[A4] Brakes & Overheating problem

[tedzanos@freemail.gr]

Hello all,

I own a '96 A4 2.8, 105k miles and recently there are some problems that 
mysteriously come and go. I don't know that much when it comes to car 
mechanics so I'll just tell you facts about the car. Whenever there's slow 
traffic and I try to turn on the A/C, the engine after 5-6 minutes starts 
overheating (the temperature indicator moves to the upper half). I turn it 
off and it comes back to normal. I didn't bother about that so much since I 
just avoided turning on the AC (until I have some time to fix it). Yesterday 
while I was driving down the freeway suddenly the break pedal got extremely 
stiff, the car seemed to have a trouble going forward, as if I was pressing 
the brakes and the gas simultaneously. When I managed to stop at the 
shoulder, the engine was overheated and the brakes remained stiff (although 
they worked even when the pedal was stiff). After 10 minutes, the brakes 
suddenly returned to normal by themselves. I managed to get home (with the 
engine temperature returning slowly to normal) and today I took it to the 
mechanic. He said "the car drives funny, like it lacks power but the brakes 
seem to work" but he didn't know what was the problem. He said he'll check 
but I wanted another opinion from Audi owners. Another thing that may be 
worth mentioning was that yesterday in Los Angeles we had one of the hottest 
days of the year, while I was driving it was around 105 degrees.

Thank you all for your time,

Theodoros Zanos.