bartyboy
02-05-2009, 07:39 PM
Hi all!
I am having a major crisis here with my 2001 AUDI A4, and I am looking for some help and/or advice.
First of all, the climate control unit stopped working 6 weeks ago after I filled the vehicle up with petrol one evening. It had a flashing '10' on the display and I rang AUDI UK, they said it meant the air con needed re-gas, so I took it to a local Audi centre in Shirley, West Midlands. At first they told me there was nothing wrong with it, but then I went back to them a week later for the same problem they claimed the unit was faulty. They gave me an estimate of £700 to replace the unit which I am not too sure about. They managed to 'reset' the unit 3 times for me to make it work again, but it never lasted more than a couple of days. Then on thursday morning (30 April), I discovered the climate control unit came back to live suddenly, it worked as perfect as before. It was kind of a nice surprise to me, cos I thought I didn't need to spend £700 to fix it but I discovered a different problem on the same day when I was leaving work.
For no reason the engine wouldn't start. Soon I turned the key, it clicked and the engine struggled to start. The time and date indication were reset back to zero. I had no problem to start the engine in the morning on that day, but all the sudden the vehicle just died in the car park at work. Anyway, I managed to get the engine running again by asking 5-6 colleagues pushing the vehicle. I was thinking it could be to do with the climate control unit or even the stereo and the CD changer, so as soon as I got back home, I disconnected the climate control unit, the stereo and the CD changer. I tried to switch the ignition key but the vehicle already failed to start again.
First thing next morning, I called the RAC. The chap came in, checked the battery, he said it was flat so this is why the engine wouldn't start. He jump started the engine, and ran a couple of tests on the battery. The first test showed the battery did get charged while the engine was running. The second test showed the battery was still in a working condition even it is 8 years old. Then the next thing the RAC chap did was to switch off the engine completely, he put a little gadget next to the negative terminal of the battery, and the gadget showed there was a strange amount of energy sucking out from the battery. He claimed it was normal to see a very small amount of energy leaving from the battery cos it is for keeping the clock running, but not as what he saw. He suggested me to keep the engine running for a good while, so the battery could get charged probably again. I left the engine running for 3 solid hours, then drove the car up to Manchester from Birmingham, that was another 3 solid hours to add on - 6 hours in total.
I stopped the engine, and tried to start it 2 hours later, it wouldn't start at all. I was furious and frustrated.
I got very annoyed with this, so I went to my vehicle and tried to find out what was wrong with it. I tried to start the engine, again it only made a click noise then struggled to start. But there was one thing I have noticed. As soon as I tried to switch the ignition key, everything was reset on the dashboard (apart from the mileage reading). And now it has been several hours since my last attempt, I looked through the window and saw the clock was counting normal since I last switched the ignition key. So surely the clock is being fed normally by the battery, but the battery just didn't have enough energy to start the engine. What goes wrong here?
Is it because the battery has reached to the end of its life, so it can't hold any energy inside even it passed the two tests done by the RAC chap? Or is it something else draining the battery? (I had the same problem back in Nov 2007, then I was told by a local Audi Centre that the central unit was faulty and it drained the battery, so I had to replace it with a new one for £400. Could it be the same fault?) The Audi Centre always says the Climate Control Unit was faulty, but how could the centre manage to reset it 3 times for me? And how could the unit come back to live just before I started having problems with the battery? It is all very complicated and I do feel I have bought a faulty car from Audi 8 years ago.
So far I have changed the coil pads 3 times. An air pipe inside the engine was cracked within the first 3 years. The stereo has stopped playing CDs 4-5 years ago. The temperature gauge broke down in 2006. The central unit replaced in 2007. And now the climate control unit needs to be replaced. I have asked the centre if all these problems were common. They said the problems did happen but were very rare. So how could all these rare problems happen on one vehicle?
The vehicle itself is lovely to drive and I love it to bits, but I am sick of all these problems. I am just wonder if anyone out there has experienced the same or similar problems with their Audi.
Any suggestion or advices for any above problems is very much appreciated.
Many thanks!
I am having a major crisis here with my 2001 AUDI A4, and I am looking for some help and/or advice.
First of all, the climate control unit stopped working 6 weeks ago after I filled the vehicle up with petrol one evening. It had a flashing '10' on the display and I rang AUDI UK, they said it meant the air con needed re-gas, so I took it to a local Audi centre in Shirley, West Midlands. At first they told me there was nothing wrong with it, but then I went back to them a week later for the same problem they claimed the unit was faulty. They gave me an estimate of £700 to replace the unit which I am not too sure about. They managed to 'reset' the unit 3 times for me to make it work again, but it never lasted more than a couple of days. Then on thursday morning (30 April), I discovered the climate control unit came back to live suddenly, it worked as perfect as before. It was kind of a nice surprise to me, cos I thought I didn't need to spend £700 to fix it but I discovered a different problem on the same day when I was leaving work.
For no reason the engine wouldn't start. Soon I turned the key, it clicked and the engine struggled to start. The time and date indication were reset back to zero. I had no problem to start the engine in the morning on that day, but all the sudden the vehicle just died in the car park at work. Anyway, I managed to get the engine running again by asking 5-6 colleagues pushing the vehicle. I was thinking it could be to do with the climate control unit or even the stereo and the CD changer, so as soon as I got back home, I disconnected the climate control unit, the stereo and the CD changer. I tried to switch the ignition key but the vehicle already failed to start again.
First thing next morning, I called the RAC. The chap came in, checked the battery, he said it was flat so this is why the engine wouldn't start. He jump started the engine, and ran a couple of tests on the battery. The first test showed the battery did get charged while the engine was running. The second test showed the battery was still in a working condition even it is 8 years old. Then the next thing the RAC chap did was to switch off the engine completely, he put a little gadget next to the negative terminal of the battery, and the gadget showed there was a strange amount of energy sucking out from the battery. He claimed it was normal to see a very small amount of energy leaving from the battery cos it is for keeping the clock running, but not as what he saw. He suggested me to keep the engine running for a good while, so the battery could get charged probably again. I left the engine running for 3 solid hours, then drove the car up to Manchester from Birmingham, that was another 3 solid hours to add on - 6 hours in total.
I stopped the engine, and tried to start it 2 hours later, it wouldn't start at all. I was furious and frustrated.
I got very annoyed with this, so I went to my vehicle and tried to find out what was wrong with it. I tried to start the engine, again it only made a click noise then struggled to start. But there was one thing I have noticed. As soon as I tried to switch the ignition key, everything was reset on the dashboard (apart from the mileage reading). And now it has been several hours since my last attempt, I looked through the window and saw the clock was counting normal since I last switched the ignition key. So surely the clock is being fed normally by the battery, but the battery just didn't have enough energy to start the engine. What goes wrong here?
Is it because the battery has reached to the end of its life, so it can't hold any energy inside even it passed the two tests done by the RAC chap? Or is it something else draining the battery? (I had the same problem back in Nov 2007, then I was told by a local Audi Centre that the central unit was faulty and it drained the battery, so I had to replace it with a new one for £400. Could it be the same fault?) The Audi Centre always says the Climate Control Unit was faulty, but how could the centre manage to reset it 3 times for me? And how could the unit come back to live just before I started having problems with the battery? It is all very complicated and I do feel I have bought a faulty car from Audi 8 years ago.
So far I have changed the coil pads 3 times. An air pipe inside the engine was cracked within the first 3 years. The stereo has stopped playing CDs 4-5 years ago. The temperature gauge broke down in 2006. The central unit replaced in 2007. And now the climate control unit needs to be replaced. I have asked the centre if all these problems were common. They said the problems did happen but were very rare. So how could all these rare problems happen on one vehicle?
The vehicle itself is lovely to drive and I love it to bits, but I am sick of all these problems. I am just wonder if anyone out there has experienced the same or similar problems with their Audi.
Any suggestion or advices for any above problems is very much appreciated.
Many thanks!