frozen throttle revisited

[john cummings]

Listers- many of us in cold climates need your help. My wifes 2.8 A6 has
a recurring throttle problem. In cold weather the throttle freezes and
the only way to stop the car is to put it in neutral and turn off the
key while the engine redlines. It has happened to us twice- once in very
heavy expressway traffic and once while a school bus was stopping ahead.
At first the dealer tried tell me over the phone that it was a floor mat
problem. Then the  dealer cleaned the throttle body the first time it
happened.  Within a couple of days my wife had the problem again with
the school bus incident. Then they checked to see if the heat transfer
paste between the coolant lines and throttle body was  in tact. Yes it
was. The problem is not uncommon-the tech at the local dealer admitted
to me that 2 other cars came in with the same problem on that day. Also
an independent audi/vw/porsche garage owner in the adirondacks has seen
many cases this winter. The problem is that audi is taking the same head
in the sand attitude that they did with bose amplified speakers.
The dealer tech who worked on my car said that so far audi does not want
to talk to their own techs about the problem except to have them fill
out a questionaire. They do not have a way to fix this problem yet. So
if you get yours "repaired" be ready to hit neutral and turn off the
key. The engine heat rethaws it in about 15 minutes of sitting. If you
have had this problem please call audi customer relations and  bitch
(1-800-822-2834).  I have the number memorized now.
    Also try to spread the word around to anyone you know with the 97-99
2.8 engine- early 12v and the AJ engine. It can happen in the A4 or A6
with those engines. I am not a trouble maker with an axe to grind. I've
been a vw/audi fan since my first 57 karman gia and have put on about
500k on audis in the last 9 years. I have accepted  and worked around
many annoying problems like the headlights on the 200 that went nowhere-
I just put on euro headlights.  This is a different kind of problem-
it's life threatening and nobody has a work around yet.
    The good news from this situation is that eveyone in my family is
loving the opportunity to enjoy a real winter with the 91 20v 200 turbo-
202k, chip, 3' scorpion exhaust, euro head lights and 4 new hakka 1's
still strong as a bear. I forgot, soon to have new amplified  rear
speakers after 11 years!