I have a 2004 Allroad 4.2 with 70k miles. First time I noticed a problem was last August after a 9 hour drive. The carpet under the passenger seat was soaking wet. I dried it out and had the dealer look at it and they couldn't find a problem but did note in the repair order that all the drains (A/C, battery and sunroof) were clear.
This May I took another long drive and had the same problem with water under the passenger seat but I didn't catch it in time and it fried the Transmission Control Module (TCM). That cost a whopping $2,500 to replace!
I called Audi USA to explain the problem and request Audi to take responsibility for the problem because I, like many others here, think this is a design fault. Audi customer care politely explained that the water problem was due to "outside influences" and they would not cover it. She went on the tell me that Page 238 (it's actually P277 in my manual) of the owners manual explains the maintenance procedures to avoid this problem, and I quote:
"Battery Compartment
Remove leaves from the plenum panel in front of the windshield under the engine hood. This prevents the water drain holes from becoming blocked, and it prevents debris from entering the vehicle interior through the heating and ventilation ducts."
That's it! That's the section in the manual Audi is hanging their hat on that they have adequately notified their customers on maintaining the drains. It says nothing about how to check if the drain is blocked, nor how to actually clean them out nor what happens if they do get blocked. I just got back from the dealer where they showed me the approximate location of the drains while the car was up on a lift. As it turns out I don't have a hydraulic car lift in my garage so I would be hard pressed to actually get to the drains to clean them. Besides that, I don't think when you buy a $60k car that's something you need to do and I've never had to do it for any other cars I have owned. The service technicians said this drain blockage is a common problem and they even wonder why Audi doesn't fix the problem.
One useful thing that the service tech told me was that there is a rubber plug with a small hole at the end of the drain from the battery compartment. It's supposed to stop debris from getting up into the drain pipe (??? how is debris supposed to go up???) and as water flows down it's supposed to open up to allow the water out. Apparently this is a major cause of the blockage and my service tech said he takes the plugs out of the cars he services. This may help some of the flooding problems.
The reason for this rambling reply is to let others know in detail what happens and how Audi is dealing with this situation. It's great that Allroadster04 was able to get Audi to pay for the repair, so it shows that with some serious prodding they may step up to the plate and take responsibility for a crappy design. I'm going to follow Allroadster04 steps and see where that takes me and I'll let you all know how it goes. Cdotcom, let us know how it works out for you. Regards to all.
This May I took another long drive and had the same problem with water under the passenger seat but I didn't catch it in time and it fried the Transmission Control Module (TCM). That cost a whopping $2,500 to replace!
I called Audi USA to explain the problem and request Audi to take responsibility for the problem because I, like many others here, think this is a design fault. Audi customer care politely explained that the water problem was due to "outside influences" and they would not cover it. She went on the tell me that Page 238 (it's actually P277 in my manual) of the owners manual explains the maintenance procedures to avoid this problem, and I quote:
"Battery Compartment
Remove leaves from the plenum panel in front of the windshield under the engine hood. This prevents the water drain holes from becoming blocked, and it prevents debris from entering the vehicle interior through the heating and ventilation ducts."
That's it! That's the section in the manual Audi is hanging their hat on that they have adequately notified their customers on maintaining the drains. It says nothing about how to check if the drain is blocked, nor how to actually clean them out nor what happens if they do get blocked. I just got back from the dealer where they showed me the approximate location of the drains while the car was up on a lift. As it turns out I don't have a hydraulic car lift in my garage so I would be hard pressed to actually get to the drains to clean them. Besides that, I don't think when you buy a $60k car that's something you need to do and I've never had to do it for any other cars I have owned. The service technicians said this drain blockage is a common problem and they even wonder why Audi doesn't fix the problem.
One useful thing that the service tech told me was that there is a rubber plug with a small hole at the end of the drain from the battery compartment. It's supposed to stop debris from getting up into the drain pipe (??? how is debris supposed to go up???) and as water flows down it's supposed to open up to allow the water out. Apparently this is a major cause of the blockage and my service tech said he takes the plugs out of the cars he services. This may help some of the flooding problems.
The reason for this rambling reply is to let others know in detail what happens and how Audi is dealing with this situation. It's great that Allroadster04 was able to get Audi to pay for the repair, so it shows that with some serious prodding they may step up to the plate and take responsibility for a crappy design. I'm going to follow Allroadster04 steps and see where that takes me and I'll let you all know how it goes. Cdotcom, let us know how it works out for you. Regards to all.
