a4fever

2005 A4 2.0T.

First it was the fuel door in cold weather, now the trunk won't latch at certain times of day. Sometimes it takes 10-15 tries with a final hard slam that causes it close and latch. Tried lubricating the mechanism. Considered adjusting latch somehow, but it seems it would never latch if this were the problem. Occasionally it works fine. Any suggestions? Yes, I have a 25k service coming up in a couple months, but the less time the service people are around my paint with belt buckles the better.

TJHUB

to treat your car properly, then go somewhere else.

I fully understand your concern with them damaging your car. I can assure you that I am 1,000 times more **** than you could be. I take my car to my dealer SPOTLESS and they've commented twice that they were afraid to touch the car because they might leave a finger print. I suppose I got lucky having a great service dept. at my dealer.

Just be clear to them. "Fix the car, don't scratch or damage it in any way because you'll fix it if you do." Then smile and walk away. Be clear and friendly, it works for me.

I'd also like to mention that the 3 times I spent time at my dealer's service department, EVERY Audi there looked like ***. Dirty, dented, scratched, you name it. When my spotless, brilliant black, S-Line shows up, everyone notices and seems to take special care of my car when in their possession. I don't even let them remove and install my wheels with an air gun. They have no issues with that either. I get treated like family there as well. Good guys!

irenesbob

I hear you loud & clear on belts & buckles. Yesterday I picked up my 06 A4 - it was in the dealer for tire rotation and two recalls. When I picked it up after the repair facility was closed, the rear bumper and the painted panel under the bumper had a bunch of pock mark indentations like it had been pressed into a rough stucco-like surface. Guess what - the building has that kind of walls. I protect my car with a rear Bumper Badger whenever I park in a garage or in public - maybe once a month and I check the car over at least once a day for imperfections. There is now also a scratch/gouge on one of the alloy wheels they rotated- I never saw it before. I am sick. I park in an assigned spot in my indoor garage, leave the Bumper Badger on in there and seldom park anywhere in public so as to protect my baby, and now the wonderful Audi dealer does this. I will be bringing it in this afternoon to see what they say - I ran over to the sales building last night and reported it to the only salesman still on duty - he did write a note on my repair paperwork. What really pisses me is that my lease is up 9/30 and I have already scheduled an 8/31 final inspection. I only brought the car in to make sure the tires were rotated (they had missed it the last time I had service done) and to get the recall items fixed so I'd be a "good boy" in terms of making sure car was up to snuff at the time of the inspection, and now I have this crap that they may well hit me up for excess damage. I hate ever bringing the car in for service - this dealer also did damage at earlier visits that I kept my mouth shut about. This is likely my last Audi - at least from them.

psuaudiguy

as i mentioned above, i just had it in to get a window fixed.

I mentioned to them that the trunk was also not latching and they claimed to have fixed it. it was fine for about a week, and now its acting up again.

looks like another trip to the dealership for me this weekend! (maybe i can talk them down on the price of the S4 in the show room!)

a4fever

I took the trunk liner out to access the locking mechanism. It's not a matter of tightening cables. In order to open the trunk and have the ability to close it without difficulty, you have to open in either by using the key, or with the emergency release inside. If you use any electronic trigger such as the trunk exterior touch-handle, key fob, or release inside the cab, it won't lock until you fiddle with the latch (screwdriver) for a few minutes. So, it apparently will need replaced at the dealer. At least I left the trunk liner out so they will spend less time dragging their dirty pants on the bumper.

Now if only my fuel door would latch in cold weather.

And my center console didn't squeak like crazy.

a4fever

1,000 times more ****? You let them touch your wheels? No one touches my wheels outside my own garage.

TJHUB

The ONLY reason I let them touch my wheels was because I had a bad front left brake pad when the car was new. They had to replace both front rotors and pads under warranty. I refuse the rotation at scheduled service intervals. They touched my wheels once so far, I hope they never have to again.

So yeah, 1,000 times...

dubless

the next time you pop the trunk or hatch with the remote. Before you go close it, press the electric latch handle a few times (it'll click a few times) on top of the license plate then close it as normal. Works for me everytime now. I used to have the same problem with my avant the first few times I used the remote to pop the hatch. After doing so it just would not relatch. No matter how hard I slammed it or fiddled with the latch itself. After about twenty times it would finally catch. Needless to say I looked stupid slamming the hatch a bunch of times at the grocery store.

psuaudiguy

I'll try pressing the latch on the trunk before closing it next time.

Thanks for the advice!