First off, lesson learnt. I should have just got the thing sorted a year ago when it first started.
But it wasn't constant whine, just sometimes, and then it'd go away again. Shrug. And the a/c was mostly working, although the control panel buttons were getting really hard to use.
Having a bit of spare time, and just getting a bit irritated by the control panel and by the coming and going whine, brought the car to an a/c specialist last week.
The voicemail message back from them was "don't drive the car, we think the compressor could disintegrate any moment" was scary - and followed up this morning with the repairer confirming that the compressor was beyond any economical repair (shaft had disintegrated).
And the non-working buttons on the control panel actually were caused by the micro-sensors in the board underneath being completely broken (and apparently not the sort that can be repaired/replaced).
Getting a replacement a/c compressor here in Aussie seems doable (those things are not cheap, even reconditioned), but it might be harder searching for a control panel. I'm guessing the eBay sort would be 'buyer beware', as they would have come off cars of similar vintage and therefore would be suffering from the same button failure?
Anyway... I need to upgrade my RS6 owner's existing paranoia about funny noises from under the bonnet!
philip
