ChairmanEli

Picked up my new '04 S4 in Arrest-Me Red about a month ago.

Truly, this car eats other sedans for lunch (and washes them down with a hefty serving of fuel).

Last Tuesday, I got the dreaded shifter problem: no way to get the shifter into reverse at all. Pushed it out of its spot and limped it home.

Thanks to the information here on this forum, I knew exactly what was wrong with it, and was able to communicate it to the dealership in the morning.

Their Audi service manager (who has been great over the years, this being my third Audi) immediately jumped on the problem. He knew of the issue, and volunteered without my prompting that if the car was under repair for too long, then Audi would simply have to make it right with a new vehicle.

Lucky me, though: perhaps because it was caught early enough, or perhaps just because of the luck of the draw, all of the ball bearings from the suspect bushings were found intact. So, no new transmission needed.

With faulty parts removed and replaced, I got my car back on Thursday afternoon, good as new.

It's now back to its normal diet of lesser cars by the dozen, asphalt by the ton, and gasoline by the gallon.

If you are an Audi owner or prospective owner in the Boston area, I would highly recommend Clair Audi in West Roxbury. They've taken very good care of me over 3 Audis and 6 years of driving.

DrGP

I thought Audi had fixed this problem. What is your vin?

ChairmanEli

It's [...]8E34A109476

That's within the range of the original problem run, if I read the TSB correctly.