Really bad TT ownership experience

["Brad Willis" <bwillis@san.rr.com>]

It has come to my aTTention that my troubled TT has been a recent topic of
conversation here recently.  A number of you have sent me private e-mail
messages, and I thank you for your 100% supportive comments.  I did check
the archives and review prior posts pertaining to this subject, and I wanted
to add a few comments.

With regard to the speculation that I am missing shifts, am perhaps
inexperienced with a stick shift, am imagining problems because there was a
problem before and so forth, I must say that all of these speculations are
absolutely incorrect.  In fact, this seems to be the attitude of most at
Audi, which is frankly annoying the hell out of me.

I have been driving a manual transmission in excess of 15 years, and the
first car that I ever owned was a manual.  I have provided Audi with over 40
other cases of FWD TT owners who have mostly experienced the identical
experience to mine, which is a periodic grinding of the 2nd gear syncros.
There is no grinding of other gears, and I like pretty much everyone else,
do miss a shift, on occasion. I certainly know the difference between a
missed shift and a loud grind from out of the blue.

Since I took delivery of the TT in May 1999, this grind has occurred over
200 times, in my estimation.  It happens most often when the weather is very
hot and when I have driven the TT for a long period of time.  Under those
circumstances, I usually get a lot of grinds, but not always.  The grinds
are mostly very loud, and embarrassing

When the grinds first began at 5500 miles, they occurred on every shift, so
of course this was easy to duplicate.  At that time, the transmission was
replaced.  At that time, the Service Manager told me that Audi was having
problems with some of the FWD transmissions, but that the problem had been
resolved.  I think that he said that the problem was due to some metallurgy
problem related to the gears, so something like that.

Shortly thereafter, the 2nd gear grinds began again, only this time it was
an intermittent occurrence.  This time, the dealership was also able to
recreate the problem.  They replaced gears, syncros, sliders and so on, but
this did not fix the problem.  They have also tried 3 types of transmission
oil.  The factory oil was a very thin synthetic, and the mechanic told me
that it looked like water.  They switched to a thicker conventional tranny
oil, but that did not help either.  The last attempted repair involved
switching to Mobil 1 synthetic transmission oil and adjusting the linkages.
That too did not help.

After all of this, I have the pleasure of being insulted by Audi and being
told by their Technical Rep that he did not believe that a problem existed,
that he felt that my shifting technique was the problem, that no amount of
repairs would make me a happy customer, and that a divorce was in order.
Can you imagine how much this pisses me off.

When I talk about this 2nd gear grind, understand that it does not occur as
I am releasing the clutch, as it would if one were missing the shift.  It
occurs with the clutch pedal fully depressed.  In other words, depress the
clutch, shift into 2nd, and a loud grind immediately occurs before the
clutch has been released at all.

In addition to this, there are a number of other problems, most of which
have still not been repaired.  These include:

1. An intermittent reset of the instrument pod.

2. A faulty fuel sensor, which can show a 1/2 left when the car is bone dry
(a number of other owners have also had this problem, and several have run
out of gas).

3. A loud metallic rattle when accelerating or decelerating (Audi says that
it has something to do with a turbo release valve).

4. Leak in the power steering pump line (successfully repaired).

5. Loud rattle of the rear privacy cover (replaced and is now fine).

6. Breakdown of the wheels' finish (replaced and is now fine).

There's more, but you get the idea.  I would expect Audi to have this
attitude:
"Gee, Brad. You were interviewed by Anita Lienert for Audi Magazine to be
our featured owner.  You formed the SoCal TT Club, and have provided much
information to current and prospective owners, you have referred TT buyers
to your dealership, and you own one of our high profile Neiman Marcus
Special Edition TTs.  Now you are having major problems and frustrations.
We are very sorry and embarrassed that these things are happening, and we
will do whatever is necessary to make things right and to keep you a happy
customer."

Instead, I get this attitude:
"You are a pain in the ass and an annoying customer.  You don't know how to
properly drive a stick shift, and all of these grinds are because you are
either missing the shifts, or perhaps you are lying about things, or are
crazy.  There's nothing we can do to make you happy, because you are so
unreasonable."

Well there is something that they can do to keep me happy.  FIX THE DAMN CAR
AND LOSE THE ATTITUDE!!!!

Sorry to go on for so long, but I thought that this might shed a bit more
light on the subject.

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