Howdy -

I've been driving my mom's 2003 A4 Cabrio 3.0 CVT for the past month cause my parents have been out of town and I wanted a break from my modded 99 A4.

Nice car, albeit a bit bland for my tastes. However, there are a couple issues, one major and one minor. Hopefully you guys will have some insight, as the dealer had none.

Major issue: The car will sometimes not take any fuel at the pump. I pull in, open the tank, get a loud hissing noise that can last for at least 20 seconds, and then when I go to pump gas either the pump's shut-off valve cuts flow every time I try to start it, or the car takes some gas, then stops, and when I pull the nozzle out it spits the fuel back out and down the overflow tube beneath the car!!! WTF! I've tried varying the fuel delivery speed, angling the nozzle differently, etc. Nothing works. I've now got 35 miles to empty and the car won't take gas. Dealer says they are working on a redesigned tank; that's nice but what do I do in 35 miles...? Anyone heard anything about a solution for this? (Dealer says he has seen this in a number of Cabs, but the problem is intermittent, so it's not an emergency)

Minor issue: What's with the lame-o rattling fart noise the car makes at wide open throttle? I assumed it was a loose heat shield or broken cat element, but they checked it out and drove other cabbies on the lot and said they all sound like that. Have you guys noticed the sound? Any remedies?

Thanks for you help!

Mark

seemed to just be related to pressuure in the tank? try not ridding down to 30 miles left. try another gas station.

I had the gas tank issue with my Allroad, my cab, my 1968 Imperial, and my Scion( Toyota). I believe it's the gas pumps with too much pressure. I've only had this problem at Chevron statins here in the Bay Area.
They ( chevron) said they are having troubles with some anti-pollution crap on their nozzles. that was told to me in broken English so I might be mistaken.

If your tank is taking a while to depressurize--that's trouble with the cap and this little air valve in the tank designed to keep gas fumes from building up like like that.

Hope this helps

and later models appear to be OK. :-/