Audi Repair and Service in San Rafael

An Independent Audi Shop on Kerner Blvd, Owner-Run Since 1979

Quick Takeaways

• Audi-specific diagnosis: factory-grade scan equipment reads the modules a generic code reader can’t, so a warning light gets a cause instead of a guess.
• The usual Audi suspects: plastic coolant parts, crankcase breather leaks, carbon on direct-injection intake valves and neglected S tronic fluid.
• 24 months or 24,000 miles: parts and labor, whichever comes first.
• A loaner for longer jobs: complimentary, so a bigger repair doesn’t strand you in Marin.
• 3155 Kerner Blvd, San Rafael: just off Highway 101, a short run from San Anselmo, Corte Madera and Mill Valley.

Audis are built to drive hard and forgive very little neglect. A Q5 that commutes over the Richmond–San Rafael Bridge, an A4 that climbs to Sleepy Hollow twice a day, an allroad that hauls bikes out to China Camp — each one wears through the same handful of parts on a schedule you can almost set a watch by. Heynneman European has repaired German cars in San Rafael since Paul Heynneman opened the doors in 1979, and independent Audi repair here means a diagnosis before a parts order. If your dash just lit up, don’t sit on it.

The Faults Audis Develop Again and Again

Most Audi trouble is predictable, and that’s good news for your wallet. The turbocharged four-cylinder in the A4, A5 and Q5 runs its coolant through a plastic water pump and thermostat housing. Heat cycles crack them. You smell sweet coolant after a drive, the reservoir drops, and there’s rarely a puddle because the leak cooks off the hot engine before it reaches the ground.

The crankcase breather comes next. When its diaphragm tears, the engine pulls unmetered air and idles rough; when it clogs, crankcase pressure pushes oil past valve-cover seals that were dry a month ago. None of it is dramatic on day one — and all of it gets more expensive the longer it’s ignored, because a weeping seal drips onto rubber hoses and the exhaust.

→ Audi oil leak repair and gasket work

Rough Idle and Misfires Usually Trace to Coils or Carbon

A flashing check engine light on an Audi is almost always a misfire, and it means stop driving hard. Ignition coils fail often on these engines, and they’re a bolt-in part. The harder case is carbon: Audi’s direct-injection engines spray fuel straight into the cylinder, so nothing washes the back of the intake valves, and after enough short trips across town the deposits choke airflow and throw misfire codes that new coils won’t cure.

We sort out which one you have before replacing anything. A scan shows the cylinder, the fuel trims and the misfire counters. Then we test. Parts come last. Buying parts in the wrong order costs more than the diagnosis ever does.

→ check engine light diagnosis

S tronic, Tiptronic and quattro Each Have Their Own Service Needs

Audi builds three very different drivetrains, and each one fails in its own way. The dual-clutch S tronic shifts in milliseconds when its fluid is fresh and shudders from a stop when it isn’t. Fluid is cheap. Clutches aren’t. The conventional Tiptronic automatic in the bigger cars is smoother but hates old fluid just as much. Then quattro adds a center differential or coupling with needs of its own.

Owners feel a clunk into reverse or a slip pulling uphill from a stop and assume the worst. Sometimes it is. More often it’s fluid, a software adaptation or a mechatronic unit that can be serviced rather than a whole transmission.

→ Audi transmission service and repair

The Factory Plan Covers Three Visits, Then the Car Is Yours

On 2026 model-year cars, Audi of America includes scheduled maintenance at one year or 10,000 miles, two years or 20,000 miles, and three years or 30,000 miles. After that third visit, every service is on you.

That handoff catches owners off guard. Items with longer intervals, such as spark plugs and transmission fluid, tend to fall due after the included visits end, and they often land together. We’ll lay out what your Audi needs now and what can wait. Work we do carries our own 24-month/24,000-mile warranty on parts and labor.

→ the terms of our repair warranty

Audi Owners From San Anselmo, Corte Madera and Mill Valley

The shop sits on Kerner Blvd in East San Rafael, a couple of turns off Highway 101. San Anselmo drivers take Sir Francis Drake to 101 and head north a couple of exits. Corte Madera and Mill Valley owners come up 101 and are here in minutes.

You’ll talk to someone who knows these cars. Paul still writes service and diagnoses cars himself, and the lead technician has worked beside him for more than 15 years.

→ European auto repair for San Anselmo drivers