I'm taking my car in next week for several little (I think) items. If you have any insight on any of these, I'd love to know...My car is a 2005 with 40K on it:

1. Winshield washer fluid keeps leaking from below the driver's side front light

2. The transmission tends to "slip" under moderate acceleration on the 3-4 shift. I've had the tranny filled with the blue fluid due to a prior squeak/chirp problem.

3. Suspension creaks when it is below 60 degrees outside.

4. Power steering groans/whines when turned to lock in either direction.

5. The cooling fan for the engine has gotten progressively louder over the past few days...it seems to be making a slight "grinding" noise.

6. Possible wheel bearing noise??? Not sure if I'm just hearing things, though...

7. Discolored aluminum trim all around the car...sort of a rainbow effect when looking at it.

Thanks for any input/advice in advance!

Chirag

a flush to the blue zf fluid i noticed some bad slipping from 2-3 occasionally. I tend to use tiptronic ALOT. getting the whole tranny replaced sometime around 75K kilometres.

groaning noise appears normal...could be just the power steering pump, it does get kinda loud and embarrassing sometimes.

you could have prevented discolouration with some good wax. 2 plus years and 60000KM and paint+trim with zaino still look awesome.

Hope this helps.

I've had the problem with the rainbow effect on the trim. Porsche has a trim cleaner which helps, but doesn't eliminate the problem. It goes away for a while, but comes back after a couple of car wash cycles.

In my case it wasn't on all the trim, just the pieces under the rear door window and around the C-pillar window on both sides. I was told that trim is not covered by warranty and the problem was caused by a car wash. I countered that it was clearly a defective trim piece, because all of my trim was going through the same car wash, and only those pieces were affected. After some grumbling, Audi agreed to replace the defective pieces as an "act of good will", not a warranty item.

Hopefully, they'll stand behind yours as well.

ran into similar issues on wifes new X5 running boards, also aluminum. fought with bmw reps and they blamed car wash.
remarkably, car wash agreed that rim cleaners can affect these finishes. i now avoid this option at the wash.
used meguiars cleaner wax, seemed to work ok but will need redo every few months.
no ill effects on the A8 though..

levels were topped up eliminating the howl (so far!)
7 is caused by auto car wash systems. The pH of the wash system destroys the trim. The A/S8's all seem to withstand this much better than any other Audi model but they will all do it. I gave up on Auto car wash systems some years ago and suggest you do the same. The damage is chemical and no polish made will fix it. Audi will replace it. I had all Al trim replaced on an A6 and on an A4 Cabrio for the same issue.
Good luck!

happened to me...

the headlight washer fluid "robot arm" is leaking.

Costs about $250 for the part...