'99 A6Q Fuel Gauge <long>

[brentm3@wwa.com]

I am stepping out of lurker mode to let 1999 A6Q owners
know of a potential problem.

The other night, heading home from the Chicago auto show,
I felt a loss of power.  I was showing just under 1/4
tank of gas.  At the next hill, the car started stuttering.
The computer showed that I still had 55 miles in the tank.
Soon, it was missing on 6 cylinders, so I pulled over.
<I even got to use the little emergency triangle in the
trunk.>

I called roadside assistance, and they told me there is
a known issue with certain '99 A6's, where the fuel gauge
freezes at some point.  They then told me that I would
have to wait, with the car, for 1.5 hours.  Fortunately
there was other help available to me.  Either way, I threw
in a bit of gas, and off I went.

My dealership confirmed what roadside assistance told me,
that there are 3 fuel sensors (?) in the tank, due to its
irregular shape.  If some condition occurs, the gauge will
stop functioning.  They told me I was not the first one
to experience this, and they will fix the car next Monday.

I have run the car pretty dry in the past (filled it with
16.5+ gallons multiple times,) so my gauge wasn't simply
miscalibrated...it goes quite far into the red area, this
was just one-time thing where the gauge froze up.

BTW: According to the nice people at the Audi booth, the
S4 is still Fall '99, 250 Horsepower, 6 speed manual for
the United States.  I forgot to ask about the A6Q 4.2,
does anybody have any info on it?

Brent
brentm3@wwa.com