My friend has the above car (2.5 TDI 2004) and is suffering severe noise sometimes when turning the steering wheel. The noise is so bad it vibrates the whole car.
It has been back to the dealer twice so far and has had a new pump and a new pipe of some sort but with no real change.
It seems to be ok when cold but gets starts when the car has been driven for
Anyone heard of this before and any idea on the solution.
Return to the dealer but this time make sure that the car has been driven sufficiently for the problem to be obvious. Then insist that the mechanic come with you as you demonstrate the problem while the car is still exhibiting it. This has worked for me when problmens with my A4 only were evident after a long warmup.
I had this type of noise on an A6 TDi (2001/2). It turned out to be the Alternator pulley on the accessories belt for things like the AC. Noise only occurred when putting steering wheel to hard left/right and also when idling.
Audi Mechanic demonstrated that it was this problem to me, gave me a quote of £350+VAT for the Dealer to do it. I replaced it with the help of an online manual. You only have to take off the alternator and fan (with hidden Allen key). A big spanner holding the belt tensioner is also needed to get the belt off. BUT the alternator pulley - that costs about £80 has a splined shaft on it that is bloody difficult to remove without the Audi tool. I took it into the Audi garage, the mechanic there did it in under 1 minute including putting the new one on - using one of those drill driver things.
Don't do the job unless you have the ability to get the alternator to the garage separately !
Why does the pulley cost £80? Because it has a freewheel system in it that takes up the slack of the belt one way. This stops the noise / vibration etc.
Hope this helps
regards David.
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