4 hours of repair and $500 later ...

[Tony Hoffman]

Well, Fay, sounds like you are not having much fun with this car as of late! 
 
As was suggested, the first thing I'd check is the michelin man hose. Easy to check, but you will get dirty. If you pop the hood and look at the front of the engine, it is the big (3" diameter) hose just to the left of the engine. This is from the perspective of looking from in front of the car. feel under it (the bottom) to see if it has a hole in it. Does the car make a "whooshing" sound under the hood when accelerating? I've had several go bad. 
 
The next question is, do you get a check engine light? If not, it's probably not a sensor, but you never know for sure. There is one other hose, the one from the turbo to the intercooler. It is a lot harder to check, but still possible. The upper hose goes from the intercooler to the intake, so look down farther on the intercooler, and you'll see it. Sort of :)
 
The thing is, since you just had the TB done, they were in the area, took off the hose, and therefore, if it was marginal anyhow it probably finally gave up the ghost.
 
On the valve, I replace those with all the other hoses when the cars get around 15 years old. That seems to be the breaking point for a lot of the cooling components on most cars. I'd recommend the expansion tank as well.
 
Feel like a trip to Vegas anytime soon :)
 
Anyhow, let us know what you find.
 
Tony Hoffman

"Cat ^. .^ ~" <iceisit at earthlink.net> wrote:

Hi ~

I took my car to a repair shop in Sedona.

I paid for parts in advance ... $250.00

and paid another $250 for labor.

The next few days my car is slightly better
but still lugs at moving from a stop and
also is still somewhat hard starting from
cold.

But now when I am on the freeway I cannot
seem to get it over 75 mph, when before I
could go 100 mph without any problem.

When I called and said that it wasn't running
quite right, he said that is just an adjustment.
???

I said how long will that take and he
said about an HOUR. He didn't offer to
not charge me for the hour, so I am left
to wonder whether I am expected to pay
for that as well at his rate of $68 an hour!

I would think that $500 to work on the
cold starting problem and the lugging at 
movement from stop would be enough.

There is no one to fix my car in Flagstaff, 
and Sedona is about anhour away. 
The dealership in Phoenix is about 2.5 hours drive
ONE WAY.

I am so sick about this situation of having to pay
so much for little I am at my wits end. 

Is there anyone on the list who can talk
Audi-ese to the mechanic to find out
what was done for the $500 I paid.

I cannot read the receipt and I had to walk
about Sedona in nearly 100º that day waiting
the four hours for my car (no place to wait in the
shop). By the time I picked up my car I was
totally over-heated myself and wanted to get
out of the heat.

The worst being the heater valve
broke while I was driving to Prescott,
and I had to wait hours for my poor 
husband to drive there (about an hour and half 
from home) and fix that, getting home after
10 p.m.

And the beat goes on.

Any suggestions.

I am seriously concerned that at the age of this
car there are more things to fix than will ever
get fixed on it properly.

"There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast."

Please check out our web site:
http://www.AZNorth.com/

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