My Worst Nightmare

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TheBlackScarface

TheBlackScarface

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I was just driving out and about in my New second hand Audi i bought on Monday when i noticed the SDNRP symbols were flashing on the dashboard and then later on when i was parking the car i put it into reverse and it wouldn't register straight away i had to try it a couple of times until finally it worked. Does anybody know what that means?
 
Oh dear, hate to maybe ruin your day, but those symptoms are usually a gearbox cu fault, now I cant diagnose over the net, but did you buy with warranty, private purchase or garage, as garage will have to honour something for the issue, there is a company or 2 out there that can repair these if proves to be faulty, but again hate to ay its not a cheap fix.
 
NHN said:
Oh dear, hate to maybe ruin your day, but those symptoms are usually a gearbox cu fault, now I cant diagnose over the net, but did you buy with warranty, private purchase or garage, as garage will have to honour something for the issue, there is a company or 2 out there that can repair these if proves to be faulty, but again hate to ay its not a cheap fix.
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I bought it from this company on Monday and it came with a 3 month/3,000 mile warranty.

New and Used Cars in Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Lincolnshire | EMG Motor Group
 
As NHN says it's not good news, and will 'probably' require a new gearbox ecu, the warranty will see you right fingers crossed. These things always happen on a BH weekend though :(
 
quattrojames said:
As NHN says it's not good news, and will 'probably' require a new gearbox ecu, the warranty will see you right fingers crossed. These things always happen on a BH weekend though :(
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If they try and wriggle out of it somehow what will a new gearbox ECU cost me? I cant beleave my luck i love the car it drives beautifully and ive just bought it and now it's broke i feel like committing suicide (speechless).
 
Steve L said:
Get onto the garage now ,Most are open bank holidays mate .Dont worry !
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I was going to buy the car last Sunday but they said they wasn't open on Sundays so i waited until Monday then thats when i bought it but ill still try and give them a ring just in case they are.
 
It looks like quite a large group of dealers so I'm sure that they will value their reputation and try to help you out.

Another forum member was on here fairly recently with exactly the same problem, and which had happened in a very similar timescale from buying the car.

I seem to remember that the outcome was they received a reasonable result from putting their case in a reasonable way. (From memory I think the garage agreed to the cost of a specialist refurbishing the faulty part as a new one from Audi was about £2,000). I think in that case it was an independent dealer with no warranty and so it was done as a goodwill gesture. You appear to have a warranty so are already in a better position than he was!

Chances are that whoever traded in that car to your dealer probably knew it was playing up and so your garage won't be too chuffed either!

Hope it works out, which I'm sure it will.
 
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The Black Rhino said:
The good news is that BBA-reman are in Rochester which is just up the road from me because im in Maidstone so ill drive there first thing Tuesday morning.
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Call the dealer 1st, dont do anything until you've spoken to them, as anything done to the car before they're aware or agree, would invalidate your claims & get any agreement for repair in writing via either letter or an email before starting, trust me, cover your butt on these things as I suspect the dealer knew of the issue & like so many others will claim under a warranty policy with someone else.
 
AJB Audi said:
It looks like quite a large group of dealers so I'm sure that they will value their reputation and try to help you out.
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I hope so dude because otherwise that's me driving around with my roof down all summer gone down the drain and possibly all my money.

AJB Audi said:
I seem to remember that the outcome was they received a reasonable result from putting their case in a reasonable way. (From memory I think the garage agreed to the cost of a specialist refurbishing the faulty part as a new one from Audi was about £2,000). I think in that case it was an independent dealer with no warranty and so it was done as a goodwill gesture. You appear to have a warranty so are already in a better position than he was!
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Fingers crossed.

AJB Audi said:
Hope it works out, which I'm sure it will.
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Thanks i appreciate it.
 
NHN said:
Call the dealer 1st, dont do anything until you've spoken to them, as anything done to the car before they're aware or agree, would invalidate your claims & get any agreement for repair in writing via either letter or an email before starting, trust me, cover your butt on these things as I suspect the dealer knew of the issue & like so many others will claim under a warranty policy with someone else.
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OK no prob i wont do anything to the car ill just call them up first thing Tuesday morning and take it from their.

Shall i book it into Audi for a health check because it's a free service without telling them i noticed the "flashing driving symbols" just to see if they pick up on the problem or will that invalidate the warranty?
 
Just spoke to the Sales manager of the branch and he said as long as it's not a wear and tear issue then your car is covered under warranty. Sorry for sounding like a Noob but what does he mean exactly by "Wear and Tear?".

He also said if i popped the car in they will plug it in and give it a "diagnostics" check to see what's wrong with the car. I told him i live in Maidstone which is 70 miles away so that's not an option for me so he then said if i get it checked out at my local specialist garage i would have to pay for the diagnostics check out of my own pocket.

Does anybody know how much Audi charge for a diagnostics check or does anybody know of a good Audi specialist near Maidstone that i could take the car to? Thanks!
 
Audi dealers will typically charge in the region of £100 for a scan from what I've heard.

Fair wear and tear is of course the sticking point of all warranties, my interpretation of it is to exclude wearing parts such as brakes, clutch and exhaust etc, but it wouldn't include parts designed to last the life of the car, I'm sure wear and tear wouldn't include a gearbox ecu......
 
quattrojames said:
Audi dealers will typically charge in the region of £100 for a scan from what I've heard.
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I've just learned if i book my car in for a health check it's free but if i book it in for a diagnostics check i have to pay a fee so what's the difference physically between the two?

quattrojames said:
Fair wear and tear is of course the sticking point of all warranties, my interpretation of it is to exclude wearing parts such as brakes, clutch and exhaust etc, but it wouldn't include parts designed to last the life of the car, I'm sure wear and tear wouldn't include a gearbox ecu......
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Ok James your most probably wright (fingers crossed) but im still going to call BBA-reman tomorrow and talk to them about my situation. Do you know if they are a garage or just a warehouse where people send in there ECU's?
 
id book it in to audi the warantee company will be better with audi saying whats up on a print out
 
bez101 said:
id book it in to audi the warantee company will be better with audi saying whats up on a print out
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OK will do. I've just found out that my car was due a 40k Multitronic service 450 miles ago which they didn't do when they serviced it 200 miles ago so does that mean the warranty will cover that to?
 
hmm you may find that it voids the warranty may not but it just could as it should be done i know audi would void and not pay full costs
you may be lucky who is the warranty with the garage of sale or a 3rd party
 
I expect a health check is brake pads/tyres/fluids etc, whereas a diagnostic check is plugging it into VAGcom for a full scan.
 
quattrojames said:
I expect a health check is brake pads/tyres/fluids etc, whereas a diagnostic check is plugging it into VAGcom for a full scan.
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Ohh ok thanks. Because the car was due a 40k Multitronic oil service 450 miles ago do you think that might possibly be the cause of the faulty gearbox problem instead of replacing the ECU?
 
In a word.... No, it's only 450 miles over a 40k interval, whats that? 1% or something?
 
Don't worry mate.

My understanding is that you bought the car 200 miles ago, and that it was serviced when you bought it. They 'should' have changed the multitronic oil at 40k (critical) but they didn't, at just 450 miles over it's unlikely to start causing problems. Your warranty is with the purchasing garage (who did the service?) so either way they can't really get out of this.
 
quattrojames said:
Don't worry mate.

My understanding is that you bought the car 200 miles ago, and that it was serviced when you bought it. They 'should' have changed the multitronic oil at 40k (critical) but they didn't, at just 450 miles over it's unlikely to start causing problems. Your warranty is with the purchasing garage (who did the service?) so either way they can't really get out of this.
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Yes your 100% correct im just praying they fix my car without me paying any money towards the bill.
 
Quick Update: Called Audi first thing this morning at 8am and booked the car in for a diagnostic check. 1 hour later the service advisor came out and gave me a piece of paper which read "Checked for gearbox fault - Not going into reverse at times - Gearbox display flashes, Found fault in system with multifunction switch and speed sender 2, New gearbox control unit required - Cost to replace:£1423.08"

I rang the showroom where i bought the car from instantly and gave them an update on the situation, they said they would get in touch with the warranty company and call me back straight away.

A couple of hours later they rang me back and said that the warranty will cover it but i would have to take the car to a place called "Audi Technik" in Matfield, Tonbridge, Kent. Has anybody heard of them before?

Garage Services, MOTs and Used Car Sales covering Kent, Surrey and Sussex Garage Services from AudiTechnik
 
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If you did not rush with the audi diagnostic then you should have got one of them "mobile mileage correction" guy who could have reset the odometer back to acceptable value for audi to consider goodwill ! It only costs 40-80 quid and is un-detectable by audi ! It's common practice amongst the "trade"...
 
adamss24 said:
If you did not rush with the audi diagnostic then you should have got one of them "mobile mileage correction" guy who could have reset the odometer back to acceptable value for audi to consider goodwill ! ..
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Resetting (or rather "clocking" as I assume you mean?) back to what point exactly? - the OP bought the car, newly serviced, only 200 miles ago. So that means there must be at least two documents (the sale document and the service records) which record a mileage beyond the point when Audi advocate the work to be undertaken.

The OP appears to have achieved a reasonable outcome to the problem, presumably because he bought the car from a reputable garage and took reasonable steps (an Audi diagnostic check) to establish the underlying cause. A good result by legitimate means and no risk of skeletons in cupboard (e.g. illegal clocking) coming back to haunt you at a later date.
 
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i no mazda do this on nearly new cars knock them back to look nicer to the not knowing buyer sad as it is and as wrong as it is this does still go on
 
simon.m said:
i no mazda do this on nearly new cars knock them back to look nicer to the not knowing buyer sad as it is and as wrong as it is this does still go on
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Common practice across all dealers that i know ! It's in british nature to look for low mileage cars hence the dealer comissioning private chaps to "adjust" the odometer... This way they have clean hands.
 
The Black Rhino said:
If they try and wriggle out of it somehow what will a new gearbox ECU cost me? I cant beleave my luck i love the car it drives beautifully and ive just bought it and now it's broke i feel like committing suicide (speechless).
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Mate.. Know how you feel, just bought my cab ready for summer and my PRNDS has started. Potential £1500 repair on a £8k car is a ***** . Going to take mine to a place in Milton Keynes. They seem to be a specialist . Don't read thread on pistonheads .... Might tip you over the edge;) good luck, keep us posted on progress
 
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