New Car, New Problems

[AWD Mike]

Just bought a 198 Audi A4 2.8 Quattro model. (30V Manual)

Now, when I test drove the car, it felt great. No warning indicator lights, nothing. Now after driving it 4 hours back home from the dealership, I have three lights come on. The Brake light that comes on when you pull the e-brake up stays on as does the ABS light as soon as I hit approximately 5mph. They are not blinking or making any noise, just on. Now from reading on the board here, I'm assuming a safe diagnosis would be that is the ABS module since the car's braking seems fine. Correct? (The car does have 138,000 miles)

Also, I believe I may have the start of a bad throwout bearing. I am familiar with this problem from my last car. When the clutch is pushed in, I start to hear this very odd clicking sound, sometimes, slow, other times quicker. Now the issue is, it doesn't sound like it is getting progressively worse, and sometimes it doesn't even make the noise at all. Could a bad throwout bearing "choose" when it wants to be bad?! Or could it be a spot on the bearing itself that is the problem, causing the occasional noise? Last question, do you think draining and replacing the transmission fluid may fix the problem?

Oh yeah, and today a CEL came on!

The car does have a 3 month, 3,000 mile warranty covering anything "engine/transmission/differential" related.

Sorry for all of the questions, just figured I'd get it in one thread.

Thanks in advance,
Mike

[le91688]

Take it back where you got it and bitch to the dealer.

Make him fix it all for free.

[SykoraA4]

ideally it would be a good idea to take it back to the dealership, but in the meantime, try to find a vagcom and check your codes. that should give you some idea of what your looking at.

[B5 SLPR]

rattling sound seems like the throw out bearing, if the abs light isnt blinking could be master cylinder, that an issue i ran into. as for the CEL vag it

[NorCal1.8T]

why does that always happen to people? They test drive a car and its all fine then a day later, cel nightmare. do these dealers clear the codes or something just for the testdrive?

[AWD Mike]

why does that always happen to people? They test drive a car and its all fine then a day later, cel nightmare. do these dealers clear the codes or something just for the testdrive?

I guess?!

The only problem going back to the dealer is that it was independent dealer, almost four hours away, and the worst part, I may run into some problems because the idiot didn't really know what he was selling.

My buddy, who has had his S4 for going on about two years now, had bought his car from the dealer and then all of a sudden a month later, the transmission took a dump. Seems like there is always something. I got the car for dirt cheap, the guy thought it was a 1993. Lol.

Anyway, the car idles fine, runs smoothly, has no problems to my knowledge, nor to my buddy's (who works for Audi)

I know CEL lights are lit for a reason, but it seems sometimes that it is nothing big -- from my past experiences. It has a new timing belt and water pump.

I think there may be an issue with the cam tensioner since sometimes it makes a high pitch noise like a Honda in reverse (not loud at all though)

The problem with the brakes is weird. The lights come on 90% of the time when the car starts moving from turning on. Sometimes, they don't. When they don't come on, the brakes feel weird -- pulsing kinda feeling and then it makes a weird noise. Then, if I slam the brakes really quickly, the light will come on and the car's braking feels awesome. Plenty of brake fluid in the reservoir, I am just stumped. The pads and rotors look fine, I just don't wanna throw money into a new ABS module, and it be the master cylinder. I hear the ABS modules seem to be a big problem in the B5.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Mike

[black99.5a4]

where did you buy it from

[AWD Mike]

where did you buy it from

AutoPlex in Manassas,Virginia.

It is a dealer with great feedback from Auto Trader, had two people I know who have bought cars from there with no problems at all.

The owners speak very little English, and charge next to nothing for any vehicle. They had a 2003 Audi A4 with 25,000 (estimate) miles for 6500.00. I believe it was automatic though.

Don't see how that has anything to do with it. Anyway, just changed the oil with Royal Purple. The oil filter was on so tight (assuming whomever had the car before me didn't put any oil on the rubber before putting on the filter or used a big wrench to put it on) I had to break the filter into pieces to get it off. But, it's off.

No more CEL btw. Don't know if it went away because of the oil change or just coincidence.

Thanks for all the help everyone.

[4A Play]

Once again, bring it back and have them replace it all for free. Its not worth the hassle and money to get it done yourself.

[black99.5a4]

if you were closer, id vag it for ya and print your codes. take it back and let them fix it all under warranty, trust me, use it while you can.

[AWD Mike]

Borrowed a friend's VAG and read the code on the CEL.

MAF sensor and Catalytic Converter. The codes have been cleared, the cat is swapped, and the MAF was unplugged somehow. Anyway, no more CEL!!!!

Brake problem -- DIAGNOSED. It is the ABS module, noticed that ABS does not work, but the brakes work fine. figured if it was the Brake MC then the brakes would suffer substantially.

Finally, the ticking noise with the clutch pushed in, turns out to be a bad throwout bearing as expected. Warranty is replacing bearing and clutch, got to spring for the Southbend Stage 2 for free, warranty gave the shop the money to get it fixed, and the Southbend was just as much as the shop was going to charge the warranty company for an OEM unit.

Made out great, thanks for all the help everyone who posted!

-Mike