Regarding the CV, this just has me so angry. The CV joint was replaced on 4/12/2009 by this garage and my NCT was on 11/02/2010. I failed the NCT cause the boot was off the CV joint which was replaced. The NCT tester was cool and told me to go straight to the garage now and tell him you want a new joint put on because you could have been driving round since that was replaced with the boot off and the function of the boot is to stop dirt and grit getting in and now as a result of the boot being off the joint has been compromised and you wont get a long life out of it.
Went down straight away and the garage refused to replace the joint and refuted the claims that the joint would not last its expected life time. He said he would put back on the boot and throw in some more oil and grease into it. Told him i wasnt happy with this service and he said well thats whats gonna happy basically and said he would give me a good price if the joint goes in the next 2 years.
Sure enough few days ago i heard the clicking and got a mechanic friend to have a look and he said yep the cv joint is gone, he said there is no grease on the joint so its probably gone a good while, which means I probably didnt even get a year out of it. So im going back down to the garage next week after the Xmas break. If this was your car would you expect a replacement for free? Do i have any come back here? Or should i be happy with the good price to replace it again he offered me? I dont want to let this garage repair or replace this CV joint again as I dont trust them anymore.
Regarding question 2, the mechanic i now go too just took €300 off me last month to replace the fan belts which went, and also did something to the alternator too when they broke, an incident he said could have been avoided if the garage in question had of done the regular thing and replaced the fan belts when they were doing the timing belt. Monkeys it seems could do a better job at fixing cars then these lot.
@SSE, thanks again for the advice. No i go to a regular mechanic to get services done etc.. cant afford the main dealer rip off prices for regular services with an extra little stamp in a book.
Yes I had that blocked plenum drains incident at the start of this year.Went to the dealer who wanted €1300 off me to repair it, a known fault in the car which the previous owner had followed all instructions to repair by Audi. The car was recalled so a bigger drain could be formed in the well, the previous owner brought the car in immediately and the work was carried out. I asked the monkey in the main dealer how come if the maintenance was carried out did this problem still occur, to which he said, sometimes these systems fail on cars and need to be replaced. He said you have a prestige car you should be prepared to pay prestige prices for repairs.
In my opinion I paid a prestige price for a car so I wouldnt have to be repairing it every month and paying crazy money just to keep it on the road.
My mechanic came up trumps and managed to save me a fortune. He said its unlikely that the master cylinder or chamber for the breaks need to be replaced as Audi claim, he said probably just the Servo valve, which he did, and it all works fine. cost me €600 or there abouts to have this done, so fingers crossed the master cylinder or chamber is not damaged.
Audi make dud cars in my opinion, this is my 2nd, I know I shouldnt have bought a 2nd one but stupidly though the first one was just a dud. had some major issues with that too.
What really bites is the sheer arrogance of the Dealers when you bring a problem to them. I had an issue, again with drainage, with the central locking pump in my previous Audi, basically the well the pump sits in in the boot had filled up with water, again because the drain was blocked, not sure why it filled up with water or where it came from in the first place if a pump is in there, but I took the car to an Audi dealer on the Northside of Dublin, they said I need a new pump blah blah here is the extortionate amount of money we want to do repair this. You cant even fill the car with petrol unless this pump is working as it can lock the fuel cap door if it sticks, so its essential to have it done. I did some research on the net and found where the pump was in the car etc, took it out, dried it, emptied the well, fixed the drain and put it back in, bloody thing worked fine, never broke again. The dealer had just taken the protective cover off the pump housing cut it in half and threw it back into the water.No attempt of look at it, try to repair etc, sheer arrogance in my opinion.
Apologies for going on. Blood is well and truely boiling at this point so will sign off.
Here is info regarding the plenum drains :
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=81642
@SSE: That breaking light problem you said may happen with these cars will sure as Sh1t will happen to me in the future, is there any fix in advance so it can be avoided?
Many thanks again for advice, and stay clear of Audi folks.
Happy New year to you all.
Regards, Dave.