well first my 2000 2.7t had a bad maf sensor ,now the drivers side window wont work anymore ,the car has had a bad vibration at 65 mph to 75 audi cant seem to find out what is causeing it the car has had its wheels balenced 5 times so far and im quite frustrated its nolonger fun to drive this car as the shakeing drives me crazy after 3 months of owning this car im thinking of trying to sell it ,it just has 6000 miles on it!the audi dealership still says the wheels need balenceing I think its something more maybe alignment.I dont mean to dismay any of you out there who are wishing for a new audi ,just thought i'd post what has happened to me.

 

the only thing I suggest is keep pushing the dealer to fix it.<p>2000 A6 2.7T Tiptronic
Cashmere Gray
San Antonio, TX

 

although not on an Audi, a Corvette. There was a very bad vibration around 65mph. This happened after I put a new set of tires on it that I ordered from Tire Rack. I had them balanced and balanced and balanced to no avail. I talked with Tire Rack and found out that most all tire machines spin at about 40mph so there is no chance of catching a higher speed shimmy. They gave me the names of some shops and I found a place local that had a 80mph machine. It was isolated to a faulty LR tire and once we replaced that everything was OK. I was going mad trying to find the problem before that and I did all kinds of things such as replacing wheel bearings, turning rotors, etc. This is what it took to fix it. Ask your dealer to find a high speed balancer and I bet you will find the problem. Good luck, when Audis are bad they can be real bad but when you get a good one there is nothing better.

 

AK AL,

Sorry you're having problems--it definitely sounds frustrating. I assume the driver's window will get fixed easily at your next trip to the dealer.

Here's a thought on addressing your main problem, namely the tire shake. I agree with Bart that it sounds very much like a defective tire--either out of round or with an internal belt problem. Balancing won't fix such problems.

Since your 2.7T comes with a "real" spare tire, you could try swapping it, one at a time, with each of the other tires on your car. After each swap, hit the nearest highway for a few miles of 65-75 mph running. If the vibration disappears, you've identified the faulty tire and Audi should replace it, free of charge.

The work involved isn't major, probably one morning or afternoon. And if it works, then you've solved the problem that is causing you daily frustration.

Suppose it doesn't work, i.e., the vibration never goes away. That's bad news and would imply something harder to track down, e.g., an out-of-balance driveshaft or halfshaft. A good mechanic might spot one of those by running the car on a lift and carefully watching the shafts. (A balanced shaft will run so smoothly it almost appears stationary. A bad one will often have visible movement or appear blurry. A piece of chalk held carefully up to the rotating shaft will only mark one part of its circumference, not all the way around.)

Other possibilities: Out-of-balance brake rotor (very rare), out-of-balance flywheel (very rare, and would show up at same rpm regardless of road speed). Bart's defective tire hypothesis strikes me as the most likely by a wide margin.

So, don't give up yet! Swap a few tires and see what you find out... Good luck (and let us know).

PS--What in the world is a "maf sensor"??

 

I agree it's probably sure to be a tire problem. Does it also pull in one direction or another?. If so, it's likely one of the belts (tire) has slipped. If not, I still think it's a tire.

 

It makes me sick to hear it again and again: 'Well, that's what you get with Z rated performance tires'
That's what I kept hearing from my dealer.
When the Pirelli district manager drove the car, he even claimed that the vibration is normal (?!)
Today, the dealer put a new set of 4 tires, sent them to a specialist for balancing and even changed the front rooters. I just got back from a 134km drive- the vibration is still there at 120kmh and when braking at that speed, the whole front of the car swings laterally.
I'm puzzled...

 

A MAF sensor is an acronym for MASS AIRFLOW sensor. The MAF is positioned between the airbox and the throttle body and it measures the amount of air passing into the engine. This is how it works: in the sensor there is a small straight wire that is heated to a constant temperature. As air is sucked into the engine it flowes through the sensor and will have a cooling effect on the wire. Remember: the wire is at a constant temp. The computer reads the resistance on the wire which now requires a higher voltage to maintain the said Temp because of the cooling effect the air has on it as it flows by. Ok, so the computer reads the increased voltage,ie:resistance and calculates this as the amount of air entering the engine and adjusts the fuel and timing curve accordingly. A MAF sensed fuel injection system is more sophisticated and expensive than a SPEED DENSITY fuel injection system which does not use a MAF, but instead uses a sensor that measures vaccum at the intake manifold. This system is not as accurate and can only refference a limited Bar graph value in the computer to adjust fuel and timing. Unlike a MAF system, which has infinite adjustability within itself. Most newer cars now use MAF. BAD10

 

mas air flow sensor ,it helps set the air to fuel ratio the tires came from tire rack but my snow tires did the same thing at the same speed.the dealer has said they will help and loan me another audi they want it for a week ,sure is nice to see others care about an audi owner haveing problems ,this is a great site with a lot of great people!

 

Why would Z-rated tires have anything to do with this problem? Sometimes wider performance tires catch grooves on the road shifting the steering slightly, but I never heard of performance tires having vibration at highway speeds or while braking..

Could be that the actual wheel is slightly bent from going over a bad bump... I had a friend with low profile 17-inch wheels he was constantly replacing every 6-months or so (of course driving in NYC roads doesn't help) cause they would bend so easily going over a pothole or the wrong type of bump... Do youhappen to have low profile wheels, and sometimes drive through rough roads?? Could be one of the wheels...

 

The dealer could try and diagnose that by changing all the wheels/tires to eliminate the possibility of a tire/wheel issue. If the car is still doing it with a different set of shoes then it's a driveline issue (yikes). Check your state lemon law. In New York State (last time I checked anyway) if a dealer can't fix a "serious" problem after 4 attempts it can go immediately to arbitration. A serious shake at 65mph is serious to me. Good luck.