[Biturbos4] Extended Warranty Buy

mike michael at isuzu-mods.com
Mon Jan 12 23:07:10 EST 2004 

My S4 has been at the dealer for a month now.  everytime they fix it 
seems they find another problem on the test drive.  first they replaced 
the turbos, then since i mentioned the dash segment display blinking out 
sometimes they replaced that too.  then they had to repair the 
transmission because the tech noticed that it doesn't shift properly 
(tip).  I've been bitching about the tranny for a year and they can 
never reproduce the problem.  glad it did it again for them.

Mike

Single Malt wrote:

>Russ, it is interesting that you mentioned this ... I just set an appointment
>with a local independent to take a look for things I should complain about
>before my warrany expires.  I recently joked to my service advisor at our Audi
>dealership about what he should be telling me to complain about ... he did not
>laugh (nor did he offer any insight!).  I guess you just have to play their
>game.
>
>Regarding Subaru ... I have owned more than my share.  My dealership
>experiences do NOT equate to yours.  Add that to the fact that they are "tinny"
>and also require substantial repairs as they get older (and YES, their parts
>aren't cheap either), they do not get my vote for a comparison to Audi.  Not
>that Scooby-Doos aren't plentiful in my area ... I think it is the Colorado
>State Car!  With the exception of the WRX, they also seem VERY sedentary.
>
>It seems to me that every brand has it's skeletons-in-the-closet in one way or
>another.
>
>--- Russell Romano <Russell_Romano at pmc-sierra.com> wrote:
>  
>
>>So it sounds like Audi has their dealership relationship explicitly setup to
>>AVOID warranty payments.  Understandable from a financial perspective, but it
>>is pretty shady that they actual refuse to pay for repairs that a customer
>>didn't complain about!
>>
>>It would probably be a VERY worthwhile practice to pay an INDEPENDENT foreign
>>car shop to go over your car with a fine tooth comb and make a list of all
>>"problems" it sees just before your OEM warranty is up.
>>
>>Then go to the dealer with a bulleted list of "action items" for them!  It
>>would be well worth the 2 or 3 hours of shop time you'd have to pay for from
>>the independent guy.
>>
>>On a related note... I also have a '97 Subaru wagon.  I brought the car in
>>complaining about a CV joint noise and the tech NOTICED a leak from one of
>>the camshaft seals.  He noted it on the worksheet.  When I went to the
>>customer counter to pay... the service guy said "You have a leaking camshaft
>>seal.  Lets set up an appointment to get it in for service".  I said I wasn't
>>sure I wanted to foot the bill for that yet and he said "No, don't worry
>>about it, its under warranty".  I was amazed as I was the third owner of this
>>used subaru, but because it was under 60k miles (It had 59900 on it at the
>>time!) they WANTED to repair it for me.  They said, "a new timing belt is
>>$35.  If you buy the part we'll do the belt change while we are in there for
>>no extra charge".  Now THAT is service!!  Not only will I buy another Subaru,
>>I'll go out of my way to buy it from THEM, and I've sent them a LOT of
>>business as a result of this one "favor".  If you live in or near Allentown
>>PA and have 
>> any interest in a Subaru, check out Becker Subaru on 222 in Wescosville!
>>
>>-Russ
>>
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Al Adler [mailto:adlere at sourcecodecorp.com]
>>Sent: Sunday, January 11, 2004 7:22 PM
>>To: Keman
>>Cc: Bi-Turbo Audi S4 Audi Fan Group
>>Subject: Re: [Biturbos4] Extended Warranty Buy
>>
>>
>>Keman,
>>    All in all I wish you had been the tech who worked on my car at 48 k 
>>at its last warranty visit. Your dealership would have been able to bill 
>>AOA for 2 tie rods, 2 front upper control arms, a leaky driver side cam 
>>sensor, an medium sized oil leak below the passenger cam sprocket from 
>>something (just the valve cover gasket or more serious??? ), a leaky 
>>trans tail piece, and a malfunctioning tip switch -I'm guessing that 
>>would push around $2500 or so. Damn AOA - they definitely saved a some 
>>serious warranty $$$ on my car. So far I've done about half of it and 
>>that car is not easy to work on without a garage full of special tools 
>>and lots of time. Thanks for the heads up on the turbo - so far the car 
>>doesn't seem to burning any oil but I've only put a couple of thousand 
>>on it so far so I don't have much of a baseline. I just gave it an oil 
>>change yesterday w/ 0w-40 synthetic and a factory filter yesterday - the 
>>acura dealer I bought it from filled it with 10w-30 and some strange 
>>filter brand I'd never seen before. I suspect the Audi dealer here 
>>didn't use synthetic either in the past but I will be going forward.
>>
>>Thanks for the advice,
>>Al
>>
>>Keman wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>>>enough to complain about them. I talked to a service rep at the
>>>>>dealer he used to find out about the service history and the guy
>>>>>said "we only fix the things the customer complains about - we're
>>>>>too busy to do all the work needed anyway". My experience with that
>>>>>     
>>>>>
>>>>>          
>>>>>
>>>This is a real sore spot of mine. According to Audi, if a tech receives a
>>>car that's brought in for a headlight repair.. and files a warranty claim
>>>for a valve cover gasket leak, he has broken the rules and the claim will be
>>>denied- the dealership will not get paid for the work. This is called
>>>"warranty solicitation". It's Audi's attempt at controlling warranty costs
>>>and making it such that their techs "don't get rich off their warranty." ...
>>>my opinion is that if they don't want their techs getting rich off their
>>>warranty, build the fscking cars right.
>>>
>>>Luckily, the first 50k of maintanence is free and during this period I use
>>>the fact that I am supposed to inspect the entire car for any possible
>>>problem during maintanance and _every_ problem I find, is fixed. If we or
>>>the customer doesn't have the time to fix it, I reschedule some or all of
>>>the repairs to be done at a later time. If the problem is hazardous, I put
>>>the customer in a rental. My goal is to hand the car back as it rolled off
>>>the assembly line. No leaks. No quirks. No problems.
>>>
>>>Amazingly enough... this is the mentality at my dealership, and compared to
>>>other dealers in the state our warranty repair costs are one of the lowest.
>>>Go figure.
>>>
>>> 
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>>>>   myself. Since this S4 needs a lot of work its keeping me quite
>>>>>busy. A side question - when I was doing my DV's and TBB I noticed
>>>>>some (
>>>>>not much)oil in the driver side turbo passages, while the passenger
>>>>>side was fairly dry. No whining yet, but I should I be budgeting for
>>>>>new turbos or is that oil from crankcase venting?
>>>>>     
>>>>>
>>>>>          
>>>>>
>>>It's pretty common... mine does this as well and has since the first time I
>>>replaced a DV at like 18k miles. (I noticed it then). I'm fairly certain
>>>it's a very small amount of oil leaking past the turbo. My car does not burn
>>>any oil so what you see is what you're losing.. a few drops in a fine mist.
>>>I seem to see this on the drivers side frequently. While there is a
>>>crankcase vent on the drivers side of the intake plenum (that big Y thing on
>>>top), that's the fresh air draw IN to the crankcase ... not the other way
>>>around. There is a second crankcase vent that's attached to the lower intake
>>>which actually draws crankcase gasses in.
>>>
>>>I honestly wouldn't worry about it. When I had my downpipes off I checked
>>>the play on the turbos at like 76k miles and there was none, they felt like
>>>new. Between that and the lack of oil loss, I'd say the turbos are holding
>>>up very well. I run synthetic, change oil every 3500-4500 miles, and always
>>>let the oil temps lift off the peg before getting into boost. I also let
>>>things cool down before shutting the engine off.
>>>
>>>- Keman
>>>
>>> 
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>>>>TIA,
>>>>>Al
>>>>>     
>>>>>
>>>>>          
>>>>>
>>> 
>>>
>>>      
>>>
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>>
>
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