try and get a call with someone at Audi UK head office in Milton Keynes. Audi UK Customer Service is a waste of time as it’s and outsourced service centre full of airheads in my experience who add zero value.

I drive their halo car and still have challenges so good luck!
 
-westy- said:
What "major bills" come at 25k?
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A quick Google search on this engine highlights potential fuel pump and injector issues. Not cheap when it's out of warranty.

In terms of settlement, she has gone over the agreed mileage so would need to pay to get rid, so to speak. She loves the car though and would keep it but that's not an option with these current issues.

The fault code appears to be related to pressure in the fuel system. They clear the code and the car starts.

She works late nights and if she ends up stranded on her own, it's hardly ideal to say the least.

My annoyance with Audi is it has been delivered to them 3 times on the back of an AA truck now. It wouldn't turn over for them at the garage, the Audi techs have actually seen the fault, they've sat in the car and witnessed it.

The car is not fit for purpose. If you bought anything else and it started playing up in warranty, you'd expect them to start replacing potential faulty components.

I have a mate who had horrendous issues with an X6 and BMW wouldn't take ownership of a serious issue he had with it. He ended up going to Mercedes in the end.

I just can't get my head around why they keep say they need to replicate the fault again, when all they do is clear a fault code and hand it back.
 
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Heisenberg said:
That's not correct, if the op has videos of the fault then they should be using that as proof of the fault. He also says there is reoccurring faults stored. Shocking from the garages and especially Audi UK.
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that means nowt. i had photos of the brake light coming on and they couldn't track that down the first couple times. the diagnostics recorded the fact the fault had triggered but by the time i took her in the various start/stops had cleared all the relevant data and relegated the issue to just a historic recording that the fault had triggered, but not why. i had the same issue w/ a Chevy many years ago, damn thing kept triggering an emissions fault but every damn time i went to the dealer the damn light would go out. Videos - of what, precisely? a car not starting? how's that going to help? if it's not showing the detailed inner workings of the engine it's about as much use as my photo. seems the fault could be anything from a glitchy pump to corroded/broken wiring in a connection, if it's not showing a code they can track down and it doesn't exhibit faults when they have the vehicle, how are they supposed to proceed beyond what they've done already?
 
wolfie138 said:
that means nowt. i had photos of the brake light coming on and they couldn't track that down the first couple times. the diagnostics recorded the fact the fault had triggered but by the time i took her in the various start/stops had cleared all the relevant data and relegated the issue to just a historic recording that the fault had triggered, but not why. i had the same issue w/ a Chevy many years ago, damn thing kept triggering an emissions fault but every damn time i went to the dealer the damn light would go out. Videos - of what, precisely? a car not starting? how's that going to help? if it's not showing the detailed inner workings of the engine it's about as much use as my photo. seems the fault could be anything from a glitchy pump to corroded/broken wiring in a connection, if it's not showing a code they can track down and it doesn't exhibit faults when they have the vehicle, how are they supposed to proceed beyond what they've done already?
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Audi technicians have sat in the car when it's refused to start.

It's been towed to them 3 times.
 
wolfie138 said:
that means nowt. i had photos of the brake light coming on and they couldn't track that down the first couple times. the diagnostics recorded the fact the fault had triggered but by the time i took her in the various start/stops had cleared all the relevant data and relegated the issue to just a historic recording that the fault had triggered, but not why. i had the same issue w/ a Chevy many years ago, damn thing kept triggering an emissions fault but every damn time i went to the dealer the damn light would go out. Videos - of what, precisely? a car not starting? how's that going to help? if it's not showing the detailed inner workings of the engine it's about as much use as my photo. seems the fault could be anything from a glitchy pump to corroded/broken wiring in a connection, if it's not showing a code they can track down and it doesn't exhibit faults when they have the vehicle, how are they supposed to proceed beyond what they've done already?
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The video is enough for proof of the intermittent fault. Coupled with the historic fault codes .Trust me, I know what I'm talking about here.
 
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