My continuing saga - A couple of questions

[Eric Langheinrich]

I finally met with the regional Audi USA rep and the service manager at my
local stealership on Thursday. After ongoing issues over the last two years
with my "Certified" 2002 4.2 A6 my dealer is in the process of recertifying
the car.

There are a couple of ongoing issues that I thought I'd run by the group to
see if what they are telling me is on the up and up or if they are just
trying to sell me blinker fluid.

First, the car has had a front end vibration that only shows up in a 5 mile
an hour range right about 50 MPH. So far, after more trips to the shop than
I can count, I've been told it's tires, bent rims, and now play in the inner
CV joints. Anyone had a similar symptom with play in the CV joint being the
cause?

The next problem is even weirder. When I get home at the end of the day
after my car has been sitting out in the sun, there is a faint noise from
the right rear (I hear it loudest in the wheel well) that sounds like a
muted version of the alarm going off. Most of the time the noise pulses
exactly like the alarm, but the noise is sometimes continuous. The local
dealership after multiple trips to the shop was unable to reproduce the
sound until Audi USA got involved. Now I'm being told that the noise is
caused by the gravity vent valve releasing pressure from the gas tank. They
are also telling me that replacing the valve most likely will not eliminate
the noise. This one seems more like blinker fluid to me.

While trying to find the previous noise, Audi USA and the dealership
determined that the AMP is making a hissing noise. After all of the problems
I've had with this car I feel like I should be pushing to have them fix this
too, but would like to hear other people's thoughts. How big a problem is
this really? Does it mean the AMP is starting to go bad? Is it a problem
with the radio itself?


Any thoughts any of you may have are greatly appreciated. Over the years of
reading this list, I truly appreciate the knowledge that is shared here.

Thank you,

Eric