So let me run this girlfriend vs. dealer story past you guys:

[2.7turbo]

So I'm flying out to San Diego to visit friends for a week and my girlfriend texts me saying her car just quit on the way to work. Fck! just my luck that her car would break down the minute I leave town...

Here's how it went down:

(Just want to preface this by saying that there are 2 basins in the B7 fuel tanks. One on the right and one on the left. The left basin just contains one fuel level sender. The right basin contains the fuel pump and also a built in sender that comes with the fuel pump assembly).

Day 1
06 2.0T 95k miles automatic. Car stalls out while driving.

Day 3
Fuel pump replaced, Fuel filter replaced. Dealer says he will only charge for 4 hours of labor when the job calls for 5 hours. He also says that they found the left basin sender at the bottom of the tank and that "someone" had broke it off. He then tell her that they had epoxy'd back the sender at no charge to her... (Believe me. No one has ever been in that tank before- and has anyone ever heard of a fuel level sender breaking by itself in a B7? Is it common?)

Price breakdown:
Pump $275
Filter $45
Labor $480 (4 x $120hr)
Total with everything; $887

Day 4
Car stalls out while driving. [:d]

Day 5
Dealer claims that the epoxy'd sender needs to be replaced, they will pick up the labor if my gf picks up the $180 sender. (Funny the left basin guage sender is $130 list). I told her to call and ask why they didn't test the sender with a multimeter before giving the car back to her. Also told her to question whether or not the pump had to be replaced initially? .... So she calls and turns out they will pay for the sender and the labor.

Day 6 is tomorrow...

So before I share my thoughts I wanted to see what you guys think about this?

[Sharkfin]

Do you have a close relationship with the dealer? I think that fact that you already shelled out $900 bucks and your time, they should confirm the problem is fixed. When it wasn't, I would bring it back and put it on them.

[DocJ]

f**king hate dealerships and all their sass.

[witwer4444]

f**king hate dealerships and all their sass.

Yet without them none of us would be on here.....or even driving Audi's for that matter

[dparm]

Not your job to keep paying because they can't figure something out. I dislike it when dealerships just get into that mode of "replace things until it works". They have diagnostic flowcharts for this kind of stuff ** are they using them?

Just go in there and have an honest and calm chat with the service writer. Something along the lines of, "Look, I don't think it's fair that I have to keep shelling out the big bucks and you still can't figure out what's wrong." Try to get them to empathize.

[dparm]

Yet without them none of us would be on here.....or even driving Audi's for that matter

Agreed. The dealership is not your enemy. Give them the benefit of the doubt. It's pretty rare that I get so disgusted with a dealership that I never return.

Sometimes these things are frustrating for them too. Remember the whole concept of book time: if Audi says it takes 2.5 hours to do this but they can't figure it out and take 5, they eat that extra cost. It's to their advantage to fix things right the first time. While repeat business is a good thing, it's not profitable for them to diagnose the same problem 3 or 4 times on the same car.

[cheemn]

Ouch I dont think I could be so calm and friendly after that! Hmm...lets see what day 6 brings and if the dealership redeems itself. I sure hope so after all that money spent!

[ryanworth]

Sounds like my problems with my clutch when I first bought the car. Sneaky sneaky dealers. Sorry to hear your troubles (or I should say your girlfriends)

[arce909]

That sucks....

[skistud]

f**k dealerships...i was going to mcgrath audi in Glenview and will never go again.
I found an amazing alternative through a friend with a b5 s4 who has been going here for years
only work on german cars....great guys...no bs
they are car guys that started this garage because they cant stand how dealerships run their service departments
Midwest performance on Lake St. in Chicago
i swear by them

[SEXICÄN]

Pictures of girlfriend! This might answer all of the unanswered questions....

[Sal_B7]

true dat!! lol

[crazytex21]

Pictures of girlfriend! This might answer all of the unanswered questions....

good thinking, sir.

[elwigglero]

Pictures of girlfriend! This might answer all of the unanswered questions....

If that's not a perfect example of the average dealership employee's willingness to help, I don't know what is.

[bmc333]

EXACTLY - why the fuck go to a dealer for work that is not covered under warranty? Do yourself a favor and find an independent shop or tuner to do this kind of work - they are cheaper and WAY more thorough.


f**k dealerships...i was going to mcgrath audi in Glenview and will never go again.
I found an amazing alternative through a friend with a b5 s4 who has been going here for years
only work on german cars....great guys...no bs
they are car guys that started this garage because they cant stand how dealerships run their service departments
Midwest performance on Lake St. in Chicago
i swear by them

[marty was here]

+2 on pics of gf

[bmc333]

+3 on pics

[CrtchRktRcr]

Why did they assume it was the pump? Did the check the psi? was it within spec? Why would you put epoxy in a gas tank? Gas will destroy the epoxy... That's a few strikes there if they failed those. Check for codes obviously.. Do the standard diagnostic checks first. Do you have any friends that could take a look? I'd go over it but i'm obviously a littttle far away. gl

[2.7turbo]

If that's not a perfect example of the average dealership employee's willingness to help, I don't know what is.

lmao! [;)]

[2.7turbo]

Why did they assume it was the pump? Did the check the psi? was it within spec? Why would you put epoxy in a gas tank? Gas will destroy the epoxy... That's a few strikes there if they failed those. Check for codes obviously.. Do the standard diagnostic checks first. Do you have any friends that could take a look? I'd go over it but i'm obviously a littttle far away. gl

Ok so here is what I'm thinking - 1st time this happened perhaps she ran out of gas or perhaps the pump really quit. Second time this happened i'm almost positive that she just plain and simply ran out of gas! I don't know the relationship between the 2 fuel level senders to sit here and speculate that perhaps having one sender faulty means you can't accurately tell how much gas is left?

What irritates me the most is that they "epoxy'd" something in the gas tank! are they flippin retarded? Why not call and offer to replace it at no additional cost since you're in there already or ask for another 1/2 hour of labor.

The service writer did not indicate that any sort of electrical / flow chart type diagnosis was performed.

Overall my feeling is that she just probably ran out of gas both times and it cost her $887, which is a shame.

[Sal_B7]

dude no pics of the g/f yet?? wtf?? waste of a thread!

[2.7turbo]

SURE ENOUGH:

Fri 6/11/2010 3:46 PM

Quick car update: I did run out of fuel the first time as well (or at least in 1 of the gas compartments). I’m sure this will make sense to you although I’m still struggling a little to understand.

Lindsey

[confused] So why did they replace her fuel pump and filter when all they had to do was let her know that she ran out of gas and that one of her fuel senders needed to be replaced!!! My take on it is that they should have charged 2 hours x $120 and $130 for the sender, $370 total. RATHER they dinged her for the fuel pump and filter instead, and the extra 3 hours.... I'm not sure if I should be upset or thankful that they didn't truly rip her off with some other b.s story like maybe the fuel tank had a hole in it and it would be $2500 to replace parts and labor etc...

[SEXICÄN]

No gf pics? This thread makes me sad. No coming back here with out pix!

[SEXICÄN]

If that's not a perfect example of the average dealership employee's willingness to help, I don't know what is.

Dude I'm in sales. I dont know jack about the service parts...

[P0234]

If anyone is reading this an thinks that this is not typical, take off your rose colored glasses. When it's not on Audi's time (warranty work), all the hijinks begin.

Diagnostic time is actual time, the techs hate this. Book (not warranty) time means they make 2-3 what the hourly rate actually is. The dealership sells lots of parts, the tech books lots of time, your wallet gets raped. Happens everyday. The times where just ONE part is replaced when its not on Audi's dollar are few and far between. They love throwing parts at cars, it makes them money, and eventually, you worried enough to get a new car. They win, you lose. There is no reason to be at a dealership if you are out of warranty.

[A4_Eyez]

Yet without them none of us would be on here.....or even driving Audi's for that matter

And without us they wouldn't be making money.

[2.7turbo]

6/30/10

Car breaks down again today. The car ran out of gas, showed a half tank when it ran out. Cars back at the dealer. I'm betting the fix now is going to be an instrument cluster or some other $$$$ diag / electrical diag fee.

Has anyone experienced anything like this before?

[Tusin]

i have read about this issue before. But cannot for the life of me remember what the resolution was. You haven't done any re-programming with a Vag-Com lately have you? I know I read a few threads of people disabling their seat belt chime (or maybe it was auto windows) it messed up the reading on the fuel gauge.

Have they replaced the thrust sensor yet?

[audidrver]

Sounds like my problems with my clutch when I first bought the car. Sneaky sneaky dealers. Sorry to hear your troubles (or I should say your girlfriends)

Curious on what problems you were having with your clutch as i am having some issues? Can you elaborate?

[ryanworth]

Curious on what problems you were having with your clutch as i am having some issues? Can you elaborate?

I had my car for about 3 weeks. My clutch dropped on me going 65 downhill on the freeway. I was out of gear trying to engage into 6th, and the clutch just dropped on me (no pressure at all). After that I was locked out of any gear and couldn't shift, the clutch wasn't engaging.

Took the car into the dealership and the clutch basically was so worn it shattered, destroying both the clutch and the flywheel. I purchased the car a CPO, so dealer paid for clutch, but I had to pay for flywheel and labor. Ended up being a little over $2k. And no it was not me learning to drive the car, lol. There was obvious wear on the car from previous owner.

[Tanner]

6/30/10

Car breaks down again today. The car ran out of gas, showed a half tank when it ran out. Cars back at the dealer. I'm betting the fix now is going to be an instrument cluster or some other $$$$ diag / electrical diag fee.

Has anyone experienced anything like this before?

Sending unit in the tank probably needs to be replaced. If the fuel gauge isn't working correctly one could reset the odometer when the car's being filled up and then fill up again after 300 miles driven. There is a vagcom setting to adjust this but the problem is that the empty reading, you need to adjust a value via the vagcom tool at the time the gas tank is empty. Assuming that this setting hasn't changed, I'd change out the sending unit as that's the thing that probably failed.

For the record, sometimes the full position on my car is off by an 1/8th at times and at other times, it's right on the money.