Left for dead in my A4

Yeah--so I was driving home from SF to LA on the 5 freeway at 4 AM. All
of a sudden, the gas pedal stops working on my 2004 A4. I press the
gas, but there's no acceleration. I pull to the side of the road and
stop the car. The car won't start. But there's strong odor of gas
inside the cabin. I'm stranded...quite literally in the middle of nowhere.

I know jack about cars, but I went on to google with my cell phone and
searched around--seems like it could be a broken fuel pump or fuel line.
Fantastic!

My warranty is still in effect--but it took Audi 7 hours to get someone
out there to tow it to my dealer. Granted, it was 4 AM and like 150
miles from civilization. So I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

Luckily the tow truck came before I was picked apart by vultures or some
strange chainsaw-wielding family in an abandoned house took me in.

So the car is in the shop right now--what do you guys think? Fuel pump?
I guess I'll find out Monday when the service department opens again.

On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 03:14:00 -0800, "Ralph A. Barbagallo III" <""r a l
p h \"@ n o p r o c e s s e d m e a t f l a r b . c o m"> wrote:

Yeah--so I was driving home from SF to LA on the 5 freeway at 4 AM. All
of a sudden, the gas pedal stops working on my 2004 A4. I press the
gas, but there's no acceleration. I pull to the side of the road and
stop the car. The car won't start. But there's strong odor of gas
inside the cabin. I'm stranded...quite literally in the middle of nowhere.

I know jack about cars, but I went on to google with my cell phone and
searched around--seems like it could be a broken fuel pump or fuel line.
Fantastic!

My warranty is still in effect--but it took Audi 7 hours to get someone
out there to tow it to my dealer. Granted, it was 4 AM and like 150
miles from civilization. So I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

Luckily the tow truck came before I was picked apart by vultures or some
strange chainsaw-wielding family in an abandoned house took me in.

So the car is in the shop right now--what do you guys think? Fuel pump?
I guess I'll find out Monday when the service department opens again.

I wonder if this could be a case for having AAA? (NOT that I recommend
AAA!)

SF to LA on the 5 freeway at 4 AM.........was it foggy too? ;-)

Sounds like a ruptured fuel line maybe from damage.
TG that there wasn't any BBQ with you being the main course for the
vultures. ;-)

let us know what happens!

"Ralph A. Barbagallo III" <""r a l p h \"@ n o p r o c e s s e d m e a t f l
a r b . c o m"> wrote

Yeah--so I was driving home from SF to LA on the 5 freeway at 4 AM. All
of a sudden, the gas pedal stops working on my 2004 A4. I press the gas,
but there's no acceleration. I pull to the side of the road and stop the
car. The car won't start. But there's strong odor of gas inside the
cabin. I'm stranded...quite literally in the middle of nowhere.

I know jack about cars, but I went on to google with my cell phone and
searched around--seems like it could be a broken fuel pump or fuel line.
Fantastic!

My warranty is still in effect--but it took Audi 7 hours to get someone
out there to tow it to my dealer. Granted, it was 4 AM and like 150 miles
from civilization. So I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

Luckily the tow truck came before I was picked apart by vultures or some
strange chainsaw-wielding family in an abandoned house took me in.

So the car is in the shop right now--what do you guys think? Fuel pump? I
guess I'll find out Monday when the service department opens again.

"Ralph A. Barbagallo III" <""r a l p h \"@ n o p r o c e s s e d m e a t f l
a r b . c o m"> wrote

Yeah--so I was driving home from SF to LA on the 5 freeway at 4 AM. All
of a sudden, the gas pedal stops working on my 2004 A4. I press the gas,
but there's no acceleration. I pull to the side of the road and stop the
car. The car won't start. But there's strong odor of gas inside the
cabin. I'm stranded...quite literally in the middle of nowhere.

I know jack about cars, but I went on to google with my cell phone and
searched around--seems like it could be a broken fuel pump or fuel line.
Fantastic!

My warranty is still in effect--but it took Audi 7 hours to get someone
out there to tow it to my dealer. Granted, it was 4 AM and like 150 miles
from civilization. So I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

Luckily the tow truck came before I was picked apart by vultures or some
strange chainsaw-wielding family in an abandoned house took me in.

So the car is in the shop right now--what do you guys think? Fuel pump? I
guess I'll find out Monday when the service department opens again.

I-5 between LA and Sacramento (it doesn't go directly through SF) passes
through some pretty unpopulated areas, but it really is not "in the middle
of nowhere." At most times of any day there is plenty of traffic, and it
seems each exit has auto service facilities. It's the major highway between
northern and southern California (and the only north-south freeway in that
area) so it has the traffic much like an urban freeway. At most, a tow
truck should have been about 30-45 minutes from wherever you were at. It
sounds more like Audi's roadside service wasn't too good.

Since owning Audis and VWs I've always had AAA roadside assistance. I've
never waited more than 20 or so minutes for service to show up. Once when I
was in friend's Ford that lost a timing belt (non-interference engine, btw)
the freeway patrol was there within 5 minutes and towed us off the freeway,
and the AAA tow was waiting for us at the end of the exit ramp. The
breakdown added a total of 15 minutes or so to our trip home from SF
airport.

Yeah that's one question I had--how does AAA compare? I had AAA years
and years ago but luckily never had to use it. I figured this Audi
roadside was just as good...but waiting 7 hours was out of control.

They also were giving me grief because they only pay for 90 miles of
being towed, and my dealer was around 140 miles away. They wanted to
tow me 80 miles in the complete other direction to Santa Barbara!
Otherwise, I was going to have to pay for 50 miles at $5 a mile! Then
the chick on the phone said they have a "Service Interruption" clause
where they pay for a rental and hotel for up to 5 days at $100 a day.
So I said why don't you just pay for the rest of the tow instead? (My
dealer gives me a free rental) They eventually paid for it, but the
fact that I had to argue about this with vultures circling overhead (ok
not really) was ridiculous.

Granted, I hear AAA has the same 90-100 mile tow policy?

All I had in my car was a pack of fig newtons and some old bottled
water. Just one man against the elements. Of course I didn't want to
drink any water since there was nowhere to go to the bathroom (an
infinite cotton field / desert!) and thus didn't want to eat my Fig
Newton because then I'd have to drink.

I should get a boy scout survival medal or something!

Keep on Plonkin' wrote:

"Ralph A. Barbagallo III" <""r a l p h \"@ n o p r o c e s s e d m e a t f l
a r b . c o m"> wrote in message
newsZKdncice9gdof3YnZ2dnUVZ_vWdnZ2d (AT) comcast (DOT) com...
Yeah--so I was driving home from SF to LA on the 5 freeway at 4 AM. All
of a sudden, the gas pedal stops working on my 2004 A4. I press the gas,
but there's no acceleration. I pull to the side of the road and stop the
car. The car won't start. But there's strong odor of gas inside the
cabin. I'm stranded...quite literally in the middle of nowhere.

I know jack about cars, but I went on to google with my cell phone and
searched around--seems like it could be a broken fuel pump or fuel line.
Fantastic!

My warranty is still in effect--but it took Audi 7 hours to get someone
out there to tow it to my dealer. Granted, it was 4 AM and like 150 miles
from civilization. So I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

Luckily the tow truck came before I was picked apart by vultures or some
strange chainsaw-wielding family in an abandoned house took me in.

So the car is in the shop right now--what do you guys think? Fuel pump? I
guess I'll find out Monday when the service department opens again.

I-5 between LA and Sacramento (it doesn't go directly through SF) passes
through some pretty unpopulated areas, but it really is not "in the middle
of nowhere." At most times of any day there is plenty of traffic, and it
seems each exit has auto service facilities. It's the major highway between
northern and southern California (and the only north-south freeway in that
area) so it has the traffic much like an urban freeway. At most, a tow
truck should have been about 30-45 minutes from wherever you were at. It
sounds more like Audi's roadside service wasn't too good.

Since owning Audis and VWs I've always had AAA roadside assistance. I've
never waited more than 20 or so minutes for service to show up. Once when I
was in friend's Ford that lost a timing belt (non-interference engine, btw)
the freeway patrol was there within 5 minutes and towed us off the freeway,
and the AAA tow was waiting for us at the end of the exit ramp. The
breakdown added a total of 15 minutes or so to our trip home from SF
airport.

On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 10:34:42 -0800, "Ralph A. Barbagallo III" <""r a l
p h \"@ n o p r o c e s s e d m e a t f l a r b . c o m"> wrote:

Of course I didn't want to
drink any water since there was nowhere to go to the bathroom (an
infinite cotton field / desert!) and thus didn't want to eat my Fig
Newton because then I'd have to drink.

Now I've lost all respect for you... The rest of us just stand beside
the car and let it fly! <GDR!>

No roadside pee merit badge for me!

PeterD wrote:

On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 10:34:42 -0800, "Ralph A. Barbagallo III" <""r a l
p h \"@ n o p r o c e s s e d m e a t f l a r b . c o m"> wrote:

Of course I didn't want to
drink any water since there was nowhere to go to the bathroom (an
infinite cotton field / desert!) and thus didn't want to eat my Fig
Newton because then I'd have to drink.

Now I've lost all respect for you... The rest of us just stand beside
the car and let it fly! <GDR!

On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 12:35:01 -0800, "Ralph A. Barbagallo III" <""r a l
p h \"@ n o p r o c e s s e d m e a t f l a r b . c o m"> wrote:

No roadside pee merit badge for me!

ROFL!

"Ralph A. Barbagallo III" <""r a l p h \"@ n o p r o c e s s e d m e a t f l
a r b . c o m"> wrote

Yeah--so I was driving home from SF to LA on the 5 freeway at 4 AM. All
of a sudden, the gas pedal stops working on my 2004 A4. I press the gas,
but there's no acceleration. I pull to the side of the road and stop the
car. The car won't start. But there's strong odor of gas inside the
cabin. I'm stranded...quite literally in the middle of nowhere.

I know jack about cars, but I went on to google with my cell phone and
searched around--seems like it could be a broken fuel pump or fuel line.
Fantastic!

My warranty is still in effect--but it took Audi 7 hours to get someone
out there to tow it to my dealer. Granted, it was 4 AM and like 150 miles
from civilization. So I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

Luckily the tow truck came before I was picked apart by vultures or some
strange chainsaw-wielding family in an abandoned house took me in.

So the car is in the shop right now--what do you guys think? Fuel pump? I
guess I'll find out Monday when the service department opens again.

Fuel Pump, pretty common my A4 has had 2

On Wed, 22 Nov 2006 01:41:43 GMT, "dave AKA vwdoc1"
<vwdoc1 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote:

An atheist was taking a walk through the woods. "What majestic trees!
What powerful rivers! What beautiful animals!" he said to himself.

As he continued walking alongside the river he heard a rustling in
the bushes. Turning to look, he saw a 7 foot grizzly charging towards him.
He ran as fast as he could up the path. Looking over his shoulder he saw
that the bear was closing in on him. His heart was pumping frantically and
he tried to run even faster.

He tripped and fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up
but saw the bear raising his paw to take a swipe at him. At that instant the
atheist cried out: "Oh my God!..."

Time stopped. The bear froze. The forest was silent.

It was then that bright light shone upon the man and a voice came out
of the sky saying: "You deny my existence for all of these years, teach
others I don't exist and even credit creation to a cosmic accident. Do you
expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a
believer?"

The atheist looked directly into the light, "It would be hypocritical
of me to suddenly ask you to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps, could
you make the BEAR a Christian?"



"Very well," said the voice. The light went out. And the sounds of the
forest resumed. And then the bear lowered his paw, bowed his head and spoke,
"Lord, bless this food which I am about to receive and for which I am truly
thankful."

BRAVO!!!!! Thanks for sharing; I am now infesting my own Internet
circles with this treasure.