Audi a4 b5 2001 tdi kombi with lighting problem

Hi all. I have an audi b5 2001 tdi 85kw with a lighting problem. My dashboard light suddenly went out. After some inspection, all the lights in the interior that can dim are dimmed to almost off. Yet the dimmer switch in dash works fine for the light at the clock and odometer. Both rear lights and both front city/parking lights (the tiny ones) are off. There is no power to fuse 22 and 23. The buzzer for remembering lights and the green light in the dash do not work either. blue light for high beam, etc in dash work like normal though. When car is off without key and the light is still turned on, only the licenseplate lights work. This car has the strange lightswitch handle next to the index handle. For the rest, the car has no issues starting or whatever. I drive around with the fog light as backlight now. Not ideal! http://forums.tdiclub.com/images/smilies/wink.gif Does anyone have any idea? Or how to test the handle? Where can I find the cable coming from it? What to do? Thanks!!

Do you have VCDS? Did you scan it for codes?


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Havent checked for codes no.
Did get a free version of the program and a I have a usb kkl cable which always worked.
I will try to do it tonight, ;)

My cable seems to have a problem. I can connect. test is ok. But when checking things, I get too much communication errors.
Ah well. No time to sort that mess now.

today I finaly took the Light switch out.
Again, this is the funky light switch as part of the index switch.
Quite easy job actually, but not as easy as any other switch...

Inside, the top white sliding plastic part with the 3 contacts on springs has melted.
Only one contact was still intact. The other 2 are stuck in molten plastic.
Could have maybe needed a relais there, audi...
Cant really fix this. Just needs new part. Which is stupid expensive cause of the way its built.

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But good to know I found the problem and it probably isnt cluster or module related. ;)

Well done for finding it.

Do you find the coms issue on all modules?

If not the communications errors issue could be related to the laptop you are using. Go into the settings on your laptop and adjust the latency. See this link https://www.audiworld.com/forums/vag.../#post22374783


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I allready put the latency down to 3. And vcds actually sais latency is good now. It could read the abs module having no codes. But still gives an error message. I tried cluster, engine, gearbox. All same error. It used to read my volvo 850 fine.

Okay but not only the latency but the bits per second. If still no joy then post a query on the Ross tech forum. Uwe seems to be very helpful there. Sounds like it’s a cable/computer issue if you can talk to some modules and not others.


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Ah. i thought thje standard rate would be fast enough.
I found some website explaining what to do to the baudrate, so I'll try to mess around with that later.

I checked around for a light switch.
Audi wants 200 euro for a new one. Basterds! :P
Cant really find any fake brand to make it a bit cheaper.
I am now looking at the second hand market.

Got the cable to work! fiddlled a bit with the baud rating according to some website.
I can read most things now with vcds lite.

Ordered a complete stalk set for the car from ebay for a nice price.
With guarantee and all :P
Lets see how that works out.
Also has mfa wiper handle so maybe I can make some money back on that.
Since my car came from the time Audi started asking money for the mfa. And noone bought that ;)

I got the part. Build it in. Worked great, but left front and back parking light never went off...
So took it apart again and made one piece from the new and old.
basicly swapped over the plastic sliding bits on the inside into mine.
Now all the lights on the car and the dash work again like they should.
;)