Starter motor alternator

[lizv]

Starter motor alternator failed after 39000 miles. Electrical faults piled up over 48 hours then car shut down when driving to garage. Recovery truck had to connect battery pack to move car. Dead as a doornail. In USA, lots of audi owners reporting this too.

We are being charged £2500 for repair and part not readily available, which suggests they are in demand. Hass anyone else had similar problem?

[Magnet]

Hello Liz,

Thanks for joining, and sorry to hear of your issue.

Pending other responses, some of the following may help:-

USA legislation appears to have far more clout with calling car manufacturers to account than it ever did, or will in the U.K.

’Has anyone else had a similar problem?’  To a large extent, that’s irrelevant, since the hard truth is that any combined ‘evidence attack’ at Audi is realistically unlikely to be effective. 
Your situation needs sorting, and to me, the Audi quote is not surprising, but there are alternative avenues where this can be fixed much ( in caps) cheaper. 
Comparison:- family member needs a new alternator on their A4. Audi part cost = £1,300. Aftermarket Bosch part = c£300.

No brainier as they say. Local garage will fit Bosch alternator, resulting in an a substantial saving over Audi’s daft charge. 
Why not go down that route Liz? 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 
p.s. we can point you to suppliers if that helps. 
Starter motor alternator? These are two different components. 

[lizv]

Thanks Gareth, I will explore options you suggest. Its a mild hybrid starter motor alternator so not sure if the same. I will explore though.  

KR

Liz v

[Magnet]

Thanks Liz, 

Um, hybrids and dynamotors as I knew them. Likely to be a different and expensive job, but certainly try for aftermarket availability. 
Alternative:- we have a long established automotive repairer of alternators and starter motors. 
Worth Googling for similar in your area. 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 

[Guest]

On 5/12/2023 at 8:50 AM, lizv said:

Thanks Gareth, I will explore options you suggest. Its a mild hybrid starter motor alternator so not sure if the same. I will explore though.  

KR

Liz v

Hi Liz

Did you manage to get it replaced? 
my Q7 experienced exactly the same and it’s also the alternator! 

[lizv]

Hi Nabeel, we are on an audi waiting list for the part...they have no idea when it will arrive. A plus is they have given us a free courtesy car, which is insured to end May in first instance. Suggests they expect wait to be longer. 

The part is inherently faulty, failing at a paltry 39,000 miles,  4 year old car.

Lots of reports of same issue in USA. Audi have simply replaced cars there for free, laws are different here though.

Liz

[Guest]

Thanks for the update liz. Is your car under warranty or did they just give u a curtesy car due to the long waiting time?

[lizv]

Not under warranty now. They are either being generous or they know they have a problem with this part...

[Guest]

Thanks and which Audi dealer are you dealing with. In London by any chance? 
I am assuming you will be paying for the part though? Have you been given a final estimate of the cost. 
sorry for so many questions.

[lizv]

We are in York.

Quoted £1300 for part and same again to fit....we will be negotiating,  cometh the day!

[alpha omega]

it looks easy enough to replace and as its out of warranty there's plenty of garages that would do the job.if this is the wrong youtube video then my apologies.

 

[Steve Q]

2 hours ago, lizv said:

We are in York.

Quoted £1300 for part and same again to fit....we will be negotiating,  cometh the day!

Wowzers! 

[Guest]

On 5/20/2023 at 5:00 PM, lizv said:

We are in York.

Quoted £1300 for part and same again to fit....we will be negotiating,  cometh the day!

Finally, had a call with the dealer, they have refused a curtesy car at this stage. Was your dealer in York part of Sytner group by any chance?

[douglasmik]

Exactly the same here! Been a month, no courtesy car and not even an ETA!

[lizv]

Shambles on Audi's part..

[Stevey Y]

2 hours ago, lizv said:

Shambles on Audi's part..

Hi its all about being spiteful because they don't like the fact we have deserted the E.U. tried to get a right hand drive o/s headlight for my car from the dealers but they want £1100 for the bare unit and won't guarantee the new one unless I buy the bulbs and ballast with it from them, that brings it up to £1750, so I bought a refurbed unit in the end for £650 apparently if I had ordered the dealer part I could have paid for it but they couldn't  promise I would get it before Dec 23.

Steve.

[Guest]

Just to keep everyone updated, Audi dealer called and confirmed its the alternator. The total cost mentioned was £2500 but dealer apparently 'claimed' with the Group and have agreed to do it for £500. Which indicates that they know there is a wider problem!

Still no update on when will the part arrive etc.

Extremely frustrating given I have not been provided any curtesy car, and this was my only car!

[lizv]

Thanks for update Nabeel. We seem to be very lucky to have been provided with courtesy car. 

Liz

[lizv]

Audi say alternator has arrived and they will be fitting tomorrow....

[Stevey Y]

3 hours ago, lizv said:

Audi say alternator has arrived and they will be fitting tomorrow....

Hi I would like to buy tickets for when they present the bill, I wish you the very best with the negotiations, if you are anything like my Liz they will need asbestos clothing to survive.

Steve.

[alpha omega]

good morning liz how did it go at audi regards stephen

[lizv]

Not got car back yet, still in workshop. I will post once completed. 

[lizv]

Hi Nabeel, is your car still under warranty? I winder how they came up with £500. ..

We get our car back tomorrow...i will post the summary of our negotiations 

[lizv]

On 5/25/2023 at 2:02 PM, Nabeel fattah said:

Just to keep everyone updated, Audi dealer called and confirmed its the alternator. The total cost mentioned was £2500 but dealer apparently 'claimed' with the Group and have agreed to do it for £500. Which indicates that they know there is a wider problem!

Still no update on when will the part arrive etc.

Extremely frustrating given I have not been provided any curtesy car, and this was my only car!

 

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, lizv said:

Hi Nabeel, is your car still under warranty? I winder how they came up with £500. ..

We get our car back tomorrow...i will post the summary of our negotiations 

No it wasn’t under warranty but the audi dealer apparently raised a claim with audi UK and they agreed to reduce it to £500. 
FYI, just got a call today that the part will be replaced today and they will perform an extended test drive. 
fingers crossed, should get the car this week!

 

I suggest you call AUDI UK directly and lodge a complaint regarding the part and how it shouldn’t be needing replacement after 4 years etc.